The Floorwalker (1916)

The Floorwalker is a 1916 American silent comedy film, Charlie Chaplin's first Mutual Film Corporation film. The film stars Chaplin, in his traditional Tramp persona, as a customer who creates chaos in a department store and becomes inadvertently entangled in the nefarious scheme of the store manager, played by Eric Campbell, and the store's floorwalker, played by Lloyd Bacon, to embezzle money from the establishment.

The film is noted for the first "running staircase" used in films which is used for a series of slapstick that climaxes with a frantic chase down an upward escalator and finding they are remaining in the same position on the steps no matter how fast they move. Edna Purviance plays a minor role as a secretary to store manager.



Starring:
Charles Chaplin as Tramp
Eric Campbell as Store manager
Edna Purviance as Manager's secretary
Lloyd Bacon as Assistant manager
Albert Austin as Shop assistant
Charlotte Mineau as Beautiful store detective
Leo White as A Customer
Henry Bergman as Old Man (uncredited)
Frank J. Coleman as Janitor (uncredited)
Bud Jamison (Small Role, uncredited)
James T. Kelley as Lift Boy (uncredited)
Tom Nelson as Detective (uncredited)
John Rand as Policeman (uncredited)
Wesley Ruggles as Policeman (uncredited)
Tiny Sandford (Small Role, uncredited)