Edna & The Louse (Part Four of Six)

in #writing6 years ago

In the Last Episode: It certainly was not that I didn't enjoy holding the beautiful Edna in my arms, I just didn't want The Louse to show up at the still open bungalow door and catch me doing so. Regardless of his abominable behavior, a few words from Chaplin could terminate my employment at Essanay in a heartbeat.

April 9, 1915
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company—Niles, California

Despite there being an obvious cooling of Chaplin's relationship with Edna, I managed to keep production on In The Park moving so that we released on the Eighteenth of March as scheduled. The next project was a terrible scenario called A Jitney Elopement in which Chaplin plays a fake count intent on marrying Edna. The rest of the troop consisted of players we began calling The Chaplin Regulars--a group of actors The Louse decided made him look good and included in every film he did.

There was no role for Leona Anderson in the new project. Whether that was simply due to the lack of a second female lead in the story or because The Louse was trying to patch things up with Edna I could not say. I did know he was still seeing Leona, but now it was strictly on the sly.

Edna must have figured that was the case because she made it known to me in a coy, but ladylike, fashion she would not mind spending some of her off-time in my company. We did so cautiously, however, because as long as The Louse was still interested in Edna, my job was at risk. For the same reason Edna and I were careful to mind our Ps and Qs during working hours, lest Chaplin get suspicious.

I always enjoyed time spent with Edna. In a word, she was "fun." She turned simple walks in the nearby hills into adventures, sometimes even naughty adventures. A few times we went to see motion pictures at the Edison Theater on Niles Street, and even held hands in the dark while we sat through four or five reels of drama or comedy or whatever the featured presentation happened to be. We called these occasions a bus-man's holiday.

Most of us at Essanay knew in fairly short order that The Louse's sixth Essanay project was destined for motion picture history. Called simply The Tramp, it was the first picture in which Chaplin played what would become his signature character.

I knew he'd been developing the role the entire time he was in Niles, and Chaplin now decided it was time to trot the character out and see if his rapidly expanding multitude of fans across the country liked the little tramp. Once again, I have to hand it to The Louse. He played the character as a sympathetic little fellow who wants to be a rogue, but the fates seem to be against him. It was love at first sight for legions of movie goers.

In his role as the leading character in The Tramp, Chaplin wooed Edna in scene after scene. In his role as the film's director, however, The Louse criticized everything she did. Edna simply couldn't please him, no matter how hard she tried, and I knew she was trying as hard as she could. Sadly, I thought I knew what The Louse was up to. It turned out I had him pegged.

To Be Continued

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Story and design © Steve Eitzen
Header Graphic & HPO Logo © HPO Productions
Niles and Essanay poster images modified from photographs in the public domain

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Now I'm anxious for Edna. I'm waiting for tomorrow...

Edna is no Dumb Dora. She knows which side of the bread her butter is on. If all one wants out of life is buttered bread, that's a good way to be. The story sticks pretty close to the facts from here on.

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