Where to watch The Kid (1921)

Trivia & production notes

• Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, edited, and starred in The Kid, later adding a composed musical score to the film himself.
• Jackie Coogan transitioned from vaudeville performer to become the first major child star in cinema through his role in The Kid.
• Chaplin's firstborn infant son died just ten days before production began, which may have influenced the emotional depth of the father-child relationship depicted in the film.
• First National Pictures wanted to release The Kid as three separate two-reel comedies rather than a single seven-reel feature, partly because a shorter format would reduce Chaplin's salary.
• During his divorce proceedings, Chaplin had the film's raw negative smuggled to Salt Lake City and edited it in a hotel room to prevent his wife from attaching the film as an asset.
• Chaplin renegotiated his contract with First National by screening a cut of the film to executives, eventually securing 50 percent of box office earnings once the studio's budget of $1.5 million was reached.
• The Kid premiered on January 21, 1921, at Carnegie Hall in New York City as a benefit for the Children's Fund of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
• In 1972, Chaplin attended the world premiere of a re-edited version of The Kid that he had trimmed and rescored at a Film Society of Lincoln Center gala tribute to him.
• The Kid was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in December 2011 for its innovative blending of comedy and drama within a feature-length format.
• A Hollywood alley near Hollywood and Cahuenga Boulevard, where The Kid was filmed alongside works by Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, was renamed Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley in recognition of these filmmakers.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article The Kid (1921 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.