Gold Rush and Christmas

During a recent viewing of Gold Rush, I noticed that CC goes from Thanksgiving(the boot dinner) to New Year's Eve and completely skips Christmas. There was a Christmas tree in Henry's cabin, but it is simply in the background and Charlie makes no notice of it. Did CC really hate Christmas *that* much, or was a more business-minded CC at work(to make his films more universal)? If the later, then why the tree at all? Any thoughts?

I don't think he doesn't notice it. First of all, he included the decorated tree in the scene - there was no tree when Hank left or when he invited the girls to dinner. Therefor, I would assume this means that the Tramp bought and decorated the tree himself. Secondly, the Tramp gets the presents he intends for the girls from under or next to the tree when he is setting the table. I have both the 1925 and the 1942 versions - maybe it is more noticable in the 1942 version, I can't remember. I know that Charlie used different footage for many scenes or replaced some from 1925 to 1942.

Lori

Deborah asked:

Thanksgiving(the boot dinner) to New Year's Eve and completely skips Christmas. There was a Christmas tree in Henry's cabin, but it is simply in the background and Charlie makes no notice of it. Did CC really hate Christmas *that* much, or was a more business-minded CC at work(to make his films more universal)? If the later, then why the tree at all? Any thoughts?<<

I don't think CC hated Christmas as much as it held very painful memories for him. That could be the reason. There was quite a bit of material edited from GR before its initial release, so perhaps there was some more Christmas references there, but I've never read anything to suggest it.

Well, there goes my 'Dance Of The Fruitcakes' theory...

My own reaction would be that Thanksgiving and New Year's have more ironic resonance for the narrative line of the film