Day By Day: 1936

Wednesday, November 4th: Chaplin's second wife, Lita Grey, announces marriage to Henry Aguirre.

Lita was secretly married on September 21st in Santa Ana. She was introduced to Aquirre, a tap dancer, through an aunt while recovering from a nervous breakdown at the home of her grandmother. Their marriage lasted less than a year.

Omaha World-Herald, November 5th, 1936

Day By Day: 1936: An account of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

Tuesday, October 13th: Paulette Goddard is interviewed in New York.

From her suite at the Ambassador Hotel, Paulette refused to answer any questions about Chaplin or even reveal her age (she's 26) in what she claimed was her very first interview. When asked what she plans to do in NY, she answered "breathe deeply" and read Wells' Anatomy Of Frustration. "Like Hollywood, the frustration part," she said. Given this impromptu trip to New York and rumors of a fight with Chaplin, one can't help but read between the lines of that response.

Oakland Tribune, October 13th, 1936.
 Click here to enlarge.

Day By Day: 1936: An account of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

Saturday, October 10th: Paulette flies to New York

"While Charles Chaplin is cruising on his boat off Catalina writing my new screen play," Paulette told a reporter, "I am taking a three weeks vacation to see the new plays on Broadway before beginning the picture." [L.A. Times, Oct. 11th, 1936] Although she may have originally planned to stay for three weeks she was only away for two.

Day By Day: 1936: An account of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

Circa early October 1936: Publicity photos of Charlie and Paulette by Max Munn Autrey.

Autrey was the stills photographer for both Modern Times & The Great Dictator. This set gives us some nice views of the grounds of Chaplin's Beverly Hills estate.

Lesser known images from this shoot show Charlie buying tickets to a British Charity Ball

 from a young lady named Maureen Laing: ¹

Another photo with Laing appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 11th, 1936:

Plus photos of Charlie and Paulette talking to Laing's father, 

Capt. Alfred Benson Laing, a Canadian WWI veteran: ²

See more photos here.

¹Laing later became a journalist under the name Maureen Dragone and one of the longest-standing members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
²Many thanks to Kate Guyonvarch of Association Chaplin for identifying Mr. Laing.

DAY BY DAY:1936: An account of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

Friday, September 18th - Sunday, September 27th: Charlie and Paulette attend the Pacific Southwest Tennis Tournament at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. 

With Fred Perry (above & below) who was defeated by Don Budge in the singles championship.
Charlie & Fred seem to be admiring Paulette's bracelet.

Hollywood magazine, December 1936.
 Paulette is also holding a camera in the top photo.

In this photo with Mary Astor, Paulette is wearing a dress that she wore
 during her trip to the Far East with Charlie earlier in the year.

Day By Day: 1936: An account of one year of Charlie Chaplin's life.

DAY BY DAY: 1936

Thursday, September 10th: Charlie and Paulette attend the premiere of the play "Everyman" at the Hollywood Bowl.

Other guests in the Chaplin Box were (counter-clockwise from bottom right): Anita Loos, her niece Mary Anita Loos, Robert Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby (and creator of the "Cobb Salad") and John Emerson, husband of Anita.

Day By Day: 1936

Thursday, August 27th: Film Daily reports that the Chaplin Studios are being wired for sound. 

Friday, August 28th: Chaplin announces that he has purchased the films rights to the D.L. Murray novel, Regency.

It seems that Chaplin was already beginning to lose interest in "Production No. 6" (probably the Stowaway story). He would be consumed with the Regency project well into 1937.

Also noteworthy in the following article is that the Chaplin Studios were being used as "headquarters" for the upcoming Hollywood Bowl production of Everyman. The cast rehearsed on the studio stage and the sets were built on the lot.

Los Angeles Times, August 28th, 1936

Saturday, August 29th - Sunday, August, 30th: Charlie and Paulette spend the weekend at Catalina.

Catalina Islander, September 3rd, 1936

DAY BY DAY: 1936

No, I haven't forgotten about this series. August 1936 was a very slow month for Chaplin but things pick up toward the end of the month and into September. I apologize for not posting the following on its anniversary.

Monday, August 17th: Charlie and Paulette attend a concert by conductor Leopold Stokowski at the Hollywood Bowl.

Behind them are King Vidor and Betty Hill (hidden by Charlie).

Close up of above photo.

Evidently the crowd was so large that Charlie and Paulette had to schlep to the Bowl from another street instead of being dropped off in their car at the front door (gasp): 

Los Angeles Times, August 23rd, 1936

Coming up: Chaplin wires his studio for sound, and makes an announcement about another film project. 

DAY BY DAY: 1936: A chronicle of one year of Chaplin's life.  

Day By Day: 1936

Wednesday, July 22nd: Charlie and Paulette attend a reception honoring Johannes Poulsen, head of the Royal Theater Of Denmark. 

Host Mary Pickford introduced Poulsen to 200 celebrities and civic leaders on the lawn of her home, Pickfair. The Danish director was invited by the California Festival Association to stage an outdoor production of the play Everyman at the Hollywood Bowl that September.

In this grainy photo from the Los Angeles Times (7/23/36), you can see Charlie and Paulette to the right of Mary
 (in white hat). 

L-R: Poulsen, CC, Paulette, Norma Shearer, and Mrs. Poulsen.

Poulsen at left and Jean Hersholt on the right. I apologize for the watermarks.

Day By Day: 1936: An account of one year of Chaplin's life. (Note: Some recent updates to the series are only posted on the series page.)

Day By Day: 1936

June 30th-July 2nd: Chaplin attends the annual United Artists Sales Convention at the Ambassador Hotel. 

Chaplin announced during the proceedings that he would make two pictures during the 1936-37 production season, including one starring Paulette in a leading role. (Of course, he never made them.)

Read more about the convention here.

I couldn't find a photo of Chaplin at this meeting but here is one from the July 1935 convention. Chaplin's dyed hair indicates that he was in the midst of filming Modern Times.

Day By Day: 1936: A chronicle of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

Sunday, June 28th: In The News


Chaplin has spent most of the month lying low since his return to California. In the following article, published in the Los Angeles Times eighty years ago today, he discusses his very ambitious future film plans:

Coming up: Chaplin has a very busy week ahead with the United Artists Sales Convention & the Actor's Fund Benefit. Stay tuned...

Day By Day: 1936: A chronicle of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

A letter from Sydney

In this letter to Charlie, dated June 4th, 1936, Sydney gives a critical analysis of his younger brother's latest film, Modern Times, and suggests ideas for future projects, including a proposal to transform the Tramp into an animated character.

Day By Day: 1936

Monday, June 8th: Chaplin's car is rear-ended on Hollywood Blvd. 

San Bernardino Sun, June 9th, 1936

The Rootes had traveled alongside Charlie and Paulette on the President Coolidge between Yokohama and San Francisco earlier in the month. In the photo below, taken on the ship, they are at far left.

Day By Day: 1936: A document of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

Friday, June 5th: Charlie and Paulette return to Los Angeles

They arrived home by car, having driven down from Pebble Beach that morning.

Shortly afterward, Chaplin contacted his sons, Charlie, Jr. (11) and Sydney (10), who had not heard from their father since he left in February.

I remember the day in early June when Dad phoned the school and said he was back and would like to see us. Syd and I were jubilant. On Friday, just as though no months had intervened, a smiling Frank showed up in the car to take us to the house on the hill. 

"Your fathah," Frank told us on the way home, "he got married down at Hong Kong on the boat." 

When we asked for details, he shook his head. 

"I didn't see 'em get married," he said with a laugh. "I don't hang around them all the time. They have their things to do. I have mine. But they tell me so." 

At last we were back in our father's home again. Dad and Paulette were waiting for us. They looked happy--Dad especially. He always enjoyed his excursions abroad, but each time he was thoroughly glad to get home. He really wasn't much of a traveler, and the feeling of being rooted had become so strong in him by this time that he was to stay in the United States for sixteen years after this trip. 

Syd and I ran up and kissed first Dad and then Paulette. Paulette stooped and hugged us both while Dad laughingly confirmed Frank's piece of information. But though Dad told us flatly that he had married Paulette, it was to remain a family secret for years, because neither of them bothered to tip off the reporters. Throughout the long period they were together the newspapers continued to speculate as to "when" and "if" and "where." --Charlie Chaplin, Jr, My Father Charlie Chaplin, 1960

Coming up: Charlie and Paulette are involved in an accident.

***

Day By Day: 1936: A chronicle of year of Chaplin's life

Day By Day: 1936

Wednesday, June 3rd: Charlie and Paulette arrive in San Francisco following their four-month tour of the Far East.

It was also Paulette's 26th birthday.

Charlie & Paulette with fellow passenger Jean Cocteau.

From the sun deck of the SS Coolidge, Chaplin told reporters they'd had a "delightful" trip. "Glorious, just glorious," he said. But they were "terribly anxious" to return to Hollywood & get back to work. He was forthcoming about future film projects but dodged questions regarding his marital status. "We never discuss our personal affairs," he said, smiling broadly. "Anything on that matter would come from Miss Goddard." However Paulette's reply was the same as Charlie's: "I never discuss my personal affairs with the press."

Newsreel footage of Charlie and Paulette in San Francisco. Jean Cocteau appears briefly at the end. 

As for his film plans. Chaplin said he had already written 10,000 words for a "romantic adventure" set in the South Seas and starring Paulette has a native girl. He would direct the film but not appear in it. As for the Tramp. Chaplin couldn't say whether the character would ever appear onscreen again. If he did, he would be silent. "I could never talk in that role. He will always be the way he has been. I can't tell whether he has finished his journey, whether he will ever return. You know, he has had some rather good innings, hasn't he?"

From San Francisco, the couple (Alta Goddard and Frank Yonemori are still with them as well)* drove to the famous Del Monte resort in Pebble Beach. Perhaps to celebrate Paulette's birthday. They will return to L.A. on the 5th.

The couple at Del Monte:

*Cocteau, who had been traveling on the same ship as the Chaplin party since Hong Kong, departed separately for L.A.

Sources:
Los Angeles Times, June 4th, 1936
San Mateo Times, June 4th, 1936
San Bernardino Press, June 4th, 1936

Day By Day: 1936: A document of one year of Chaplin's life.

DAY BY DAY: 1936

Friday, May 29th: The Coolidge, en route to San Francisco, makes a brief stop in Honolulu

Sailing from Yokohama, the President Coolidge docked for only a few hours in Hawaii before sailing again at ten that evening. Fellow passenger, Jean Cocteau, recalled that the ship was met with a native band and singers upon its arrival. When Charlie and Paulette disembarked they were "waylaid by the American colony, led off on a leash of flowers."¹ The couple were here once before back in February, at the beginning of their tour.

Below are photos aboard the Coolidge, between Yokohama and San Francisco.

Alta and Paulette

L-R: Geoffrey Rootes, William Rootes (British car manufacturers), Lady Furness, Paulette, Charlie.
Back row: Jean Cocteau, Alta, Victor Sassoon (with mustache), and Water Lang, the director.

Chaplin with Frank Murphy, U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippines.

Alta, Mr. Murphy, and Paulette
In a photo album, Paulette describes her sleeping mother in this photo
as "the perfect chaperone."

More photos here.

Coming up on June 3rd: Arrival in San Francisco.

¹ Cocteau, Round The World Again In 80 Days

***

Day By Day: 1936: A document of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

Friday, May 22nd: Charlie & Co. leave Japan for California

After a four-month tour of Asia, Chaplin, Paulette, her mother, Alta, and valet Frank, began their journey back home.

In his memoir, Round the World Again in 80 Days, fellow passenger Jean Cocteau described their departure at Yokohama:

The President Coolidge was due out of Yokohama at 6 a.m. At ten minutes to the hour I went on board, preceded by photographers backing up the gangway with their cameras pointed at us. At five to six I was still dispensing autographs. The ship's band, which consisted of a saxophone, a trombone, a cornet and a big drum, broke into an agonized recessional. A flurry of paper streamers, flapping, bellying, breaking in the breeze, linked our bulwarks with the wharf. Our new friends on shore began to wave their handkerchiefs. Clocks were striking the hour. Suddenly a little car pushed its way through a little crowd. From it stepped a little Charlie Chaplin, a little Paulette Goddard. The sirens boomed a final warning. Chaplin broke away from the pressmen. With his hat astride his forehead in the Napoleonic manner one hand tucked into his waistcoat, the other held behind his back, the lonely wanderer who is so much at home in every land that he is homeless everywhere, mounted the gangway and turned the issue with a caper. Propellers churned; at last we were off. The wharf drew back, the island stood aloof. Our friends on shore dwindled and faded out, still waving invisible farewells. 

This clip is from 1933 (Hollywood On Parade), but just to give you an idea of Charlie's antics boarding the ship:

The Coolidge will make one brief stop in Honolulu on the 29th before arriving in San Francisco on June 3rd.

***

Day By Day: 1936: A document of one year of Chaplin's life.

Day By Day: 1936

May 18th - May 22nd: Yokohama/Tokyo

The Chaplin party arrived in Yokohama from Kyoto on (circa) May 18th. They will spend a week traveling between there and Tokyo before departing for the States on the 22nd.

The photos below were taken on May 20th in Tokyo. They show Charlie and Paulette with geisha singer Ichimaru (holding instrument in top photo) and French violinist Jacques Thibaud.

Day By Day: 1936

Day By Day: 1936

May 16th-17th: Kyoto

Valet Frank Yonemori at left.

Shortly after their arrival in Kobe on the 16th, Charlie and Paulette (and Alta and Frank) drove to Kyoto. They spent one night at the famous Hiiragiya Inn, where they are pictured below having tea.

Another rare sighting of Frank at right. Where's Alta?

Charlie and Paulette pose with hostess Taguchi Yae

The next morning (the 17th), Charlie & Co. set off for Yokohama.

***

Day By Day: 1936: A document of one year of Chaplin's life