''Kid Auto Races at Venice'' (also known as ''The Pest'') is a 1914 American film starring

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consid ...

. It is the first film in which his "

Little Tramp : ''See The Tramp for the character played by Charlie Chaplin''. ''Little Tramp'' is a musical with a book by David Pomeranz and Steven David Horwich and music and lyrics by David Pomeranz. Based on the life of comedian Charles Chaplin and na ...

" character makes an appearance before the public. The first film to be produced that featured the character was actually '' Mabel's Strange Predicament''; it was shot a few days before ''Kid Auto Races'' but released two days after it; this film, meanwhile, was released only five days after the first film in which Chaplin appeared, ''

Making a Living ''Making a Living'' (also known as ''Doing His Best'', ''A Busted Johnny'', ''Troubles'', and ''Take My Picture'') is the first film starring Charlie Chaplin. A one-reel comedy short, it was completed in three days at Keystone Studios in Los An ...

''. ''Kid Auto Races'' was inducted into the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

on December 14, 2020.

Plot

Made by Keystone Studios and directed by

Henry Lehrman Henry Lehrman (March 30, 1881 – November 7, 1946) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Lehrman was a very prominent figure of Hollywood's silent film era, working with such cinematic pioneers as D. W. Griffith and Mack ...

, the movie portrays Chaplin as a spectator at a "baby-cart race" in

Venice, Los Angeles Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

. The film was shot during the Junior Vanderbilt Cup, an actual race with Chaplin and Lehrman improvising gags in front of real-life spectators. The film is presented at first like a genuine newsreel, with Chaplin's attention-seeking spectator getting in the way of the camera, causing great frustration to the cameraman. Lehrman begins by roughly pushing an obnoxiously persistent Chaplin away, but eventually he starts knocking Chaplin to the ground. Unusually, the camera

breaks the fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

to show a second camera filming (as though it were the first) in order to better explain the joke. At this stage, Chaplin gets in the way only of the visible camera on screen, not the actual filming camera. In this way, the filming camera takes on a spectator's viewpoint, and ''Kid Auto Races'' becomes one of the first public films to show a movie camera and

cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task. In filmmakin ...

in operation.

Reviews

In the year that the film was released, a reviewer from the silent movie periodical ''Bioscope'' wrote, "Some sensational happenings are witnessed during the contests between the baby cars, while the funny man persistently obstructs the eager cameramen in their operations."McDonald, Gerald D.; Conway, Michael; Ricci, Mark (1965). ''The Films of Charlie Chaplin''. New York: Citadel Press, page 28. A reviewer from the silent movie periodical ''The Cinema'' noted, "''Kid Auto Races'' struck us as about the funniest film we have ever seen. When we subsequently saw Chaplin in more ambitious efforts, our opinion that the Keystone Company had made the capture of their career was strengthened. Chaplin is a born screen comedian; he does things we have never seen done on the screen before."

Cast

* Charlie Chaplin –

The Tramp The Tramp (''Charlot'' in several languages), also known as the Little Tramp, was English actor Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character and an icon in world cinema during the era of silent film. '' The Tramp'' is also the title ...

– Film Director * Frank D. Williams – Cameraman *

Gordon Griffith Gordon S. Griffith (July 4, 1907 – October 12, 1958) was an American assistant director, film producer, and one of the first child actors in the American movie industry. Griffith worked in the film industry for five decades, acting in ov ...

– Boy *Billy Jacobs – Boy *Charlotte Fitzpatrick – Girl *Thelma Salter – Girl

Junior Vanderbilt Cup

By 1914, the

Vanderbilt Cup The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. History An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County on Long Island, ...

had become an important automobile racing event in the United States, and the 1914 event was to be held in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

. The city decided to sponsor a junior version of the event, apparently with several classes of engines and with age limits for the drivers. Some classes had no engines and used a ramp to accelerate the cars in a manner similar to

soap box derby The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1933. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. Cars competing in this and related events are unpowered, ...

races. Other classes used small engines. Chaplin's movie includes one scene shot at the bottom of the ramp used for the engineless races. There is no evidence that Junior Vanderbilt Cups were held either before or after the 1914 event. Actual silver cups were awarded.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * – A different version which is missing the ending. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kid Auto Races At Venice 1914 films 1910s sports comedy films 1914 short films American silent short films American black-and-white films American sports comedy films American auto racing films Films directed by Henry Lehrman Films produced by Mack Sennett Keystone Studios films Films set in Los Angeles Articles containing video clips 1914 comedy films United States National Film Registry films 1910s American films Silent American comedy films