"The Rink"

We're at an unidentified theatre disguised as a skating rink in the Charlie Chaplin short "The Rink" (Mutual, 1916). In addition to Chaplin, the sixteen minute film stars Edna Purviance and James T. Kelley.

Another shot from later in the film. Thanks to Silent Film Detective John Bengtson for the screenshots. He comments: "Mutual's studio was in Hollywood, but Charlie filmed the closing scenes from 'The Rink' on Sunset, not far from the Keystone Studio."

The same theatre entrance is seen in the Chaplin film "Those Love Pangs" (Keystone, 1914) and in the Mack Swain film "A Movie Star" (Keystone, 1916)

On IMDb: "The Rink"


Check out John's latest explorations via the Silent Locations blog "Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more)." His books are available through Amazon or your local bookseller:

"Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton"

"Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin"

"Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd"

"Those Love Pangs"

We're at an unidentified theatre in the Charlie Chaplin short "Those Love Pangs" (Keystone, 1914). Thanks to Silent Film Detective John Bengtson for the screenshot.

The same entrance is seen as a skating rink entrance in the Chaplin film "The Rink" (Mutual, 1916). It also appears in the Mack Swain film "A Movie Star" (Keystone, 1916).

On IMDb: "Those Love Pangs"


Check out John's latest explorations via the Silent Locations blog "Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more)." His books are available through Amazon or your local bookseller:

"Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton"

"Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin"

"Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd"

"The Bank"

Charlie Chaplin filmed the opening scene of "The Bank" (Essanay, 1915) in front of the Trinity Auditorium, 855 S. Grand Ave. Thanks to the famed silent film detective John Bengtson for the Chaplin image above. See his fine article "How Charlie Chaplin Filmed The Bank" for more details about both the film and the building.

John notes: "Charlie Chaplin’s Essanay comedy 'The Bank' (1915) marks his final cinematic footsteps in downtown Los Angeles.  While Broadway, and other nearby Historic Core streets appear in several of his early Keystone films, including 'Making A Living,' 'His Favorite Pastime,' 'The New Janitor,' and especially 'His Musical Career,' Chaplin would never again stroll these urban sidewalks to make a movie [note: 'City Lights' (1931) includes scenes of Charlie and the drunken millionaire, perhaps stunt doubles, driving around several downtown corners...]"

See John's "Rare Chaplin Scenes" article for some early downtown views and his PDF of his "'City Lights' Film Location Tour.

Another shot from the film -- a screenshot from the new Blu-Ray edition of "The Bank." Again thanks to John Bengtson.

See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the Trinity Auditorium for more about the building.

On IMDb: "The Bank"