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40-531: Essanay was originally located at 501 Wells Street (modern numbering: 1360 N. Wells). Essanay's first film, An Awful Skate, or The Hobo on Rollers (July 1907), starring Ben Turpin (then the studio janitor), produced for only a couple hundred dollars, grossed several thousand dollars in release. The studio prospered and in 1908 moved to its more famous address at 1333–45 W. Argyle Street in Uptown, Chicago . Essanay produced silent films with such stars (and stars of

80-429: A Chaplin short. Chaplin's stock company at Essanay included Ben Turpin , who disliked working with the meticulous Chaplin and appeared with him in only a couple of films; ingenue Edna Purviance , who became his off-screen sweetheart as well; Leo White , almost always playing a fussy continental villain; and all-purpose authority figures Bud Jamison and John Rand . Silent films were largely photographed outdoors for

120-519: A film distribution partnership known as V-L-S-E, Incorporated . It was orchestrated by Chicago distributor George Kleine . Only the Vitagraph brand name continued into the 1920s, and was absorbed by Warner Bros. in 1925. In 1916, Essanay arranged a deal with William Kane, who later become the publisher and editor of The Black Cat , to acquire a hundred stories from the magazine to turn into "Black Cat" films, each about half-an-hour long. The plan

160-811: A heart attack and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California , following a Requiem Mass at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills . He was eulogized as "a fine member of his church, strong in his faith" by Father J. P. Concannon. His pallbearers included Andy Clyde , Billy Bevan , James Finlayson , Heinie Conklin , and Charlie Murray . Turpin had been close friends with Andy Clyde and James Finlayson, with Clyde having been

200-605: A location in Niles Canyon in the San Francisco East Bay Area, setting up in Frank Mortimer's empty barn on Second between G and H Streets, for interior scenes. The next year in the town of Niles at the mouth of Niles Canyon, "Essanay built 10 modest cottages for their actors on 2nd Street, between F and G streets, and constructed an unassuming (200-foot) studio nearby", across the street from

240-525: A series of silent comedies. Anderson died in Los Angeles in 1971. The Essanay building in Chicago was later taken over by independent producer Norman Wilding, who made industrial films and television commercials. Wilding's tenancy was much longer than Essanay's; he maintained the physical plant until at least 1967, when trade magazines stopped mentioning "Wilding, Inc." In the early 1970s, a portion of

280-425: A stalwart cowboy; a fearless stuntman, etc.) for maximum comic effect. Through the 1920s his roles often spoofed serious actors and celebrities of the time – e.g., "The Shriek" for "The Sheik" – and Turpin became one of film's most popular comics. Turpin appeared in both short subjects and feature films for Sennett. Delighted with his success, he took to introducing himself with the phrase, "I'm Ben Turpin; I make $ 3,000

320-503: A week." Sennett terminated most of his staff's contracts in 1928, and closed the studio to retool for the new talking pictures. Turpin was signed by the low-budget Weiss Bros. -Artclass company, perhaps the most ambitious coup that Artclass ever attempted. Turpin made 10 two-reel comedies there for one year. Artclass usually traded on his peculiar vision with titles like Idle Eyes and The Eyes Have It . The year 1929 saw many silent-film stars uncertain about their future employment, with

360-415: Is felled by a gunshot wound, and then disappointed in romance). The film ends with the famous shot of the lonely tramp with his back to the camera, walking down the road dejectedly until shrugging off his disappointment. Attempting to capitalize on the popularity of Chaplin, the studio in 1915 had its cartoon character Dreamy Dud in a Chaplin-themed short Dreamy Dud Sees Charlie Chaplin in which Dud watches

400-487: Is presenting an entirely new film as stated." The finished film found an audience, since new Chaplin comedies were then hard to come by, but the revenue wasn't enough to save the company. George K. Spoor continued to work in the motion picture industry, introducing an unsuccessful 3-D system in 1923, and Spoor-Berggren Natural Vision, a 65 mm widescreen format, in 1930. He died in Chicago in 1953. G. M. Anderson became an independent producer, sponsoring Stan Laurel in

440-583: The Cameo company, in 1920) to cash in on Turpin's subsequent stardom: Why Ben Bolted was retitled He Looked Crooked , for example. In 1917, Ben Turpin joined the leading comedy company, the Mack Sennett studio. Turpin's aptitude for crude slapstick suited the Sennett style perfectly, and Sennett's writers often cast the ridiculous-looking Turpin against type (a rugged Yukon miner; a suave, worldly lover;

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480-534: The Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California . Turpin worked in vaudeville , burlesque , and circuses . He had a distinctive appearance, with a small wiry frame, a brush mustache, and crossed eyes . Turpin's famous eyes, he said, only crossed as a young adult after he suffered an accident. He was convinced that the crossed eyes were essential to his comic career; his co-workers recalled that after he received any blow to

520-617: The Chicago and Niles studios, plus a cameo appearance in the Broncho Billy film 'His Regeneration'. Chaplin's Essanays are more disciplined than the chaotic roughhouse of Chaplin's Keystones, with better story value and character development. The landmark film of the Chaplin series is The Tramp (1915), in which Chaplin's vagabond character finds work on a farm and is smitten with the farmer's daughter. Chaplin injected moments of drama and pathos unheard of in slapstick comedies (the tramp

560-452: The Tramp walking down the road, narrowly escaping two cars. Seeking refuge on a farm, he faces various humorous situations, including a hobo trading his sandwich for a brick. The Tramp comes to the aid of a farmer's daughter who is harassed by a hobo. As the story unfolds, the Tramp engages in farm work, gets involved in a tiff with a farmhand, and foils a planned robbery. However, upon realizing

600-598: The Wild . Turpin starred in only one more film, the short subject Keystone Hotel ( Warner Bros. , 1935), a reunion of silent-era comedians. His last feature film was Laurel and Hardy 's Saps at Sea in 1940, in which his cross-eyed face served as a joke punchline. He was paid his $ 1000 for one quick shot of his face and just 16 words of dialogue. Death prevented his scheduled appearance in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator . Ben Turpin died July 1, 1940, of

640-501: The back or in a seated position. Turpin first appeared on film in 1907 for Essanay Studios in Chicago in various small parts and comic bits. In addition to his on-screen work, he worked as a carpenter and janitor for Essanay. In the 1909 film Mr. Flip , Turpin receives what is believed to have been the first pie-in-the-face. Charlie Chaplin joined the Essanay company in 1915, and the studio made Turpin his second banana. Chaplin

680-474: The dressing room he picks up a hand mirror and checks his reflection as he deliberately crosses his eyes as extremely as possible. In this sequence, it can be seen that Turpin's left eye was actually normal when he was not performing and that he intentionally crossed it (to match his misaligned right eye) as part of his screen character. The Tramp (film) The Tramp is the sixth film directed by Charlie Chaplin for Essanay Studios , released in 1915. It

720-409: The first American Sherlock Holmes film. Directed by Arthur Berthelet , it stars William Gillette in the title role. Animated comedies were produced as well by the Chicago company, including installments showcasing the small boy "Dreamy Dud" and his dog "Wag", who in the early 1900s were among the favorite cartoon characters of theater audiences. Due to Chicago 's seasonal weather patterns and

760-510: The first American film version of A Christmas Carol (1908) as well as the Western short The James Boys of Missouri (1908), which is notable for being the first biopic about the nineteenth-century American outlaw brothers Jesse and Frank James . The first pie-in-the-face gag on screen is believed to have hit Essanay star Ben Turpin in Mr. Flip (1909). The studio in 1916 also released

800-458: The future) as George Periolat , Ben Turpin , Wallace Beery , Thomas Meighan , Colleen Moore , Francis X. Bushman , Gloria Swanson , Ann Little , Helen Dunbar , Lester Cuneo , Florence Oberle , Lewis Stone , Virginia Valli , Edward Arnold , Edmund Cobb , and Rod La Rocque . The mainstay of the organization, however, was studio co-owner Gilbert Anderson, starring in the very popular "Broncho Billy" Westerns, and ultimately its biggest star

840-406: The head he made a point of looking himself in the mirror to assure himself that they had not become uncrossed. He was a devout Catholic , and his workmates occasionally goaded him by threatening to pray that his eyes would uncross, thus depriving him of his livelihood. Turpin famously bought a $ 25,000 insurance policy with Lloyd's of London , payable if his eyes ever uncrossed. A 1920 version of

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880-601: The loss of her hearing. Heartbroken, Turpin took his seriously ill wife to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, hoping she would be healed. She eventually became an invalid, with Turpin placing his career on hold to care for her. Carrie died on October 2, 1925. Turpin remarried on July 8, 1926, to Babette Dietz in Los Angeles. He was a Roman Catholic , and a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and

920-530: The loss of the magazines, eventually winning his case in the US Supreme Court . The Chicago studio continued to produce films until 1918, reaching a total of well over 1,400 Essanay titles during its ten-year history. In a last-ditch attempt to cash in on Charlie Chaplin's popularity, Essanay cobbled together Triple Trouble , taking material from an unfinished Chaplin project called Life and having actor Leo White film new scenes in Chicago to connect

960-438: The natural sunlight; even some interior scenes were filmed outdoors, with theatrical scenery propped up behind the actors. Chaplin didn't like the unpredictable weather of Chicago or the chilly climate of Niles, and moved his production unit to the more temperate Los Angeles. He left Essanay after only one year for more money and more creative control elsewhere. His departure caused a rift between founders Spoor and Anderson. Chaplin

1000-514: The new talking pictures requiring new skills and techniques. Ben Turpin chose to retire. He had invested his earnings in real estate and, being highly successful at this, had no financial need for more work. Producers soon sought him out for gag appearances in films. Turpin's speaking voice was a gritty rasp that retained elements of the New Orleans "Yat" accent of his youth. He commanded a flat fee of $ 1000 per appearance, regardless of whether it

1040-472: The older Chaplin scenes. Exhibitors were suspicious of the film's authenticity, so Spoor went public. "I wish to state that the film is new in its entirety, just as advertised, and is not a rehash, nor a reissue under a new title," Spoor explained. "The facts are that at the time of making the picture it went under the working title of Life . [Essanay] has reissued Chaplin pictures, and has always stated that they were reissues. In Triple Trouble , however, Essanay

1080-584: The picture into a featurette, doubling its length. These new scenes were staged by actor-director Leo White ; Turpin and Chaplin do not appear together on screen. Essanay did not survive Chaplin's departure and remained solvent for only a few more years. Turpin may have been aware of Essanay's instability; he left for the Vogue comedy company, where he starred in a series of two-reel comedies. Former Essanay comedian Paddy McGuire supported him. Many of Turpin's Vogue comedies were re-released under different titles (by

1120-486: The popularity of Westerns, Gilbert Anderson took a part of the company west, first to Colorado . He told The Denver Post in 1909, "Colorado is the finest place in the country for Wild West stuff". The Western operations moved to California, but traveled between Northern to Southern California seasonally. This included locations in San Rafael , north of San Francisco , and Santa Barbara . In 1912 Anderson settled on

1160-494: The railroad tracks. More than 350 films were produced in Niles by Essanay. On 16 February 1916, the Niles lot was closed by George K. Spoor via telegram. By the 1930s, it had been torn down. In late 1914, Essanay succeeded in hiring Charlie Chaplin away from Mack Sennett 's Keystone Studios , offering Chaplin a higher production salary and his own production unit. Chaplin made fourteen short comedies for Essanay in 1915-1916, at both

1200-430: The story had the amount upped $ 100,000. He developed a vigorous style of physical comedy, including an ability to stage comic pratfalls that impressed even his fellow workers in the rough-and-tumble world of silent comedy. One of his specialties was a forward tumble he called the "hundred an' eight". It was basically an interrupted forward somersault initiated by kicking one leg up, turning over 180 degrees to land flat on

1240-644: The studio was offered to Columbia College (Chicago) for one dollar, but the offer lapsed without action. Then it was given to a non-profit television corporation which sold it. One tenant was the midwest office of Technicolor . Today the Essanay lot is the home of St. Augustine's College , and its main meeting hall has been named the Charlie Chaplin Auditorium. The facility was named a Chicago Landmark in 1996. Ben Turpin Bernard " Ben " Turpin (September 19, 1869  – July 1, 1940)

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1280-534: The witness at Turpin's second wedding, and Turpin having been one of the witnesses signing Finlayson's petition for naturalization. Turpin and Sennett both appeared as themselves (in Technicolor ) in Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), a partly fictionalized movie about the silent-film era. This movie contains a sequence in which Turpin reports for work and prepares to go onto the set in character. In

1320-526: Was Charlie Chaplin , who for a time had his own production unit at the studio. Allan Dwan was hired by Essanay Studios as a screenwriter and developed into a famous Hollywood director. Louella Parsons was also a screenwriter for the studio and went on to be a powerful Hollywood gossip columnist. Owners Spoor (in 1948) and Anderson (in 1958) received the Oscars ' Academy Honorary Award , for their pioneering efforts with Essanay. Essanay's productions include

1360-438: Was Chaplin's fifth and final film produced at Essanay's Niles, California studio. The Tramp marked the emergence of The Tramp character, a role Chaplin had played in earlier films but with a more emotional depth, showing a caring side towards others. The film also stars Edna Purviance as the farmer's daughter and Ernest Van Pelt as Edna's father. The outdoor scenes were filmed on location near Niles. The film begins with

1400-565: Was a part of the Mack Sennett studio team. He is believed to have been the first filmed "victim" of the pie in the face gag. When sound came to films, Turpin chose to retire, having invested profitably in real estate, although he did do occasional cameos. Turpin was born in New Orleans , Louisiana , on September 19, 1869, the son of a candy store owner, Ernest Turpin, and Sarah Buckley. Turpin and his first wife, actress Carrie Lemieux, were married in Chicago on February 18, 1907. In 1923, Mrs. Turpin became ill with influenza , which caused

1440-532: Was a speaking role or a fleeting cameo. Among the most memorable of these cameos were in RKO 's Wheeler and Woolsey comedy Cracked Nuts (with Turpin as a cockeyed bombardier), and Paramount 's Million Dollar Legs (1932) starring W. C. Fields , Jack Oakie , and Susan Fleming (the future wife of Harpo Marx of The Marx Brothers ). Turpin also offered comedy relief in Mascot 's 1934 adventure serial The Law of

1480-403: Was an American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films . His trademarks were his cross-eyed appearance and adeptness at vigorous physical comedy. A sometimes vaudeville performer, he was "discovered" for film while working as the janitor for Essanay Studios in Chicago. Turpin went on to work with notable performers such as Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy , and

1520-444: Was maturing as a filmmaker, working slowly and intuitively. Turpin, however, was impatient with Chaplin's methods. The earthy Turpin understood straightforward slapstick more than comic subtlety. The Chaplin–Turpin duo did not last long, with Chaplin abandoning Chicago for California. Turpin does share one additional credit with Chaplin: after Chaplin filmed Burlesque on Carmen in two reels, Essanay filmed new scenes with Turpin to pad

1560-626: Was the studio's biggest moneymaker, and Essanay resorted to creating "new" Chaplin comedies from file footage and out-takes. Finally, with Chaplin off the Essanay scene for good, Essanay signed French comedian Max Linder , whose clever pantomime, often compared to Chaplin's, failed to match Chaplin's popularity in America. In 1915, in a effort to save the studio, Essanay entered into an agreement with Vitagraph Studios , Lubin Manufacturing Company , and Selig Polyscope Company to form

1600-410: Was to release one picture a week, starting on December 5, 1916 with "The Egg", a comedy starring Richard Travers and Marguerite Clayton . Kane loaned Essanay a set of The Black Cat issues, complete from the first issue through May 1915, and received $ 1,250 from Essanay for the one hundred stories they selected. Essanay failed to return the magazines to Kane, who sued them for $ 20,000 compensation for

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