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The “Other” Chaplin? Bollocks.
Welcome to sydchaplin.com. It’s ten years on from the publication of my
biography on Syd and high time for a website upgrade.
This new version will include lots of great photos of Syd and friends, plus a
good bit of biographical information—some of it new since the book was
published. If you’d like to see my process in writing the book, check out “Syd’s
blog."
I hope you enjoy this new iteration. Please send comments and questions, if you
have any.

about the author

SYD CHAPLIN


NEWS

Biography
1/1/ to 1/22/

ON JANUARY 21, 1939

Syd moved back to Hollywood.

1/22/ to 1/23/

ON JANUARY 22, 1937

Syd began his World Tour.

1/23/ to 2/15/

ON FEBRUARY 14, 1908

Syd is thought to have married Minnie Gilbert.

2/15/ to 3/12/

ON MARCH 11, 1925

Syd signed a contract with Warner Brothers.

3/12/ to 3/17/

ON MARCH 16, 1885

Syd was born at 57 Brandon Street, Lambeth, South London.

3/17/ to 3/25/

ON MARCH 24, 1903

Syd made his last voyage on Kinfauns Castle.

3/25/ to 3/28/

ON MARCH 27, 1916

Syd completed work on the Lone Star Studio.

3/28/ to 4/1/

ON MARCH 31, 1931

Syd met up with Charlie in Nice during his 1931-32 tour.

4/1/ to 4/7/

ON APRIL 6, 1901

Syd made his first voyage on the S. S. Norman.

4/7/ to 4/16/

ON APRIL 15, 1965

Syd died at the Ruhl Hotel in Nice and was buried in the Cimitière de
Clarens-Montreux, Montreux, Switzerland.

4/16/ to 4/17/

ON APRIL 16, 1889

Syd's brother Charlie was born.

4/17/ to 5/15/

ON MAY 14, 1919

Syd signed a contract with Jesse Lasky/Parmount Studios.

5/15/ to 6/11/

ON JUNE 10, 1919

Syd launched the Syd Chaplin Aircraft Corporation.

6/11/ to 7/2/

ON JULY 1, 1895

Syd entered the Lambeth Workhouse at Renfrew Road, London.

7/2/ to 7/6/

ON JULY 5, 1924

Syd signed a contract to make Charley's Aunt.

7/6/ to 8/4/

ON AUGUST 3, 1892

Syd's brother Wheeler Dryden was born.

8/4/ to 8/9/

ON AUGUST 8, 1906

Syd began an American tour with Karno on the Percy Williams Circuit.

8/9/ to 9/4/

ON SEPTEMBER 3, 1936

Syd's wife Minnie died in Nice.

9/4/ to 9/20/

ON SEPTEMBER 19, 1915

Syd arrived in Grosse Isle, Québéc on his way to America.

9/20/ to 10/21/

ON OCTOBER 20, 1915

Syd was held in quarantine in Grosse Isle, Québéc on his way to America.

10/21/ to 11/19/

ON NOVEMBER 18, 1896

Syd joined the Exmouth training ship.

11/19/ to 12/11/

DECEMBER 10, 1906

Syd ended his American tour with Karno.

12/11/ to 12/31/

ON JANUARY 21, 1939

Syd moved back to Hollywood.

Find out more about Syd's history
By Lisa Stein Haven

SYD CHAPLIN: A BIOGRAPHY

The first study of the life and art of Syd.

purchase now
Filmography

SYD AS ARTHUR WELLS

in The Missing Link (1927)

See Syd's entire filmography

SYD CHAPLIN


VIDEOS

 * "GUSSLE'S WAYWARD PATH" (1915)

 * "GUSSLE’S BACKWARD WAY" (1915)

 * SYD AND CHARLIE ON THE SUNNYSIDE SET

 * CHARLIE, SYD AND DEAN RIESNER CLIP FROM THE PILGRIM

 * "A SUBMARINE PIRATE" (1915)




CHARACTER CONSTRUCTION

SELECT A SET OF CHARACTERS

 * Archibald Binks to Reginald Gussle
 * Winky to Ole Bill

Fred Karno hired Syd Chaplin for his Karno’s London Comedians in 1906, sending
Syd with a company to tour the eastern part of America soon after. Syd was hired
for what Karno deemed “a rough type,” in other words a character not averse to a
pinch, a slap, a kick in the pants or whatever other light violence might be
needed to incite a laugh or two. Of course, playing the Inebriate in one of
Karno’s most famous sketches “Night in an English Music Hall” or “Mumming
Birds,” Syd got to test his “rough-housing” skills right off. By the signing of
his second Karno contract in June 1907, Syd was more able to be creative,
writing sketches and characters—as well as coaxing Karno to hire his younger
brother, Charlie.

One such character Syd inhabited in several sketches was “Hon. Archibald Binks,”
a degraded and morally bankrupt gentleman who wasn’t above engaging in a little
mischief, mostly for fun. He wore a wrinkled and too-large suit, hair parted in
the middle and greased down (but with unstuck bits), a monocle, too many medals
on his jacket and a straw hat. Being very young at the time, Syd was made up to
look much older, with a litany of creases drawn onto his face. This character
appeared in “Skating,” “The Wow-Wows” and several other sketches and, according
to the reviews at the time, was very popular and successful the minute he was
presented.

In fact, it was this very comfortable (to Syd) character that evolved into
Reginald Gussle of his Keystone films—not Charlie’s Little Tramp as many have
wrongly suggested. There is nothing tramp-like about Gussle. He’s much too
chunky for that, if for no other reason. Reginald Gussle is also a degraded
“gentleman,” and I use that term loosely.

He’s not above a good flirt plus more or an arbitrary kick in the pants (or
skirt!) Gussle wears a jacket and pants that don’t necessarily match and a
too-small fedora, often turned up at the sides. A cane is added now and then,
and the monocle appears with as much frequency.

However, Gussle is not an Englishman and he’s not quite as old as Binks, either,
because Syd moved away from the heavy make-up that helped him to achieve that
added age. Gussle’s large and padded posterior is supposed to add to the skewed
picture of a well-off semi-gentleman that the character represents.

He may have money (most likely his wife’s), but he certainly doesn’t work for
it. Nor is he interested in activities that require any effort. The womanly ass
of Gussle emphasizes this behavior but in a comedic way that also promotes a
bawdier reading for some. You can make your own analyses here...

Just after the end of World War I, caricaturist Bruce Bairnsfather began to
publish his series Fragments from France, featuring a litany of memorable
characters from Bairnsfather’s own experience with the Royal Warwickshire
Regiment in the trenches. Charlie Chaplin, although he had received multiple
white feathers in the mail during the course of the war, was still a source of
hope and relief for most soldiers, who enjoyed his films in their off hours on
the front, so it’s not surprising that Bairnsfather soon sought out Charlie with
the gift of a large size caricature of the Little Tramp, from both himself and
his fellow soldiers.

Still part of the Chaplin studios at this time, brother Syd most likely came
into contact with the series and its most important character, Old Bill, about
this time—if he had not already read the series on his own (Syd was a voracious
reader!). Although there is no hard evidence, it seems clear that Syd decided
that Old Bill would be the perfect character for himself to occupy, if the
chance ever arose, and probably kept that desire in the back of his head from
1918 onwards.

During 1923-24, Syd had left the Chaplin studios with his final film there, The
Pilgrim, and was taking secondary character roles, such as Judd in Her Temporary
Husband, Freddy Wetherill in The Galloping Fish, Dick Trayle in The Perfect
Trapper and, most importantly, Winky in The Rendezvous. This last proved to be
his tryout of the Old Bill character, for it’s even hard to tell photos of Winky
and Old Bill apart. The Rendezvous, from a novel by Madeleine Ruthven, was a
Russian story of star-crossed lovers banished to Siberia, where the wife dies,
leaving an only child, Vera, who is subsequently forced into marriage with a
Cossack chief, then saved from this fate by an American soldier. The character
of “Winky” does not appear in the novel and was effectively added to the
screenplay for what reason is unknown—possibly for comic relief. Winky is a
sidekick to Conrad Nagel’s Walter Stanford, the American soldier, and therefore,
can be identified as an American soldier of the WWI era.

Having tried out this preview of Bairnsfather’s Old Bill character in The
Rendezvous then, Syd would be required only to tweek the costume a bit in order
to effectively create a nice portrayal of Bairnsfather’s gruff and grumbly Old
Bill. The film iteration of this story must have been one that Syd fought for
very persistently, because it’s doubtful that Warner Bros. would have been all
too interested in the story of British tommies in a war everyone wanted to
forget, whether it was a comedy or not. Syd, however, played his cards right and
presented Warners with two money-makers beforehand—The Man on the Box and Oh!
What a Nurse!, so perhaps he had proven his importance to the studio enough by
then for it to grant him the opportunity he had planned for over seven years!
Bairnsfather himself agreed to do all the graphic elements for the publicity
department, making this a sanctioned adaptation, so Syd took his by now well-
developed understanding of Old Bill and ran with it.

The differences between Winky and Old Bill may only be the differences between
an American doughboy and a British tommy, for they are slight. When Old Bill is
in the trenches and it is raining, he is in full tommy kit, including a large
overcoat, helmet, backpack and messenger bag. Both characters wear long mufflers
around their necks, with Winky’s being a lighter color than Bill’s, both have
walrus-type mustaches, gaiters, etc. And, of course, there are differences in
the uniform itself, which can only be noticed on close inspection. All in all,
it is very easy to see that Winky was Syd’s on-screen rehearsal of the Old Bill
character and his mannerisms. Both were comic characters—exaggerated portrayals
of the “type” of soldier each represented—and one easily moved right into the
other just two years later.

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FILM SCREENINGS AND BOOK SIGNINGS

TBA

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Images of Charlie and Sydney Chaplin not from the Haven collection are used with
permission from Roy Export, S. A. S., Paris.
Lisa Stein Haven ©  2023 \  All Rights Reserved \ Developed by Josh Spurling


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