A Busy Day is a 1914 silent comedy short film starring Charlie Chaplin and Mack Swain.
Plot A wife becomes jealous of her husband's interest in another woman during a military parade. On her way to attack the couple, the wife interrupts the set of a film, knocking over a film director and a police officer. Finally, the husband pushes the wife off a pier and she falls into the harbor.
Cast Charlie Chaplin as Wife Mack Swain as Husband Phyllis Allen as The Other Woman Mack Sennett as Film director Billy Gilbert as Police officer Ted Edwards as Police officer
Notes According to the 1965 book The Films of Charlie Chaplin, A Busy Day is the first of three films in which Chaplin plays a woman. The other two were The Masquerader (1914) and A Woman (1915). Chaplin used the wardrobe of fellow Keystone player Alice Davenport.
It was typical for Mack Sennett to shoot Keystone comedies using real events—such as a parade—as the background for comic mayhem. This short film (about half a reel) was shot near San Pedro Harbor in less than two hours. In it, one can see interesting glimpses of First World War-era American naval ships in the background. The other part of the reel is an educational short titled The Morning Papers.
Reception A reviewer from Bioscope noted, "[Chaplin] gives an amazing exhibition of acrobatic humor."
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