Kid Auto Races at Venice (also known as The Pest) is a 1914 American film starring Charles Chaplin in which his "The Tramp" character makes his first appearance in a film exhibited before the public. The first film to be produced that featured the character was actually Mabel's Strange Predicament; it was shot a few days before Kid Auto Races but released two days after it.

Synopsis

}Made by Keystone Studios and directed by Henry Lehrman, the movie portrays Chaplin as a spectator at a 'baby-cart race' in Venice, Los Angeles. The spectator keeps getting in the way of the camera and interferes with the race, causing great frustration to the public and participants. The film was shot during the Junior Vanderbilt Cup, an actual race with Chaplin and Lehrman improvising gags in front of real-life spectators.< name=Vance2003></>
Unusually the camera Fourth wall to show a second camera filming (as though it were the first), to better explain the joke. At this stage Chaplin only gets in the way of the visible camera on screen, not the actual filming camera. In so doing it takes on a spectator's viewpoint and becomes one of the first public films to show a film camera and cameraperson in operation.

See also

Charlie Chaplin filmography

Notes

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Category:1914 films
Category:1910s comedy films
Category:1910s short films
Category:American films
Category:American silent short films
Category:Black-and-white films
Category:American comedy films
Category:Films directed by Henry Lehrman
Category:Films produced by Mack Sennett
Category:Keystone Studios films
Category:Films set in Los Angeles, California