IT was the moment when one of the most famous Scots in the world met an English Hollywood icon.
Now the eight-minute film, which shows a meeting between Sir Harry Lauder and Charlie Chaplin, is to be shown at a new comedy film festival in Scotland.
The footage, made for cinemas in 1918 but believed never to have been seen in Scotland, shows Sir Harry and Chaplin collaborate in several skits, and mimic each other’s gait.
It will be screened at the comedy film festival to take place at the restored Campbeltown Picture House this weekend.
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The film was made at the time to promote a fundraising project Lauder had established for soldiers injured during the First World War.
However, the film, which shows “on-screen warmth” between the two, was never completed or shown widely in public.
The film was made at the height of both performers’ fame: Sir Harry had been vigorous in his concerts for troops, and Chaplin, then 29, was a household name.
It is understood Sir Harry himself may have owned a copy of the rare footage.
Lauder, who was born in 1870 in Portobello, Edinburgh, and who died in 1950 in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, was for many years one of Scotland’s most famous performers.
He won singing competitions as a child and became world-famous for singing Scottish songs and wearing Scottish dress, and toured America, South Africa, and Australia, and during the First World War he sang to troops in France.
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Sir Winston Churchill described him as “Scotland’s greatest ever ambassador”.
The film will be showed at the Bunkered! strand of the Scotland’s Comedy Film Festival (SCOFF) at the picture house, which features a series of archive films.
Shona Thomson, who curated the strand, said: “Scotland has an international reputation for its much-loved comedians and you can see it in the on-screen warmth between Sir Harry Lauder and Charlie Chaplin.
“It’s so exciting to be able to bring this selection of films from the varied collections of the National Library of Scotland, BFI National Archive, STV, The Stroke Association and The Chaplin Office/Roy Export SAS back to the big screen in the glorious Campbeltown Picture House.”
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Ailsa MacKenzie, the programmer for the festival, said: “We are delighted we have been given the opportunity to screen the famous Lauder- Chaplin film. Even more exciting, we will have live musical performance complementing the footage performed in the Picture House by acclaimed singer, BBC presenter and Lauder expert Jamie MacDougall with Scottish Opera’s head of music Derek Clark on piano.”
Other screenings at SCOFF include Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and Bill Forsyth’s That Sinking Feeling.
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