Perhaps best known to film fans today for minor roles in his brother Charlie's films like A Dog's Life (1918), Syd Chaplin was once a popular solo comedian in his own right.

Syd was a natural entertainer. In 1905, he landed a slot as a comedian with Fred Karno's Music Hall , where he lobbied to get a job for his younger brother, too. Charlie's tenure with Karno launched him into the movies, to Mack Sennett, where he repaid the favor to Syd by lobbying Sennett to hire his older brother.

Sydney Chaplin joined the Sennett studios for a run of two- and three-reel comedy shorts about a selfish boor with oil-slicked hair parted in the middle, a moustache apparently swiped off Snub Pollard's face and stuck on upside down, and a well-padded rump. This was "Reggie Gussle," a character Syd had created for Karno and brought with him to Hollywood. The Gussle shorts were among the best things Sennett was making in this period, and A Submarine Pirate is one of the best of the Gussle shorts--and also the last. Syd was paired with ace director Charles Avery and a supporting cast of stalwart comedians including Phyllis Allen.

The submarine in question was an actual sub, on loan from the U.S. Navy in San Diego in exchange for publicity. According to the New York Times of November 15, 1915, the Navy's press secretary actually claimed they planned to use the film to encourage recruiting.

By David Kalat