Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers

Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers was an American gag-a-day celebrity comics comic strip by Stuart Carothers ^[1] and later Elzie C. Segar starring Charlie Chaplin. It ran in syndication from March 29, 1915, until September 16, 1917.^[2] It was one of the earliest comic strips inspired by the popularity of a celebrity.

Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers
Daily comic from E.C. Segar's tenure on the series.
Author(s)	Stuart Wallace Carothers, Warren & Ramsey, Elzie Crisler Segar
Current status/schedule	Canceled daily strip
Launch date	29 March 1915; 108 years ago (1915-03-29) (daily) 12 March 1916 (1916-03-12) (Sunday)
End date	July 15, 1916 (1916-07-15) (daily) September 16, 1917; 106 years ago (1917-09-16) (Sunday)
Syndicate(s)	Keeley-Handy Syndicate
Publisher(s)	Chicago Herald, M.A. Donohue & Co.
Genre(s)	Gag-a-day, Humor Slapstick

Background

Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers was published in the Chicago Herald.^[3] The comic strip cashed in on the tremendous popularity of the comedian at the time. It was created by Stewart W. Carothers in March 1915,^[2] who drew and wrote the stories until his tragic early death from defenestration.^[1] Two cartoonists credited as Warren and Ramsey took over the series until they were replaced by Elzie C. Segar, at that time still an amateur.^[4] On February 29, 1916, Segar published his first Chaplin strip. The daily version ran until July 15, 1916. His Sunday version ran longer, from March 12, 1916, until September 16, 1917.^[5][6] It was his first professional cartooning job. Contrary to his predecessors, who mostly borrowed ideas from Chaplin's films, Segar thought up his own jokes. He gave Chaplin a tiny sidekick named "Luke the Gook" to act as a straight man to his gags.

Collections

In 1917, five books were published by M.A. Donohue & Co., in 'Best of' style collections. Four of them being painting/coloring books.^[7] These books are considered to be from the Platinum Age.^[8]

Published collections;

• Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers, Series 1, No 315
• Charlie Chaplin in the Movies, No 316
• Charlie Chaplin Up in the Air, No 317
• Charlie Chaplin in the Army, No 318
• Charlie Chaplin's Funny Stunts, in Full Color, No. 380

Reception

Despite Chaplin's popularity, the comic strip wasn't a huge success in the United States, mostly due to the fact that all artists involved were basically amateurs.

See also

• Inside Woody Allen, another newspaper comic strip based on a comedic film performer.
• Charlie Chaplin comics

References

1. Carothers entry, Lambiek's Comiclopedia. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
2. Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 101. ISBN 9780472117567.
3. . Archived from the original on 2013-11-10. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
4. "ASK THE ARCHIVIST : CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S COMIC CAPERS," Comics Kingdom (September 24, 2015).
5. Segar entry, Lambiek's Comiclopedia. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
6. . Archived from the original on 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
7. Charley Chaplin's Comic Capers, A Collection, Series: Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers, ID: CharleyChaplinsComicCapersACollection. Internet Archive.
8. Overstreet, Robert M. (March 2000). The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. 30th Edition. Gemstone Publishing. p. 236. ISBN 0060957344.

External links

• Charley Chaplin's Comic Capers, A Collection {A 'Internet Archive' digital collection of book scans, and daily comics.}
• "Teary Eyes" Anderson in Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers: Series 1, No. 315. {Video review and narration of first book.}
• Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers v1 315 {Scans of first book, hosted by comicbookplus.com.}
• U'Ren, Christine. "Ripped from the Funny Pages, Part 3: Celebrity Cartoonists, Chaplin, and Other Tramps," Silent San Francisco (Oct. 19, 2015).