The Kid Auto Races in Venice

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Friday, August 13, 2021 -

Charlie Chaplin would become the world’s biggest star, but the first emergence of the Little Tramp played second fiddle to…go-karts. The iconic character debuted in 1914’s “At The Kid Auto Races in Venice”. It was filmed on-location at an actual road race held in Venice, California that year, among a crowd who showed up to watch some auto racing and instead became extras in film history. A year after the film, Chaplin would have never been able to walk those streets unnoticed. A year after that, he would’ve needed bodyguards.

The Victor Military Band was a virtual revolving door of  about a dozen musicians led by Edward T. King, and were the first to record W.C. Handy’s classic “St. Louis Blues”.

Watch the whole film, all six minutes of it, right now!

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