Behind the Screen
About Behind the Screen
David, assistant to the prop man, hauls chairs, a piano, and a trap door through a messy shoot. An aspiring actress, played by Edna Purviance, comes looking for work. The stagehands strike. A pie fight spills into a period drama on the next stage. Charlie Chaplin plays David and directed. Eric Campbell is the prop man.
Cast & crew
More about Behind the Screen
Chaplin wrote and produced the Mutual short. Roland Totheroh photographed it. Mutual released it. Wikidata times it at 23 minutes. An Internet Archive identifier, CC_1916_11_13_BehindtheScreen, matches a 13 November 1916 release. Henry Bergman, Wesley Ruggles, and Tom Wood are billed. Wikipedia notes a shot in which Chaplin carries eleven chairs on one hand and a piano on the other. The film is in the public domain.
Themes
Making
Chaplin built the short out of studio furniture: the trap door, the stacked chairs, and the pies.
Look
Roland Totheroh shot the stages, including the moment the pie fight crosses into the other film.
Preservation
The short survives and is in the public domain. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The pie fight does not stay on David’s set. It hits the costume picture next door.
- Purviance is the actress looking for a job.
- Campbell is the man David assists.
- A Commons file names Chaplin and the year.
Scenes
- Chaplin carries eleven chairs and lifts a piano.
- The trap door opens under the wrong person.
- The pies land in the period drama.
Also available
- Internet Archive (CC_1916_11_13_BehindtheScreen)
- Wikimedia Commons (Behind the Screen (1916) by Charlie Chaplin.webm)
