Charlie Chaplin

1914

• Stress can get to people sometimes. I won’t be one of them. Hopefully. But it is hard not to succumb into the fear and nervousness when you have a lot in the line. I’m making a film on my own. But if it is not successful, than I will have to pay Mr. Sennett $1,500. It is a funny story, how these all happened in the first place. In one of my tours in America, the New York Motion Picture Company offered me to be the one who takes the place of Fred Mace who was planning on leaving. I thought their comedy is a crude mélange of rough and rumble, but figured it would be nice to be part of a movie. Besides, it would mean a new life. After that I made my first movie in January, but it was awful. Since it was a disaster, I decided that I should create a new character, and created the tramp. I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large ... I added a small moustache, which, I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born. The audience really liked him; therefore, I decided to make him my screen persona. But that stupid director wouldn’t listen to me when I shared my opinion and completely ignored what I had to say. That guy even tried to get me fired but Sennett kept me in. I knew the movie would be so much better if the director just listened to me, and to prove it, I decided to make a new movie on my own. Sennett didn’t let me do it first, but after I said that I’d give him $1,500 he let me do it. I hope it will be successful. I worked on it pretty hard and it would be really upsetting if people didn’t like it. I guess time will show what happens.