For me one of the most exciting parts of being a Chaplin fan is seeing new never before seen photographs. It’s like - just when you think you have seen them all.  These photos are up on ebay. They are listed as 1914 possibly from the first tramp movie but are actually wonderful candid’s taken during production of “By the Sea”  A film he shot, a one reeler, on Crystal Pier in Santa Monica on his way to his new studio in Los Angeles coming from Niles, in Northern California.
In the film was Billy Armstrong (heavy mustache) who becomes an adversary of the tramp and the battle it out in the sand, and the gorgeous Edna Purviance who looks stunning in the bottom 2 photographs
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1914-3-CHARLIE-CHAPLIN-Original-Photos-Venice-Beach-CA-1st-role-as-THE-TRAMP-/231509782554?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35e70ef01a
I have to reblog these marvellous pictures on the occasion of By the Sea’s 100th anniversary! There’re some other photos of Charlie, too, posing with the crew & spectators. But here you can see him directing, a thing not seen very often. Am I right that it was actually filmed on a single day?













