Ben Turpin

Vaudeville Turpin worked in vaudeville, burlesque, and circuses. He 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. He 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. He was a devout Catholic, and his workmates occasionally goaded him by threatening to pray that his 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. A 1920 version of the story had the amount upped $100,000.

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". 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

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, he worked as a carpenter and janitor for Essanay. In the 1909 film Mr. Flip, Turpin receives what is believed to have been the first pie-in-the-face.

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 did not last long, with Chaplin abandoning Chicago for California. Turpin does share one additional credit with Chaplin: after Chaplin filmed A Burlesque on Carmen in two reels, Essanay filmed new scenes with Turpin to pad the picture into a featurette, doubling its length. These new scenes were staged by actor-director Leo White; Turpin and Chaplin do not appear together on screen.

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 for the Vogue comedy company, where he starred in a series of two-reel comedies. Former Essanay comedian Paddy McGuire supported him. Many of Turpin's Vogue comedies were re-released under different titles (by the Cameo company, in 1920) to cash in on Turpin's subsequent stardom: Why Ben Bolted was retitled He Looked Crooked, for example.

Mack Sennett and stardom In 1917, Ben Turpin joined the leading comedy company, the Mack Sennett 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 success, he took to introducing himself with the phrase, "I'm Ben Turpin; I make $3,000 a week." He played silents with Mabel Normand, Phillys Haver, Madeline Hurlock, Charlie Chaplin, Chester Conklin, James Finlayson, Billy Bevan and others.

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 Bros.-Artclass company, perhaps the most ambitious coup that Artclass ever attempted. Turpin made 10 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 estate and, being highly successful at this, had no financial need for more work. Producers soon sought him out for gag appearances in films. Turpin's speaking voice was a gritty rasp that retained elements of the New Orleans "Yat" accent of his youth. 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 were in RKO's Wheeler and Woolsey comedy Cracked Nuts (with Turpin as a cockeyed bombardier), and Paramount's Million Dollar Legs (1932) starring W. C. Fields, Jack Oakie, and Susan Fleming (the future wife of Harpo Marx of The Marx Brothers). Turpin also offered comedy relief in Mascot's 1934 adventure serial The Law of the Wild.

Turpin starred in five more film, including the short subject Keystone Hotel (Warner Bros., 1935), a reunion of silent-era comedians. His last feature film was Laurel and Hardy's 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. Death prevented his scheduled appearance in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator.

Death In 1940, Turpin suffered a stroke on June 23 and was treated at a hospital. After a few days, he was discharged and apparently was on the road to recovery. On June 30, he was apparently feeling fine, but later that day, complaining of chest pains, Turpin was rushed to Santa Monica Hospital. He died the following morning on July 1, of a massive heart attack. He was 70.

Two days later Turpin was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, following a Requiem Mass at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.

Turpin had been close friends with Andy Clyde and James Finlayson, with Clyde having been the witness at Turpin's second wedding,

Turpin's crossed eyes Turpin and Sennett both appeared as themselves (in Technicolor) in Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), 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.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1909 Mr. Flip Mr. Flip Short subject, uncredited1914 Madame Double X Mr. Von Crooks Jr. Short subject Lost film 1915 His New Job Film Extra in Anteroom Short subject, uncredited A Night Out Fellow Reveler Short subject, uncredited The Champion Ringside Vendor Short subject, uncredited A Burlesque on Carmen Remendados, the Smuggler 1917 A Clever Dummy A Romantic Janitor Short subject1918 Watch Your Neighbor Banana Peel Victim Short subject Lost film 1919 Yankee Doodle in Berlin A Prussian Guardsman Salome vs. Shenandoah Actor Playing New General Short subject Lost film 1920 Down on the Farm The Faithful Wife's Husband Married Life Rodney St. Clair – a Man's Man Cupid's Day Off 1st Shoe Salesman Lost film 1921 A Small Town Idol Sam Smith Home Talent Stranded Actor Molly O Minor Role Uncredited 1923 The Shriek of Araby Bill Poster – The Sheik Hollywood Ben Turpin Lost film 1925 Hogan's Alley The Stranger Incomplete film Steel Preferred Bartender Lost film1927 The College Hero The Janitor 1928 The Wife's Relations Rodney St. Clair Lost film A Woman's Way Minor Role Uncredited 1929 The Love Parade Cross-Eyed Lackey Uncredited The Show of Shows Waiter in "What Became of the Floradora Boys" Number 1930 A Royal Romance Cossack Guard Uncredited Swing High Bartender 1931 Cracked Nuts Cross-Eyed Ben Uncredited Our Wife Wm. Gladding, justice of the peace Ambassador Bill The Butcher 1932 Make Me a Star Ben Turpin Million Dollar Legs Mysterious Man Hypnotized Himself – Cameo Appearance Uncredited 1934 The Law of the Wild Henry Serial Hollywood on Parade#B-9 Bartender 1935 Keystone Hotel Count Drewa Blanc 1939 Hollywood Cavalcade Bartender 1940 Saps at Sea Cross-Eyed Plumber (final film role)