Charley at the Beach

Pat Sullivan's cartoon version of Charley Chaplin goes to the beach, steals hot dogs, ogles pretty women and flees from their mamas.

Tommy Jose Stathes has produced a collection called OTTO MESSMER'S FELINE FOLLIES, and this is one of the cartoons in it, because, yes, there is a black cat. The version I looked a seems to be more complete than the other reviewer's description.

It's lewd, crude, and meant t take advantage of the Chaplin craze that began in 1914, and continued through at least 1920. Everyone wanted to have their own Charlie Chaplin and the profits he brought. This was good news for former members of the Fred Karno troupe, where Chaplin had learned pantomime, but the quality of their shorts ranged from abominable through pretty good. The public didn't seem to care, but Chaplin kept advancing in technique and cinematic excellence, while pursuing the imitators with lawsuits. Pat Sullivan's studio got slapped with a complaint or six, so he gave up Charley and concentrated on the cat.

Just watched a portion of this silent cartoon on the "American Slapstick 2" DVD set. It has Charlie first looking through the peephole of some dressing rooms at the beach. Then he meets a woman and unbeknownst in between them, there's a crab about to pinch, well, you know where! I suppose if I find a more complete version I'll rate this one but since that's all I saw...