Charlie Chaplin members to his stock company, Albert Austin and Eric Campbell, and produced a series of elaborate two-reelers: "The Floorwalker", "The Fireman", "The Vagabond", "One A.M.", and "The Count". For "The Pawnshop", he recruited the actor Henry Bergman, who was to work with Chaplin for 30 years. "Behind the Screen" and "The Rink" completed Chaplin's releases for 1916. The Mutual contract stipulated that he release a two-reel film every four weeks, which he had managed to achieve. With the new year, however, Chaplin began to demand more time. He made only four more films for Mutual over the first ten months
Charlie Chaplin expressed concern that the 24-year-old looked too young. He was not used in a picture until late January, during which time Chaplin attempted to learn the processes of filmmaking. The one-reeler "Making a Living" marked his film acting debut and was released on 2 February 1914. Chaplin strongly disliked the picture, but one review picked him out as "a comedian of the first water". For his second appearance in front of the camera, Chaplin selected the costume with which he became identified. He described the process in his autobiography: The film was "Mabel's Strange Predicament", but "the Tramp" character, as