The Vintagent Classics: Mabel At The Wheel

SUMMARY

Chaplin plays a villain, a Dutch immigrant (a character made famous by Ford Sterling, the star of Keystone, whom Chaplin had been asked to replace… and imitate, which he would not tolerate for long). Mabel Normand, meanwhile, is the girlfriend of a pilot (Harry McCoy). On the occasion of the Vanderbilt Cup, a famous car race which takes place in Santa Monica, Chaplin kidnaps Mabel’s boyfriend to prevent him from participating in the competition. But Mabel is not discouraged and gets into the car herself. In spite of all the attempts of sabotage of the perfidious little mustachian, she will manage to gain the final victory.

The story goes that Sennett asked Chaplin if he’d ever ridden a motorcycle, to which he answered “yes”, but it turned out he’d only ever ridden a pedal cycle. They began to shoot the scene where Chaplin takes Mabel for a ride on his motorcycle. Charlie was sitting on the 1912 Thor chain drive Model M Type IV , and Mabel climbed on. Charlie pushed off, the motor fired, Charlie gave it full throttle and the machine roared off. However, they’d only gone five yards before the thing went into a huge wobble. After a few high-speed seconds, Mabel was thrown from the bike, and cast unceremoniously into a ditch, in a flurry of Parisian petticoats. They later pried Charlie from among the wreckage of the cycle… – The making of Mabel At The Wheel

RELATED MEDIA

The making of Mabel At The Wheel
The life and times of Mabel Normand
Mabel, a motorcycle girl