His New Profession

If you've seen any of the comedies Charlie Chaplin made at Keystone during his first year in the movies you know that they're usually very fast-paced, sometimes chaotic (even when the print is in decent shape), and generally full of slapstick violence. Furthermore, Charlie himself is not the lovable Little Tramp of later days, but a more ruthless figure, often drunk and combative. Where the ladies are concerned he's playful but not exactly warm-hearted. Sometimes Charlie is an out-and-out villain, as in Mabel at the Wheel and Tillie's Punctured Romance, and in one Keystone, The Property Man, he's a bully who torments his elderly assistant.

In His New Profession, a one-reel comedy, Charlie is a scamp who hangs around at a seaside park reading The Police Gazette, an illustrated weekly full of sin and scandal that was the National Enquirer of its day. A young gent who is stuck pushing his wheelchair-bound uncle around the pier persuades Charlie to take on the job for a while, so he can go off with his girlfriend. Through devious means Charlie uses the old man to raise a little cash to buy himself beer, but when the nephew returns the situation quickly deteriorates into a brawl involving the police. In this film Charlie is more selfish and amoral than villainous; when a passing lady drops her handbag he almost pockets it, but quickly returns it when challenged. His strategy to earn himself beer money is rather amusing. Compared to other, more crazed Keystone shorts the knockabout violence in this one builds gradually, the way Laurel & Hardy would handle escalating hostilities in their best comedies later on. Still, the tone here is pretty raw. Charlie sits on eggs and wipes off the residue on the grass, a beggar pretends to be crippled, and the uncle's bandaged foot gets clobbered repeatedly -- of course. Refined it ain't, but nonetheless it's more enjoyable than some of the other Keystones. It's well paced, and despite the low comedy stuff the atmosphere is light-hearted. It's just a day at the seashore with the old gang.

A couple of notes on the cast: the dapper young man first seen pushing his uncle's wheelchair (and who comes to regret entrusting Charlie with this job) is played by a very young Charley Chase, who went on to a starring career of his own in the '20s and '30s. And during the sequence in the saloon you'll have to look fast to catch a glimpse of Roscoe Arbuckle as the bartender. This cameo role is so brief, and is presented so casually, one suspects an inside joke.

Chas. Chaplain entertains the observer in this number with a lot of new eccentric comedy. The plot is only sufficient to hang a number of amusing antics on. Some of the situations are very funny and this will please admirers of slapstick fun. - The Moving Picture World, September 26, 1914

I didn't know that Charlie Chaplin made so many films in 1914. So I struggled a lot to find this short film The Good For Nothing, mainly because I did not know that it was actually known as His New Profession. To be honest I found this short comedy quite violent, with all the comic fighting at the pier and in the bar. But then I have not seen another Chaplin short before, so I might have been not expecting it.

The gags are amusing, but can be a bit repetitive, like Charlie's cane keeps hitting the Uncle's cast. Also, because of this, I found the first time when Charlie falling over into the food on the pavement quite amusing, but the second time a little less amusing. But some jokes can be not completed for that extra unexpected humour. An example of this is when the Uncle, in his wheelchair, gets pushed along the pier, and, like you would expect, to fall into the sea, while in fact he stops at the edge for that bit of unexpected humour, a bit of a surprise to me when the gag was repeated for the second time. Chaplin's direction really made the extremely simple plot seem like 16 minutes of traditional slapstick, repetitive gags, unexpected humour and more comic fights than you could shake a cane at! I was surprised that Minta Durfee, whose potrayal of the Woman was satisfactory, had an ongoing film career until her death in 1975! While Chaplin, whose portrayal of Charlie was very good and very important to the flow of the film, career went on until 1967, 10 years before his actual death! I do have pity though for Fritz Schade, whose protrayal of the Uncle really made the character come alive, didn't make another film after 1917, and died in 1926, and the young age of 46. It's a shame because he would have had a tremendous career in comedy films, with a role like that! Personally I would not recommend this short as an introduction Chaplin's unique work, just because of all that fighting might not a common convention of his work. Overall, it was an all right short film.

This 16 minute flick is no where near his very best or indeed his keystone best but the film from a historical points out why Chaplin and his tramp became the greatest success in popular entertainment up to that time. Chaplin quickly mastered the new medium and here he circumvents normal morals by playing to the popular crowd which at the time was very the poor, the working class and the exploited so the little tramps cruelty seemed then to be not just funny but clever in a way that simply does play to modern manners. Chaplin was still learning his trade when this short was put to celluloid way back in 1914 but even then he knew what cinema and entertainment was all about. Today 100 and more years on it is clear that Chaplin was not only an artist but a genius and a pioneer and innovator of deserved legendary status.

An early Chaplin comedy from his days at Keystone, which means he's more aggressive than he was in later years. This early version of the Little Tramp thinks nothing of kicking the occupant of a wheelchair in the chest and stealing from a beggar. There are a few mild laughs - which is more than you can say for many of Chaplin's efforts for Keystone - but he's still far from the finished article.