The silent era of film allowed no dialogue to explain the actors’ actions, everything had to be expressed through conspicuous physical action – a style that might be considered campy today, but necessary at the time to make the film understandable. The same for comedy: the biggest stars of the age – Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin  – were the ones that could channel humor through slapstick and physical comedy. A young Chaplin, still yet to make the big time, starred in the first of these comedies, creating the benchmark by which all other actors would judge their acts.

On this day, December 21, in 1914, Tillie’s Punctured Romance premiered. Chaplin, in the starring role along with Marie Dressler (playing Tillie) played a womanizer, a role much different from his soon to be famous Little Tramp, but which he would come back to in his later films.

Chaplin already had 30 shorts as the Tramp before he agreed to the feature-length picture, but those were all directed by him. Tillie’s Punctured Romance became the last of Chaplin’s films not written or produced by him, although it still used many of the elements later to become the hallmark of his films.