Chic Sale | |
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Motion Picture News (1919)
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Born |
Charles Partlow Sale August 25, 1885 Huron, South Dakota, U.S. |
Died | November 7, 1936 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
(aged 51)
Cause of death | Lobar pneumonia |
Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) |
Occupation | Actor, comedian |
Years active | 1920-1936 |
Spouse(s) | Marie Bishop (1912-1936) (his death) |
Children | Virginia "Cherry" (b. 1914) Charles Jr & Mary (b. 1916) Dwight (b. 1925) |
Charles Partlow "Chic" Sale (August 25, 1885 – November 7, 1936) was an American actor and vaudevillian. He was a son of Frank and Lillie Belle (née Partlow) Sale, and the brother of actress/writer Virginia Sale-Wren.
Sale was born in South Dakota and raised in Urbana, Illinois. In 1920, after a tour wherein he played "rural parts," he was engaged by Christie Studios on Gower Street in Los Angeles. According to Grace Kingsley in the Jan. 28 edition of the Los Angeles Times, page II11, "It now comes to light that Chic Sale, appearing at the Orpheum this week, will as soon as his present tour is finished, about the middle of next month, return to town in the Capacity of a Christie star. Mr. Sale's first photoplay will be a five-reeler, adapted from Irvin S. Cobb's 'The Smart Aleck,' after which he will be starred in other well-known stories suitable to his talents." The item goes on to mention that Charles Christie, business head of the Christie studio, entered into a contract with Exceptional Pictures to produce the Sale film, to be distributed through Robertson-Cole, and notes Sale's occasional appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies and the Shubert Winter Garden shows. The movie was eventually named His Nibs, and co-starred Colleen Moore. Chic played many of the parts himself, the film being a spoof of the sort of the "hick", backwater characterizations that were his specialty.
In 1929, inspired by a carpenter named 'Lem Putt' from his hometown of Urbana, Sale wrote The Specialist, a play about an outhouse builder. Because copyright infringement was widespread in Vaudeville, Sale enlisted the aid of two newspapermen to adapt The Specialist into a book. This enjoyed great success, and Sale spent the next several months responding to fan mail.