Collector finds Zepped, a lost Charlie Chaplin film, on eBay for £3.20; Uptown Chicago Connection

Editor's Note: The Chicago Tribune had an article this morning about a previously unknown Chaplin film, with footage shot at the Essanay Studio in Uptown Chicago. Excerpt with link below:

For nearly a century "Zepped," a 6-minute 1916 film of mysterious pedigree starring Charlie Chaplin, was lost. Now it’s found.

Earlier this year, an Essex, England, film collector named Morace Park made a successful eBay bid of £3.20 (or $5.68 American) on a nitrate film canister containing unlabeled footage. The footage turned out to be the obscure Chaplin short, a World War I propaganda effort designed to buck up British morale, combining stop-motion animation and outtakes and unused alternate shots from films Chaplin made for both Keystone and Essanay studios

The hybrid, over which Chaplin apparently exercised no creative control, includes a shot or two from "His New Job," the short film Chaplin made for the Chicago-based Essanay during his 23-day residency here in late 1914 and early 1915...

Complete article can be read on the Tribune site.

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The article below, excerpted from the UK paper The Guardian, has more details:

Collector finds unseen Charlie Chaplin film in tin sold for £3.20 on eBay

Morace Park was footling around on eBay looking for antiques when he stumbled on an item that was listed casually as an "old film" – and even then he was really more interested in the tin it was in.

"It had a lovely look to it," said Park. But the contents of the battered container, which he bought for the princely sum of £3.20, have turned out to be a previously unknown film by Charlie Chaplin...

For entire article, go to The Guardian.