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3 unusual facts about Billie Ritchie


Billie Ritchie

Variations on Ritchie's "tramp" and "drunk" personae - which Ritchie had developed before and during his Karno years- were introduced to film audiences by Charlie Chaplin in such shorts as the Lehrman-directed Kid Auto Races at Venice (February 7, 1914) and Mabel's Strange Predicament (February 9, 1914).

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Ritchie is best recalled today for the silent comedy shorts he made between 1914 and 1920 for director/producer Henry Lehrman's L-KO Kompany and Fox Film Sunshine Comedy unit.

L-KO Kompany

L-KO's first comedy star was veteran English comic Billie Ritchie, who had played the role of the drunk in Fred Karno's stage production A Night in the English Music Hall before Chaplin did.



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