If you were making a montage of classic TV for some of that sweet, sweet TikTok affiliate money, there are certain moments you would just have to include. Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat in the air. Samantha Stephens twitching her nose. Arnold demanding to know what Willis is talking about. Two that definitely make the cut are Dick Van Dyke tripping over the ottoman in the opening sequence of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz frantically eating chocolates in a factory in the I Love Lucy episode “Job Switching.” They’re such iconic moments that they’ve both been referenced on Family Guy, a show no one over 23 has ever watched.
They were also both inspired by not only the same comedian but the same movie: 1936’s Modern Times, written, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. The film was a turning point in Chaplin’s career, marking some of his first experimentations with sound and featuring controversial depictions of drugs and political messages that shocked ‘30s audiences, but most people today — even the ones who get Family Guy jokes — have never heard of it. It’s like if the most-praised comedies 100 years from now were just rip-offs of Happy Gilmore, except Happy Gilmore will definitely be remembered.
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The movie opens with a lengthy factory sequence that would cause riots among today’s chicken-jockey-loving audiences, in which Chaplin’s “The Tramp” is overwhelmed by the speed of the conveyor belt carrying the items he’s supposed to work on. The scene goes further than I Love Lucy’s antics, with Chaplin getting literally swallowed up by the machine, ground through its gears, and spit back out onto the conveyor belt, but that’s a little metaphorical for ‘50s TV audiences.
Later, he fantasizes about living in his dream home with the object of his affection, but cracks appear in the fantasy when he trips over an ottoman in their living room.
It’s not like there was a spate of ottoman-related injuries sensationalizing headlines at the time, so that’s a pretty clear homage, but Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s daughter, Lucie, confirmed the yoink in 2019, shrugging that “the greats steal from the greats.” Whereas Desilu’s interpretation of factory life was the whole bit, however, it’s only an inciting incident for Chaplin’s film, ending in an actual “nervous breakdown” and period of hospitalization, after which he’s mistakenly arrested as a communist and accidentally foils a jailbreak while unintentionally high on cocaine.
Now that would be a great episode of I Love Lucy.
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