Chaplin's short film, September 1921's "The Idle Class," took him over five months to complete. With the comedian's track record, love had to get in the way, and he was ready to cross the threshold of marriage bliss for the second time before he embarked on its scripting and filming. Chaplin had proposed to 19-year-old actress May Collins in April 1921, which she accepted. A couple of months later, he changed his mind, thinking to himself he "suddenly decided he could scarcely stand to be in the same room with her." Instead of being honest with his revolting opinion of her, Chaplin repeatedly called in sick at work, claiming he had a bad case of influenza.
Chaplin also experienced writer's block, not knowing what plot lines he could develop. Coming across a set of golf clubs, he suddenly got a light bulb moment and constructed a series of skits revolving around The Tramp's adventure on the links. One interesting visual is he and other golfers reached into a sand box to build up a mound on the opening drive of each hole. Tees as we know it didn't become popular until a year after "The Idle Class" was made when golf pros promoted their use. The container holding the sand was called the 'tee box,' which today's golfers still call that area used to drive the ball as the 'tee box.'
This film marks the first use of a double Chaplin character the comedian would display so effectively in his later movie, 1940's 'The Great Dictator.' Edna Purviance plays the wife of the rich Chaplin character who has a tendency of imbibe a bit too much. The Tramp enters the country club's masquerade ball, where confusion reins when the two Chaplins are revealed. Earlier, the snobbish Chaplin is seen in the lobby without his pants on. He avoids getting caught by hiding behind several objects, including a newspaper. Mike Myers was inspired by the sequence in the opening of 1999's 'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,' using natural timely shields to hide the fact he was in public without clothes on.
Lastly, 13-year-old Lina Grey is seen as a maid in the concluding scenes. Her life and Chaplin's would converge in another three years with interesting consquences.
Chaplin also experienced writer's block, not knowing what plot lines he could develop. Coming across a set of golf clubs, he suddenly got a light bulb moment and constructed a series of skits revolving around The Tramp's adventure on the links. One interesting visual is he and other golfers reached into a sand box to build up a mound on the opening drive of each hole. Tees as we know it didn't become popular until a year after "The Idle Class" was made when golf pros promoted their use. The container holding the sand was called the 'tee box,' which today's golfers still call that area used to drive the ball as the 'tee box.'
This film marks the first use of a double Chaplin character the comedian would display so effectively in his later movie, 1940's 'The Great Dictator.' Edna Purviance plays the wife of the rich Chaplin character who has a tendency of imbibe a bit too much. The Tramp enters the country club's masquerade ball, where confusion reins when the two Chaplins are revealed. Earlier, the snobbish Chaplin is seen in the lobby without his pants on. He avoids getting caught by hiding behind several objects, including a newspaper. Mike Myers was inspired by the sequence in the opening of 1999's 'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,' using natural timely shields to hide the fact he was in public without clothes on.
Lastly, 13-year-old Lina Grey is seen as a maid in the concluding scenes. Her life and Chaplin's would converge in another three years with interesting consquences.