By the Sea
About By the Sea
A windy day at a bathing resort. Charlie fights one of two husbands, then moves in on Edna while the husbands quarrel over ice cream. Her husband drives him off. He turns to the other wife.
Cast & crew
More about By the Sea
Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, and edited the short while he waited for a Los Angeles studio. He had just finished five films at Essanay's Niles plant. Jess Robbins produced. Harry Ensign photographed it on the beach in April 1915. Edna Purviance plays one of the wives.
Themes
Making
Essanay had no stage ready for Chaplin in Los Angeles, so he used the wind on the Santa Monica shore as the gag.
Look
Harry Ensign shot the short on the sand near Ocean Park Pier and on Crystal Pier, with the wind doing part of the work.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- Billy Armstrong, Bud Jamison, Margie Reiger, and Paddy McGuire are in the cast. Snub Pollard is also credited.
- Accounts of the short credit it with the first slip on a banana skin in a fiction film.
- The whole picture was shot outdoors. There is no interior set.
Scenes
- The two husbands fight over ice cream while Charlie approaches Edna.
- Driven off by her husband, he starts on the other wife.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons
