EntertainmentMemesPay DayCharlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin Was The 'Distracted Boyfriend' Meme Before The Meme

Before there was an internet and before there were memes, there was Charlie Chaplin checking out another woman as his disgusted wife watched.
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By 

Reporter, HuffPost

Do you like memes? Then prepare for your mind to be blown. 

Meme connoisseurs are likely familiar with the very popular “distracted boyfriend” meme. It blew up in 2017, and features a classic scene: Girlfriend walks with boyfriend, boyfriend leers at a passing woman, girlfriend looks appalled.

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Twitter @oranforest

This wildly popular meme’s roots, however, can be traced back almost 100 years. (OK, maybe they’re not really roots, but bear with us ― the story is worth it.)

In a 1922 silent film featuring Charlie Chaplin titled “Pay Day,” a scene much like the one in the distracted boyfriend meme takes place. Chaplin’s character looks at a woman on the street, without knowing his wife is looking at him checking out this other woman.

Is Charlie Chaplin the OG distracted boyfriend?

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Youtube

You can watch the whole scene from “Pay Day” here to see the meme go down IRL. 

By now, you’re probably wondering: Why is this Chaplin thing coming up 96 years after “Pay Day” was in theaters? For one, the internet is a black hole of content. For another, Twitter.

Filmwriter Peter Goldberg tweeted out an image from the Chaplin film over the weekend. Other people chimed in with their thoughts:

Bless the internet.

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Before You Go

Vintage Feminist Memes
1893: "Universal Suffrage"(01 of20)
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Universal suffrage (also known as the general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief, intelligence, or economic or social status. (credit:Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)
1897: "Lucretia Mott"(02 of20)
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Lucretia Mott was an American women's rights activist and a social reformer. The image features a quote from Mott: "Let women then go on, not asking favors, but claiming as right, the removal of all hindrances to her elevation in the scale of being." (credit:Library of Congress)
1905: "Torturing Women In Prison"(03 of20)
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A suffragette poster shows artificial feeding of suffragettes in prison. (credit:Getty Images)
1907: "Polling Booth"(04 of20)
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A woman in a graduation cap and gown stands next to a man dressed like a "convict." Below the illustration it reads: "Companions in Disgrace," because convicts were also not allowed to vote. (credit:Catherine H Palczewski Postcard Archive // University of Northern Iowa)
1908: "Manifestations Des Suffragettes"(05 of20)
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An illustration of English suffragettes Edith New and Mary Leigh being carried triumphantly through London streets after being released from Holloway Prison on August 22, 1908. Published in Le Petit Journal in Paris on September 6, 1908. (credit:Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
1909: "Votes And Violence"(06 of20)
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A cartoon by William Kerridge Haselden published in London's Daily Mirror newspaper, July 2, 1909. (credit:Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
1909: "Votes For Women"(07 of20)
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A suffragette poster created by Hilda Dallas who was a member of the WSPU. She studied at the Slade School of Art from 1910 to 1911 and was responsible for a number of suffragette designs. (credit:Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images))
1910: "Equal Suffrage"(08 of20)
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A postcard from the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), which was formed in May 1890 when the American Woman Suffrage Association and the National Woman Suffrage Association combined forces. (credit:Catherine H Palczewski Postcard Archive // University of Northern Iowa)
1910-1919: "To My Valentine"(09 of20)
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A young girl wears a suffragette banner with the caption: "To my Valentine; Love me, love my Vote." (credit:LCDM/UIG via Getty Images)
1910-1913: "Conductorette"(10 of20)
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A World War I caricature of a female bus conductor helping British politician Lord Asquith onto a bus. Asquith changed his position on women's franchise because of women's war effort. "Come along, sir. Better late than never," the caption reads. (credit:Culture Club/Getty Images)
1912: "I May Be Your Leader Some Day"(11 of20)
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A color illustration of a girl wearing a yellow banner which has "Votes for Wimmen" written on it as she expresses the campaign to another boy. (credit:Bob Thomas/Popperfoto/Getty Images)
1912: "Suffragettes Demonstrate"(12 of20)
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Suffragettes demonstrate for the right to vote in London, England. Illustration published in Le Pelerin on March 17, 1912. (credit:Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)
1913: "Forcible Feeding"(13 of20)
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An illustration depicting force feeding as torture, published in The Suffragette magazine on March 28, 1913. The magazine was edited by Christabel Pankhurst and published by the Women's Social and Political Union in England. (credit:Michael Nicholson/Corbis via Getty Images)
1913: "National American Women's Suffrage Association"(14 of20)
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A leaflet for the National American Women's Suffrage Associate that features a woman on horse riding towards the White House with a "Votes for Women" flag. (credit:Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)
1915: "The Awakening"(15 of20)
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This illustration shows a torch-bearing woman labeled "Votes for Women." The woman is walking across western states, where women already had the right to vote, toward the east where women are reaching out to her. Women in California, Idaho, Oregon, South Dakota and a few other Western states had full voting rights before the 19th Amendment. Printed below the cartoon is a poem by Alice Duer Miller. (credit:Library of Congress)
1915: "Suffrage Kewpies"(16 of20)
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An illustration shows infant dolls also known as "Kewpies." One is holding a banner that states "Votes for Our Mothers," and an infant sitting on the right, crying "I'm a girl baby and I'm going to be taxed without representation." (credit:Library of Congress)
1917: "American Suffragette"(17 of20)
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An American suffragette carries a U.S. flag attached to a broom handle. (credit:Wade Mountfortt Jr/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
1917: "Revised"(18 of20)
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A cartoon showing a woman revising the statement "Woman's sphere is the home" to "Woman's sphere is wherever she makes good." She's holding a list of places, such as "the home," "the law," and "industry," that can be used to complete the revised statement. (credit:Library of Congress)
1920: "The Sky Is Now Her Limit"(19 of20)
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This cartoon shows a young woman carrying buckets and looking up at a ladder ascending up to the sky, bottom rungs labeled "slavery," "house drudgery," and "shop work." The top rungs are labeled "equal suffrage," "wage equity," and "presidency." (credit:Library of Congress)
1930: "I'm A Suffragette"(20 of20)
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A suffragette postcard in circulation between 1909-1920. (credit:LCDM Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
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