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20. Laughing Gas (1914)

Keystone 1914

Film still for Laughing Gas

Synopsis

Charles Chaplin arrives at work in a dentist surgery. He surveys the waiting room with a superior air, removes his gloves, and gets to work - when it transpires he is actually the dentist's assistant. He is left to treat a patient with laughing gas (and a mallet). On his way to collect a prescription he flirts with the dentist's wife, accidentally pulling off her skirt, and gets into trouble with a large man and a passer-by, knocking their teeth out by throwing bricks. Back in the surgery Charlie uses an enormous pair of pliers on a patient before the infuriated dentist, his wife, and all who Charlie has abused catch up with him.

chaplin_credits

Director/Scenario:
Charles Chaplin
Cast:
Charles Chaplin (Dentist's Assistant)
Fritz Schade (Dentist)
? Alice Howell Dentist's Wife)
Joseph Sutherland (Assistant)
George 'Slim' Summerville (Patient)
Josef Swickard (Patient)
Mark Swain (Bystander)
? Gene Marsh (Patient)
Shooting days:
June 15 - June 22
Negative sent from LA:
June 26
Received in New York:
July 2
Released:
July 9 1914
Length:
1020ft
Keystone working title:
Dentist Story
Other titles:
Tuning His Ivories, The Dentist, Down and Out, Tuning His Ivories, Laffing Gas, Busy Little Dentist