Charlie Chaplin (1951)

Chaplin at Keystone Chaplin arrived at the Keystone studio in December 1913. The studio itself was hardly more than an open platform with the sun diffused by muslin sheets hung above. Lights were seldom used as yet — although the Keystone photography was, as a rule, clear and bright. Several pictures were made simultaneously on the same stage. It was absolute bedlam. The leading Keystone comedian was Ford Sterling, using a Dutch make-up. He was discontented with his reported $200 a week salary and on the point of quitting to form his own company. Other comedians were the beautiful and vivacious Mabel Normand, rotund Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and his wife Minta Durfee, the giant Mack Swain (known as "Ambrose"), meek little Chester Conklin ("Walrus") with his droopy mustache, the blond juvenile Harry McCoy, the veteran character actress Alice Davenport of the famous theatrical family, the tall and husky Phyllis Allen, Sennett himself usually playing a "rube," and, in minor parts, many who were later to become more famous: Edgar Kennedy, Charlie Murray, Al St. John, Hank Mann, Slim Summerville, Charlie Chase, and others. Chaplin was to have difficulty fitting into this school. The speed and violence bewildered him. The style of acting, as exemplified by Sterling, was one of rush and