The Clown Suicides: The Death and Cinematic Afterlife of Marceline Orbes and Francis "Slivers" Oakley, New York's Superstar Clowns, in Charlie Chaplin's Limelight

Although generally seen as an autobiographical piece, a film that reflects on the declining popularity of its director and star, Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952) is a sharp, albeit obscured commentary on the lives of two of the twentieth century's most important forgotten comedians. The names of Marceline Orbes and Francis "Slivers" Oakley mean almost nothing today, but these comedians were hugely influential, inspiring not only Chaplin but also Buster Keaton. Orbes and Oakley shared a focus on pathos and the mime that helped to provide Chaplin and Keaton with their comic framework. Though their careers were destroyed by the rise of cinematic comedy (and the performers whom they had helped to inspire), a development that led to their suicides, the influence of Orbes and Oakley was long lasting thanks to those successful big-screen comedians who understood and internalized their works.