Billy West (September 22, 1892 – July 21, 1975) was a silent film actor, producer, and director. Active during the silent film era, he is best known as the premier Charlie Chaplin impersonator. He was a star in his own right, appearing in more than 100 films for nine different companies. Beyond acting, he also directed short comedies in the 1910s and '20s, and produced films. West retired as an actor in 1935, when he was working in small roles for Columbia Pictures. In 1940 he resumed his career as a director, making three features for Monogram Pictures. He remained in Columbia's employ, behind the scenes, into the 1950s.
Early career
Born Roy Benjamin Weisberg or Roy Benjamin Weissberg in the Russian Empire to a Jewish family, West emigrated to Chicago at the age of two with his family in 1894.Kalton C. Lahue, World of Laughter, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1966, p. 103. He entered vaudeville as "William B. West" in 1909 and played in theaters across America until 1916.
He appeared in many short films, first in Apartment No. 13 in 1912. In 1916 film distributor Ike Schlank's Unicorn Film Company signed him for two-reel comedies, to be supported by a movie newcomer, Ethelyn Gibson. Unicorn failed after three films, and West began working for Unicorn's successor, the Belmont Film Company. Belmont managed a single two-reeler before it also collapsed.
Chaplin impersonation Film sales executive Nat H. Spitzer, representing the new King Bee studio (the "Bee" being the last initial of studio president Louis Burstein), signed Billy West to a five-year contract at the rate of $750 weekly ($19,833 in 2024). In 1917 movie theaters could not get enough Charlie Chaplin comedies -- Chaplin himself releasing new films too slowly to meet the demand. West appeared in imitation-Chaplin subjects at the remarkable rate of two per month. This steady exposure established West as a comedy star. West, wearing the identical "tramp" costume and makeup, copied Chaplin's movements and gestures so accurately that he is often mistaken for the genuine performer. Some West comedies were later re-released on the home-movie market as "Charlie Chaplin" pictures. Most of the West comedies of 1917–18 resemble the Chaplin comedies of 1916–17, with Oliver Hardy approximating the villainy of Eric Campbell and Chaplin's own character player Leo White playing similar roles for West. The King Bee shorts constitute most of the Billy West material available today; four of them were revived in 1961 for the Comedy Capers TV series showcasing silent comedies: The Pest, The Villain, The Band Master, and The Chief Cook.
Production began in Jacksonville, Florida, with Ethelyn Gibson, Oliver Hardy, and Leo White. Five films were produced before the unit moved to New York and then to the Bayonne, New Jersey studio formerly occupied by the Vim comedy company. Actresses Leatrice Joy and Ellen Burford joined the company in October 1917; West married Burford within the year. Louis Burstein moved the unit to Los Angeles, where he took over an older studio building from Al Christie.Lahue, p. 105.
King Bee was in a state of confusion, with executive turmoil, contradictory policies, and financial pressures. Louis Burstein was determined to showcase West in a five-reel feature: "The King Bee Film Corporation announces that it is considering the production of a five-reel comedy with Billy West as the star in a modern version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with Billy West playing the great lover."Motion Picture News, September 22, 1917. Burstein soon abandoned the plan without giving a reason, while King Bee executives Arthur Werner and Charles Abrams broke away from the company to make their own comedies with vaudevillian Ray Hughes.Lahue, p. 106. Their Higrade Film Enterprises company also used Billy West in three shorts during this period of indecision. King Bee was finally absorbed by Bulls Eye [sic] Film Corporation under Milton L. Cohen. Despite the backstage troubles, the Billy West shorts remained popular with audiences and exhibitors; one Brooklyn theater showed Billy West comedies for 84 consecutive days, changing the bill once a week.Moving Picture World, June 1, 1918, p. 1316.
New employer and legal dispute West signed a new two-year contract with Bulls Eye in November 1918. He was now working with director Charles Parrott, later to become famous as Charley Chase. It was during this period that Charlie Chaplin himself saw the Billy West company filming on a Hollywood street and told West, "You're a damned good imitator."Ben Berk, unit manager for the Billy West comedies, Dec. 1964; published in The Parade's Gone By by Kevin Brownlow, Alfred A. Knopf, 1968, p. 504.
West stayed with Bulls Eye for three months, completing four comedies before leaving the companyMoving Picture World, Aug. 2, 1919, p. 698. on February 16, 1919 for Frederick J. Ireland's Emerald Motion Picture Company of Chicago, Illinois, to make a series of two-reel comedies. This signing was bitterly contested by West's former employers, Milton Cohen and Bulls Eye, which claimed to own not only the Billy West comedies but the comedian's stage name as well.Exhibitors World and Motography, Aug. 2, 1919, pp. 16-17. Bulls Eye's injunction was denied by district court judge Samuel Alschuler.Exhibitors Herald, "Emerald Company Wins Right to Feature Billy West in Comedies", July 12, 1919, p. 47.
Bulls Eye made more "Billy West Comedies" without West -- an uncredited Chaplin imitator imitating another Chaplin imitator -- prompting West to place full-page ads in trade papers announcing the duplicity, and insisting that he had left Bulls Eye's employ the previous February.Exhibitors Herald, June 7, 1919, p. 10. Bulls Eye claimed that "Billy West" was a fictional character (even though the comedian had used the West stage name himself in vaudeville). Bulls Eye even admitted to the ruse in public: "[Roy B. Weisberg] wanted to supervise the making of our pictures, and because we would not allow him to run our business, he deliberately broke his contract and walked out of the studio. We have engaged an artist who will hereafter portray the character of Billy West."Exhibitors Trade Review, Mar. 8, 1919, p. 1037. The identity of the new "Billy West" was finally divulged in July 1919: Harry Mann (1893-1965), like West a Russian-born comedian; Mann had been with Universal Pictures for six years.Motion Picture News, July 12, 1919, p. 318. Former Chaplin colleague Mack Swain was hired to support Mann.Exhibitors Trade Review, Mar. 15, 1919, p. 1124.
Developments behind the scenes Billy's brother, George West, was now working as general sales manager of West's own comedies.Exhibitors Herald, May 31, 1919, p. 35.
Ellen Burford (1890-1960) worked in the Billy West comedies through the end of 1917, and then advanced to dramatic roles in feature films. She adopted a new screen name, Ellen Cassity (later Ellen Cassidy). When Billy West signed with Emerald and prepared to move to Chicago, Mrs. West evidently didn't want to relocate and disrupt her promising Hollywood career. West was bound to honor his contract, and the couple soon divorced.
West's original leading lady Ethelyn Gibson had replaced Burford in the King Bee shorts, and had stayed with him since. West married her. Former Chaplin assistant Chuck Reisner wrote and directed the Emerald shorts, and local boxer and wrestler Marty Cutler was hired as a comic foil.Variety, Apr. 25, 1919, p. 18. Interestingly, the two legal combatants in the Billy West lawsuit, Bulls Eye and Emerald, canceled each other out when both were absorbed by a new concern, R. C. Cropper's Reelcraft Pictures Corporation, in 1920.Exhibitors Herald, Mar. 27, 1920, p. 43. The Billy West series continued without interruption, with the genuine Billy West on the payroll, and Harry Mann returned to Universal.
Character change Billy West abandoned his Chaplin act in 1920. Reelcraft announced that West was now starring "as himself on his merits alone, discarding the derby hat, baggy trousers, shoes, and cane."Moving Picture World, April 24, 1920, p. 494. His new characterizations were a top-hatted, pencil-mustached dandy -- the very opposite of his former tramp figure -- and a straw-hatted, brush-mustached innocent.
He signed with Joan Film Sales CorporationMotion Picture News, Sept. 11, 1920, p. 2087. for a series of 12 comedies to be directed by Henry Kernan.Moving Picture World, Jan. 15, 1921, p. 314. After that commitment was completed, West signed with up-and-coming producer Harry Cohn of C. B. C. Film Exchange -- later Columbia Pictures -- for a series of "Sunbeam Comedies" (later "Sunrise Comedies").Film Daily, Mar. 30, 1922, p. 6. Cohn had announced 26 West comedies, but only a few were made before financial problems forced Cohn to discontinue the series.
West and Gibson, again unemployed, turned to the vaudeville stage and received good reviews.Daily Home News (New Brunswick, N.J.), Oct. 6, 1922, p. 3. They moved on to the independent Smart Films, Inc., operating first at the Mirror Studio in Glendale, New York, and then the Tilford Studio in New York City. West hired musical-revue producer Will Morrissey to direct.Moving Picture World, Nov. 11, 1922, p. 164. Smart announced 24 two-reel comedies, but the venture failed after only two productions. West and Morrissey, both cast adrift, formed a vaudeville act.Billboard, Feb. 24, 1923, p. 111.
Producer After so many false starts with hopeful producers, West became his own producer in 1924, releasing through Dr. William E. Shallenberger's Arrow Pictures Corporation, established in 1914.Exhibitors Herald, Nov. 11, 1922, p. 67. The comedian averaged one Billy West comedy monthly. West also picked comedian Bobby Ray from the Arrow stock company and teamed him with West's former screen foil Oliver "Babe" Hardy for a brief series of slapstick comedies.
Ethelyn Gibson was still his leading lady, but theirs had become an uneasy alliance. Gibson, apparently tiring of West's professional setbacks and relocations, had deserted him in 1923 for Leon Glaser, "reported to be a wealthy broker",Los Angeles Times, Mar. 21, 1930, p. A2. and signed a prenuptial agreement with Glaser in 1926.Associated Press, "Film Director and Actress Are Given Decree of Divorce", May 11, 1928. West and Gibson continued to work together; he went on to produce a separate series of "Winnie Winkle" comedies starring Gibson. West did attempt to reconcile with Gibson to no avail; he was granted a divorce on May 11, 1928. Gibson's own plans were upset in January 1929, when her intended bridegroom Leon Glaser suddenly voided his prenuptial agreement and married Betty Cohen, daughter of wealthy diamond merchant A. B. Cohen.Associated Press, "Presents Novel Contract in $350,000 Heart Balm Action", Mar. 21, 1930.
In 1925 Billy West launched a production partnership with his brother George West. Billy remained in California while George handled the business interests in New York. The company was known as West Brothers Productions.The Film Mercury, "George West Here", Apr. 23, 1926, p. 5. Filming at the Fine Arts studio in Hollywood and releasing through the Weiss Bros. Artclass corporation ("The Diamond Setting of Every Program"), West Brothers made three concurrent series of two-reel comedies under the "Happiness Comedies" brand name: Winnie Winkle, based on the Martin Branner comic strip; Hairbreadth Harry, based on the C. W. Kahles comic; and Izzie and Lizzie, based on the Jewish-Irish comic situations popularized in Abie's Irish Rose.Moving Picture World, May 22, 1926, p. 295.