I love seeing this! I'm always interested in any information about how Charlie was feeling before the baby came and just haven't found very much. This is great stuff!
Do you know the exact date in July that this appeared, though? I'm curious. Also, do you know of anything else that talks about how Charlie felt before the baby came? I have seen one article by Grace Kingsley in the LA Times about how he seemed to feel right afterwards. He came to the studio a day or two after the baby's birth, before they knew there was anything wrong, apparently, and everyone applauded and congratulated him. He told Kingsley that he hadn't expected to feel quite so excited, but now that Norman was there, he felt "quite set up" about it. That absolutely broke my heart. Just a side note, too--isn't that a funny hat and outfit CC has on in this picture? It looks very uncharacteristic, and yet it doesn't look like anything he would have been wearing while filming "Charlie's Picnic" or whatever they were calling "A Day's Pleasure" at that point. Hmmm.
I think this article was around the 8th or 10th, I couldn't remember the exact day. It seems Charlie always wanted a daughter. I think Lita mentioned that as well. I recently found a set of articles written by Mildred Harris in 1936. They are longer and more in depth than the series she wrote in 1927, which I posted on this blog back in 2012. I plan to make a pdf and post this new set of articles at some point. There isn't a whole lot of new info in them about the baby except that she mentions Charlie and Douglas Fairbanks pacing in the halls of the hospital while the baby was in surgery. She also refers to the baby as "little Charles" which makes me wonder if Charlie chose the name Norman because he didn't want his son to be named after him--the same argument he would have later with Lita. Charlie also called Mildred "Millie" which I don't think I knew before.
Charlie's outfit here is very similar to the one he is wearing when he attended a rodeo at the Fairbanks studio around July 1919 (see link below). They were probably taken on the same day.
I'll look forward eagerly to the Mildred articles. They sound really interesting and very germane to things I'm looking for right now! The rodeo connection is a great one--go you! I'm really obsessed lately with pinning down chronology and trying to get a clear sense of what CC was doing day to day around this period, so this is really helpful!
And it only took 25 years for him to finally get the daughter that he wanted.
ReplyDeleteI get very sad though whenever I see things about Charlie and Mildred waiting for their baby or practicing for the baby. Poor baby Norman.
ReplyDeleteI am sad too about the little 'mouse'.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing this! I'm always interested in any information about how Charlie was feeling before the baby came and just haven't found very much. This is great stuff!
ReplyDeleteDo you know the exact date in July that this appeared, though? I'm curious. Also, do you know of anything else that talks about how Charlie felt before the baby came? I have seen one article by Grace Kingsley in the LA Times about how he seemed to feel right afterwards. He came to the studio a day or two after the baby's birth, before they knew there was anything wrong, apparently, and everyone applauded and congratulated him. He told Kingsley that he hadn't expected to feel quite so excited, but now that Norman was there, he felt "quite set up" about it. That absolutely broke my heart. Just a side note, too--isn't that a funny hat and outfit CC has on in this picture? It looks very uncharacteristic, and yet it doesn't look like anything he would have been wearing while filming "Charlie's Picnic" or whatever they were calling "A Day's Pleasure" at that point. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteI think this article was around the 8th or 10th, I couldn't remember the exact day. It seems Charlie always wanted a daughter. I think Lita mentioned that as well. I recently found a set of articles written by Mildred Harris in 1936. They are longer and more in depth than the series she wrote in 1927, which I posted on this blog back in 2012. I plan to make a pdf and post this new set of articles at some point. There isn't a whole lot of new info in them about the baby except that she mentions Charlie and Douglas Fairbanks pacing in the halls of the hospital while the baby was in surgery. She also refers to the baby as "little Charles" which makes me wonder if Charlie chose the name Norman because he didn't want his son to be named after him--the same argument he would have later with Lita. Charlie also called Mildred "Millie" which I don't think I knew before.
DeleteCharlie's outfit here is very similar to the one he is wearing when he attended a rodeo at the Fairbanks studio around July 1919 (see link below). They were probably taken on the same day.
Click here
I'll look forward eagerly to the Mildred articles. They sound really interesting and very germane to things I'm looking for right now! The rodeo connection is a great one--go you! I'm really obsessed lately with pinning down chronology and trying to get a clear sense of what CC was doing day to day around this period, so this is really helpful!
ReplyDelete