Charlie Chaplin Pickford, and D. W. Griffith to form a new distribution company – United Artists, established in January 1919. The arrangement was revolutionary in the film industry, as it enabled the four partners – all creative artists – to personally fund their pictures and have complete control. Chaplin was eager to start with the new company and offered to buy out his contract with First National. They refused and insisted that he complete the final six films owed. Before the creation of United Artists, Chaplin married for the first time. The 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris had revealed that she was pregnant
Billy West (silent film actor) Billy West (silent film actor) Billy West (September 22, 1892 – July 21, 1975) was a film actor, producer and director of the silent film era. He is best known as a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Born Roy B. Weissburg (or "Weissberg") in the Russian Empire to a Jewish family, West emigrated to Chicago with his family aged two. He appeared in many short films, first in "Apartment No. 13" in 1912. In 1917 movie theaters could not get enough Charlie Chaplin comedies, and an enterprising producer hired West, who had been doing comic pantomimes on the vaudeville stage, to make