Charlie Chaplin (1951)

Essanay — the transitional period 55 shoes are held up by his hands. The neighboring sleeper is a miser. As he counts his money he is confused in his count by the sight of a wiggling finger poking through a hole in a shoe and, on investigating, he gets a jab in the face. Here we find the germ of the camouflaged tree sequence in ''Shoulder Arms" (1918). Its coin-swallowingand-rattling business was to be used again in "The Great Dictator" (1940); and other bits from this scene were to serve again, in fuller development, in "The Kid" (1921), "The Gold Rush" (1925), and later films. During his Essanay period, Chaplin assembled a supporting group of players and technicians who were to stick with him through the years. Gloria Swanson, then an extra in the Chicago studio, very nearly became his leading lady. However, she resembled Chaplin too much in stature, coloring, and certain aspects of personality to be a perfect foil. She may be glimpsed in the bit part of a stenographer in "His New Job," though she receives no billing and though she denies she ever played with Chaplin! At a party soon after his arrival back in California, Chaplin met Edna Purviance. She came from Nevada (born 1894), and was the daughter of a miner. She was then a stenographer, with neither stage nor screen experience. Chaplin molded her to his needs. She was physically and temperamentally a perfect foil for Chaplin. Her classic blonde beauty contrasted with his brunette cast; her stature was just tall enough and her figure just Junoesque enough to make him appear even slighter than he is; and her placidity set off his volatile style. After some difficult coaching, she became a perfect partner for him, supplying the romantic interest, and was always able to turn on the right mixture of surprise and amusement at Charlie's everlasting blunders. With marvelous econ