CHAPLIN AT ESSANAY: His New Job, A Woman, and A Jitney Elopement - Anything But Silent - Live Theatre Organ Accompaniment by Ben Model

Showings

Cinema Arts Centre - Cinema 2 Thu, Dec 6, 2018 7:30 PM

Description

Anything But Silent - Live Theatre Organ Accompaniment by Ben Model
                           
CHAPLIN AT ESSANAY: His New Job, A Woman, and A Jitney Elopement
Thursday, December 6 at 7:30pm
$11 Members | $16 Public
 
In late 1914, Charlie Chaplin was paid the then-unprecedented salary of $1,250 per week (with a bonus of $10,000) in exchange for signing a one-year contract with the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company. The resulting 14 films he created for Essanay find Chaplin further experimenting with new cinematic techniques, while continuing to add complexities and pathos into his celebrated Little Tramp character, soon to become immortalized as the face, hat, and mustache of modern screen comedy. At Essanay, Chaplin was able to spend more time on his films, allowing him to shape his on screen persona and the comedic style that would make him a household name.

 HIS NEW JOB was Chaplin’s first film after leaving Keystone and moving to Essanay. Ironically, the film's plot involves the Chaplin’s character, the Tramp, also taking a new job at a movie studio- to disastrous and comedic results. (USA, 1915, 31 Mins., G, English Intertitles | Dir. Charlie Chaplin)
 

A JITNEY ELOPMENT  involves Charlie’s attempts to rescue his sweetheart from an arranged marriage by posing as a Count- until the real Count turns up. The film features a hilarious car-chase, as well as the use of mistaken identity, one of Chaplin’s favorite comedy tropes. (USA, 1915, 26 Mins., G, English Intertitles | Dir. Charlie Chaplin)
 

A WOMAN  features Chaplin’s last and finest female impersonation, a then-popular comedic device, and a common feature of the vaudeville and music-hall performances that influenced Chaplin. Chaplin’s use of close-up shots in A Woman, a device rarely used in his Keystone films, mark an important development in his career as a filmmaker. (USA, 1915, 26 Mins., G, English Intertitles | Dir. Charlie Chaplin)
 
Ben Model is one of America’s leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silent films at the New York MoMA since 1984, and the CAC since 2006.