His New Job (1915)
Chaplin's Essanay Comedies (1915) • 29m
Chaplin's first Essanay comedy - and appropriately titled - was the only film he made at Essanay's Chicago studio located at 1333 West Argyle Street in the city's north side. As with his Keystone films, A Film Johnnie (1914) and The Masquerader (1914), Chaplin chose to set the action in a film studio.
Charlie is hired as a prop man and is soon demoted to a carpenter's assistant at the Lockstone studio (a play on his former employer, Keystone) before given the chance to act, which ends in disaster. The film was Chaplin's first pairing with cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin and features an early appearance by Gloria Swanson as a secretary. Despite Chaplin's reputation for static cinematography, it is also notable for several tracking shots (the work of cinematographer Jackson Rose), which were seldom used in film comedy of the period. Upon completion of HIS NEW JOB on January 12, 1915, Chaplin escaped the harsh winter and primitive working conditions of Chicago for California, taking comedians Ben Turpin and Leo White with him.
Up Next in Chaplin's Essanay Comedies (1915)
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A Night Out (1915)
Chaplin's second film for Essanay, A NIGHT OUT, was the first of five films shot in and around the company's Niles studio in northern California (approximately 35 miles southeast of San Francisco, and now a district of Fremont, California). The plot is a variation of the teaming of Chaplin and Ro...
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The Champion (1915)
Inspired by Chaplin’s interest in boxing, as well as the Keystone two-reeler, The Knockout (1914), this comedy has Charlie finding employment as a sparring partner who fights in the prize ring and wins the championship match, with the help of his pet bulldog. In 1915, boxing events were illegal i...
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In the Park (1915)
IN THE PARK was the first of two one-reel comedies Chaplin created for Essanay. Chaplin hastily made the film in San Francisco at the request of the company as the result of the prolonged production of his previous film, The Champion. The film, which involves Charlie interfering in the lives of t...
