Charlie Chaplin (1951)

Chaplin's method 121 classic ice-cream gag of "The Adventurer," the first laugh comes from Chaplin's embarrassment over his predicament; the second, and bigger laugh, comes when the ice cream slips down the bare back of a dignified, dowager-like woman; the third, topping laugh, when the shrieking woman turns and slaps the man reaching down her back to remove the cold lump. In this simple incident Chaplin showed his insights into human nature. One is the human tendency to experience, by empathy, the emotions projected by actors. We all know that ice cream is cold, therefore we can shiver with the woman. Another is the delight the average person takes in seeing the rich and the pompous get the worst of things — since a large proportion of the people in the world are poor and secretly resent the wealthy. As Chaplin points out, "If I had dropped the ice cream, for example, on a scrubwoman's neck, instead of getting laughs, sympathy would have been aroused for the woman. Also, because a scrubwoman has no dignity to lose, that point would not have been funny." As for the comedian's own characterization and style, he feels that a comedian must be sincere even in falling down stairs. "People want the truths . . You must give them truth in comedy." His use of the contrast of his size with that of other people or objects, his surprise twists, and other devices have already been described. One human trait that he plays on as much as anything else is that it strikes people funny when a dignified person is placed in an undignified or embarrassing position. "Even funnier," Chaplin writes in the early article, "What People Laugh At," "than the man who has been made ridiculous, however, is the man who, having had something funny happen to him, refuses to admit that anything out of the way has happened, and attempts to maintain his dignity. Perhaps the best example is the intoxicated man wrho, though his tongue and walk give