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31-496: Sydney John Chaplin ( né   Hill ; 16 March 1885 – 16 April 1965) was an English actor. Chaplin was the elder half-brother of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin and in later life, served as his business manager. Through their mother Hannah , they were older half-brothers to the younger Wheeler Dryden , who grew up separately with his father in England and was not told about his half-brothers until 1915. Dryden later emigrated to

62-735: A long illness, he died one month after his 80th birthday, on his half-brother Charlie's 76th birthday, on 16 April 1965, in Nice , France. Gypsy survived him. Chaplin is buried in Clarens-Montreux Cemetery , near Vevey . After Gypsy died in 1992, she was buried beside him. Sydney Chaplin was portrayed as a teenager by actor Nicholas Gatt and as an adult by actor Paul Rhys in Richard Attenborough 's Chaplin . The film explored his personal and professional relationship with Charlie. Birth name#Maiden and married names A birth name

93-636: A partnership with Chicago film distributor Samuel S. Hutchinson, establishing a production entity known as the American Film Manufacturing Company . In early 1912 the Shallenberger brothers (Wilbert E. and William Edgar), Crawford Livingston, and others as investors including Charles J. Hite , the President & CEO of Thanhouser Film Corporation , joined Freuler and Harry E. Aitken in the formation of Mutual Film. Mutual Film Corporation

124-538: A passenger flight, at the-now Emory Roger's Roger's Field which included Chaplin Airfield and DeMille Field No. 2 . The cost was $ 10 for a 10 minute flight with Frank Hawks (later gaining fame as an air racer ), giving her a ride that would forever change Earhart's life. He returned to acting, and later films include The Perfect Flapper (1924) with Colleen Moore , and Charley's Aunt (1925). He made five features for Warner Bros. Pictures , including The Man on

155-487: Is believed by many to have the first spoken word of dialogue in film, "coffee", although other historians disagree. Syd Chaplin returned to England, where he made his first film for British International Pictures (BIP), A Little Bit of Fluff (1928). This proved to be his final film. In 1929, as he was to begin work on a second film for the studio, Mumming Birds , he was accused of sexual assault by actress Molly Wright. BIP settled out of court, which appeared to concede

186-503: Is the name given to a person upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname , the given name , or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth register may by that fact alone become the person's legal name . The assumption in the Western world is often that the name from birth (or perhaps from baptism or brit milah ) will persist to adulthood in

217-461: Is the masculine form. The term née , having feminine grammatical gender , can be used to denote a woman's surname at birth that has been replaced or changed. In most English-speaking cultures, it is specifically applied to a woman's maiden name after her surname has changed due to marriage. The term né can be used to denote a man's surname at birth that has subsequently been replaced or changed. The diacritic mark (the acute accent ) over

248-691: The Los Angeles area and the other in Santa Barbara . They were Signal Film Corporation, Vogue Films, Inc., Lone Star Film Company and American Film Company. Vogue Films, Inc. operated a studio at Santa Monica Boulevard and Gower street in Los Angeles producing two-reel comedy films exclusively. Among the other subsidiaries of the New York Motion Picture Company were: 101-Bison Company, Broncho Film Company, & Domino Film Company. In 1915,

279-708: The United States Supreme Court ruled in Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio that motion pictures were a form of business, not an art form, and therefore not covered by the First Amendment . Shortly after this decision, cities began to pass ordinances banning the public exhibition of "immoral" films, concerning the major studios that state or federal regulations would soon follow. This ruling remained in effect until Joseph Burstyn, Inc v. Wilson in 1952 which declared that film

310-456: The e is considered significant to its spelling, and ultimately its meaning, but is sometimes omitted. According to Oxford University 's Dictionary of Modern English Usage , the terms are typically placed after the current surname (e.g., " Margaret Thatcher , née Roberts" or " Bill Clinton , né Blythe"). Since they are terms adopted into English (from French), they do not have to be italicized , but they often are. In Polish tradition ,

341-460: The Box (1925), Oh, What a Nurse! (1926), The Missing Link (1927), and The Fortune Hunter (1927). Warner Brothers' The Better 'Ole (1926) is perhaps Syd's best-known film today because of his characterisation of Old Bill , adapted from a World War I character created by cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather . Also, this was the second Warner Bros. film to have a Vitaphone soundtrack. This film

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372-531: The Keystone stock company in supporting roles before starring as a new character, Reggie Gussle. Gussle was a brash, mustachioed, happy-go-lucky fellow who enjoyed flirting with women and sneaking drinks, but was usually under the watchful eye of his large, ominous wife ( Phyllis Allen ). Syd Chaplin was less frantic than the other Keystone comedians, who usually ran around the scene with exaggerated gestures. Syd's antics were slower but quite energetic. His expressive face

403-697: The New York Motion Picture Company. In 1915, the workers of Keystone Studios, Kay-Bee Studios (a subsidiary of the New York Motion Picture Company ) and Reliance-Majestic Studio left Mutual, along with the Aitken brothers, to form the Triangle Film Corporation . Now as complete owners of the former Reliance-Majestic Studio, by 1917 the conglomerate operated as the distributor for four subsidiary studios in California , three of which were in

434-713: The United States, joining the Chaplins in Hollywood . Sydney Chaplin was also a half-uncle of actor Sydney Chaplin (1926–2009), who was named after him. Sydney John Hill was born in London to the unmarried 19-year-old Hannah Hill, who was a music hall entertainer. She claimed the boy's father was Sydney Hawkes, but his father's identity was never verified. Hannah was of Romanichal heritage. A year later, his mother married Charles Chaplin Sr. , and

465-446: The company two years later. Charlie never achieved the sort of fame Syd did as a principal comedian for that company, but surpassed him later as an actor, director and producer. After Charlie achieved worldwide fame in 1915, the brothers were contacted by their half-brother Wheeler Dryden , whose father had just told him of the connection. His father had removed Wheeler from their mother as an infant and brought him up separately. Wheeler

496-585: The films becoming increasingly formulaic. As a result of this concern, Chaplin went with First National Pictures to have a contract that allowed him more flexibile production schedules so he could focus on making better films. As 1912 progressed, the company included auxiliary units such as Keystone Studios , the Majestic Studios (which would later become the Reliance-Majestic Studios through Harry Aitken's partnership with D. W. Griffith ), and

527-614: The first airplane showroom for their Curtiss airplanes. It offered observation flights for $ 10 and round-trip flights to San Diego for $ 150. On 4 July 1919, the Syd Chaplin Aircraft Corporation began flights to Santa Catalina Island . Sydney Chaplin Aerodrome (Chaplin Airfield) was south of Wilshire and west of Crescent (now bounded by Wilshire Boulevard, Fairfax Avenue, and San Vincente Boulevard). Emery H. Rogers conducted

558-410: The first roundtrip Los Angeles to San Francisco flight in one 24-hour period. Charlie Chaplin took his first airplane flight in one of Syd's planes, as did many other notable figures of the period. Syd Chaplin got out of the aviation business after governments began to pass legislation regulating pilot licensing and the taxation of planes and flights. On December 29, 1920, Amelia Earhart was booked for

589-690: The latter became his legal guardian. Sydney's surname was changed to Chaplin. Hannah and Charles had a son together called Charlie . While Syd and half-brother Charlie were in the Cuckoo Schools in Hanwell following their mother's mental collapse, Syd was placed in the programme designed to train young boys to become seamen. He served on the Exmouth training ship docked at Grays, Essex . He followed this training period with several years working on ships, receiving high marks from all of his employers but his ambition

620-647: The most inventive and liberating of his career, although he also had concerns that the films produced were increasingly formulaic during the length of his contract. During 1916 and 1917, the Lone Star Film Company had Charlie Chaplin working at their studio at 1025 Lillian Way, in Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin moved on to found United Artists in 1919 with Mary Pickford , D. W. Griffith , and Douglas Fairbanks . In 1918, Mutual Film Corporation ceased production. Like many other companies established at this time, Mutual

651-405: The normal course of affairs—either throughout life or until marriage. Some reasons for changes of a person's name include middle names , diminutive forms, changes relating to parental status (due to one's parents' divorce or adoption by different parents), and gender transition . The French and English-adopted née is the feminine past participle of naître , which means "to be born". Né

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682-557: The screen once again. During this period, Syd Chaplin's most important contribution may be in the field of aviation. In May 1919, he, along with pilot Emory Herman Rogers Jr., developed and launched the first privately owned domestic American airline, the Syd Chaplin Airline Company, based in Santa Monica, California . Although the corporation lasted only a year, in that time it established many "firsts." Syd and partners had

713-629: The term z domu (literally meaning "of the house", de domo in Latin ) may be used, with rare exceptions, meaning the same as née . Mutual Film Mutual's predecessor film businesses began with the partnership behind the Western Film Exchange, founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July 1906. The partnership included Harry E. Aitken , Roy Aitken, and John R. Freuler . In 1910, Freuler also formed

744-708: The truth of Wright's claims. Following the scandal, Chaplin left England again and moved to continental Europe, leaving a string of unpaid tax demands. By 1930 he was declared bankrupt. Chaplin married twice and had no children. He married his first wife, Minnie, in England in 1908. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in France in September 1936 following surgery for the illness. After World War II , Chaplin lived most of his final years in Europe. He married again, to Henriette Leoneanu (nicknamed Gypsy, by Chaplin) c. 1941. After

775-418: Was a legitimate artistic medium with free speech protections. In 1916, Charlie Chaplin became the highest paid entertainer in the world when he signed a contract with Mutual for a salary of $ 670,000 per year. Mutual built Chaplin his very own studio and allowed him total freedom to make twelve two-reel films during this fruitful twelve-month period. Chaplin subsequently recognised this period of film-making as

806-521: Was also an actor, and the brothers reunited in Hollywood in 1918 after they all immigrated to the United States. They occasionally worked together at Charlie Chaplin's studio through to the 1950s. As Charlie was negotiating his Keystone contract in Hollywood, he suggested that Syd should join the studio. Syd and his wife Minnie Chaplin arrived in California in October 1914. Syd made a few appearances with

837-579: Was also featured in numerous close-ups, unusual for Keystone stars. His improvisational approach sometimes resulted in scenes running very long -- in one case, so long that the finished scenes were divided into two separate comedies, Gussle's Backward Way and Gussle Tied to Trouble . The Gussle comedies caught on very quickly, and within the year these one-reel, 10-minute comedies were doubled in length. Syd Chaplin made 12 Gussle subjects, and then starred in an extended-length featurette, A Submarine Pirate in 1915. Second to Tillie's Punctured Romance, this

868-435: Was formed in 1912 by a group of American businessmen including Harry E. Aitken. A releasing and distribution company, Mutual also had numerous subsidiary production units, including Keystone Studios , famed producer of comedies. Mutual is celebrated for signing Charlie Chaplin in 1916; he produced some of his best comedies while working for the company., although he felt that the company's tight production schedules led to

899-572: Was handling the majority of Charlie's business affairs, in addition to further contract negotiations. Their sheet music business failed, but they were successful with a merchandising one. Sydney also appeared in a few of Charlie's films during the First National era, such as Pay Day and The Pilgrim . Sydney achieved his own million-dollar contract from Famous Players–Lasky in 1919, but a series of problems resulted in his making only one, failed, film, King, Queen, Joker (1921). He disappeared from

930-567: Was the most financially successful comedy Keystone ever made. Writing in The Smart Set magazine in 1916, critic George Jean Nathan stated that Charlie Chaplin was "not nearly so good a comique as his brother." Following this success, Syd decided to leave the screen to negotiate Charlie a better contract. After getting him a $ 500,000 contract with Mutual on February 27, 1916, he got him his first million-dollar ($ 1.25 million) contract on June 17, 1917 with First National Pictures . Soon he

961-406: Was to get into the entertainment business like his parents and brother, and he left his final voyage with that in mind. In 1905 Charlie and Sydney worked briefly together in one of their first stage appearances, Sherlock Holmes . Syd was briefly cast as a villain in that play. In 1906, however, he landed a contract with Fred Karno , of Karno's London Comedians, and worked hard to bring Charlie into

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