Dated Jokes

I was just watching 'The Count' and what is going on in the opening scene where the woman about to be measured licks the cloth? Is this a joke whose relevance now just escapes us?

On that note I imagine there's lots of such things in Chaplin's films that are references to things that simply aren't understood today. Chaplin certainly isn't the only one to suffer from this 'problem': I don't think Buster Keaton's Julian Eltinge joke in Seven Chances gets much response today nor does the Dempsey-Tunney long count reference in Laurel and Hardy's Battle of the Century.

So what are some of the more subtle things going on in Chaplin's films that are not understood today due to passage of time and changes in culture/tradition/superstition/technology?

I believe someone recently pointed out the scene in The Kid where Chaplin makes sure the post doesn't come between him and the cop. The only one coming to my mind right now is the three on a match scene in Shoulder Arms which Chaplin himself cut on re-issue for Chaplin Revue. That cut seemed a little over cautious to me. Did that superstition become obscure so fast? The Marx Brothers did a 'three on a midget' variation on this superstition in 1939.

You want to know about dated jokes? I can tell you. I've dated a number of them.

But as it refers to Charlie, there are some dated jokes:

* The gaslight blowup in EASY STREET * The gas coin box in THE KID * The aspect of long tickets in THE PILGRIM * The items that a WWI doughboy wears: cheese grater, mouse trap, (was there an egg beater too?) & * Joan Barry

She's probably trying to test the fabric content, but I don't know offhand how licking would help. The lanolin in wool would probably give it a very definite taste, and this may be what she's up to.

It was very common in earlier days to try to pass off wool blends as pure wool. That's why the J.C. Penny motto was, 'If the sign says wool it is all wool, and a yard wide.' That's where the now obsolete expression 'he's all wool and a yard wide' (an honest person) originated.

Or the 'goat gland specialist' in _Cops_. Someone on the silents group researched that a few years back and posted the results.

I think the 'three on a match' superstition was already forgotten by the 'fifties. I'd never heard of it until I began to work on Chaplin. The broken mirror and the number 13 are still current, of course.

I think the refrigerator (ice box) in _Police_ is my favorite of these. Most people today don't know how the old ice boxes looked or worked. Hence they don't understand what Charlie is doing when, after being plugged repeatedly in his c.l.b., he sits on top of the ice box (i.e. right on the block of ice) to cool his tail off. If you look at the film often enough you can see Edna get beer out of this top compartment, but most people won't pick this up.

Connie K.

I can see you haven't been in some of the parts of England I've visited. There are places where these are still in use, though I think the number is dwindling.

For rats, actually, but small for convenience. The spring on a rat trap might have damaged Syd's finger.

Too bad he didn't bring a frog gigger.

Connie K.

This is dated in that we don't see this mechanism much if at all, but the joke is easy to catch b/c it's the recycling of the coin that's funny.

Besides which the title, 'Put the quarter in the meter,' makes it very clear what's going on, even if you never saw such a meter.

No such help with the ice box in _Police_.

Connie K.

It was me who pointed out the pole thing. I noticed he also did that in City Lights when he escorts the blind girl home (after they get out of the car).

And you are right about the fading of superstition - what in the world is 3 on a match mean? And where was it cut from Shoulder Arms?

Lori

'I am not a communist.' Charles Chaplin

To be pedantic (again) that's 'Limburger,' and it appears to have originated in a region of that name in the Neatherlands and Belgium

I believe it! My in-laws are Dutch-Indonesian and they eat a fruit called durian, which smells like the sewer has just backed up! So it wouldn't surprise me that stinky limburger cheese came from the Netherlands.

Speaking of the joke - as Hannah brought up, that today's audience might not get the limburger stick gag - I think this one has been preserved by Sylvester-Tweety Bird cartoons. I remember Sylvester getting locked in a storage closet on a ship with limburger in it - he turned green!

So where is and who eats this crap nowadays?

Lori

'I am not a communist.' Charles Chaplin

I left a durian in a cooler in my car overnight and for a month afterwards the car smelt like someone had died in it. When I was in Malaysia I stayed at a hotel that had a sign in the lobby that said 'No durian allowed in rooms'. I was stupid enough to eat the durian even after I smelt what it did to my car. It doesn't do nice things to your body either, remember that scene in Ace Ventura where he says 'Do NOT go in there!'. Something like that.

I've also eaten Limburger. The taste is ok but it smells like a diaper.

To bring myself back onto topic of Chaplin and dated jokes:

I noticed that in both The Floorwalker and The Rink when Chaplin is handed paper money he puts it in his mouth to test it to see if it bends the way people used to test coins, i.e. as Campbell does in The Immigrant.

- Rob