Editing Making a Living (section)

==Reception==

[[File: Making a Living.webm|thumb|thumbtime=20|right|The film]]

In its February 7, 1914, issue, the widely read New York–based [[trade journal]] ''[[The Moving Picture World]]'' gives the comedy short a brief but very positive review:{{blockquote|The clever player who takes the role of nervy and very nifty sharper in this picture is a comedian of the first water, who acts like one of Nature’s own naturals. It is so full of action that it is indescribable, but so much of it is fresh and unexpected fun that a laugh will be going all the time almost. It is foolish-funny stuff that will make even the sober minded laugh, but people out for an evening's good time will howl.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/movingpicturewor19newy#page/678/mode/2up "Comments on the Films...'Making a Living' (Keystone), February 2."], ''The Moving Picture World'', February 7, 1914, p. 678. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved February 16, 2021.</ref>}}

In the months following the film's release, as it circulated across the United States, many city and small-town newspapers, like ''[[The Sentinel-Record]]'' in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]], judged the short to be a "laugh", as yet another one of Keystone's "always good and boisterous comedies"; and they encouraged their readers to see it.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89051285/1914-02-24/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=1914&index=3&rows=20&words=jesters+Keystone&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1914&proxtext=Keystone+jesters&y=15&x=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 "Lyceum Theater"], ''The Sentinel-Record'' (Hot Springs, Arkansas), February 24, 1914, p. 5. Chronicling America, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Retrieved February 19, 2021.</ref> The local paper in [[Chickasha, Oklahoma]] characterized ''Making a Living'' as "truly a scream from start to finish", while in [[Bemidji, Minnesota]], the Majestic Theatre promoted it as a "[[wikt:Special:Search/ideal|peach]]", adding "If you never laughed before you will certainly do so if you see this comedy."<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86090528/1914-02-16/ed-1/seq-8/#date1=1914&index=11&rows=20&words=Keystone+Living+Making&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1914&proxtext=Making+a+Living%2C+Keystone&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 "At the Play Houses"], ''Chickasha Daily Express'' ([[Chickasha, Oklahoma]]), February 16, 1914, p. 8. Chronicling America. Retrieved February 18, 2021.</ref><ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1914-03-24/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1914&index=4&rows=20&words=Keystone+Living+Making&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1914&proxtext=Making+a+living%2C+keystone&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 "Majestic Theatre Pictures Deluxe"], ''The Bemidji Pioneer'' (Bemidji, Minnesota), March 23, 1914, p. 3. Chronicling America. Retrieved February 18, 2021.</ref> In those and other remarks about the film in 1914 and in newspaper advertisements promoting the comedy, Charlie Chaplin and his fellow performers are rarely mentioned by name, which at that time was not an uncommon practice outside the realm of film-industry publications, especially with regard to new performers in [[Film reel|one-reelers]]. In June 1914, however, the Dittmann Theatre in [[Brownsville, Texas]], did mention in the town's newspaper that its screening of ''Making a Living'' included a "new comedian in the Keystone comedy", an entertainer the theatre identified as "Charles Chappel."<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1914-06-06/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1914&index=0&rows=20&words=Chappel+Charles&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1914&proxtext=Charles+Chappel&y=13&x=16&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 "Dittmann Theatre / Programme Tonight"], ''[[The Brownsville Herald]]'' (Brownsville, Texas), June 4, 1914, p. 4. Chronicling America. Retrieved February 18, 2021.</ref> Little did that theatre’s management or moviegoers in general know that by the end of the following year, Mr. Chappel would be an established national and international film celebrity and a growing cultural phenomenon.<ref>Robinson, pp. 152-153.</ref>

One scene in particular in ''Making a Living'' excited audiences and even prompted film-industry observers in 1914 to comment about Lehrman's and Keystone's willingness to spend considerable amounts of money on their motion-picture projects, even on simple one-reel shorts. The scene is the car accident. ''[[The Motion Picture News]]'', another popular New York–based trade publication, reported the financial cost of staging that accident during production:{{blockquote|Henry Lehrman, a Keystone director, tipped a $1,500 (${{Inflation|US|1500|1914|r=-2|fmt=c}} today) automobile over a cliff in his last picture, "Making a Living." A nearly new [[Studebaker]] was used for this effect and when recovered at the bottom resembled a pile of [[wikt:Special:Search/Kindling|kindling]] wood. This expensive episode cost the Keystone Company a good-sized sum, but a thrill was to be gotten out of the story and Keystone took this method of getting it.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/picturen09moti#page/n479/mode/2up/search/Lehrman "Dissolving Out"], ''The Motion Picture News'', 28 February 1914, pp. 54, 56. Internet Archive. Retrieved February 17, 2021.</ref>}}