By the Sea (1915 American Silent Comedy film)

By the Sea is a 1915 American silent comedy film Charlie Chaplin made while waiting for a studio to work in Los Angeles. He had just left Niles Essanay Studio after doing five films at that location. By the Sea was filmed all on location at Crystal Pier in April 1915. The story centers on Charlie's Little Tramp character and how he gets into trouble trying to grab the attention of women on the beach. Edna Purviance plays one of the wives in whom he shows interest. It is said to be the first film to incorporate the classic gag of a man slipping on a banana skin.

Synopsis
The film starts with a drunk being told to stay where he is his wife. Charlie enters about thirty seconds into the film, eating a banana while wandering along the seashore on the Crystal Pier. He nonchalantly throws the banana peel away and quickly slips on it.

Location
The movie was the first of Chaplin's Essanay films to be shot in southern California. At Chaplin's insistence, all his remaining Essanay films were made there in the rented Majestic Studios. Chaplin had found the facilities at the Essanay Studios in Niles, California to be unsatisfactory.

Review
A reviewer from the British film periodical Bioscope wrote, "More irresistible absurdities by the inimitable Charles, with the broad Pacific Ocean as a background. Chaplin's humor needs neither description nor recommendation."

Cast
Charles Chaplin as the tramp
Billy Armstrong as the man in straw hat
Margie Reiger as Man in straw hat's wife
Bud Jamison as Man in top hat
Edna Purviance as Man in top hat's sweetheart
Paddy McGuire as First cop
Ernest Van Pelt as Second cop