The Tramp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the song, see The Tramp (song).
The Tramp was Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character, a recognized icon of world cinema most dominant during the silent film era.
The Tramp was a bumbling but usually good-hearted character who is most famously portrayed as a vagrant who endeavoured to behave with the manners and dignity of a gentleman despite his actual social status. However, while he was ready to take what paying work that is available; he also used his cunning to get what he needed to survive and escape the authority figures who would not tolerate it. Chaplin's films did not always portray "The Tramp" (or, "The Little Fellow" as Chaplin called him) as a vagrant, however. The character was rarely referred to by any names on screen, although the character is sometimes identified as Charlie.
The tramp debuted during the silent film era in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice (released on February 7, 1914). Chaplin, with his Little Tramp character, quickly became the most popular star in Keystone director Mack Sennett's company of players. Chaplin continued to play the Tramp through dozens of short films and, later, feature-length productions (in only a handful of other productions did he play characters other than the Tramp).
The Tramp was closely identified with the silent era, and was considered an international character; when the sound era began in the late 1920s, Chaplin refused to make a talkie featuring the character. The 1931 production City Lights featured no dialogue. Chaplin officially retired the character in the film Modern Times (released February 5, 1936); the film was only a partial talkie and is often called the last silent film. The Tramp remains silent until near the end of the film when, for the first time, his voice is heard. However, what he speaks is in fact a string of gibberish mixed with random Italian language phrases as part of a song he sings.
Chaplin used not one, but two similar-looking characters to the Tramp in The Great Dictator (released October 15, 1940), however this was an all-talking film (Chaplin's first). The film was inspired by the noted similarity between Chaplin's appearance (most notably his small moustache) and that of German dictator Adolf Hitler. Chaplin used this similarity to create a dark version of the Tramp character in parody of the dictator. (In his book My Autobiography, Chaplin stated that he was unaware of the Holocaust when the made the film; if he had been, he writes, he wouldn't have been able to make a comedy satirizing Hitler.)
In an interview in 1933, Chaplin explained how he came up with the look of The Tramp: "A hotel set was built for (fellow Keystone comic) Mabel Normand’s picture and I was hurriedly told to put on a funny make-up. This time I went to the wardrobe and got a pair of baggy pants, a tight coat, a small derby hat and a large pair of shoes. I wanted the clothes to be a mass of contradictions, knowing pictorially the figure would be vividly outlined on the screen. To add a comic touch, I wore a small mustache which would not hide my expression. My appearance got an enthusiastic response from everyone, including Mr. Sennett. The clothes seemed to imbue me with the spirit of the character. He actually became a man with a soul - a point of view. I defined to Mr Sennett the type of person he was. He wears an air of romantic hunger, forever seeking romance, but his feet won’t let him." (Chaplin's recollection, however, contradicts the fact the first Tramp film, Kid Auto Races at Venice was shot on location at Venice Beach, not in a hotel set, and Normand had no involvement in the making of the picture.)
In 1959, having been editing "The Chaplin Revue", Chaplin commented to a reporter (regarding the Tramp character) "I was wrong to kill him. There was room for the Little Man in the atomic age."
In the 1980s, the character connected with a new generation as the mascot and feature character of a well received advertising campaign promoting the IBM PC personal computer.
[edit] The short film
The Tramp is also a short film starring Chaplin as the titular main character. In the film, a hobo exchanges the Tramp's sandwich for a brick so the Tramp must eat grass. The same hobo later bothers a farmer's daughter, and the Tramp comes to her aid with the help of the brick. When two more hobos show up, the Tramp throws all three into a lake. The grateful girl takes the Tramp home, where he fails as a farmhand. He again helps drive off the hobos (who are now trying to break into the house). The girl's fiancé arrives. Though a hero, Charlie, knowing he must go, writes a farewell note and leaves again for the open road.
The film also stars Edna Purviance, Lloyd Bacon, and Leo White.
The Tramp was released on April 11, 1915 through Essanay Studios.
