Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers

Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers is 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
Launch date	29 March 1915; 110 years ago (1915-03-29)
End date	September 16, 1917; 108 years ago (1917-09-16)
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 produced by the Chicago-based J. Keeley Syndicate^[3] and published in the Chicago Herald.^[4] The comic strip cashed in on the tremendous popularity of the comedian at the time. Chaplin was depicted as his popular The Little Tramp character.^[3] The strip 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, early in his career.^[5] 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.^[6][7] 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.^[5]

Collections

In 1917, five books were published by M.A. Donohue & Co., in 'Best of' style collections, four of them being painting/coloring books.^[8] These books are considered to be from the Platinum Age.^[9]

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 was not a huge success in the United States. It fared better in the U.K., where it was published in the weekly comics magazine Funny Wonder for decades.^[5]

See also

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