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Chaplin, Essanay, Niles, California, released 12 April 1915. The Tramp saves a farmer's daughter (Edna Purviance) from roadside thieves, stays on as a hired hand, and bungles the work until the same men return. Two reels. This is the short in which the character is allowed a full stop: he writes a note, tips his hat, and walks the road alone. Shot on the Essanay lot and the surrounding Alameda County farms, it is the template later features would enlarge.
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The film that names him and the first that lets him lose. He saves the farmer's daughter, stays on, and bungles the work. Then a note, a hat tipped, and the road alone. That last shot is the collection's spine. He walks away from every film after this.
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