Ben Turpin
Encyclopedia
Ben Turpin was a cross-eyed American
comedian
and actor
, best remembered for his work in silent film
s.
on September 19, 1869, the son of a candy
store owner.
Turpin and his first wife, Carrie Le Mieux, an actress, were married in Chicago in 1907. In 1923, Mrs. Turpin became ill with influenza
, which caused the loss of her hearing. Heartbroken, Turpin brought his seriously ill wife to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
in Quebec
, hoping she would be healed. She eventually became an invalid, with Turpin placing his career on hold to care for her. Carrie died on October 2, 1925.
, burlesque
, and circuses. Turpin had a distinctive appearance, with a small wiry frame, a brush mustache, and crossed eyes
. Turpin's famous eyes, he said, only crossed as a young adult after he suffered an accident. Turpin was convinced that the crossed eyes were essential to his comic career; his co-workers recalled that after he received any blow to the head he made a point of looking himself in the mirror to assure himself that they had not become uncrossed. Turpin was a devout Catholic
, and his workmates would occasionally goad him by threatening to pray that Turpin's eyes would uncross, thus depriving him of his livelihood.
Turpin famously bought a $25,000 insurance policy with Lloyd's of London
, payable if his eyes ever uncrossed. (How serious this was is open to question; such publicity stunts centered around a performer's "trademark" were common at the time.) He developed a vigorous style of physical comedy, including an ability to stage comic pratfalls that impressed even his fellow workers in the rough-and-tumble world of silent comedy. One of his specialties was a forward tumble he called the "hundred an' eight'" (probably a corruption of "one hundred and eighty," referring to a 180-degree somersault). It was basically an interrupted forward somersault initiated by kicking one leg up turning over 180 degrees to land flat on the back or in a seated position.
Ben Turpin first appeared on film
in 1907 for Essanay Studios
in Chicago
in various small parts and comic bits; in addition to his on-screen work, Turpin worked as a janitor for Essanay. In the 1909 film Mr. Flip
, Turpin receives what is believed to have been the first pie-in-the-face. By 1912 he was an established if not major screen personality, giving interviews and writing articles for the new fan magazines (the first of which had started the year before).
Charlie Chaplin
joined the Essanay company in 1915, and the studio made Turpin his second banana. Chaplin was maturing as a filmmaker, working slowly and intuitively. Turpin, however, was impatient with Chaplin's methods. The earthy Turpin understood straightforward slapstick more than comic subtlety. The Chaplin-Turpin duo didn't last long, with Chaplin abandoning Chicago for California. Turpin does share one additional credit with Chaplin: after Chaplin filmed Burlesque on Carmen in two reels, Essanay filmed new scenes with Ben Turpin to pad the picture into a featurette, doubling its length.
Essanay did not survive Chaplin's departure and remained solvent for only a few more years. Turpin may have been aware of Essanay's instability; he left Essanay for the Vogue comedy company, where he starred in a series of two-reel comedies. Former Essanay comedian Paddy McQuire supported him. Many of Turpin's Vogue comedies were re-released under different titles, to cash in on Turpin's subsequent stardom.
studio. Turpin's aptitude for crude slapstick suited the Sennett style perfectly, and Sennett's writers often cast the ridiculous-looking Turpin against type (a rugged Yukon miner; a suave, worldly lover; a stalwart cowboy; a fearless stuntman, etc.) for maximum comic effect. Through the 1920s his roles often spoofed serious actors and celebrities of the time – e.g., "The Shriek" for "The Sheik" – and Turpin became one of film's most popular comics. Turpin appeared in both short subjects and feature films for Sennett. Delighted with his own success, he took to introducing himself with the phrase, "I'm Ben Turpin; I make $3000 a week."
Sennett terminated most of his staff's contracts in 1928, and closed the studio to retool for the new talking pictures. Turpin was signed by the low-budget Weiss Brothers-Artclass company, perhaps the most ambitious coup that Artclass ever attempted. Turpin made two-reel comedies there for one year. Artclass usually traded on his peculiar vision with titles like Idle Eyes and The Eyes Have It.
, and being highly successful at this, had no financial need for more work. Producers soon sought him out for gag appearances in films. He commanded a flat fee of $1000 per appearance, regardless of whether it was a speaking role or a fleeting cameo. Among the most memorable of these cameos was in Paramount's Million Dollar Legs (1932) starring W. C. Fields, Jack Oakie and Susan Fleming.
He starred in only one more short subject, Keystone Hotel
(Warner Bros.
, 1935), a two-reel reunion of silent-era comedians. Turpin's speaking voice, incidentally, was a gritty, rasp that retained elements of the New Orleans "Yat" accent
of his youth. His last film role was in the Laurel and Hardy
film Saps at Sea
in 1940, in which his cross-eyed face served as a joke punchline. He was paid his $1000 for one quick shot of his face and just 16 words of dialogue.
following a Requiem Mass at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. He was eulogized at the Mass as "a fine member of his church, strong in his faith" by Father J. P. Concannon. His active pallbearers included Andy Clyde
, Billy Bevan
, James Finlayson, and Charlie Murray.
) in Hollywood Cavalcade, a partly fictionalized movie about the silent-film era. This movie contains a sequence in which Turpin reports for work and prepares to go onto the set in character. In the dressing room he picks up a hand mirror and checks his reflection as he deliberately crosses his eyes as extremely as possible. In this sequence, it can be seen that Turpin's left eye was actually normal when he was not performing, and that he intentionally crossed it (to match his misaligned right eye) as part of his screen character.
In the film The Comic
, Mickey Rooney
plays a fictional silent-film comedian named Cockeye Van Buren who is genuinely cross-eyed; although this character does not otherwise resemble Turpin, the handicap given to Rooney's role is clearly inspired by Turpin.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, best remembered for his work in silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s.
Personal life
Turpin was born Bernard Turpin in New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
on September 19, 1869, the son of a candy
Candy
Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...
store owner.
Turpin and his first wife, Carrie Le Mieux, an actress, were married in Chicago in 1907. In 1923, Mrs. Turpin became ill with influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
, which caused the loss of her hearing. Heartbroken, Turpin brought his seriously ill wife to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is a basilica set along the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, east of Quebec City. It has been credited by the Roman Catholic Church with many miracles of curing the sick and disabled. It is an important Catholic sanctuary which receives about a...
in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, hoping she would be healed. She eventually became an invalid, with Turpin placing his career on hold to care for her. Carrie died on October 2, 1925.
Vaudeville
He worked in vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, burlesque
American burlesque
American Burlesque is a genre of variety show. Derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows, burlesque shows in America became popular in the 1860s and evolved to feature ribald comedy and female striptease...
, and circuses. Turpin had a distinctive appearance, with a small wiry frame, a brush mustache, and crossed eyes
Strabismus
Strabismus is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other. It typically involves a lack of coordination between the extraocular muscles, which prevents bringing the gaze of each eye to the same point in space and preventing proper binocular vision, which may adversely...
. Turpin's famous eyes, he said, only crossed as a young adult after he suffered an accident. Turpin was convinced that the crossed eyes were essential to his comic career; his co-workers recalled that after he received any blow to the head he made a point of looking himself in the mirror to assure himself that they had not become uncrossed. Turpin was a devout Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, and his workmates would occasionally goad him by threatening to pray that Turpin's eyes would uncross, thus depriving him of his livelihood.
Turpin famously bought a $25,000 insurance policy with Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
, payable if his eyes ever uncrossed. (How serious this was is open to question; such publicity stunts centered around a performer's "trademark" were common at the time.) He developed a vigorous style of physical comedy, including an ability to stage comic pratfalls that impressed even his fellow workers in the rough-and-tumble world of silent comedy. One of his specialties was a forward tumble he called the "hundred an' eight'" (probably a corruption of "one hundred and eighty," referring to a 180-degree somersault). It was basically an interrupted forward somersault initiated by kicking one leg up turning over 180 degrees to land flat on the back or in a seated position.
Film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
in 1907 for Essanay Studios
Essanay Studios
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture studio. It is best known today for its series of Charlie Chaplin comedies of 1915.-Founding:...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in various small parts and comic bits; in addition to his on-screen work, Turpin worked as a janitor for Essanay. In the 1909 film Mr. Flip
Mr. Flip
Mr. Flip is a 1909 silent comedy film made by Essanay Studios, directed by Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson and starring Ben Turpin. This film is believed to have been the first instance of a comedian being hit in the face with a pie when Ben Turpin was struck. However, the pie Turpin was hit...
, Turpin receives what is believed to have been the first pie-in-the-face. By 1912 he was an established if not major screen personality, giving interviews and writing articles for the new fan magazines (the first of which had started the year before).
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
joined the Essanay company in 1915, and the studio made Turpin his second banana. Chaplin was maturing as a filmmaker, working slowly and intuitively. Turpin, however, was impatient with Chaplin's methods. The earthy Turpin understood straightforward slapstick more than comic subtlety. The Chaplin-Turpin duo didn't last long, with Chaplin abandoning Chicago for California. Turpin does share one additional credit with Chaplin: after Chaplin filmed Burlesque on Carmen in two reels, Essanay filmed new scenes with Ben Turpin to pad the picture into a featurette, doubling its length.
Essanay did not survive Chaplin's departure and remained solvent for only a few more years. Turpin may have been aware of Essanay's instability; he left Essanay for the Vogue comedy company, where he starred in a series of two-reel comedies. Former Essanay comedian Paddy McQuire supported him. Many of Turpin's Vogue comedies were re-released under different titles, to cash in on Turpin's subsequent stardom.
Mack Sennett and stardom
In 1917 Ben Turpin joined the leading comedy company, the Mack SennettMack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
studio. Turpin's aptitude for crude slapstick suited the Sennett style perfectly, and Sennett's writers often cast the ridiculous-looking Turpin against type (a rugged Yukon miner; a suave, worldly lover; a stalwart cowboy; a fearless stuntman, etc.) for maximum comic effect. Through the 1920s his roles often spoofed serious actors and celebrities of the time – e.g., "The Shriek" for "The Sheik" – and Turpin became one of film's most popular comics. Turpin appeared in both short subjects and feature films for Sennett. Delighted with his own success, he took to introducing himself with the phrase, "I'm Ben Turpin; I make $3000 a week."
Sennett terminated most of his staff's contracts in 1928, and closed the studio to retool for the new talking pictures. Turpin was signed by the low-budget Weiss Brothers-Artclass company, perhaps the most ambitious coup that Artclass ever attempted. Turpin made two-reel comedies there for one year. Artclass usually traded on his peculiar vision with titles like Idle Eyes and The Eyes Have It.
Turpin in the sound era
The year 1929 saw many silent-film stars uncertain about their future employment, with the new talking pictures requiring new skills and techniques. Ben Turpin chose to retire. He had invested his earnings in real estateReal estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, and being highly successful at this, had no financial need for more work. Producers soon sought him out for gag appearances in films. He commanded a flat fee of $1000 per appearance, regardless of whether it was a speaking role or a fleeting cameo. Among the most memorable of these cameos was in Paramount's Million Dollar Legs (1932) starring W. C. Fields, Jack Oakie and Susan Fleming.
He starred in only one more short subject, Keystone Hotel
Keystone Hotel (film)
Keystone Hotel is a 1935 2-reel comedy short subject, directed by Ralph Staub.The story follows the arrival of the cross-eyed Count Drewa Blank at a downtown hotel, to judge a beauty contest. While downstairs various parties try to sway the Count's decision, the house detective investigates...
(Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, 1935), a two-reel reunion of silent-era comedians. Turpin's speaking voice, incidentally, was a gritty, rasp that retained elements of the New Orleans "Yat" accent
Yat (New Orleans)
Yat is a dialect of English spoken in the Greater New Orleans Area. The term refers to those people who speak with the Yat accent and dialect of New Orleanians throughout the city...
of his youth. His last film role was in the Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
film Saps at Sea
Saps at Sea
Saps at Sea is a 1940 American film directed by Gordon Douglas, distributed by United Artists, and Laurel and Hardy's last film produced by Hal Roach Studio.- Plot :...
in 1940, in which his cross-eyed face served as a joke punchline. He was paid his $1000 for one quick shot of his face and just 16 words of dialogue.
Death
Ben Turpin died July 1, 1940 of a heart attack and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, CaliforniaGlendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
following a Requiem Mass at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. He was eulogized at the Mass as "a fine member of his church, strong in his faith" by Father J. P. Concannon. His active pallbearers included Andy Clyde
Andy Clyde
Andy Clyde was a Scottish movie and TV actor whose career spanned more than four decades. He broke into silent films in 1925 as a Mack Sennett comic...
, Billy Bevan
Billy Bevan
Billy Bevan was an Australian film actor. He appeared in 254 American films between 1916 and 1950....
, James Finlayson, and Charlie Murray.
Turpin's crossed eyes
Turpin and Sennett both appeared as themselves (in TechnicolorTechnicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
) in Hollywood Cavalcade, a partly fictionalized movie about the silent-film era. This movie contains a sequence in which Turpin reports for work and prepares to go onto the set in character. In the dressing room he picks up a hand mirror and checks his reflection as he deliberately crosses his eyes as extremely as possible. In this sequence, it can be seen that Turpin's left eye was actually normal when he was not performing, and that he intentionally crossed it (to match his misaligned right eye) as part of his screen character.
In the film The Comic
The Comic
The Comic is a 1969 drama/black comedy film co-written, co-produced and directed by Carl Reiner. It stars former Disney regulars Dick Van Dyke as Billy Bright and Michele Lee as Bright's love interest...
, Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
plays a fictional silent-film comedian named Cockeye Van Buren who is genuinely cross-eyed; although this character does not otherwise resemble Turpin, the handicap given to Rooney's role is clearly inspired by Turpin.
Timeline
- 1869 Birth in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 19
- 1897 Possible marriage to Norma from Ohio
- 1900 US Census in Houston, Texas listing birth year as 1869 and living with Norma and claiming to be married for 3 years. His father was Mexican and his mother Irish
- 1907 First movie for Essanay, An Awful Skate (or The Hobo on Rollers)
- 1907 Marriage to Carrie Le Mieux (1885–1925) aka Catherine of Canada
- 1910 US Census in Chicago, Illinois
- 1917 Work for Mack Sennett
- 1920 US Census in Los Angeles, California
- 1925 Announces retirement to care for ailing wife
- 1925 Death of Carrie Le Mieux (1885–1925)
- 1926 Marriage to German-born Babette Dietz, on July 8
- 1930 US Census
- 1940 Death