On August 17, 1915, Fred Karno wrote to his old ‘pupil’ Charlie (Chaplin’s archive contains a photocopy of the letter written on ‘Fred Karno’s Companies’ letterhead): “My dear Chaplin, it has been a very great pleasure to me to hear of your good fortune, and also to read of your further continued successes. It occurred to me the work must be a tremendous strain on you for all this long time, and that a short holiday over here would be very beneficial and advantageous. Why not come over and let me arrange for you to work throughout the English cities? There would be an enormous lot of money for you. At the same time, it would hardly entail any work on you at all, considering what you are doing now. It is very gratifying to me to know that one of my old boys has achieved such good fortune…”. It is plausible that Karno thought Chaplin wanted to hit the stage again right after hearing about Work, released less than two months before. It was inspired by his sketch Spring Cleaning, which Charlie and Sydney had done on tour. One of the more interesting comedies of the series, Work was influenced by Karno as well as by Wal Pink’s Repairs, another number in the Chaplin brothers’ repertory. The film falls within the ballet-pantomime genre in which the harmony of the scenes, the movement and the sense of rhythm are in constant evolution. Work also represents a development in Chaplin’s social criticism and mockery of middle-class behavior (while the lady of the house locks her belongings in a safe upon the arrival of two housepainters, the Tramp puts a watch and some spare change in a pocket fastened with a safety pin). The visual exploration – with a Soviet feel – of the opening scene is astonishing: a brutal snapshot of labor exploitation, in which Chaplin pulls an enormous cart loaded with buckets, ladders, beams, easels and brushes up a steep incline while being whipped by his boss.