A fancy dress party given by Marion Davies at the Ambassador Hotel, c. April 1926*

Charlie, dressed as Napoleon, is between Marion and John Gilbert. Irving Thalberg is below Marion. At bottom left is Eleanor Boardman. Seated above her is Charlie’s second wife, Lita, dressed as Josephine. Evidently a highlight of the party was Chaplin, in costume, performing a solo Charleston dance. Read more about the party here and here and here.

Chaplin with Princess Bibesco, who at the time was a houseguest
of Douglas Fairbanks & Mary Pickford, who were also at the party.

*Many sources give the date of the party as 1925 but I believe the date is most likely April 1926 since Marion often hosted a costume party for W.R. Hearst's birthday which was at the end of April (others who were in attendance recall that it was a party for Hearst). Princess Bibesco, in the photo with Charlie above, was a houseguest of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in the early part of 1926. In fact, she made the news when she had a horse riding accident at Pickfair in January. Lita claims in her first memoir that the party was held "after New Year's" and that her empire-waist dress was made to conceal her first pregnancy (Charlie, Jr. born May 1925). This could be partially correct since the party may have been held after the New Year--but in 1926 not 1925. However the problem with this scenario is that I don't believe Lita is pregnant here either. Her second son, Sydney, was born in March 1926 and she would have been noticeably pregnant during the first part of the year. To me, she doesn't look like a woman in the latter stages of her pregnancy in the photo. This was most likely after his birth when she still would have had some belly bulge, hence the empire waist dress. 

Chicago, 1921

Trying to stay awake at the circus, October 1941

Charlie's date is Jinx Falkenburg

Contract signing for the presentation of MODERN TIMES at the Tivoli in London, October 1935

At left is Arthur Jarrett, booking manager for the Gaumont-British picture corp. The signing appears to be taking place in the screening room of the Chaplin Studios.  Modern Times opened at the Tivoli on February 11th, 1936. (Note that Charlie still has a patch of hair dye in the front.)

Chaplin and Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, 1927

Rosenblatt came to Hollywood in 1927 to appear as himself in the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer. According to his son, one of the celebrities he most wanted to meet during this visit was Chaplin:

Most of all, however, did he wish to make the acquaintance of the solemn-faced comedian Charlie Chaplin. He had often laughed at his antics and been amused by his clowning, and he was curious to learn what sort of a personality there lurked behind that clumsy, uncouth hobo exterior. So he had Leo call Mr. Chaplin's home to find out whether the funny man of the movies would be able to receive him. Not only did he get an answer in the affirmative, but he was told that Mr. Chaplin was sending his own chauffeur with a car to fetch the the cantor and his party. As the automobile was approaching the Chaplin mansion¹ in Beverly Hills, my father wondered at the reception he would be given and how he would find the real Charlie Chaplin, without the disguises. When he entered the gateway, there ran out to meet him instead of a sad-faced, woebegone, melancholy looking tramp with the Hitler mustache, a dapper, smiling, smooth-shaven gentleman, who, in a cultured voice and a beautiful Oxford English accent and with hands outstretched, greeted him: "Welcome to my abode, Cantor Rosenblatt. I am delighted to see you. I have heard so much about you and I was wondering whether I would ever have the opportunity to meet you in person." 

Oddly, Rosenblatt's right arm is missing from the photo.
 Perhaps it's a composite, I'm not sure.

My father returned the compliment. He, too, had seen and heard about the great actor and had wanted to make his personal acquaintance.  Mr. Chaplin ushered him into the lawn, and tea was served. The actor was a charming host and a most interesting conversationalist and gave the impression of being a person of very high intelligence, everything that he was not supposed to be on the screen. He and my father had photographs taken together on the grounds. And then came the surprise of the afternoon. The host had a phonograph brought out and put on a record. "Mr. Rosenblatt," he asked his guest, "do you recognize the voice?" My father laughed. It was his "Omar Rabbi Elozor" that was being played. "I have all the records you have ever produced," said his host. "I cherish them as among my most treasured possessions. Whenever I feel a little blue, I take them out and play them. They do something to me. They unite me—oh so closely—with my Jewish ancestors.² Now you know why I am so happy to have the original, the master of the voice recorded on these disks, in my homestead." My father never forgot that meeting. (Samuel Rosenblatt, Yossele Rosenblatt: The Story Of His Life As Told By His Son, 1954)

¹The photos of Chaplin and Rosenblatt were taken at the Chaplin Studios, so this is most likely where the meeting took place.
²Although there is no evidence that Chaplin had Jewish ancestry, he sometimes claimed to be Jewish and would neither confirm nor deny it in public.

Chaplin's Essanay Comedies Trailer

Order CHAPLIN'S ESSANAY COMEDIES on Blu-ray/DVD from Flicker Alley. Release date: Nov. 11th: flickeralley.com/classic-movies/#!/Chaplins-Essanay-Comedies/p/53310181

BBC Radio Interview with Chaplin from October 15th, 1952

Charlie is interviewed by film producer Michael Balcon, actor John Mills and critics Dilys Powell and Paul Holt.

Duration: 29 minutes

SHOULDER ARMS, released October 20th, 1918

Chaplin's war comedy, released 22 days before the Armistice was signed, became one of his most successful and important films.

Chaplin signs the opening title card and then mimics shooting at the Tramp.

"The Awkward Squad"

Soldier Charlie dreams about home.

Chaplin deleted this "three-on-a-match" sequence when he re-released the film as part of
the Chaplin Revue in 1959. 

Filming this scene in the tree costume was "anything but comfortable"
due to the heat wave in Los Angeles that summer.

Charlie awakens in an abandoned cottage to find Edna, a French girl, tending
to a wound on his hand.

Albert Austin (left) and Henry Bergman each played at least three roles in the film.
 Syd Chaplin (right) portrays both Charlie's army pal and the Kaiser (above).
He can also be seen as the latter in The Bond, a short film Chaplin made
 for the Liberty Bond effort that was released shortly before Shoulder Arms. 

Charlie helps Edna disguise herself as a German soldier.

Charlie captures the Kaiser, or was it all a dream?

Chaplin arriving in Algieria, April 1931

See another photo here.

Working With Charlie Chaplin, Vol. 3: THE GREAT DICTATOR

Today is the 75th anniversary of the New York premiere of Chaplin's first talkie.

PAULETTE GODDARD (Hannah): "I am proudest of my role in The [Great] Dictator--both politically and emotionally. I am not playing a character--it's really me. Charlie wrote that part for me. The girl is quaint, she's a rebel. She is fearless. She's the only one who fights and talks back to the storm troopers." (Boston Globe, October 13, 1940)

REGINALD GARDINER (Schultz): "Making that picture was a unique experience. Chaplin's studio on North La Brea is like Charlie's own private kingdom, where he is absolute boss and where nothing matters except this one picture. You can't help but be stimulated...And it's amazing to watch Chaplin on the set. One minute he is the white-haired genius, bursting with ideas, giving orders about the lighting and the set, planning everything ahead of time with extraordinary care, and the the next minute the camera will start to grind and he will suddenly become the wistful Little Tramp." (San Francisco Chronicle, November 29, 1940)

DAN JAMES (Asst. Director): "Charlie admired [Hitler's] acting. He really did. Of course, he had in himself some of the qualities that Hitler had. He dominated his world. And Chaplin's world was not a democracy either. He was the dictator of all those things." (David Robinson, Charlie Chaplin: His Life and Art, 1985)

Asst. directors Dan James (in striped shirt) and Wheeler Dryden

TED TETRICK (costumes): When we were making fittings, Charlie never wore a moustache. When we had a final fitting for the uniform in the spaghetti-throwing scene, the people from Western Costume remarked on how much he looked like Hitler. Charlie spun around and said, “Hitler looks like me!”' (Charlie Chaplin Archives, Paul Duncan, ed., Taschen, 2015)

JACK OAKIE (Napaloni): "He used to give me a lot of scenes. After each one he'd grin like a kid. 'Oakie,' he'd say, 'I don't know why I'm so good to you.' I'd say, 'Listen, you little rascal, you just do for me what you did for Jackie Coogan.' ..."I figure being in this picture with Chaplin is gonna get your Uncle Jack about ten years of nice fat work. It's that good." (Screenland, Nov. 1940)

FRANCESCA SANTORO (Aggie): "I suppose one scene was taking longer to prepare than usual. All of a sudden, Mr. Chaplin, who was directing from the outside, in makeup and costume (He was wearing what I recall as being a green plaid vest), came inside the ghetto. He started dancing a jig, just to entertain the cast, and keep them from getting more restless than usual. Since I was on the barrel, I remember he had his back to us, and he was facing the cameras. I don’t know if they ever shot any of that in film, but a still remains. I like to think that the cameras were moving. We were all clapping our hands. It was very funny, and it was also very kind of him to break up any restlessness the cast might have had." (Francesca Santoro, 2015)

Santoro is behind Paulette, second from left.

And for fun:

WHEELER DRYDEN (Asst. Director): The following are notes from the shooting schedules for The Great Dictator:

"Some people think that this schedule isn't subject to change. Some people also believe in Santa Claus." (December 9, 1940)

"Will the person who took the quart jar of alcohol from the prop room please return it. Clem Widrig has no place to keep his teeth." (December 16, 1940, Widrig was property master on the film) (source: The Great Dictator DVD, Image Entertainment, 2000)

New York, 1927

Charlie plays piano during a press conference in his attorney Nathan Burkan's Fifth Avenue apartment in January 1927. He had just recovered from a nervous breakdown. Read more here.

Press conference for THE GREAT DICTATOR, Waldorf Astoria, New York, October 13th, 1940

A dapper little gray-haired man with singularly expressive hands and shoulders and small, beautifully shod feet sat diffidently on the edge of his chair yesterday at the Waldorf, enchanting the press with tales of The Great Dictator.¹

When Chaplin first entered the room his "quick blue eyes had an apprehensive look as if he were trying to remember what he must and mustn't say." But he relaxed once he realized the reporters were a sympathetic audience. "He let go a little and his fingers stopped playing with the nail heads on the edge of his chair...His feet grew quiet and his smile more spontaneous and only the beads of perspiration that still rolled down behind his ears were left to mark this experience an ordeal."²

"Making a comedy is the most lugubrious work there is," Chaplin said. "I've been at it almost constantly for two years now, and feel the need for both physical and mental relaxation. He told them that he had several film plans in mind but that he would like to spend the next three months vacationing, mostly in New York, and catching up with the changes that have come over New York since his last prolonged stay ten years before.³

The reason The Great Dictator was shrouded in secrecy was simply "to protect myself," he explained. "I closed the studio and kept the story secret because I didn't want to risk having someone else come out with my stuff ahead of me. That's happened before, even in Hollywood," he said with a smile.

Chaplin said there had been no protests from German or Italian officials. "We've had some crank letters--a few," he said.⁴

"My picture is a plea for humanity against barbarism. I think a little kindness and humanity are still the most important things in a technical world."⁵

Waldorf-Astoria, Oct. 13, 1940.
United Artists executive, Maurice Silverstone, is on Chaplin's right. 

"There is pathos and great comedy in all human suffering and tragedy," he asserted. "The secret lies in how you approach it. It must be done with discretion and good taste." Thus he explained how The Gold Rush was based on the tragic trek of the Donner Party in 1846.

Chaplin told the reporters that he believes man's chief asset has always been his ability to laugh, even under tragic circumstances. "It would be a sad moment if we couldn't laugh now," he continued. "I believe there is more promise and sign of victory if we in America can laugh about them (the Nazis). I've always felt that the nation which can laugh is the nearest to being sane."⁶

^{_________________________________________________________________________________________________}

¹New York PM Daily, October 14, 1940
²ibid
³New York Times, October 14, 1940.
⁴ibid. Chaplin described the crank letters years later in his autobiography: "Some threatened to throw stink bombs in the theatre and shoot up the screen where ever it would be shown. Others threatened to create riots." 
⁵New York Sun, October 14, 1940
⁶New York Times, Oct. 14, 1940

Chaplin with the Earl and Countess of Lanesborough at the Pickford-Fairbanks Studios, 1923

The Earl & his wife are on Chaplin's left. At far left is Raoul Walsh & at far right J. Warren Kerrigan. 

Charlie & Doug spy on Ernst Lubitsch, Mary, and her mother through a window at Pickfair, 1923

The Lion & the Tramp

This post first appeared one year ago on Flicker Alley's The Archives blog.

Chaplin & Numa in The Circus. 

One of the more memorable scenes in Chaplin's 1928 classic The Circus occurs when the Tramp, chased by a mule, accidently locks himself in a lion's cage. Chaplin's co-star in this scene was "Numa,” a famous screen lion who had already appeared in several other films, including The Extra Girl with Mabel Normand and The Missing Link with Charlie's half-brother Syd Chaplin.

Numa, named after a lion in the Tarzan books, was a resident of Gay's Lion Farm in El Monte, CA. The farm was operated from 1919 to 1942 by former circus performers Charles and Muriel Gay. (Another famous resident of the farm was "Slats,” the original MGM logo lion.) Mr. Gay trained his animals not only to do tricks but also to obey commands and express annoyance or rage. Evidently Numa was one of his best trained and most trusted lions.

Numa in a postcard for Gay's Lion Farm.

No human being is totally safe with a lion so Charles Gay made sure that actors understood that his lions were not completely tame. There was always a certain amount of risk involved when working with a wild animal. Even so, actors wore no protection. In fact, during the lion cage sequence, Chaplin wore a leather legging under his pants to protect himself from a dog who bites at his leg, but nothing to protect himself from Numa. Mr. Gay later remembered the big responsibility he felt when protecting the "King of Comedy" from his lion:

"There I stood while Numa put his nose in the stomach of the world's greatest comedian. It was a terrific responsibility. Here was a man worth ten million dollars. Suppose Numa had decided to become disagreeable. Not all the Chaplin millions could have saved him."¹

Gay also recalled how Chaplin once practiced a dangerous stunt with a young lion on his farm, a stunt that even he himself would never have dared to attempt. In this sequence the lion was supposed to sidle up to Chaplin and paw at his stomach. Chaplin simply lied down and let the lion do it. Gay said that even if he were as wealthy as Chaplin, nothing could have induced him to let that lion paw his stomach. "Chaplin may not be a big man," he said, "but he is either a very brave one... or a foolish one."²

Chaplin, Numa, and trainer Charles Gay. 

During the filming of The Circus, director Chaplin occasionally had difficulty getting Numa to cooperate. In one scene he wanted the lion to lie down in the cage and pretend to be sleeping. However, Numa did not want to sleep as it was not his nap time. Gay was able to make the animal lie down and stretch out but it refused to stay in that position. "Wait a minute," Chaplin said, "I have an idea... Now all you fellows be still." He then seated himself at an organ that was just off-camera and proceeded to play a weird, low piece of music suggestive of India or the jungle. Numa soon settled down and Chaplin quickly (and quietly) re-entered the cage and managed to finish the scene as planned.³

Chaplin attempts to calm Numa with some organ music.

Then the lion was removed so Chaplin could practice in the cage with himself portraying the lion and Harry Crocker (who played Rex, the tightrope walker, in the film) standing in for Chaplin as
the Tramp. British journalist L'Estrange Fawcett, who was actually present on the set that very day, described the action:

Every movement has to be worked out in angles and inches. The lion's jump and Chaplin's jump must be calculated exactly, for we cannot afford to lose the world's greatest comedian. There is a moment's respite, while calculations are made. Suddenly a shout from the cage, " Look, I'll show you what we want," and Chaplin is lying on the floor of the cage imitating the lion. He hunches his back, grunts, roars, moves restlessly round on all fours, rolls over in the dust, and rubs his body artfully against the bars, growling and baring his teeth. Crocker "plays" him with a boathook and a whip, but the "lion" is in no mood for being prodded, and lashes out at the "trainer," putting him
to flight through the door.

Over the bold legend across the bottom of the cage--"Keep Away, Dangerous"--Chaplin stands in characteristic pose, arms through the bars and folded, weight on one foot, the other leg crossed over and resting on the point of a disreputable boot, his compelling smile spread over his face. "Come on," says the lion; "I've got a new idea. Couldn't we..."

The next pause found Chaplin reciting "To be or not to be, that is the question," in devilish mockery of John Barrymore, and then burlesquing himself in his own part in The Circus. He knows a good deal more Shakespeare than he is given credit for. Now he has some comic bit to do himself. He shakes himself, takes a turn up and down the cage, and says to the camera-man, "Wait a moment till I get funny." Then he returns glowing with smiles. "Now let's really mean it this time--steady; camera," and the handle turns. The scene is shot. "That's going to be good,” says the protagonist. ⁴

Later on the whole business was repeated, this time with Mr. Chaplin and the lion in the cage. The trainer assures us it is quite safe, but I don't believe Mr. Chaplin enjoyed the experience very much. None of the spectators did. Everyone sighed with relief when he came out safe and sound. After all, one doesn't let a lion breathe on one for fun, and Chaplin declared the lion's breath was hot!⁵

Numa died of cancer in 1930 at the age of 16. He was stuffed and put on display at Gay’s Lion Farm until it closed in 1942.

_________________________________________________________________________________

¹Louella O. Parsons, "Movie Lion Farm Interesting Place Of Many Thrills," Waco News-Tribune, May 1, 1927
²Buffalo Courier-Express, January 2, 1927
³A.L. Wooldridge, "Numa Earns A Fortune," Picture-Play, January 1927
⁴L'Estrange Fawcett, Film Facts & Forecasts, 1927
⁵L'Estrange Fawcett, "Chaplin At Work on Comic Scenes Described By British Journalist" New York Times, Sept. 5,
1926

Chaplin gives his first radio broadcast to promote A Woman Of Paris

Chaplin was extremely nervous about his radio debut, which took place on October 3rd, 1923 at WOR in Newark, NJ. Before going on he paced the studio and continuously mopped his brow. "You can face the camera," he told J. M. Barnett, director of WOR, "knowing that if you make a mistake, if you slip up, you can try again; you can make over the picture. Think of all the thousands of people out there in the world hanging onto everything I say." Charlie frowned, mopped his brow again, and said pitiably, "I don't know what to say, I haven't prepared a speech."

Seated before the microphone, he nervously squirmed, gulped, buttoned and unbuttoned his coat. Finally he braced himself and opened his mouth: "My friends, this is all way beyond me. I’m glad you can’t see me—I am nervous as a witch.” He continued: "It is to me ghastly to think of you out there in your homes with Tom, Dick, Katherine, Harry and the baby all gathered around, and me here by this funny little thing perforated with holes (the thing, not I), my knees trembling, my hands tightly clasped."

  

In the course of the broadcast, which lasted half an hour, he did some imitations, including an imitation of a jazz band. "I can play any instrument of the orchestra," he declared, "Just listen." Then, one by one, he signaled the various members of a jazz band specially engaged for the occasion and made each man do his bit. "Now I'll play them all at once," he said, and the orchestra broke into "The Blue Danube." Chaplin concluded the broadcast by telling the listeners: "If you have nothing else to do, go to see my new picture, which I directed, A Woman Of Paris."

Afterward, Charlie told the studio director that he "lost nine pounds in fifteen minutes" (due to stage fright) and could sign a statement to that effect.

"As he left the studio, he asked anxiously, 'Did I talk sense into that thing?' Then he shook his fist at the microphone, grinned the grin that has earned him a fortune and went on his way."

_________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:
Radio Digest, October 27th, 1923
Pictures & The Picturegoer, May 1924

At a premiere with George K. Arthur and Anita Murray, 1929

I believe Anita was a niece of William Randolph Hearst.

A few candid photos

With Leonard Bernstein, 1967

At the Chaplin Studios, c.1921

With journalist Margaret Buell Wilder, 1944

With Edna, c.1917

London, 1958

With Arthur Letts (far left) and the Earl of Dunmore, 1918

More about the Earl's visit here.