PhilosopherJay

The Jesus wifey debate is heating up. See this on Yahoo News: Is the Gospel of Jesus' Wife a Forgery?
Note that the Coptic Scholar who did a Youtube video attacking the manuscript is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS). This is an evangelical Christian seminary located in Deerfield, Illinois. It seems some Christians are very excited over a tiny word that means wife in coptic.

Erasing women from their role in history and stories continues today. We can take Mabel Normand's role in the creation of the Charlie Chaplin's "Tramp" charcter and his success as a modern example.

Andre Bazin observed in his classic book "What is Cinema," in reference to Charlie's tramp character, that "Never since the world began had a myth been so universally accepted."

When Chaplin came to Mack Sennett's Keystone studio in late 1913, Mabel Normand was the reigning comedy star. Sennett had discovered her in 1911 and by late 1913, at the age of 21, Normand had starred in 140 Keystone films. She was not only starring in films, but was starting to direct them.

When Chaplin arrived, Normand directed him in his second film called "Mabel's Strange Predicament." This was the fourth film that she directed. It was the first film in which Charlie appeared as a "Tramp,"

I think it is important that Chaplin was 25 at the time and Normand was 21. Mack Sennett, Normand's boss and lover was 35 years old. We can certainly appreciate why Normand wanted to work with the handsome Chaplin. He was more her age and he knew nothing about films. Instead of her relationship with Sennett, where he was the film master and she was the student, with Chaplin, she was the master with three years experience and Chaplin was the novice who did not even know that film scenes were shot out of sequence.

People give Normand little credit in the creation of the Chaplin myth, but certainly, she was essential to Chaplin's success at Keystone and in the creation of Chaplin's Tramp character and the legend that he became.

Until a few years ago, the three films that Normand directed before "Mabel's Strange Predicament" with Chaplin were lost. Then in 2010 a print was found of her second film, "Won in a Closet" (released in January 1914, two weeks before "Mabel's Strange Predicament." It is now available at the National Film Preservation archives In the film around 7:48 seconds, there a title "Tramp" A tall menacing tramp with ill-fitting clothes appears for 4 seconds. While his screen time is limited, the whole last 8 minutes of the film revolves around the fears of the characters regarding the tramp. He is the unseen center of the story.

This film would have been seen by Chaplin when he first arrived at Keystone and was looking for some character to play. There is no evidence of Chaplin playing a tramp before this time. Chaplin probably identified with the tramp in this movie. He was the outsider in the tight little Keystone studio community, and probably there was some fear and jealousy against him that he was being paid the enormous sum of $150 a week (equivalent to about $10,000 a week today) before having appeared in a single film. If Mabel Normand had not befriended him and directed him, it is likely that Chaplin's early months at Keystone would have been a disaster and he would have gone back to playing vaudeville in England. Normand starred with Chaplin in 12 of the 32 films he made at Keystone in 1914. She was his muse and teacher at Keystone. At the end of that year, Chaplin left Keystone to become the highest paid actor in the world with Essanay Studios.

The only mention of Normand on Charlie Chaplin's Wikipedia information is this: "During the filming of his tenth picture he clashed with director Mabel Normand, and was almost released from his contract. Sennett kept him on."

I have read about Chaplin for over 40 years, but only in the last few days have I become aware of the tremendous importance that Mabel Normand had on his career. That importance has been largely erased from film history.

After several notorious scandals and problems with cocaine addiction, Mabel Normand's film career ended in 1927. She died in 1930 at the age of 37. Only cinephiles have ever heard of her or watch her films.

The erasing and downgrading of the role of Mary in the Jesus Myth, I suggest, is similar to the erasing and downgrading of Mabel Norman in the Charlie Chaplin Legend.

Warmly,

Jay Raskin

sotto voce

Capitalism can manipulate women far better than men.

PhilosopherJay

Hi sotto voce,

I think it is tough generally on both.

There is a nice website called "Looking for Mabel Normand" created by Marilyn Slater. She makes a good point about the Chaplin-Normand relationship on the home page:

There is apparently a new documentary called "Looking for Mabel" which was shown publicly for the first time last month and that also gives her credit for Chaplin's stardom.


Chaplin and Normand, 1914

Warmly,

Jay Raskin

sotto voce

If TV programs and adverts. of today and 20+ years ago are compared for gender relationships, one might not think so.