His New Job (1915)

Charlie is trying to get a job in a movie. After causing difficulty on the set he is told to help the carpenter. When one of the actors doesn't show, Charlie is given a chance to act but ... See full summary »

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Billy Armstrong, Agnes Ayres

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charles Chaplin	...	Film Extra

Storyline

Charlie is trying to get a job in a movie. After causing difficulty on the set he is told to help the carpenter. When one of the actors doesn't show, Charlie is given a chance to act but instead enters a dice game. When he does finally act he ruins the scene, wrecks the set and tears the skirt from the star.

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Plot Keywords:

hollywood | public domain

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Taglines:

Essanay PRESENTS THE ONE AND ONLY CHARLES CHAPLIN IN ANOTHER IRRESISTIBLE ABSURDITY.

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 1915 (USA)

Also Known As:

Charlie's New Job

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

31 min 31 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the first of fourteen Essanay Films that Chaplin made after leaving Keystone when Mack Sennett would not meet the comedian's $1000 a week demands. Essanay gave him $1250. The first film, "His New Job," is the only Chaplin film made on location in Chicago.

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Goofs

A taped "X" on Ben Turpin's neck, used by Charlie to strike a match against, disappears when the gag is over.

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Connections

Featured in Den gamle biograf: Episode #1.6 (2011)

User Reviews

Pretty Good, & A Noticeable Step Up from Chaplin's Earlier Features

Besides being pretty good in itself, "His New Job" is also interesting in that it is a clear improvement over the previous features that Charlie Chaplin had made when he was with Keystone Studies. While the Keystone features were not bad, and often contained some excellent material, overall they generally gave the appearance of having been thrown together quickly, which often left a lot of unrealized potential in some of their ideas and themes. And, while these Essanay features themselves were usually not quite as good as his later Mutual features, they did give Chaplin a chance to perform quite a few kinds of material, and most of them are well worth seeing.

In this one, Charlie's character is competing with some other hopefuls who are trying to break into the movies. Ben Turpin and Charlie have quite a few scenes together, and although their scenes are primarily knockabout slapstick, they do work well as a team. The action takes place in several settings, and on average it is fairly creative in its use of the settings and props. Most of the gags come off all right, and overall the feature works pretty well.