Tea with Paulette on Catalina Island, 1941

THE NEW JANITOR, released September 24th, 1914

According to Chaplin, this film convinced him that he could evoke tears as well as laughter. He recalled in his autobiography that "an old actress," Alice Davenport, (he mistakenly remembered her as Dorothy, her daughter) watched the rehearsal of the firing scene from the sidelines and began to weep. This was a dimension of the Tramp character that audiences had not yet seen. It is also interesting to note that Chaplin's work at the time was catching on more quickly than his name. A review of the film in the September 26th, 1914 issue of Motion Picture News said "The New Janitor will arouse peals of laughter from any audience" but named its star as Charles Chapman.

The firing scene that made Alice Davenport cry."I know it's supposed to be funny,"
she told Chaplin, "but you just make me weep."

We see this gag again in  The Immigrant (1917).

This little clip is part of the French documentary La Naissance de Charlot that is included in the new Flicker Alley Mutuals set & is supposed to be an outtake of Chaplin bouncing on a trampoline. This footage has been the topic of discussion elsewhere on the internet and I am in agreement with other fans who don't think this is Chaplin. The mustache & the derby are too big. He doesn't move like Chaplin. The whole thing just isn't quite right. This has to be an impersonator.

In bookstores this Thursday (Sept. 25)...

French edition of Chaplin's 1933 travelogue, A Comedian Sees the World (Mon tour du monde), published by Les Editions du Sonneur.

Pre-order it now on Amazon.

The English edition is due November 28th. Pre-order here (check the editorial reviews...)

Chaplin in a scene from the Fred Karno sketch, "A Night In An English Music Hall"

Winnipeg Tribune, March 2nd, 1912

Amy Minister was the wife of Alf Reeves, who managed Karno's American company and eventually became Chaplin's studio manager.

Charlie meets Gandhi, September 22nd, 1931

Read Chaplin's description of their meeting here.

Colorized photos from ILLUSTRATED magazine, September 20th, 1952

The photographer, Antony Beauchamp (son-in-law of Winston Churchill), recalled that Chaplin's secretary tried to cancel this sitting the day before. Beauchamp replied with a telegram stating that he was going to show up at the scheduled time anyway "whether the drawbridge is up or down." So the next day he "stormed" the Chaplin house. "After half an hour Charlie came down and surrendered. Fortified by Moscow Mules, a favourite Hollywood cocktail, we took pictures for an hour and a half before the star sank into an armchair, begging for respite. Then my assistant rushed in to tell me that my camera had not been working properly, the session had been wasted. So another round of Moscow Mules was quickly ordered and handed round. Chaplin drank, lifted himself from his armchair, and began to pose for me once again." (Illustrated, 9/20/52)

I'm sure some of you are wondering about the color of his eyes which are definitely blue here, although I think these photos have been enhanced or colorized. 

Chaplin during location filming for Modern Times at Fish Harbor on Terminal Island, c. 1935

Chaplin by the M. Lambert Studio, Nice, France, 1931

See other portraits from the same sitting here.

Chaplin signs the car of world automobile tourist, Nell Wanderwell, 1923

Photo property of Roy Export SAS/photo.charliechaplin.com

Throwback Thursday

In this post from my "World Tour Revisited" series, Chaplin attends a bullfight in San Sebastian, Spain. This piece has been updated with a new tidbit I uncovered recently (i.e. Harry d'Arrast's description of Chaplin being presented with an ear from one of the dead bulls).

Click the link or the screenshot below.

www.discoveringchaplin.com/2013/08/world-tour-revisited-charlot-at.html

Charlie & Oona aboard the Queen Elizabeth heading to England, September 19, 1952

Charlie, Oona, and their family sailed from New York on this day in 1952. On their second day at sea, Chaplin had just finished having lunch with Arthur Rubinstein and Adolph Green when Harry Crocker, his publicist, received a telegram stating that his reentry permit had been revoked. According to Green's son, the photos below were taken that very night.

L-R: Pianist Arthur Rubinstein, lyricist/playwright Adolph Green, Aniela Rubinstein, CC, Oona

L-R: CC, Harry Crocker (who was traveling with the Chaplins), Adolph Green, Oona

Trading cards issued by Eduardo Pi Chocolates, Barcelona, Spain, c.1920s

Los "Ases" De La Pantalla = The Aces Of The Screen

Gloria Swanson, Chaplin, Marion Davies, and Harry Crocker, at a party for Davies at the Ambassador Hotel, 1928

See more photos from this event here.

Chaplin & "Dinky" Dean Reisner, c. 1922

More photos with Dinky at Chaplin's home here. Reisner describes this photo shoot (+ more photos) here.

A Comedian In New York (1925), Part VII: Louise Brooks

Much has been written here and elsewhere about Chaplin's romance with Louise. However, the best source for information about their relationship, Louise wrote herself in her 1966 Film Culture article, "Charlie Chaplin Remembered" (read here). I would prefer not to rehash every detail from Brooks' article for this piece but present the basics of their relationship along with a few other tidbits. 

El Paso Herald, Oct. 15, 1925 

Chaplin met 18-year-old Follies showgirl and future silent film icon Louise Brooks at a cocktail party hosted by Walter Wanger shortly after his arrival in New York in August 1925.¹ They were soon seen everywhere together--often double-dating with Louise's best friend in the Follies, Peggy Fears, and Chaplin's pal & assistant director, Harry d'Arrast. They went to nightclubs such as the Montmartre and the Lido, and to plays including The Cradle Snatchers (featuring a young Humphrey Bogart) and Outside Looking In (starring James Cagney), which Chaplin had already seen twice.

In late August, Fears was left without an escort when d'Arrast returned to Hollywood. He was replaced by A.C. Blumenthal, "the tiny film financier."² At this time, Chaplin also left his room at the Ritz and installed himself, and Louise, in a suite at the Ambassador. However, according to Louise, most of their evenings were spent in Blumenthal's penthouse (also at the Ambassador).

Blumie played the piano, Peggy sang, I danced, and Charlie returned to reality--the world of his creative imagination. He recalled his youth with comic pantomimes. He acted out countless scenes for countless films. And he did imitations of everybody. Isadora Duncan danced in a storm of toilet paper. John Barrymore picked his nose and brooded over Hamlet's soliloquy. A Follies girl swished across the room, and I began to cry while Charlie denied absolutely the he was imitating me. Nevertheless, as he patted my hand, I determined to abandon that silly walk forthwith.³

NYC, August 1925

For the Film Culture article, Louise was discreet in writing of her time with Chaplin, but to friends she was more explicit:

Privately, she told a few close friends of one entire weekend the foursome spent in Blumie's suite, ordering up all their meals and rarely even bothering to get dressed...Afraid of contracting certain diseases, Chaplin had studied the matter and was firmly convinced that iodine was a reliable VD preventative. Normally he employed only a small local application, but one night at the Ambassador he was inspired to paint the entire sum of his private parts with iodine and come running with a bright red erection toward the squealing Peggy and Louise.⁴

Fitchburg Sentinel, Sept. 30, 1925

Louise also spoke candidly about Chaplin after his death in 1977. Below is an excerpt from Louise Brooks by Barry Paris:

"I had an affair with him for two happy summer months," she told Kenneth Tynan. "He was...a sophisticated lover." Chaplin's sexuality and creativity were dynamically intertwined, she thought. By day, he was in constant motion. At night, he required no booze or drugs to facilitate lovemaking or to induce the deep sleep of a child...The complexities of the man bordered on the perverse. "He adored his mother's madness," Louise claimed, "and credits her with giving him his comic viewpoint."

She also paid eloquent tribute to Chaplin's ethical character, even during the Lita Grey divorce. "The truth is that he existed on a plane above pride, jealousy, or hate," she said. "I never heard him say a snide thing about anyone. He lived totally without fear."

"He knew," she continued," that Lita Grey and her family were living in his house in Beverly Hills, planning to ruin him, yet he was radiantly carefree--happy with the success of The Gold Rush and with the admirers who swarmed around him. Not that he exacted adoration. Even during our affair, he knew that I didn't admire him in the romantic sense, and he didn't mind at all. 

"Which brings me to one of the dirtiest lies he allowed to be told about him--that he was mean with money. People forget that Chaplin was the only star ever to keep his ex-leading lady [Edna Purviance] on his payroll for life, and the only producer to pay his employees their full salaries even when he wasn't in production."

Chaplin and Brooks parted ways in early October when he returned to Hollywood. In a letter to Kevin Brownlow in 1966, Louise wrote: "When our joyful summer ended, he didn't give me a fur from Jaeckel or a bangle from Cartier so that I could flash them around, saying, 'Look what I got from Chaplin.' The day after he left town, I got a nice check in the mail signed, 'Charlie.'⁵ And then I didn't even write him a thank-you note. Damn me."⁶

Chaplin & Brooks never saw each other again.

Cortland Standard, Nov. 4, 1925

_________________________________________________________________________________

¹The exact date of their meeting is unknown. Chaplin arrived in New York on August 3rd & he was already acquainted with Louise when he introduced her to Edna Purviance, who was in the city on her way to Paris to make a film, sometime between August 17-22. (Barry Paris, Louise Brooks) 
²Brooks, "Charlie Chaplin Remembered". Fears and Blumenthal married in 1927.
³ibid
⁴Barry Paris, Louise Brooks,
⁵The amount of the check was $2500
⁶Paris, Louise Brooks

Outtake from A KING IN NEW YORK (1957)

British actress & singer Shani Wallis performs in this deleted scene from A King In New York.

Charlie wrote the music, lyrics, and, judging from the photos below, had a hand in the choreography as well.

A couple more rarely-seen Strauss-Peyton poses from 1921

Swedish Nordisk Konst postcard. Collection of Phil Posner.

I believe these are from the same sitting as the other Strauss-Peyton photo I posted earlier this week.
Charlie is just wearing a different suit.

Lobby card for THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940)

On the left is Reginald Gardiner (Commander Schultz).

L-R: Oona, Charlie, Syd, and Gypsy, in Nice, 1963

Autographed portrait, 1922

Photo by Strauss-Peyton, 1921.

This particular pose is new to me. A similar photo was included in Chaplin's autobiography but his hands are outside of his pockets.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Hand-Signed...

Charlie’s Motion Picture Employee I.D. Card

Christie's South Kensington Auction Catalog, 1987

According to the lot description, the back of the card states the following information:

Issued by: Central Identification Station, Age: 53, Height: 5-6, Weight: 140, Hair: gray, Eyes: blue, Date issued: 6-11-42, with fingerprints taken from his left & right index finger.

"Merna Approves Charlie"

In honor of Merna Kennedy, who was born on this day in 1908.

Excerpt from "Merna Approves Charlie" by Katherine Lipke, Los Angeles Times, May 16th, 1926:

Merna Kennedy--17--with radiant red hair and green eyes. Lita Grey Chaplin's chum is now Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in "The Circus." 

A girl, boyish and nonchalant--yet constantly flushing with an undercurrent of feminine feeling. She would probably just as soon call Charlie Chaplin "You egg" during a scene as not. Yet she is breathless in her admiration for his direction and technique. 

When Charlie Chaplin chose Merna Kennedy from her place as comedienne in "All For You,"¹ everyone was surprised. Everyone but Merna! To the rest she was just a little girl with a charming smile, vivid hair and dancing feet. 

But Merna to herself is a girl who has been handed many things by life and who is growing to expect many things. This opportunity with Chaplin is splendid but a girl to whom no one ever said "No," who has never met disappointment, how can she judge how great an opportunity it is....

But Merna, with her gay bubbles of enthusiasm, with her eyes untouched by any problem, just stammers prettily that Charlie is such fun--that it is great to work with him--she has never been so happy--she wants to be in pictures always--and then repeats that Charlie is such fun.

She is full of stories about him. How he is constantly impersonating some one or other, many times herself. How at the end of some such impromptu entertainment she gets up and mimics Charlie while directing, revealing all the funny mannerisms of which he is unconscious. And Charlie at the end laughs and protests that he can't look as bad as that. 

She explains how he grew brutal the other day on the set and told her many unpleasant things about herself. She hesitated between anger and tears, and when tears won out he rushed her to the camera and she discovered that this lachrymose display was what he had been working for.²

She tells of Charlie Chaplin--the playboy, who takes Lita, Merna and Harry Crocker (also in "The Circus") to the beach to plan out the picture and then they all go swimming instead and come back tired and laughing, with the picture still in the background. 

These are not things about Charlie Chaplin which have impressed his new leading lady. His laughter and his companionability. She talks constantly of Lita and Charlie as if the comedian, like Lita and herself, were 17 in years and inclination. 

When Charlie planned a test for her for “The Circus" she wasn't excited or  self-conscious.
It was something to get over with before signing the contract. It did not occur to her that she might not be the right screen type. 

Charlie grew saucily impertinent with her while the camera was grinding out the test. She snapped back at him with flippant good humor without self-consciousness. Something to be done and she was doing it. Not a crisis to be feared! Life has never introduced Merna Kennedy to a crisis. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

¹All For You was a musical comedy in which Merna had a leading dance role. At the suggestion of his wife, and Merna's close friend, Lita Grey, Chaplin attended a performance at Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. (Screenland, July 1926). He was impressed with her but nothing was said to Merna until some time after that when the musical's run in Los Angeles was complete & she was offered a contract to go on tour with the show. Her mother asked Chaplin if he thought she should do it. He said, "no," that if Merna could pass a screen test he would give her an opportunity. Chaplin also changed the spelling of her name from Myrna to Merna. (San Bernadino County Sun, March 3, 1926)

²Chaplin used the same technique on Claire Bloom for the emotional "I'm walking" scene in Limelight (1952).

Singapore, 1936

L-R: Mrs. Julius Fisher, CC, Paulette, Joe Fisher, Alta Goddard, Julius Fisher.

The Fishers were head of the Amalgamated Theaters, Ltd. in Singapore.

Chaplin with former Hungarian Prime Minister, Count Mihály Károlyi, on the set of CITY LIGHTS, c. 1929

Chaplin arrives in Cherbourg en route to England, September 1921

A mob of reporters and cameramen came aboard to interview Chaplin and bombarded him with questions in both French (which he didn't understand) and English.

Charlie recalled the deluge of questions in My Trip Abroad (1922):

"Are you visiting in London?"

"Why did you come over?"

"Did you bring your make-up?"

"Are you going to make pictures over here?"

Then from Frenchmen :

"Will I visit France?"

"Am I going to Russia?"

I try to answer them all.

"Will you visit Ireland?"

"I don't expect to do so."

"What do you think of the Irish question?"

"It requires too much thought."

"Are you a Bolshevik?"

"I am an artist, not a politician."

"Why do you want to visit Russia?"

"Because I am interested in any new idea."

"What do you think of Lenin?"

"I think him a very remarkable man."

"Why?"

"Because he is expressing a new idea."

"Do you believe in Bolshevism?"

"I am not a politician."

Others ask me to give them a message to France. A message to London. What have I to say to the people of Manchester? Will I meet Bernard Shaw? Will I meet H. G. Wells? Is it true that I am going to be knighted? How would I solve the unemployment problem? ...

I am rescued by my secretaries, who insist that I go to my cabin and lie down. Anything the newspaper men have to ask they will answer for me. I am dragged away bewildered.

Chaplin participating in a doubles exhibition match for British War Relief at the Pacific Southwest Tennis Tournament, September 1941

Chaplin and his partner, British champion, Valerie Scott, lost to Bobby Riggs and actress Jinx Falkenburg, 6-4.

Charlie and Jinx after the match:
 www.discoveringchaplin.blogspot.com/2014/03/with-jinx-falkenburg-at-pacific.html

Chaplin at the funeral of Will Rogers, August 1935

Italian newsreel announcing the release of MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Interspersed in the film are images from Chaplin's most recent (up to that time) trip to Italy in September 1957 when he was there to attend the premiere of A King In New York.  He is shown arriving at Ciampino airport in Rome and later being greeted by Dawn Addams, his leading lady in the film. Afterward he traveled on to Naples and the Island of Ischia to attend the premiere.

Chaplin's life story was published 50 years ago this month.

Source: Framepool

Thanks to Dominique for his help with the translation and some extra info.