Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1920 - Feb 1921)

28 What's the Matter with Chaplin? Photo by Hoover permitted no independence and little remuneration, yet he had turned out sixty comedies in a little more than two years. Finally he obtained his freedom to become an independent producer. His brother and manager, Syd Chaplin, returned from New York with the news of the million-dollar contract, which so startled the world in those happy days before the rise of the Profiteer Dynasty. Charlie was playing a saxophone when Syd entered joyously. "Well, Charlie, old boy," cried Syd, "we've done it ! I've signed a contract whereby you make twelve hundred thousand a year !" Charlie ceased playing and be came instantly very sad. He never has recovered. In that mo ment he realized that the struggle was over. There really was nothing more for him to attain. It is the struggling, not the gaining, which gives incentive. Others have felt the rub of that old platitude. Charles Ray has been heard to say that success has brought him only better cigars and more motor cars. Aside from success there is another reason for Chaplin's stagnancy. The star conceived, directed, and starred in sixty comedies during that short period prior to the million-dollar contract. This was no small drain on the reservoir of his ideas. Many a writer and artist has gone bankrupt in a similar way. In attempting to analyze for reasons of his slump we often overlook the temperament — the mental constitution of the artist. We fail to understand that creative energy is subject to exhaustion if not properly stimulated or conserved. If Chaplin had a vacation from the studio and his scorching home fire he might find regeneration. The fascination of picture making, which is felt by all its workers, has kept him at the tread. "Motion pictures absorb one," Nazimova observed, in a recent interview. This is literally true. Chaplin, Ray, Nazimova — all of the really biggest stars with the possible exception of Mary Pickford — find that their energy and time are so completely claimed that they are robbed of other interests. They become self -engrossed to the degree of boredom. Nothing is so stultifying to happiness and progress as absorption in self. Mary Pickford has thus far escaped the blight because she finds freedom from self in the responsibilities as head of the Pickford family. Mary's devotion to her mother has been the dominant motive' of her life. And she has been the pilot for the rest of the family. This diversity of interest is salvatory. Chaplin has had family claims, too, but they haven't been the sort to give him recreation. He was about to apply the shears to his picture, "The Kid," which has required a year to make, when blooey ! — Madame Mildred Harris Chaplin, who is seeking to produce a division of the Chaplin fortune. Who Will Be the Biggest Star in 1921 ? In our next issue Herbert Howe will make his film forecast for the coming year. You will recall the one for 1920, a prediction that has been fulfilled. THERE WILL BE SOME BIG SURPRISES in this film forecast, which has been based on a thorough canvas of the motion-picture exhibitors and producers, as well as on the writer's own personal opinion. PROPHECY AND INSIDE NEWS IN THE NEXT PICTURE-PLAY! Chaplin flung another press explosive. She attempted to attach the picture as common property. We are not interested in the justice or injustice of her claims. We only wish that Ma and Pa Chaplin would quit squabbling over "The Kid" and give us the custody. At the present writing, Charlie has left his refuge in the shadow of the Mormon Temple, in Salt Lake City, and the battle is being fought out in New York City. No one knows the whereabouts of "The Kid." It probably is secreted in the bulrushes. All who have seen the precocious infant pronounce it a bouncing prodigy. I believe that it will almost excuse Charlie for playing hookey. Just now its weight is twenty-seven reels. It must be reduced to five or six. From the remnants a dozen pictures could be patched, providing Chaplin's cupidity overbalanced his artistic sense. When Maurice Tourneur saw it he exclaimed, "You fill me with envy, Charlie ; this is a masterpiece !" It virtually masters the feat of telling a story without words. And the story, entirely a Chaplin conception, is vital. It has motive other than tickling the risibles. There is a strain of pathos that gives melodic balance to its composition. It is satire rather than burlesque. There is subtlety in its gyrations. The cast is not simply a chorus for Charlie's solo. Little Jack Coogan, Edna Purviance, Beulah Bains, and others, have real significance. Chaplin has realized no mortal limitations. He -even goes to heaven to make merry. His scene with an angelic maiden is truly of heavenly humor, brought to a climax of drollery when the little devils intrude and spoil the spiritual attraction. There is psychology in this comedy, a structure adroitly reared upon a foundation of ideas. Chaplin found zest in his work by the discovery and development of Jack Coogan, a genius of five years, who has a Chaplinesque talent for mimicry. So great was Charlie's delight in the response he obtained from the child that he built the entire story about him. as indicated by the title. The picture represents a big expenditure of labor, although the actual cost in money is said to be comparatively small. Madame Chaplin, for legal convenience, has placed a valuation of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars upon it, but offers of a million and more have been made for it, and it is possible that it will be sold for two million. Chaplin works entirely by inspiration. When the source of inspiration is affected, the work ceases. He does not start with a script, but merely with an idea. This primary idea may so alter in the germinating process that it bears no more resemblance to the completed story than does the peach pit to the tree. He may conceive the idea for a scene, put it into rehearsal