Kid Auto Races at Venice
About Kid Auto Races at Venice
At the Junior Vanderbilt Cup pushcar races in Venice, California, a newsreel camera is set up on the crowd. A spectator in a derby, cane, and tight coat keeps stepping into the shot. The director and the cameraman shove him aside. He comes back, poses, and blocks the cars. The race goes on around him.
Cast & crew
More about Kid Auto Races at Venice
Henry Lehrman directed it and plays the film director. He and Chaplin are credited with the writing. Mack Sennett produced it. Frank D. Williams and Enrique Juan Vallejo photographed it. Keystone released it on 7 February 1914. It runs 6 minutes 22 seconds. Charles Chaplin plays the spectator. It is the first film released with his Tramp. Mabel's Strange Predicament, shot a few days earlier, was released two days later. Making a Living, his first film, had opened five days before this one. The gags were improvised in front of the real crowd at the Junior Vanderbilt Cup. It is also known as The Pest.
Themes
Making
Lehrman and Chaplin worked the gags out on the street while the children's race was actually running. The spectators in the background are the people who came for the cup.
Look
Frank D. Williams, who also plays the cameraman, and Enrique Juan Vallejo shot the race and the man who will not stay out of the frame.
Preservation
A print survives. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2020.
Notes
- Gordon Griffith and Billy Jacobs play boys. Charlotte Fitzpatrick and Thelma Salter play girls.
- The picture opens as if it were a straight newsreel of the race.
- Chaplin's Tramp costume here is rougher than the later version.
- The Junior Vanderbilt Cup races ran on 10 and 11 January 1914. A note on the shoot puts the camera work on 11 January.
Awards
- National Film Registry (2020)
Scenes
- Chaplin steps in front of the lens and will not leave.
- Lehrman, as the director, pushes him out of the shot.
- The pushcars pass while he poses.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheKidAutoRaceinVenice)
- Wikimedia Commons (Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914).webm)
- Library of Congress
