Jackie Coogan 1914 - 1984 Jackie Coogan who first gained fame starring with Charlie Chaplin in "The Kid" (1921), and was later known as Uncle Fester on the television series, "The Addams Family," in the 1960s. Chaplin first saw the 4-year-old Coogan performing in a dance act with his father at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles in 1918. Chaplin described Coogan as "charming" with "an engaging personality," but he didn't think much more about him until a few weeks later when he read that Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, another popular silent film comedian, had signed Coogan to a film contract. Chaplin then realized that Coogan would be perfect in his films, especially as a young partner for Chaplin's "Little Tramp" character, but it was too late. Coogan had already been signed by Arbuckle. "What an idiot I was not to have thought of it before," Chaplin recalled in his autobiography.
While Chaplin was still upset about missing the opportunity, he was told that Arbuckle had actually signed Coogan's father, Jack Coogan Sr., not the little boy. Chaplin called Coogan Sr., and asked if his son was available for a film. He was, and Chaplin immediately started to work on "The Kid," his first feature-length film.
In the film, Coogan plays a child abandoned by his mother, played by Edna Purviance. Chaplin finds the boy and takes care of him, but the mother decides she wants him back, so the authorities take him away. Chaplin steals the boy back, but loses him again. Chaplin remembered Coogan as a natural performer. "There were a few basic rules to learn in pantomime and Jackie soon mastered them," he wrote. "He could apply emotion to the action and action to the emotion, and could repeat it time and time again without losing the effect of spontaneity. Jackie Coogan was sensational." (Ironically, Coogan Sr.'s contract with Arbuckle didn't work out, and his only film appearance was a small role as a pickpocket in "The Kid.")
Despite Chaplin's concerns about mixing drama with comedy, "The Kid" opened to rave reviews, and is currently considered a silent classic. And Coogan worked steadily after that, appearing in, "Peck's Bad Boy" (1921), "Oliver Twist" (1922), "Daddy" (1923), "A Boy of Flanders" (1924), "Little Robinson Crusoe" (1924), "Tom Sawyer" (1930) and "Huckleberry Finn" (1931). By the early 1930s, Coogan had become the youngest self-made millionaire in history, but his career as a child star was over.
The 'chica' was captured in Habana, and clearly deserved the honour of being placed in an old Coogan poster... for a smile and more!
always a pleasure to read your "abouts" and then seen them on a pic!!!! great realisation of the contrast between the expression and commercial use of it!!!! most original and intersting! emy :)
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{K:15233} 2/15/2005