Half-brother Sydney Chaplin’s interest in, support of, and enthusiasm for Charlie’s career began with Charlie’s debut as Billie the pageboy in Sherlock Holmes in 1905. Charlie wrote in his autbiography that Syd “read the part to me and helped me to memorize the lines… [He] had so zealously coached me that I was almost word-perfect”. Later, in America, with his Mack Sennett/Keystone Studios contract fulfilled in the fall of 1915, Syd decided to again devote his energies to Charlie’s career. It is well-known, for instance, that Syd was the prime negotiator for Charlie’s history-making Mutual Films contract in 1916, resulting in $670,000 for the first year. Perhaps less well-known is that Syd seems to have had a significant influence on both the choice of storylines and bits of comedic business used in the films of the Mutual period (1916-1917). In this session, we will explore the close relationship between Syd’s experience as one of Fred Karno’s London Comedians in the English music hall (skills acquired and scenarios written and performed) and traces of that experience as discernible in three Chaplin Mutual films: The Pawnshop (1916), The Rink (1916), and The Cure (1917).

Lisa Stein