As I recall, there were four or five telegrams altogether, each of them from Adam Kessel and addressed to Sennett. One was a curt refusal to authorize more than $40 a week in salary for Dot Farley. The others are summarized below, and I thought the Mafiosi might be interested:
On eBay right now, a few telegrams relating to Keystone are for
auction. A couple of them help show how hectic the pace was at the
studio during Chaplin's early weeks there.
Here's an excerpt of one addressed to Sennett, from his superiors at
the New York Motion Picture Company, dated January 13, 1914:
"WILL BE COMPELLED TO SKIP A FEW RELEASES OF KEYSTONE UNLESS WE
(receive) THIS WEEK LITTLE BILLIES TRIUMPH MABLES BARE ESCAPE AND MAKING
A LIVING AND ENOUGH NEGATIVES NEXT WEEK TO ENABLE US TO BOOK FOR
FEBRUARY FIFTH SEVENTH AND NINTH(.)"
Evidently, the studio at this point was barely able to keep up with
its required output. The three films that hadn't even arrived in New
York by January 13 were ultimately released only two or three weeks
later:
"Litlle Billy's Triumph" (January 29)
"Mabel's Bare Escape" (January 31)
"Making a Living" (February 2)
"Making a Living" was the earliest known Chaplin film. Later in life
he recalled the hostility directed at him by his early Keystone
directors. The pressure that these men were under to wrap up new films
must have been part of the reason, because they were certainly keeping
him busy. He was featured in two of those three releases the home office
wanted for February 5th, 7th and 9th, "Kid Auto Races" and "Mabel's
Strange Predicament."
"...WE CANNOT RUN SO CLOSE IT TAKES ONE WEEK AT LEAST TO GET POSTERS
AND WE MUST SHIP TO EXCHANGE AT LEAST ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE OF RELEASE
DATE(.) BESIDES OUR CONTRACT CALLS FOR US TO NOTIFY THE MUTUAL OF
RELEASE DATES AT LEAST ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE(.) CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHY
KEYSTONE IS SO FAR BEHIND WHILE INCES COMPANY ARE SO FAR IN ADVANCE(.)
YOU ALSO PROMISED TO SHIP KID MELODRAMA MONDAY JANUARY FIFTH BUT HAVE
NOT RECEIVED SAME(.)"
This film must have been "Little Billy's Strategy," released on
February 5.
"...ALSO HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR ANSWER REGARDING HOW SOON WE CAN
EXPECT RAFFLES GENTLEMAN BURGLAR(.) IMPERITIVE THAT WE RECEIVE ANSWERS
TO OUR WIRES(.) WE HAVE DOUBLE CROSSED BOOKED FOR RELEASE JANUARY TWENTY
SIXTH BUT HAVE NOT AS YET RECEIVED THE NEGATIVE(.) FIGURE IT OUT
YOURSELF(.)"
"Raffles, Gentleman Burglar" was a two-reeler, and only the fourth
two-reeler Keystone had made up to then. It must have taken a long time
to produce, because it was the subject of another telegram, written
January 26:
"SEND RAFFLES IN TO US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS IT IS AND WE WILL
RELEASE IT AS A TWO REEL REGULAR RELEASE BUT THE MUTUAL ABSOLUTELY
REFUSE TO ACCEPT ANY MORE TWO REEL SUBJECTS AFTER THAT ONE(.)"
"Raffles" was released on February 16, and it was indeed the last
Keystone two-reeler until April. After "Raffles," Keystone released
eleven two-reelers that year, and Chaplin appeared in seven of them.
Interestingly, the films that the home office was the most impatient
for ("Little Billy's Strategy," "Raffles, Gentleman Burglar" and "Double
Crossed") all starred Ford Sterling or Paul Jacobs, who would both
resign from Keystone within a month for greener pastures at Universal.