The Circus (United Artists) (1928)

Reviews and News CHAPUN’S SHOES WORTH MILLIONS Shoes. Battered, old, misshapen, weary, pathetic, flat at heel. Shoes salvaged from rubbish heaps. A pair of such shoes have earned their owner a revenue of millions of dollars. They are the trademark of Charlie Chaplin, known as the most prosperous and most popular comedian of all time. The screen has sent him into the far corners of the earth to set humanity laughing—^with his eloquent shoes. They are the same in Charlie’s new¬ est comedy, “The Circus,” at the . Theatre, as they were in The Floorwalker” and “The Im¬ migrant.” The derby, moustache, cane and baggy trousers also belong inef- faceably to Charlie Chaplin, but the feet—^the shoes — are the basic trademark. Physically, Charlie Chaplin’s feet are as- small and symmetrical as a woman’s. But the huge shoes make them grotesque and promote the inimitable waddling that endears the comedian to his boundless public. They epitomize the make-up of Chariot. Charlie Chaplin, in character, is the only actor who can be infallibly identified by his shoes alone. Pic¬ ture the sho^s, and they spell the name. Indeed, so much fortune has fol¬ lowed the magic shoes that Chaplin has repeatedly had to fight unblush¬ ing imitators in the courts to de¬ fend his common law rights in that property. His creative genius, with¬ out which the shoes would be inex¬ pressive enough, needed no protec¬ tion; but where the shoes were ap¬ propriated to simulate possession of genius by others, it was necessary to go to law to halt infringement. Chaplin has spent tens of thousands of dollars to protect his shoes—his symbol. Numbers of persons have been restrained from copying his characteristic attire and adopting names that resemble his own. Usually the suits have appealed for safeguards from motion pic¬ tures and motion picture characters “which will be likely to deceive or have the effect of deceiving any people, theatre-going or general public or motion picture exhibitors into believing that in such picture it is the plaintiff playing or acting the part, role or character” or “in which the leading or any character performs or uses a make-up or style of dress, costume or mannerisms constituting an imitation of the plaintiff,” etc. Valuable shoes, Charlie Chaplin’s. To date, Charlie has appeared in over a million feet of comedy film, with, as one wag has said, “A laugh in every foot.” Those shoes! Charlie Chaplin, “discoverer,” pa¬ tron, tutor or erstwhile employer of Adolphe Menjou, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, and Georgia Hale, as well as of diT’ectors Josef Von Sternberg, Harry d’Arrast and Monta Bell, now offers as his lead¬ ing lady in “The Circus,” at the .Theatre, Merna Kennedy, who has not previously appeared in any motion picture. NEVER KNOW THE OLD PUCE NOW The type of circus which forms the background of Charlie Chaplin’s new United Artists comedy, “The Circus,” which comes to the. Theatre .is the inti¬ mate, one-ringed European type. It is as sharply contrasted with the physically numerous and splendifer¬ ous Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey shows of today as modern shows are different from the American circus of Abraham Lin¬ coln’s time. Of 1850 circuses, Robert E. Sher¬ wood, famous old Barnum & Bailey clown, says in his new book, “Here We Are Again”; “A circus troupe consisted of nine horses and seven men, a hurdy- gurdy, a clarinet and a bass drum.. The performers traveled at night and put up their own tents. Ex¬ penses were not great as tavern keepers charged only 37 cents per day per man, and there was neither license nor ground rent to be paid and a single poster was enough to inform the town that the circus had arrived. In those rare old days few performances were given at night except in larger cities and then candles illuminated the one ring.” According to Mr. Sherwood, the year of Lincoln’s inauguration as President of the United States was an equally important year in circus history, for in that year Purdy, Welsh & Co. aimed at bigger »nd better shows on earth. Their circus boasted of twenty- four gray horses, and their brass band numbered eight pieces. No longer did performers put up their own tents, for now “canvass men” or “razorbacks” came into existence, assigned to such duties. The old- fashioned circus fence, futile in rain storms, passed out in favor of a tent with a tall center pole, a frame near its top supporting candles em¬ ployed for lighting purposes. And then, in the 1870’s, came “The Greatest Show on Earth,” ex- ploitated in a thousand colorful ways by one Phineas Taylor Bar¬ num. Circuses came into their own and sawdust showmen began to achieve a series of triumphs which are part of the natural evolution from Barnum’s circus to Chaplin’s “The Circus.” IT TAKES ELEPHANT ONLY TWO YEARS When Charlie Chaplin was in New York just prior to his return to Hollywood to complete “The Cir¬ cus,” his new comedy at the.. Theatre, he attended “The Road to Rome,” the Hannibal play, written by Robert E. Sherwood, editor of “Life.” Charlie’s attention was attracted by the talk of the Roman guards discussing the plea of Hannibal’s brother to the General, that the march on Rome be delayed out of consideration for a blessed and elephantine event. The classic reply of Hannibal was: “Maybe you didn’t know it, but it takes an elephant seven years.” But Charlie Chaplin had been reading about circuses and he knew the editor of “Life” was having his little joke. It takes two years,