January 28, 2016

Guéthary, France, 1931

When Chaplin was in Biarritz on his 1931 world tour, he attended a tennis match in Guéthary featuring three well-known French tennis champions: Henri Cochet, René LaCoste, and Martin Plaa. At the end of the game, the audience asked for a match between Chaplin and the champions. May Reeves, who was also in attendance, recalled that since he knew he was sure to lose, Chaplin decided to make a joke of it: "He slipped deliberately, ran after balls out of bounds, turned several times around himself and gesticulated so comically with his racket that the audience couldn't help splitting their sides. This was one of the most successful and original matches the champions ever played."

See more photos here.

At far left is Martin Plaa and next to CC in white, holding a racket, is Henri Cochet
With Henri Cochet. www.paysbasque1900.com

1 comment:

  1. Well, this helps me. I think I've had an autographed photo of CC and Cochet for many years now, and couldn't identify Cochet, because his autograph looks like "Jekel" or something. I don't seem to be able to post it here, so I'll send it to you for your consideration. Maybe I can now sell the &*%$ thing!

    ReplyDelete


Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.