Reel Life (1916-1917)

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jutor, who maintains her missionly reserve under somewhat strained circumstances and still gets into the action with her usual cleverness. According to advance information concerning re¬ hearsals of this play, Chaplin at first proposed to take the part of the missionary in order that his affair with the beautiful Edna might have a better chance to fructify, but on second thoughts the comedian decided that it would be undignified for a clergyman in his canonicals to descend from the pulpit and beat up the irascible “Bill” Campbell. They tried it once in rehearsal and the way Charlie handled himself as a minister was funny enough to suit anybody, but, after considering the matter, Chaplin thought too much restraint was demanded of him as a clergy¬ man and he took on the policeman’s job. “Now I can go to that villain, Campbell, as hard as I like,” said Charlie, and when the piece was tried out next time the wisdom of the decision was made apparent. Chaplin used a real policeman’s club in the first rehearsal but in spite of his efforts to hit lightly, he mauled the unfortunate Campbell all over the lot. Next he used a stuffed club and with this he was able to “belt” the unregenerate “Bill” just as hard as he wanted to. Chaplin’s makeup as the policeman is a triumph. The uni¬ form he wears was made spe¬ cially to order and yet it is the worst fitting uniform ever worn by a policeman in the world’s history. It is artistically ill-fitting. It bags just where Charlie told the tailor to bag it and it pinches just where the comedian wants it tight fitting. The ensemble is precisely what was intended and when the champion funny man emerges from the shadows in “Easy Street” he is funnier than ever. The fun in this production is cumulative. It starts off very quietly, works up to some speed in the first fifteen minutes and finishes in a blaze of glory. There are some of the most remarkable types of human wreckage in this picture that ever were gathered under one roof. In selecting his “bums” for the mission scene, Chaplin haunted the water front with a few chosen friends and astounded some human ragbag every little while by hiring him at five dollars a day to “act on the stage.” “That always gets ’em, even more than the money,” said Chaplin, in talking the matter over. “I had dozens of tramps offer to go on for nothing just to get in the picture, but the ones I picked were worth paying for. Each one is a type in himself. Those I rejected looked like the common run of waterfront loafers, but my actors in “Easy Street” are aristocrats of Bumland. The clothes some of them wore in this picture couldn’t be duplicated anywhere.” The fact that Campbell had been one of a gang of thugs employed frequently on election and other political jobs by crooked politicians and heelers of the ward, gave him the opportunity to assist certain white slavers in their plans for Edna’s abduction, the former bully having realized Charlie’s admiration for the young woman and having deter¬ mined to punish his assailant by this means. Of course the newly uniformed policeman was equal to all such machinations and rescued Edna from her abductors in a desperate fight, during which the venturesome Campbell received another whipping. This play is full of fast action throughout, and it affords Chaplin many opportunities to display his remarkable genius for making fun. He is all over the shop and doing some¬ thing every minute. The piece is full of laughs and it seems certain to be as popular as “The Rink” and other recent Chaplin successes. Concerning this production, Mr. Chaplin said a few days ago that it was one that he has. had in mind for a long time. “If there is one human type more than another that the whole wide world has it in for, it is the police¬ man type,” said Chaplin. “Of course the policeman isn’t really to blame for the public prejudice against his uniform — it’s just the natural human ; revulsion against any sort of ;■ authority — but just the same I everybody loves to see the • ‘copper’ get it where the chicken got the axe. “So to begin with, I make myself solid by letting my friends understand that I am not a real policeman except in the sense that I’ve been put on for a special job — that of manhandling a big bully. Of course I have my work cut out tackling a contract like that and the syfnpathy of the audience is with me, but I have also the element of suspense which is invaluable in a motion picture plot. The natural supposition is that the policeman is going to get the worst of it and there is an intense interest in how I am to come out of my apparently unequal combat with ‘Bully’ Campbell. “There is further contrast between my comedy walk and general funny business and the popular conception of dignity that is supposed to hedge a uniformed police officer. Now that ‘Easy Street’ is ready for release, I feel satisfied that it will be one of the biggest hits of the series. Anyway it makes the professionals laugh and that is a pretty good sign.” This is the first time in all his stage career that Chaplin has ever appeared as a policeman, though he has been busy fighting police officers ever since he made his first bow on the screen. Once during his early engagements on the speaking stage Chaplin played the police officer in “Box & Cox” and he declares to this day that he was the hit of the piece. The uniform he wears in “Easy Street” is to be raffled off at a bazaar for the benefit of the Red Cross. It cost $125 and the bazaar promoters propose to start it at $200 with Chaplin’s club, helmet, belt and big shoes. Charlie Chaplin as the policeman in “Easy Street.” CHAPLIN-MUTUAL PHOTOPLAYS The Floorwalker One A. M. Behind the Screen The Fireman The Count The Rink The Vagabond Easy Street The Pawnshop REEL LIFE— Page Three