The Floorwalker
About The Floorwalker
Store manager George Brush and his floorwalker empty the safe into a bag. The floorwalker knocks Brush out and heads for the door, then meets a customer, Chaplin's tramp, who could be his twin, and gets him to take the job. The floorwalker is arrested with the tramp holding the bag. Brush, sure the tramp is the thief, chases him through the store, including down an escalator that is running up. Police pile in, and Brush's head ends stuck in the elevator while the tramp holds it there.
Cast & crew
More about The Floorwalker
Chaplin's first Mutual film, shot at the Lone Star studio and released May 15, 1916. Henry P. Caulfield produced. Chaplin, Vincent Bryan, and Maverick Terrell wrote the scenario, with Edward Brewer as technical director.
Themes
Making
The store set was built at the Lone Star studio. The escalator had to be a working machine so Chaplin and Campbell could run against it and stay in place.
Reviews
Maxson F. Judell, in the Madison State Journal, wrote that the escalator business was new to Chaplin's comedies and that the settings and photography had been carefully made.
Look
William C. Foster and Roland Totheroh shot the store, including the office scene in which Chaplin and Bacon mirror each other.
Technique
The film is credited with the first moving staircase used for a gag: a chase down an escalator that is traveling up.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles. For the 1932 Van Beuren reissue, Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples wrote a score and sound effects were added.
Preservation
A speed-corrected restoration runs 24 minutes. The Mutual comedies were reissued by RKO in 1932 with a Van Beuren score.
Notes
- Eric Campbell plays the manager. Lloyd Bacon plays the floorwalker, the man who matches Chaplin. Edna Purviance is the manager's secretary.
- Albert Austin is a clerk. Charlotte Mineau is the store detective. Leo White is a customer who buys the bag of money.
- About seven minutes in, Chaplin and Bacon meet in opposite doors of an office and copy each other's moves.
- In 1932 Amedee Van Beuren bought the Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music, and reissued them through RKO.
- Spain saw the film on March 3, 1918. Chaplin Classics put it out again in the United States around 1922.
Scenes
- Chaplin and Lloyd Bacon copy each other in the office doorway.
- Chaplin and Campbell run down the up escalator and go nowhere.
- Campbell's head is caught in the elevator and Chaplin holds it shut.
Also available
- Internet Archive (CC_1916_05_15_TheFloorwalker)
