The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-05-05

impressed again by the singular Skill
with which he obtains his effects.
The amount of invention IL detail
which is employed in The Circus,
as, indeed, in all Mr.. Ghaplin's pic
lures, is extraordinary, and l come
away from a cinema, after witness
ing one Of them, with the infl4Sible
belief that everything which appears
in the picture is carefully calculated.
He has a genius for making his
props not only act, but become es-
sential parts Of the story,
Master in Art of Suggestion.
''Mr. Chaplin is a great master of
the art of suggestion. He can con-
vey to the minds of mass of diverse
persons an immediate understanding
of a situation or a theme with the
slightest and fewest of movements.
my chief interest in this picture,
however, was not in the ingenious
situations or the brilliant details or
even in the irresistible acting of Mr..
Chaplin, but in a technical matter
which has instruction-value for dra-
matists. Chaplin plays the part of
tramp who arrives at a down-and-
out circus, and secures a job as an
attendant on the ring. By sheer
clumsiness and inefficiency, the
tramp provides the audience with en-
tertainment far funnier than that Of
fered to it by the professional clowns,
and he is engaged by the proprietor
of a circus as kind of unofficial
clown. A rehearsal of old, worn
stunts is held. The tramp is shown
the traditional method of doing the
business spiritless, uninventive, stale
clowns go through the old stuff in
the old style, doing again what has
been done thousands of times and ad-
ding nothing of their own to it.
Old Jokes Seem New.
Now, it is true that all the jokes
in the world have been cracked, and
that there are no new jokes. 1t is
also true that all the jokes, however
aged they may be, are new jokes to
somebody. Every year host of boys
and girls come out of schools and
colleges and join the society of play
goers land the stuff which is stale
to US is surprisingly fresh to them.
But although all that is true, it is
true also that stale stuff stately per-
formed remains stale, even to those
to whom it is new, and the worth of
a joke, therefore, is not to be found
in the joke itself, but in the way in
which it is cracked. Nine men will
tell a story in way that causes
those who hear it to yawn their heads
off, but the tenth man will tell it to
the same people and set them roaring
with laughter. That is what Mr..
Chaplin does. He does stale acts in
a fresh way, and in this film he ac-
tually shows US how man of
original mind and genius will alter
traditional methods under the very
eyes of the traditionalists, and make
it rousingly comic.
ArOuses Affection of Public.
'Mr. Chaplin has the great gift of
arousing in those who see him act
ing an affection which is unshakable.
On more than one occasion I have at
tempted, without much success, to
explain why this man of genius has
stepped into the regard of millions
Of the most diverse persons. Other
writers have made the same attempt
with, perhaps, more success. Yet
when all the explanations are offered
the mystery remains. Nobody knows
why everybody holds that small, SEN
sitlve, solitary figure in such high
esteem. He is the symbol of all our