Pinnie, the Chaplin's nanny, describes Christmas 1962:
Christmas came and we all looked forward to a family lunch together, Kay Kay1 and I included, also Auntie Gypsy2 from Lausanne. Another relation came for Christmas--I had not met this one before. She was Betty Tetrick, Mr. Chaplin's cousin from London, a widow [sic] who took great interest in the children. The table was decorated in red with two candle displays. Traditional crackers were in abundance, supplying the paper hats and small toys and puzzles. It was lovely. Mary had excelled herself with all the traditional foods common in England, even sixpences hidden in the Christmas puddings. The meal lasted all afternoon until Mr. Chaplin went off for a rest but, in the evening, he insisted that we all went to the movie viewing room to see The Gold Rush. Not again, said the children, but reluctantly went. --Pinnie: Behind The Limelight by Michael Parrett. (Pinnie, aka Mabel Rose Pinnegar, began working for the Chaplins in 1953.)
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| From Pinnie: Behind The Limelight |
1 Aka Edith MacKenzie, the Chaplin's senior nanny who had been with the family since 1944.
2 Syd Chaplin's wife.
OK, this is certainly obscure. I'll give you points here. I'm also reading a book called Chaplin; The Mirror of Opinion. For Xmas I have The Parade's Gone By and Chaplin's Vintage Year.
ReplyDeleteAll great books--enjoy them.
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