The Champion
About The Champion
Charlie Chaplin, walking with his bulldog, finds a horseshoe outside a camp that wants a sparring partner who can take a beating. He watches other men lose, puts the horseshoe in his glove, and wins. The trainer enters him against the world champion. A gambler wants him to throw the fight. He falls for the trainer’s daughter, played by Edna Purviance. Chaplin directed the Essanay two-reeler.
Cast & crew
More about The Champion
Jess Robbins produced. Harry Ensign photographed it. Wikidata times it at 33 minutes. The release date carried with this record is 11 March 1915. Broncho Billy Anderson, an Essanay owner, sits in the crowd at the championship. Leo White, Lloyd Bacon, and Bud Jamison are billed. The company is Essanay, not Mutual. A Commons file uses the 1915 title. Robert Israel’s name on a composer credit belongs to a later score.
Themes
Making
Chaplin stages two fights: the sparring tryout decided by a horseshoe, and the championship the gambler wants fixed.
Look
Harry Ensign shot the training camp and the ring.
Preservation
The short survives. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The horseshoe stays in the glove for the sparring win.
- The gambler’s offer is to throw the title fight.
- Purviance is the trainer’s daughter.
- Anderson is a spectator, not the champion.
Scenes
- Chaplin slips the horseshoe into the glove and knocks the sparring partner out.
- The gambler asks him to lose to the champion.
- Anderson cheers from the crowd.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Champion (1915).webm)
