Charlie is presented with a new pet, a Siberian bear cub, May 1943
Chaplin was presented with the bear cub, marked with a white "V", by Captain Mihail Katzel (right), skipper of a Russian tanker, when he visited Charlie to enlist his endorsement of the national "Write to Russia" campaign.
I think that might be a Sun Bear and the white is a natural marking. Just some useless information for you. Although, friends don't give friends bears as gifts, I mean what the hell do you do with a bear!?
You might be right about the white V marking. Perhaps the guy just brought the bear for a visit and didn't actually give it to Charlie. If he did, I doubt he kept it!
Poor little bear...almost looks too small to be away from its mother. I read how CC got rid of his parrot, and didn't Charlie liquor up Scraps for a scene in It's a Dog Life? I hope the bear had a better life! While I loved the Circus, my major concern was for the monkeys. I generally don't watch movies with animals that were in the era before the Humane Society got involved....sorry rambling.
Don't worry about rambling here. My whole blog is one big ramble.
Charlie did liquor up Scraps for a scene. I also read somewhere that during filming of THE CIRCUS the monkeys scratched Charlie's nose so badly that he had to be under a doctor's care and had two visible scars. Their owners were also always present during the filming as well. I don't think he would have stood for the animals that worked on his films to be mistreated. There are numerous accounts of how Chaplin couldn't bear to see living things suffer, whether it was a friend or an animal (i.e. his disgust after attending a bullfight in Spain, for example).
Oh, that makes me feel better! I do think the scene where a monkey seems to have Charlie's entire nose in his mouth is hilarious (quite a good ad lib there). So many times the monkey's teeth were pulled out for filming (don't get me started on that!) so I am surprised CC's nose was badly scratched. What's your opinion of the scene when the monkey's tail was in his mouth? (E Coli anyone?). I thought I saw a photo that looked like he had a fake tail on his shoulder. As always: thanks for your feedback.
I think that might be a Sun Bear and the white is a natural marking. Just some useless information for you. Although, friends don't give friends bears as gifts, I mean what the hell do you do with a bear!?
ReplyDeleteYou might be right about the white V marking. Perhaps the guy just brought the bear for a visit and didn't actually give it to Charlie. If he did, I doubt he kept it!
DeletePoor little bear...almost looks too small to be away from its mother. I read how CC got rid of his parrot, and didn't Charlie liquor up Scraps for a scene in It's a Dog Life? I hope the bear had a better life! While I loved the Circus, my major concern was for the monkeys. I generally don't watch movies with animals that were in the era before the Humane Society got involved....sorry rambling.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of animal movies either.
DeleteDon't worry about rambling here. My whole blog is one big ramble.
Charlie did liquor up Scraps for a scene. I also read somewhere that during filming of THE CIRCUS the monkeys scratched Charlie's nose so badly that he had to be under a doctor's care and had two visible scars. Their owners were also always present during the filming as well. I don't think he would have stood for the animals that worked on his films to be mistreated. There are numerous accounts of how Chaplin couldn't bear to see living things suffer, whether it was a friend or an animal (i.e. his disgust after attending a bullfight in Spain, for example).
Oh, that makes me feel better! I do think the scene where a monkey seems to have Charlie's entire nose in his mouth is hilarious (quite a good ad lib there). So many times the monkey's teeth were pulled out for filming (don't get me started on that!) so I am surprised CC's nose was badly scratched. What's your opinion of the scene when the monkey's tail was in his mouth? (E Coli anyone?). I thought I saw a photo that looked like he had a fake tail on his shoulder. As always: thanks for your feedback.
DeleteI think the tail is real. The monkeys really bit his nose too, so they must have had teeth.
DeleteI loved the monkey seen. Very masochistic.
ReplyDelete