Editing Making a Living

{{short description|1914 film by Henry Lehrman}}
{{for|the mid-run renamed American television series|It's a Living}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Making a Living
| image = Charlie_Chaplin_(left)_in_Making_a_Living_1914.jpg
| caption = [[Charlie Chaplin]] (left) in scene with [[Henry Lehrman]]
| director = [[Henry Lehrman]]
| producer = [[Mack Sennett]]
| writer = Reed Heustis<br>Henry Lehrman
| starring = [[Charlie Chaplin]]<br>Henry Lehrman<br>[[Chester Conklin]] <br> [[Minta Durfee]] <br> [[Virginia Kirtley]]
| music =
| cinematography = [[Enrique Juan Vallejo]] <br> [[Frank D. Williams (cinematographer)|Frank D. Williams]]
| editing =
| studio = [[Keystone Studios]]
| distributor = [[Mutual Film Corporation]]
| released = {{Film date|1914|2|2}}
| runtime = 12.5 minutes
| country = United States
| language = Silent film<br> English (Original intertitles)
| budget =
| gross =
}}

'''''Making a Living''''' (also known as '''''Doing His Best''''', '''''A Busted Johnny''''', '''''Troubles''''', and '''''Take My Picture''''') is the first film starring [[Charlie Chaplin]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/making-a-living-a-busted-johnnydoing-his-besttake-my-picturetroubles/ | title=Other titles of 'Making a Living' | publisher=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] | access-date=5 March 2014}}</ref> A one-reel comedy [[Short film|short]], it was completed in three days at [[Keystone Studios]] in [[Los Angeles, California]] and was released for distribution on February 2, 1914.<ref name="Chaplinauto">Chaplin, Charles. ''My Autobiography''. New York: Simon and Schuster, pp. 143-144.</ref><ref name="Neibaur">{{cite book |last=Neibaur |first=James |title=Early Charlie Chaplin: The Artist As Apprentice at Keystone Studios |year=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, MD |isbn=978-0810882423}}</ref> In it Chaplin portrays a charming swindler who runs afoul of a news reporter and a [[Keystone Cops|Keystone Cop]].<ref>This is one of only a few films in which Chaplin and the [[Keystone Cops]] appear together.</ref> In addition to co-writing the [[screenplay|"scenario]]" and directing the production, [[Henry Lehrman]] performs as the principal supporting character.

==Plot==
In the film’s opening scene, Chaplin's character, the "Swindler", dressed smartly and wearing a top hat, attempts to convince a passerby (Henry Lehrman) to give him money. Reluctantly he gives a dollar coin. The man then goes to a florist to buy a smaller bunch of flowers than he originally intended. Chaplin is next shown flirting with a young woman and proposing marriage to her, giving her a ring, which she accepts. Lehrman, who portrays a news reporter, now approaches the woman and presents to her a bouquet of flowers and a ring, which she refuses to accept, pointing to the new ring. Lerhman sees Chaplin and a [[slapstick]] fight between the two immediately ensues. Later, while prowling for a news story, Lehrman's character witnesses and photographs an automobile accident, capturing on film a dramatic image of a car tumbling down a high, steep hill. As he and a crowd of onlookers are trying to help the unfortunate motorist, who is pinned beneath his wrecked car, Chaplin passes by and steals the camera that contains the sensational photograph. He then runs to the local newspaper office with the image and to report the auto accident, claiming them as his own. A short pursuit with the Keystone Cops follows, and then an infuriated Lehrman catches up with Chaplin, and they resume their fistfight on a downtown street. An oncoming streetcar scoops them up on its front [[cowcatcher]] and continues down the street and out of frame.<ref>Plot summary derived from viewing the digital copy of the film available on this page.</ref>

== Cast ==

[[File:Chaplin_and_other_actors_in_comedy_short_Making_a_Living,_1914.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Another scene with (from left) Lehrman, Virginia Kirtley, Alice Davenport, and Chaplin]]

* [[Charlie Chaplin]] as Swindler
* [[Henry Lehrman]] as Reporter
* [[Emma Clifton]] as jealous husband's wife
* [[Virginia Kirtley]] as Daughter
* [[Alice Davenport]] as Mother
* [[Minta Durfee]] as Woman
* [[Chester Conklin]] as Policeman / Bum
* [[Charles Inslee]] as Newspaper Editor (uncredited)

==Production==
Chaplin wears a large moustache and a top hat in the film; he also carries a walking cane. His famous "[[The Tramp|Little Tramp]]" screen persona did not appear until his next film, ''[[Kid Auto Races at Venice]]'', which was released by Keystone only five days after the studio began distributing ''Making a Living''.<ref>Chaplin's first three films, including the first two to feature his signature character [[The Tramp]], were released over the span of just one week.</ref><ref name="Maland">{{cite book |last=Maland |first=Charles |title=Charlie Chaplin and American Culture - The Evolution of a Star Image |year=1991 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=0691028605 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/chaplinamericanc0000mala }}</ref> In recalling his work with Lehrman in ''Making a Living'', Chaplin maintained that the director had "deliberately" removed the best parts of his performance from the short's final cut.<ref name="Okuda">{{cite book |last=Okuda|first=Ted |title=Charlie Chaplin at Keystone And Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp |year=2005 |publisher=iUniverse, Inc.|location=Lincoln, NE|isbn=0595365981}}</ref> Lehrman, according to Chaplin, was "a vain man", who years later actually "confessed" to misediting the footage because he felt the young Englishman was arrogant and "knew too much".<ref name="Chaplinauto"/><ref name="Weissman">Weissman, Stephen. [https://archive.org/details/chaplinlife0000weis_p2t6/page/210/mode/2up ''Chaplin: A Life'']. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2008, p. 211. Internet Archive. Retrieved February 22, 2021.</ref>

In his extensive 1985 biography of the comedian, ''[[Chaplin: His Life and Art]]'', English film critic and historian [[David Robinson (film critic)|David Robinson]] provides further insight into the short's production, including its filming locations, the evolution of the Chaplin's costume selections for his screen debut, and his acting style in some scenes:{{blockquote|Chaplin’s first film, ''Making a Living'', was one of Keystone’s more elaborate productions. It had a comparatively well-developed story line, and was shot partly on the stage, partly in the gardens of a nearby house, and partly in the street, on Glendale Avenue. Chaplin's  costume, make-up and character resembled Archibald Binks in ''The Wow-Wows'' and ''A Night in a London Club'', with nothing as yet of the Charlie figure to come.<ref>Both ''The Wow-Wows'' and ''A Night in a London Club'' were two popular stage productions or comic "playettes" in which Chaplin performed while a member of The [[Fred Karno]] Company.</ref> He wore a grey top hat, check waistcoat, stiff collar, spotted cravat and monocle. Most surprising was the long, drooping moustache of a rather dejected stage villain. At the start of the film he established the fraudulence of his elegant pretensions by touching a passing friend (played by Lehrman) for a loan. The first characteristically Chaplin gag is where he disdainfully rejects the proffered coin as too mean, but then hastily grabs it before the friend can change his mind.<ref>Robinson, David. [https://archive.org/details/chaplinhislifear00robi/page/108/mode/2up ''Chaplin: His Life and Art'']. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985, pp. 152-153. {{ISBN|0-07-053181-1}}. Full copy of biography available on Internet Archive. Retrieved February 21, 2021.</ref>}}

Although Lehrman and Reed Heustis are often credited with co-writing the film's scenario, Chaplin in his autobiography offers his view on the screenplay's status when production began. "We had no story", he writes, adding "It was to be a documentary about the printing press done with a few comedy touches."<ref name="Chaplinauto"/> He then states that Lehrman appeared to be "groping for ideas", so as a "newcomer at Keystone" he began to make suggestions. "This", Chaplin continues, "was where I created antagonism with Lehrman."<ref name="Chaplinauto"/>

The footage of street scenes depicts various areas of downtown Los Angeles in 1914. In the scene with the swindler and newspaper reporter fighting in the road, the sign of the [[Fremont Hotel, Los Angeles|Fremont Hotel]] is shown briefly in the background. That hotel closed in the 1940s, and the entire structure was demolished in 1955.<ref name="McCannTaube2008">{{cite book|last1=McCann|first1=Linda|last2=Taube|first2=Dace|last3=Zachary|first3=Claude|author4=Roseman, Curtis C.|title=Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood, (CA)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElSTJpnxs7oC&pg=PA40|accessdate=22 February 2021|date=8 October 2008|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-5906-3|page=40}}</ref>

==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>}}

==See also==
* [[Charlie Chaplin filmography]]

== References and notes==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0004288}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|making-a-living-a-busted-johnnydoing-his-besttake-my-picturetroubles}}
* {{Internet Archive short film|CC_1914_02_02_MakingALiving}}

{{Henry Lehrman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Making A Living}}
[[Category:1914 films]]
[[Category:1914 comedy films]]
[[Category:1914 short films]]
[[Category:1910s American films]]
[[Category:1910s English-language films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:English-language comedy short films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Henry Lehrman]]
[[Category:Films produced by Mack Sennett]]
[[Category:Keystone Studios films]]
[[Category:Silent American comedy short films]]
[[Category:Surviving American silent films]]