Charlie, c. 1944

Photos by Edward Steichen, 1925

I'm sorry about the size of this one.

Autographed photo of Charlie with visitors to the studio, December 1927

Mitsouko

Mitsouko bottle, c. 1930s

It's well-known among Chaplin fans that his favorite cologne was Guerlain’s Mitsouko. He would keep several bottles of the fragrance in his home and at his studio. People who were close to Charlie remember the scent well.  Lita Grey, recalling her first visit to Charlie's house, wrote, "The fresh air on the veranda was most welcome, as the entire house reeked of Guerlain's Mitsouko." Georgia Hale remembered that before going out for the evening, Charlie would pour some Mitsouko onto his hands and then smooth his tie down with it. "This was always his finishing touch." Charlie, Jr. believed the scent was an "integral part" of his father's personality and that he couldn't smell the "woodsy" fragrance without turning around and expecting to see his father standing next to him. Peggy Hopkins Joyce, during her brief affair with Charlie, would prance about his "bachelor's den" sprinkling Mitsouko on the rugs and cushions because she thought his house "smelled terrible."

Harry Lang of Photoplay observed that Charlie used "a great deal of a certain perfume for which he pays $40 per two-ounce container. He sprinkles it around his dressing room." Another Photoplay article from 1929 similarly noted that Charlie's perfume was "a special masculine kind that he buys in bulk by the ounce. He sprays it on his kerchief and hair."

Charlie was also fond of Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue, one of Mitsouko's sister fragrances. In 1926, Vanity Fair magazine asked Charlie to list ten requirements for the "ideal woman". According to number 8: "She uses only a faint eau de toilette during the day, but sprays herself plentifully with L’Heure Bleue upon retiring."

The Mitsouko scent has been reformulated in recent years and is not exactly the same as it was when it came out in 1919. Ever since I first became a Chaplin fan, I was curious about the scent. It wasn't easy to track down, but I finally came across a bottle at a small perfume kiosk at a local mall. I was surprised by its muskiness, but it wasn't bad. I would have to say that it is definitely an exotic fragrance.

Vintage Mitsouko ad

Sources:
Charlie Chaplin, Jr., My Father, Charlie Chaplin, 1960
Lita Grey Chaplin, Wife Of The Life Of The Party, 1998
Georgia Hale, Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-ups, 1995
Harry Lang, "No Talkies For Charlie," Photoplay, May 1930
Glenn Mitchell, The Chaplin Encyclopedia, 1997
David Robinson, Chaplin: His Life and Art, 1985
Gerith Von Ulm, Charlie Chaplin: King Of Tragedy, 1940
Alma Whitaker, "How They Manage Their Homes," Photoplay, June 1929

With Harry Lauder (left), 1918

Directing A WOMAN OF PARIS

Charlie acts out the kitchen scene for Adolphe Menjou (who is standing behind him), including showing him what to do with his cigarette.

BBC Radio 3 program, "Chaplin & Music," will be broadcast Dec. 29th @ 12:15 (UK time)

The program will include interviews with people who have worked on or with Chaplin's compositions. Click the link for more details:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pd3j4

The program should be available for 7 days after initial broadcast

This tribute video features footage from Charlie’s funeral which was held on this day in 1977 (the funeral footage can also be found on the DVD Charlie Chaplin: The Forgotten Years).

Video by ChaplinsViolin

With violinist Yehudi Menuhin on the set of City Lights

Working on the manuscript to My Autobiography, 1960

This photo was taken by Yves Debraine, who took many photos of the Chaplin family in Switzerland including the family photo that would appear on their Christmas card each year.

Publicity still for THE PILGRIM

Photo by James Abbe

Rest In Peace, Sir Charles (April 16, 1889 - December 25, 1977)

This photo reminds me of the story Charlie's son, Eugene, told in the extras to the documentary, The Forgotten Years, about one of the family's pet cats lying on Charlie's chest after he died and not letting anyone near him.

Merry Christmas to all of my fellow Chaplin fans and friends!

Love,
Jess

Christmas with Charlie: Vol. 11

Excerpt from Moments With Chaplin by Lillian Ross:

The Chaplins were faithful with their Christmas cards, which always included a conventional family photograph of one kind or another, usually taken in their living room or on the lawn in front of their house. The children would be lined up in order of age. In the photographs, Chaplin didn't kid around; he always looked strictly the head of the family. There is just a hint of a departure from that role in the Christmas photograph taken in 1964, the year "My Autobiography" was published. It shows the clan reading the book, three members holding copies of the British edition and each of the others holding an edition published in a different country (Two-year-old Christopher, bare-legged with white socks and black patent leather shoes, has "Chaplin: Mit Liv.") Chaplin in this photograph wears an expression of fake, overdone concentration.

   

The next year, the family is shown standing ankle-deep in snow, with everybody wearing a parka and ski pants--everybody except Chaplin himself, who has on a dark double-breasted overcoat, a dark suit, a white shirt, a dark necktie, and a black fedora. He is standing straight, head up, grinning proudly, hands in his overcoat pockets.

 The 1968 card bears the inscription, in Oona's handwriting, "25th Wedding Anniversary," and it shows the family, gathered on and around the living room sofa, everybody, including Chaplin, looking self-conscious, giving the obligatory anniversary smile.

The photograph for Christmas, 1976, shows Chaplin and Oona seated in a golf cart, useful for getting around large lawns, and surrounded by their children and, by then, grandchildren. 

The Christmas card for 1977 arrived just before Christmas Day, which was the day Charlie Chaplin died. The photograph is of Charlie Chaplin alone, and taken on April 16, 1977, his last birthday--his eighty-eighth. He is sitting in a chair and is wearing a dark suit over a baby-blue cashmere sweater. The white collar of his shirt comes down over the sweater, and there is a white handkerchief in the breast pocket of his jacket. His white hair is sparser but still full and is combed neatly from a side part. His left hand is raised--a bit of the blue sweater showing at the wrist--and is held in midair to a position over his heart, in the classic gesture of the actor.

"O Come, All Ye Faithful" with Charlie & Alistair Cooke

I don't think Charlie knows the words!

From the home movie All At Sea (1933)**

I included the part that came after the song because I think it's cute. You can really see the curls in Charlie's hair.

**This version with musical accompaniment can be found among the extras on the Criterion edition of Modern Times.

Charlie & Russian filmmaker Grigori Alexandrov in a row boat off Catalina Island, California, 1930

Photo by Sergei Eisenstein

Charlie & Oona, Christmas 1962

Josephine Chaplin:

He always got very depressed at Christmas because we made it the big fiesta of the year. There were a lot of children and a big Christmas tree, and loads and loads of presents. He'd come down in the morning and see them, get pretty depressed and go into the library and say, "All I had was an orange when I was your age." Then we'd come in and show him our presents and say, "You bought me this lovely dress!" And he'd say, "Oh!" and brighten up and be OK.

Geraldine Chaplin:

Then he managed to die on Christmas Day. He was never able to spoil Christmas for us because there were always so many presents. Finally he died on Christmas Day! All the presents were under the tree and someone came down and said, "Grandfather died." The grandchildren said to Michael, "Does that mean we can't open the presents?" So Michael took all the presents into the garage and they had a party there.

--Variety (Special Supplement), April 2003

Christmas with Charlie, Vol. 9

"Chaplin owned a few cars, a formal Rolls Royce, and two Fords--with special engines--one for him and one for Oona. At Christmas he would get out his Ford and Oona and the children, along with Peggy and Norman Lloyd and their two children, would pile in for a holiday drive and motor around Hollywood taking in all the sights. Charlie made up a game in which the children had to ooh and aah every time they passed Christmas lights, and the car rocked with their delighted cries. The contrast between the way Charlie acted with his youngsters and his older boys was very evident to his longtime friends, and even Charlie himself admitted he had been a neglectful father to Charlie, Jr. and Sydney. According to the Lloyd's, it was not just Charlie; Lita Grey Chaplin was uncomfortable in the role of mother and really did not know what to do with her children whereas Oona Chaplin, they agreed, did."

--Jane Scovell, Oona: Living in The Shadows, Warner Books, 1998

Chaplin family Christmas card, 1966

From the book Charles Chaplin In Japan by Ono Hiroyuki

The message, written by Oona Chaplin, reads: “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Oona and Charlie, Josy and Vicky and all the other Chaplins”.

Ad for the "World's Foremost Comedian" from the Motion Picture Studio Directory & Trade Annual, Dec. 21st, 1916

The ad features great photos of Charlie's stock company and crew.

Charlie in A Year Without Santa Claus (1974)

I've never seen this movie, but a friend of mine told me she watches it every year just to see this part.

Christmas with Charlie, Paulette, and Lita

I arranged to have a private room at the Ambassador Hotel for a party for the boys. It consisted of about fifteen boys from Black Foxe, with party favors, cake, and the things small children like at a party. before I came west by train, I had telegrammed Charlie that I was having a party for the boys and would he like to attend, just to be polite. He surprised me by coming. I opened the door of the party room at the Ambassador and there was Charlie, tanned and looking very well. He acted like an old friend, very pleasant--after all the terrible stuff we had been through--he was just as polite as he could be.

I offered Charlie a glass of champagne. He said, "I think I better leave now. I have Paulette waiting in the car outside, and she is probably getting impatient."

I said to him, "Why don't you invite her up? Maybe she would enjoy a glass of champagne? I'd love to meet her."

"Would that be all right?" he said like a timid little boy, totally unlike the man I married.

He brought in Paulette Goddard. I had never seen such a beautiful woman, with her dark, soft, shoulder-length hair. She wore a black velvet dress and a string of pearls. While Charlie was visiting with the children, Paulette and I had a pleasant conversation.
"You probably don't remember this," she said to me, "but I used to model clothes in New York, and I used to model clothes for you."

The comment endeared her to me right away. I don't think most people in her position would have admitted that. She was humble and very likable.

Paulette was wonderful to my two boys. I really don't think her relationship with Charlei would have lasted as long as it did if it hadn't been for my children because she had such a good time with the kids. She would take them down to San Diego on Charlie's boat, the Panacea, or skiing. She would always send me a little note, keeping me informed of what the boys were doing. Paulette also encouraged Charlie to develop a relationship with the boys, which might not have existed without her.

--Lita Grey Chaplin, Wife Of The Life Of The Party, Scarecrow Press, 1998

Charlie in British Columbia, 1932

This photo is currently for sale on ebay. The description states that it was taken in Nanaimo Harbor, British Columbia. I believe the date is most likely 1932 because in June of that year Charlie sailed from Japan to Vancouver when he returned from his world tour.

IBM Christmas card from the early 1980s.

In 1983, IBM bought the rights to the Tramp image from Bubbles, Inc.,* the Chaplin family organization that controls the rights to the Charlie Chaplin name and image. The company then hired Billy Scudder, a mime, to imitate Chaplin’s tramp in television commercials and advertisements for IBM computers.

*I read somewhere once that the origin of the name "Bubbles" came from the nickname of Charlie's grandson, Charly Sistovaris, the son of daughter, Josephine. When he was a child, his aunt, Annie Chaplin, christened him,  "Charlie Bubbles" because when Charly drank from his bottle he always blew milk bubbles.

Christmas with Charlie, Vol. 7

Oona and Charlie invited me for the holidays. I was happy to go. That Christmas in Vevey started a tradition. I was to spend at least eighteen Christmases with them over the years. The pattern was usually the same. On Christmas Eve, everyone wrapped their packages and decorated the tree. This was Oona's domain, and she insisted we all help. While all this was going on, Charlie would sit in the living-room reading, always unconcerned. Christmas depressed him; he thought Oona was spoiling the children with all her lavish presents (he'd remember his orange). Usually, the day after Christmas he'd get ill with a cold or the 'flu. 

This Christmas [1954], he just wanted to talk about his next movie. We both wanted to talk about our projects. But at seven in the evening the doorbell rang, and in walked the kindly Mayor of Corsier, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit. In America, Santa Clauses are usually fat, jolly men; our Father Christmas was tall, thin, and serious, and his costume hung loosely. He sang Christmas carols in a high tenor voice. Charlie took this event very seriously and insisted everyone go into the hallway and listen. The Mayor's visit became an annual ritual. 

At 6 a.m., Christmas morning , squeals from the children resounded through the house. Within a flash all the paper from the carefully wrapped packages was ripped open. Charlie would come down hours later, after the commotion had subsided. Then he would open his gifts--as delighted as one of the children when he liked something. I usually bought him recordings of old-time English music-hall artists, or picture albums of Victorian London. He was always fascinated by anything that evoked old memories. 

After lunch and more champagne, we watched one of his films. By six o'clock everyone was falling off their feet. The help were relieved when we all went out to dinner. 

--Jerry Epstein, Remembering Charlie, Doubleday, 1989

Father Christmas visits the Manoir, 1955

                           

Charlie & Henry Bergman on the set of The Circus

Christmas with Charlie, Vol. 6

When I was about twelve years old I asked my father what he thought about Chrismas. He was reserved about such things and rarely discussed them with us. But I pushed the point.
"Dad," I insisted, "what do you really think about Christmas?"

He gave me a thoughtful look and then replied, "It's the most conceited, commercial day of the year and it's exploited by everybody. It's supposed to be built on the principle that Jesus was born on that day, but it's just a load of pretense. When so many people in the world are suffering it's a criminal waste to spend all those millions on fancy gifts and unhealthy cakes and drink. It's a big joke."

My mother enjoyed the family part of Christmas...the younger children's excitement, the mysteriously packaged gifts...and I guess my father went along with it all because it made her happy. 

--Michael Chaplin, I Couldn't Smoke The Grass On My Father's Lawn, 1966

Review of A Countess From Hong Kong

By Richard Brody of The New Yorker

The last film that Charlie Chaplin both directed and starred in was “A King in New York,” from 1957. Nearly a decade later, he made one more film, which I discuss in this clip. He appears in it for only a few seconds, conferring its lead roles on Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. Of course, there’s no physical comedian who can equal Chaplin (certainly Buster Keaton was the greater acrobat but not the greater presence), but Chaplin, the director—who had started his screen career, under the direction of Mack Sennett, in classic slapstick comedies—turned his last film into a social critique of slapstick, a moral analysis of the roots of comic indignity. Chaplin was one of the great political filmmakers: “The Gold Rush” exposed the ugly side of nineteen-twenties boom time; “Modern Times” took a revolutionary view of the Depression as critique of the modern industrial economy; “The Great Dictator,” of course, mocked the slobbering anti-Semitism and cavalier cruelty of the Nazi regime; “Monsieur Verdoux,” his first postwar film, was, in effect, a Holocaust movie; and “A King in New York” sharply satirizes American commercialism along with American McCarthyism. “A Countess from Hong Kong” has an underlying political context—two revolutions and American diplomacy—but its political perspective goes even deeper, to the long-standing and long-unchallenged moralism that results in pervasive hypocrisy. Chaplin was a sexual revolutionary long before the sexual revolution, and here, at the age of seventy-seven, he foresaw—even unto the film’s concluding tango, half a decade before Bertolucci’s—a world in which sex would break down the doors and come out of the closets.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/12/dvd-of-the-week-a-countess-from-hong-kong.html

Hand-written Christmas greeting from Charlie to the readers of Film Pictorial, 1937

The message reads:

To the readers, and my friends of “Film Pictorial”- Happy Yuletide Greetings.

Sincerely

Charlie Chaplin
1937

Christmas with Charlie, Vol. 5

Christmases at my father's home form a composite picture in my mind, for every one of them was almost identical in style and texture. Even the weather was the same. As far back as I can remember, the Christmas days of my boyhood were sunshiny and mild.

Accompanied by Nana, Syd and I arrived at Dad's house around eleven--brunch was always at twelve. To walk into his home on that day was like going between the leaves of a Dickens novel, because Christmas for Dad was a typically British institution. As we came in the front door we could see the Christmas tree standing at the far end of the hall. It was always a stately white tree, tall enough just to miss the ceiling. It had been decorated the week before by the Japanese servants under the supervision of Frank [Chaplin's chauffeur]. Christmas was just as much a day of celebration to them as to us, for Dad never omitted a generous bonus to each.

Though the tree was beautiful, Syd and I seldom gave it more than a quick appraisal. We were far more interested in the stacks of presents underneath it. As we walked down the hall, Dad came forward to greet us, a jovial father, all vexations completely erased from his mind. Christmas represented drama to him, and every year of our boyhood he played that drama with little variation.

"Well, boys," he would say, seeing our eyes on the packages, "I'm sorry but you don't have so much this Christmas. Just a few little things. It's been an expensive year."

Syd and I would recognize our cue. "That's all right, Dad," we would answer, getting just the right tone of disappointment in our voices.

"Well," Dad would reply philosophically, rubbing his hands together with delight over his unfolding drama but carefully keeping the pleasure out of his voice, "we can't have a big Christmas every year, can we, boys?"

"Don't worry about it, Dad," Syd and I would answer, and as we grew more proficient at playing the game we learned to release an involuntary sigh.

All morning friends and relatives had been gathering for brunch. There was our actor half-uncle Wheeler Dryden, who had by this time followed Dad to California. His son, Spencer, was younger than we and yet he could recite pages of Shakespeare, because his father had pounded it into him. He pounded so hard that when Spencer grew up he chucked the whole thing; the culture went down the drain fast, and Spencer became a jazz musician instead. Today he plays the drums most efficiently....¹

L-R: Sydney, Paulette Goddard, Dr. Cecil Reynolds, Charlie, Jr, CC

Uncle Sydney Chaplin was there, too, as was our macabre dinner guest, Dr. Reynolds, and Dad's oldest friends, Amy and Alf Reeves. Tim Durant, whom Dad had just met that year [1936] through Director King Vidor, came with his daughter, Marjorie. Constance Collier, Anita Loos, King Vidor and, until his death in 1939, Doug Fairbanks and his wife, Lady Sylvia Ashley, were all Christmas Day visitors. Each of the guests brought Syd and me a gift--a sweater, a billfold, a book--depositing it under the tree with the other packages. 

At twelve we sat down at the big table in the dining room. Christmas brunch was a carefree occasion. Gone was Dad's strict insistance on manners that day. Syd and I might talk as we please, interrupt as we chose, laugh as much as we liked. Every year the menu was the same. It started with roast beef and ended with Yorkshire pudding--a plum pudding with rum on it which was set alight when it was time for dessert--and champagne for everyone. After brunch Dad always gave Syd and me a taste of the holiday champagne. 

Then we gathered around the tree to open our presents, and once again Syd and I found ourselves in the very center of the drama. Assuming resigned expressions, we began looking in the pile for presents marked for us. One by one we sorted them out and opened them. As our piles grew we allowed our faces to put on more and more astonishment. 

"All these for us, Father?" we gasped. 

Dad chuckled at our perplexed delight. 

"Yes, they're yours, boys."

"But you said..." we let our words trail off in a bewildered way. We were truly happy about our presents, which were always lavish. But we were almost as happy playing the little drama with Dad.

--Charles Chaplin, Jr., My Father, Charlie Chaplin, 1960

Charlie working at home, c. 1952

On the lawn of Pickfair, 1922

Chaplin family Christmas card, 1964

Below is an alternate version of the photo. Charlie, Oona & the kids are all "reading" from My Autobiography which was published the same year.

I believe Oona is lying on the same couch in the photo below, which is from Jerry Epstein's book Remembering Charlie. Jerry claims this is the couch that was featured in City Lights. Charlie liked the couch and kept it in his home in Switzerland (it appears to have been reupholstered at some point).

The original couch:

Christmas with(out) Charlie, Part Two

Just as Mildred Harris didn't lay eyes on Charlie on Christmas Day when they were married--neither did his second wife, Lita Grey Chaplin. Below are Lita's recollections of her holidays with Charlie from both of her memoirs, My Life With Chaplin, published in 1966, & Wife Of The Life Of The Party, published 3 years after Lita's death in 1998. The description of their first Christmas in 1924 is quite different in both books. Lita herself said that the facts were exaggerated in her first book by her ghostwriter, Morton Cooper. The second book was supposed to set the record straight. I have to say that the Charlie in the first version just doesn't sound like the Charlie I have read about all these years. Charlie suggesting a prayer be said before a meal?  Charlie making preparations for the Christmas holiday? The story in the second book is much more believable, in my opinion. Christmas 1925 is not mentioned in My Life With Chaplin, but it is described in Wife Of The Life...as well as her divorce complaint. 

Christmas 1924, My Life With Chaplin (1966):

Although Charlie had no use for most religious festivals, he could get quite sentimental about the Christmas season. At Christmas in 1924--with our baby due in about four and a half months--he made preparations, through Kono, for a tree, dinner in the afternoon, and a gift for Mama and one for me. When I asked Charlie if my grandparents might come for dinner, he looked at me sharply, as if I'd asked the impossible, but answered, "Very well, if they'd like to--and as long as it's understood that there's to be no religious folderol and none of those insufferable carols."

At first, Grandpa raged. Under no conditions would he set foot in That Man's home. But Mama and Grandma went to work on him, and the Currys arrived at Cove Way on time.

Charlie and Grandpa shook hands gravely and circled each other as warily as cavemen, each of whom is convinced that the other is hiding an ax. But after a glass or two of sherry the two men seemed to get along reasonably well if not famously; both having come from Britain, and both having certain characteristics in common, found they had enough of a meeting ground to lessen the tension. When we sat down at the table, Charlie began paying extravagant court to Grandma, who was overwhelmed. He carved the turkey himself, with precision and skill, and then, when everyone was served and just before we began to eat, he befuddled me thoroughly by inquiring, "Would someone like to say grace? I think it would be fitting." Grandpa obliged.

The day was not the easiest for any of us to get through, but I must say for Grandpa that he behaved civilly and for Charlie that he sat through the stilted after-dinner conversation with a minimum of squirming.

Charlie & Lita in 1925

Christmas 1924, Wife Of The Life Of The Party (1998):

(In this version, Lita claims that she is no longer living at the Cove Way (aka Summit Drive) house. Lita and her mother did move into a cottage when she was pregnant with Charlie, Jr. as a means of keeping her stress level down (a Japanese couple, Tomi & Todah, moved in with them as well). This move did not take place until Feb. 1925 according to page 56 of this memoir as well as Lita's divorce complaint. She must have been confused about the time frame, which is understandable since she was describing something that happened 70 years before.)

Despite the odd circumstances under which we were no living, Mama and I decided to have a good Christmas that year. Kono had provided enough money for our needs to see us through for the months it was estimated that we would be spending in the cottage before going back to the Cove Way house. Charlie said he would come on Christmas morning, and Grandfather and Grandmother planned to join us for dinner. I was assured by Grandfather that if, by any chance, he and Charlie would meet, he would be civil, for my sake.
Todah had brought me a small tree and ordered a small turkey. Tomi, Mama and I were trimming the tree when the postman pushed the doorbell and delivered a parcel addressed to Todah. We opened it and the enclosed card read, "Have a Nice Christmas." It was signed "Charlie." Sadly, Charlie never came over to see us Christmas Day.

Christmas 1925, Wife Of The Life Of The Party:

Our second Christmas as husband and wife was as disappointing as our first. Mama, Grandfather, Grandmother, Charlie, Jr., and I were to have a nice Christmas dinner with Charlie. However, before Grandfather and Grandmother arrived, Charlie left without explanation and did not return until late that night. It was like a scene out of The Gold Rush, we were reluctant to begin without him, waiting for the arrival of the guest who never came.

Christmas 1925, Lita Grey Chaplin's Complaint for Divorce, 1927 (reprinted in Wife Of The Life...)

(j) That on Christmas Day, 1925, defendant promised plaintiff that he would have Christmas dinner at home with her. That defendant started to leave the house about five o'clock in the afternoon. That plaintiff thereupon said: "Dinner will be ready at seven; you will be back now won't you?" That defendant promised to return at seven; that plaintiff did not see or hear from him until about two o'clock the next morning, when he came home intoxicated.

Charlie, Jr. describes the story of his father's drunken return on Christmas night in his book, My Father, Charlie Chaplin, but in his version it's Christmas 1924:

The Christmas Day that followed their marriage she and Nana heard him in the early morning hours. His weaving footsteps coming up the stairs and groping uncertainly down the hall told them he was drunk. My father drunk! That tells me more than anything else the extent of his anguish and despair, because it's the only time I have ever heard of his drinking too much. He always had an aversion to liquor.

On the set of CITY LIGHTS

Christmas with(out) Charlie, Part 1

Excerpts from the divorce testimony of Charlie's first wife, Mildred Harris Chaplin, from December, 1920.

(Charlie and Mildred were married on Oct. 23rd, 1918. Not long after their marriage, Mildred checked into the hospital with a nervous breakdown. After she was released, the doctor ordered her to bed rest.)

 Q.--Now, after the marriage became public, Mrs. Chaplin, just tell the court in your own way about the course of treatment Mr. Chaplin adopted toward you after that time?

 A.--Well, after I was taken out of the hospital I had to stay in bed until Christmas, Christmas Eve, and the doctor sent a nurse home with me, and Mr. Chaplin got us a home up in Laughlin Park, and I had to stay in bed until Christmas Eve, and that was the first time I was down after I got out of the hospital. And Christmas afternoon--I mean the day before Christmas, Mr. Chaplin told me that he would be home and have dinner with me and help me trim the Christmas tree, and I had had mother get all the Christmas presents. I was not able to get up and I had always thought a great deal of Christmas, and that evening, I dressed and went downstairs and waited for him, and he did not come home. And I waited until 11 o'clock, and he did not come, so I trimmed the tree and mother helped me and then I went to bed and stayed awake until about two or three, and Mr. Chaplin came home about three o'clock.

Q.--What occurred?

A.--And when he came home he came upstairs and was very angry at me for buying so many Christmas presents and making such a time over Christmas.
Q.--Then what occurred?

A.--Then the next day was Christmas Day, and he would not get up all Christmas morning, and I went downstairs and took him up his presents and he was very angry at me for making so much over Christmas.

Q.--What would he say? What did he say?

A.--Well, he said it was very foolish and that he did not believe in such things and that I should not be so silly over Christmas and over having presents and liking such things.
....

 Q.--Now, on this Christmas evening you have told about, the first Christmas evening after your marriage in October, you had invited your friends there to the house, had you?

 A.--No, I had not; Mr. Chaplin had all his own friends; he did not want me to have mine.

 Q.--Then, you allege, that he came home about what time on Christmas morning?

 A.--It was about two-thirty or three.

 Q.--Two-thirty or three.  Then, on Christmas morning what occurred?

 A.--He stayed in bed all day until four o'clock; he wouldn't go downstairs with me to see the tree.  I took him his presents.

 Q.--Did he abuse you?

 A.--He was very angry at me for making so much over Christmas.

 Q.--What did he say?

 A.--He said it was very foolish and wasn't right to make so much or for me to like presents and foolish things; that it was not his idea to have Christmas or celebrate Christmas; he had never done it.

....

 Q.--Now, on that Christmas did he give you any present or token of any
kind?

 A.--No.

 Q.--Would you buy anything for Mr. Chaplin himself?

  A.--On Christmas I bought him a silver set for his dresser; I bought him a great many things.  I bought him--

  Q.--His personal clothing and things of that kind, did you?

  A.--Yes; socks.

  Q.--Describe what you bought for him.

  A.--I bought all his handkerchiefs and socks and pajamas and ties.

  Q.--Did he pay for them or did you?

  A.--I did. 

 ....

 Q.--You have told about the first Christmas after you were married-- tell the court about your second Christmas.

  A.--On the second Christmas he had been staying out in Beverly Hills,  He had been staying up there for quite a time and he would stay all night a good deal up there because he had a very good time, and the second Christmas he said he would be home and I invited some people, and on Christmas Eve he phoned he would not be able to come home until about nine, but he sent some presents home for the people.

  Q.--Did he send you a present?

  A.--No.

  Q.--Go ahead.

  A.--He didn't come.  So these people left and he came home about four in the morning.  I waited up until about two and then I went to bed and sat up in bed waiting for him.

  Q.--Then, as I understand it, on the second Christmas night, after your marriage, after he had promised to come home, he didn't come until about four o'clock in the morning?

  A.--Yes, sir.

  Q.--What did he say when he came in?

  A.--Well, he said he had been detained; that he had met some people and had been talking with them.

  Q.--Did you afterward ascertain where he had been?

  A.--He had had dinner with a lady and gentleman at a little cafe on Fifth street.  I don't know where he had gone.  I think afterwards he told me he had been talking business. *

 (You can read the rest of the testimony here: Taylorology)

*Charlie spent this Christmas with Florence Deshon. In a letter to her on again, off again lover, Max Eastman (who was also a close friend of Charlie's), Florence wrote, "I dined with Charlie on Christmas Eve, and he gave me a Christmas present."¹ They dined alone in Charlie's room at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The gift was a set of monogrammed, hand-embroidered handkerchiefs.²

¹ Max Eastman, Love & Revolution, 1964
² Joyce Milton, Tramp, 1998 (Milton gives no source material for this information)

Charlie posing next to a Santa Monica lifeguard truck, c. 1933

Lobby card for A Day's Pleasure, released Dec. 15th, 1919

The card shows seasick Charlie being attacked by Tom Wilson who becomes too nauseated himself to continue. Edna Purviance, who plays Charlie's wife, is on the left. 

Christmas with Charlie, Vol. 2: Charlie's Strange Predicament

The following story is related by Eric James, Charlie's music associate for the last twenty years of his life:

I cannot leave the downstairs cloakroom without referring to a most amusing incident that occurred one Christmas. It had been the custom, just prior to Christmas Day, for members of a local choir to trudge up the steep hill from Vevey and position themselves by the main door of the Manoir to give a performance of carols. On this occasion Charlie had an urgent need to use the lavatory, where he sat on "the throne" but unfortunately had forgotten to pull over the curtains.

Happily engaged with the business at hand and in deep contemplation, he failed to notice the arrival of the choir until they burst into song just a few feet from the window. He was absolutely taken aback because although while sitting they could only see his head and shoulders, if he were to stand up the "herald angels" would take off in alarm! The choir was obviously quite impressed by the sight of him in the window because they mistakenly thought that he was so eager to hear them sing that he had stationed himself at this vantage point well in advance of their arrival. As it was, he had to sit there with his trousers down for half an hour, beaming at them every now and then and clapping animatedly after each carol.

It wasn't until the last of them had passed into the house that he was able to get up, pull the curtains and adjust himself before joining them. The leader of the group expressed their great satisfaction at having found Mr. Chaplin so impatiently awaiting their performance! Charlie's reply could not have been bettered. He thanked them and said that their singing had literally rooted him to the spot! --Eric James, Making Music With Charlie Chaplin, Scarecrow Press, 2000

My thoughts are with the families of those who lost loved ones in the school shooting in Connecticut today. I am sickened by this tragedy. We can only hope that the violent deaths of 20 children will bring about some much-needed change. Peace be with the parents of these children tonight.

Jess

Charlie with daughter Vicky, c 1956

"Carlito" collage from Brazilian magazine Cinearte, 1936

Cinearte, May 15th, 1936

Charlie was called "Carlito" in Brazil and Argentina. He was known as "Charlot" in France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. 

Christmas with Charlie

This is the first in a series of posts called "Christmas With Charlie" which will include stories from or about Charlie regarding the Christmas holiday. I will post one each day from now until Christmas. It's well-known that Charlie was not a fan of Christmas, although he did seem to enjoy the holiday more once he had his own children. But Christmas usually depressed him, which makes it all the more ironic that it would also be the day he died.

I thought an appropriate first installment would be Charlie's "orange" story. This incident from Charlie's childhood affected him deeply for the rest of his life. Even as an old man he would tell the story with bitterness. Below is Charlie's own recollection of the story from his travel memoir A Comedian Sees The World. During a visit to London in 1931, Charlie returned to the orphanage where the incident occurred. Walking into the dining room, Charlie found his place, the third seat at the fourth table, where he sat as a boy, and the memories of a Christmas many years before came flooding back:

How well I remember one Christmas Day sitting on that same seat, weeping copious tears. The day before I had committed some breach of the rules. As we came into the dining-room for Christmas dinner we were to be given two oranges and a bag of sweets.

I remember how excited I was awaiting my turn. How joyous and bright the oranges looked in contrast to the gray surroundings. We never saw oranges but once a year and that was at Christmas. I am speculating what I shall do with mine. I shall save the peel and the sweets I shall eat one a day. Each child is presented with his treasure as he enters the dining-room. At last it is my turn. But the man puts me aside. "Oh, no--you'll go without for what you did yesterday." And there, on that seat at the fourth table, I wept bitterly. The children were more human than the attendants were and so the little ones at our table contributed one candy apiece and made up my loss. (Charlie Chaplin, "A Comedian Sees The World, Part I," A Woman's Home Companion, September 1933) 

A WOMAN (1915)

Charlie had previously donned women’s clothing in A Busy Day and The Masquerader. 
A Woman was his final and arguably best female impersonation.

Charlie with Jinx Falkenburg (right), c. 1941

Charlie helps Lord & Lady Mountbatten mow the lawn at Pickfair, 1922

The Mountbattens were at Pickfair, the home of Douglas Fairbanks & Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon.

RIP Douglas Fairbanks (May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939)

Charlie & Doug, c. 1917

Charlie was introduced to Douglas by Constance Collier in 1916 & the two quickly became very good friends. When Charlie made his films, he depended on Douglas’ enthusiasm & reassurance. He later told Mary Pickford (Fairbanks' ex-wife), "Whenever I made a particular scene I would always anticipate the pleasure it would give Douglas."

In 1918, Charlie was so discouraged with his film Shoulder Arms that he considered "throwing it in the ash can." He changed his mind after he showed the film to Doug during a special screening: “From the beginning Fairbanks went into roars of laughter, stopping only for coughing spells. Sweet Douglas, he was my greatest audience."

Charlie with Douglas on the set of The Great Dictator. Reginald Gardiner is on the right. 

Shortly before he died, Doug visited the set of The Great Dictator. Charlie remembered that he "laughed uproariously" at some of the scenes he filmed.  This was the last time Charlie saw the man whom he would later say was his only friend in Hollywood.  There was no shooting at the Chaplin Studio the day of the funeral. Afterwards, Charlie told Mary Pickford, with a catch in his voice, "Mary, I couldn't bear to see them put that heavy stone over Douglas."

Twenty-five years later in his autobiography, Charlie remembered his dear friend: "I have missed Douglas--I have missed the warmth of his enthusiasm and charm; I have missed his friendly voice over the telephone, that used to call me up on a bleak and lonely Sunday morning: 'Charlie, coming up for lunch - then for a swim - then for dinner - then afterwards, see a picture?' Yes, I have missed his delightful friendship."

Charlie delivers the eulogy at the dedication of the Douglas Fairbanks Memorial at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, May 25, 1941.  Chaplin read these words from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which are also inscribed on Fairbanks’ tomb: “Good night sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” (Photo: Jeffrey Vance, Chaplin: Genius Of The Cinema)

12/12/12

On December 12th, 1912, Charlie was touring the western U.S. on his second tour with the Fred Karno Company. I don't know of his exact location on the 12th, but here is a review of his performance in "The Wow Wows" from a Butte, MO newspaper from Dec. 8th:

Archie is here. His coming to the Empress theatre is a
most interesting event for Archie’s presence there means
a thoroughly good time for all patrons ....
Archie is really Charles Chaplin and he is the lead-
ing comedian in the big act produced by Fred Karno
and known as The Wow Wows, or "A Night in a Secret
Society." The latter part of the title begins to throw some
light on Archie and what he does. Many patrons imme-
diately will recall on reading it that Mr. Chaplin made
a tremendous hit here as Archie in A Night in a London
Music Hall and Archie in A Night in an English Club. The
way he used to fall out of the box in that London Music
hall sketch and the funny pantomime work he did in the
other production--well Archie certainly was one great
big scream.
This time Mr. Chaplin has a new departure. Instead of
pantomime work he has a speaking part as well and thus
the question that often was asked as to what kind of a
speaking actor he would be has been answered and most
satisfactory at that.*

In almost exactly one year, Charlie would begin his contract with the Keystone Company.

*Butte Miner, Dec. 8, 1912, reprinted in Dan Kamin's The Comedy Of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry In Motion

Publicity photo for City Lights...

with a photo from The Circus.

Note how Charlie only dyed the front part of his hair. His poorly done dye job is quite noticeable in certain scenes in the film, especially the tightrope scenes that were filmed after his divorce from Lita Grey, which evidently caused his already graying hair to turn even grayer (I disagree that his hair turned completely white as some of the books claim. It was still "salt and pepper" but with a little more salt added.)

Christmas ornament with a Chaplin (& Harold Lloyd) connection

This ornament, called "Holiday Bounty," was made by Christopher Radko for the Harold Lloyd Trust in 1999. It was inspired by an ornament Charlie once gave to Lloyd, who collected Christmas ornaments, as a gift.

Charlie visits with steerage passengers during his voyage to England, September 1921

From Photoplay magazine, December 1921