First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre ow
Thomas L. Tally (1915)
Poster for A Dog's Life (1918), Charlie Chaplin's first film under his $1 million contract with First National
First National Pictures studios in Burbank, California (c. 1928)
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was an English comic actor, filmmaker, singer, film editor and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen person
First National Pictures
…through First National was the 1916 British film The Mother of Dartmoor. Between 1917 and 1918, the company made contracts with Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, the first million-dollar deals in the history of film. Chaplin's contract allowed him to produce his films without a set release schedule. However…
Seven-year-old Chaplin (centre, head slightly cocked) at the Central London District School for paupers, 1897
A teenage Chaplin in the play Sherlock Holmes
Advertisement from Chaplin's American tour with the Fred Karno comedy company, 1913