Charlie Chaplin on Colfax Avenue?

Charlie Chaplin

      Did silent film star Charlie Chaplin get his start on Colfax Avenue? Surprisingly, the answer is yes...just not on the Colfax Avenue in Colorado!

Mack Sennett

     "King of Comedy" Mack Sennett was born on January 17, 1880 in Richmond, Québec, Canada as Mikall Sinnott. He was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film.
     Joint founder of the Keystone studios in 1912, Mack Sennett launched the careers of Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, W. C. Fields, Bing Crosby, Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Stan Laurel, Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. In 1917 he left Keystone and founded the Mack Sennett Comedies Corporation which joined forces with Pathé in 1923.
     In 1926 plans for a new city in the San Fernando Valley, California were being developed. It began with the purchase of a 50 acre lettuce ranch at the corner of Colfax Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, along with a 300 acre ranch located at Laurel Canyon. Mack Sennett was looking for a new studio location. A deal was struck and in 1928 Mack Sennett Studios opened and the surrounding area became known as Studio City. At this time the Studio consisted of one office building, a projection room/film editing building, a film library, a two-story dressing room building attached to a large sound stage, a wardrobe building, garage, and a stage with an in ground swimming pool.
     In 1932, Mack Sennett was nominated for two Academy Awards and won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Novelty in 1932 for Wrestling Swordfish. In 1937 the Academy presented Mack Sennett with an honorary Academy Award, "For his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the screen, the basic principles of which are as important today as when they were first put into practice, the Academy presents a special award to that master of fun, discoverer of stars, sympathetic, kindly, understanding comedy genius, Mack Sennett."
     Mack Sennett passed away on November 5, 1960 in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 80.

Mack Sennett Studios, 4024 Radford Avenue in Studio City, CA, is now CBS Studio Center.