Charlie Chaplin’s “Tramp” Celebrates Centennial in SF

This Saturday, January 11th at San Francisco’s Castro Theater, there’s going to be an all-day, 100-Year Anniversary celebration of one of the most essential, irreplaceable, and beloved characters in the history of film, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Tramp”. The bumbling, infectiously good-hearted fellow has been a prototype for comic protagonists to this day, and anyone who’s familiar with him has fond memories of watching him evade the authorities with hilarious, cartoonish flair.

The program will include classic shorts and full-length features starring the comic idol set to live music accompaniment. There’s no better place to experience Chaplin in the Bay Area than the silent-era Castro Theater, and whether you’re a long-time Chaplin devotee or a silent film beginner, it’s sure to be a blast.

Here’s the program, via silentfilm.org :

Our Mutual Friend: Three Chaplin Shorts at 1PM 
Charlie Chaplain made some of his greatest comedies at the Mutual Film Corporation. Chaplin acknowledged his time at Mutual as the most inventive and liberating period of his career. Approximately 90 minutes total. The shorts program includes:

• The Vagabond (1916, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell). Charlie Chaplin plays is a musician who rescues a girl from a band of gypsies.
• The Cure (1917, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman). An inebriated Charlie Chaplin checks into a sanitarium to take the cure, but brings a cabinet of liquor with him.
• Easy Street (1917, with Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell). Blending comedy and social commentary Charlie Chaplin’s character goes from tramp to police constable.

Accompanied by Jon Mirsalis on piano.

THE KID at 4PM 
Chaplin’s Little Tramp character becomes a surrogate father to an abandoned child in this eloquent marriage of comedy and sentiment. One of his most personal films, Chaplin himself was placed in a home for destitute children at age seven, THE KID is considered by many to be his most perfect. Additionally, celebrate the centennial of with Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), the first appearance of Chaplin’s Tramp character. Approximately 70 minutes total.
Accompanied by San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with Timothy Brock conducting Chaplin’s score. 

Preceding THE KID, there will be Charlie Chaplin Look-Alike contest. Come dressed as the Little Tramp and win a prize!

THE GOLD RUSH at 7:30PM 
Charlie Chaplin, inspired by images of the 1896 Klondike gold rush and the Donner Party disaster of 1846 (in which snowbound immigrants resorted to eating their shoes—and their dead companions—to survive), manages to turn a story of cold, hunger, and loneliness into a sublime comedy. The Little Tramp becomes a prospector who sets out for the Klondike to strike it rich, battling starvation, bears, and other prospectors along the way. THE GOLD RUSH contains some of the most iconic images in cinema, including the famous scene in which Charlie makes a gourmet feast of his boot! Georgia Hale plays the beautiful dance hall entertainer who steals Charlie’s heart. Approximately 80 minutes.
Accompanied by San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with Timothy Brock conducting Chaplin’s score.