Reading Cinémonde, 1946

The issue Charlie is reading (below) is dated April 16th, 1946 (his 57th birthday). Note Charlie's (real) mustache for Monsieur Verdoux.

Chaplin, c.1946

Chaplin in 1946

Notice his (real) Verdoux mustache.

Photo by Karl Gullers at Chaplin's home in Beverly Hills. See more here.

Chaplin's Choice

Ever wonder what Chaplin thought of other actors or directors? Which films did he enjoy? Here is a non-comprehensive list of people and films he admired, with comments by Chaplin where I could find them. Please feel free to add to the list in the comments, preferably with sources.

Many thanks my friends Dominique Dugros, Lucy Jaffe, and Doreen Feeney for their help in putting this compilation together.

Actors/Actresses

Fred Astaire: "This Top Hat man exudes personality." (New York Times, Feb. 16, 1936)

Lucille Ball: "He enjoyed Lucille Ball...thought her very funny & extremely talented." (Jerry Epstein, Remembering Charlie)

Lucille Ball poses as Chaplin in 1962

Fanny Brice: "Fanny Brice is a wonder as a comedian." (New York Herald, Sept. 11, 1921)

Mae Busch: "The best actress on the screen." (Motion Picture, Nov. 1924)

Mae Busch

Marion Davies "One evening at the Fairbankses' they ran a Marion Davies film, When Knighthood Was In Flower. To my surprise she was quite a comedienne, with charm and appeal, and would have been a star in her own right without the cyclonic Hearst publicity." (Charles Chaplin, My Autobiography)

Benny Hill: After receiving the Charlie Chaplin International Award for Comedy in 1991, Hill was invited, along with his longtime producer/director Dennis Kirkland, to Chaplin's home in Vevey where he was given a tour of the Manoir by Charlie's son, Eugene. Kirkland recalls the story in his biography of Hill:

After lunch he took us into the house to his father's sitting room and
his father's study, where Benny, thrilled to bits, was invited to sit in
Charlie Chaplin's chair. He was in heaven.

Then Eugene took us to a little room with a TV set and a video recorder and
showed us a row of videotapes on a shelf. They were all of Benny Hill
shows.

'My father used to sit here and watch you all the time. He thought you were
the greatest,' Eugene told Benny.

I had never seen Benny quiet so overwhelmed. He could not believe what he
was seeing and hearing. There were tears in his eyes.

Benny Hill as his character Fred Scuttle

Bob Hope: Chaplin to Hope after they were introduced by Hope's Cat & The Canary co-star, Paulette Goddard, at Santa Anita Race Track: "Young man, I've been watching the rushes of The Cat & The Canary every night. I want you to know that you're one of the best timers of comedy I have ever seen." (Joe Morella, Paulette: The Adventurous Life Of Paulette Goddard)

Al Jolson: "[Chaplin] thought that seeing Jolson live was the highest theatrical experience of his life. 'It was electrifying how he moved the audience,' Charlie said. 'When he came down the ramp and bent on his knees and sang 'My Mammy' it sent shivers down your back." (Jerry Epstein, Remembering Charlie)

Peter Lorre: "There is much of the born poet in Peter Lorre. His is a fresh and original talent. He is endowed with such intuitive, emotional and imaginative powers that he impresses me as one of the greatest character actors. I look forward to seeing him make a genuine contribution to the art of acting on the screen." (Motion Picture, June 1936)

Mary Pickford: "I once asked Charlie who was his favorite screen actress. 'I think Mary Pickford," he answered unhesitatingly." (Sam Goldwyn, St. Louis Star, Feb. 14, 1924)

Films/Directors

Ingmar Bergman: "After meeting Ingmar Bergman in Sweden [in 1964], Charlie gave an interview to the Herald Tribune, and said he never missed an Ingmar Bergman film." (Epstein)

With Ingmar Bergman

Luis Bunuel: "Bunuel remembered other visits to Chaplin's home. Several times he screened Un Chien Andalou: the first time Kono, who was running the projector, fainted away when he saw the opening scene of a razor blade slicing an eye. Years later Bunuel delighted to learn from Carlos Saura* that according to Geraldine Chaplin her father used to frighten the children by describing scenes from Bunuel's films." (David Robinson, Chaplin: His Life & Art) *Saura is the father of Geraldine's son, Shane Saura Chaplin.

A PLACE IN THE SUN (Dir. George Stevens, 1951): The story goes that Chaplin attended an advanced screening of the film and afterward told director George Stevens that it was "the greatest movie ever made about America." I couldn't find an actual source for this quote. However in Remembering Charlie, Jerry Epstein recalled seeing the film with Chaplin and that he enjoyed it.

Elizabeth Taylor & Montgomery Clift in A Place In The Sun

BARRY LYNDON (Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1976): One of the last two films Chaplin ever saw (the other was Rocky). As he watched the film, he commented, "Beautiful...beautiful." (Epstein)

BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925): Eisenstein recalled that Chaplin's first words of greeting when they met by Chaplin's tennis court in 1930: "Just saw Potemkin again. You know, in five years it hasn't aged a bit; still the same." (Chaplin & American Culture, Charles Maland)

THE BELLBOY (Dir. Jerry Lewis, 1960): During a visit to Chaplin's home, Lewis requested a copy of Modern Times to show his children on Sundays, Chaplin complied but with one provision: That Lewis send him a copy of The Bellboy, which was his favorite of Lewis' films. (Peter Bogdanovich, Who The Hell's In It)

DR. STRANGELOVE (Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1964): In an interview with Francis Wyndham in 1964, Chaplin said he hated most American films but was enthusiastic about Dr. Strangelove and did "an hilarious impression of George C. Scott squirming in the war room." The film's other star, Peter Sellers, was also briefly considered for the role of Hudson in Chaplin's last film, A Countess From Hong Kong.

George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove

D.W. Griffith: "The teacher of us all." (Francis Bordat, Chaplin Cineaste)

IVAN THE TERRIBLE (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1944) "The Acme of all historical pictures. Eisenstein dealt with history poetically--an excellent way of dealing with it." (My Autobiography)

M (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1931): Chaplin confessed to star Peter Lorre at the Brown Derby that he had seen the film three times. (Stephen Youngkin, The Lost One: The Life Of Peter Lorre)

Peter Lorre in M

MORTAL CLAY (Dir. Victor Sjöström, 1922) "A most beautifully prepared and executed work of art, an inspiration to all lovers of beauty and a vehicle that should elevate the whole standard of motion pictures." (Moving Picture World, Nov. 17, 1923)

ROCKY (Dir. Sylvester Stallone, 1976): "As he watched, he kept murmuring, 'Excellent...excellent.'" (Epstein)

Carl Weathers & Sylvester Stallone in Rocky

SALVATION HUNTERS: (Dir. Josef Von Sternberg, 1925): Chaplin considered the film to be one of the greatest ever made. (Photoplay, August 1925)

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (Dir. William Wyler, 1946): "The most significant picture to come out of Hollywood in years--significant not only for what the film itself accomplishes but also for the encouragement the film's success will give to other producers [to make daring and out-of-the-ordinary films]." (New York Times, April 13, 1947)

MORNING GLORY (Dir. Lowell Sherman, 1933): "Splendid." (New York Times, Feb. 16, 1936)

L-R: Adolphe Menjou, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, & Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory

REMEMBRANCE (Dir. Rupert Hughes, 1922): "The most human picture ever put on the screen." (Motion Picture News, Sept. 20th, 1922)

Carlos Saura: "You are a poet." Chaplin to Saura in a telegram after having seen Ana Y Los Lobos with daughter, Geraldine (who was the star of the film). (Claudine Monteil, Les Amants Des Temps Modernes, based on an interview by the author with Geraldine).

STELLA DALLAS (Dir. Henry King, 1925): "I must congratulate [Samuel Goldwyn] on STELLA DALLAS. A friend of mine, seeing it the third time, enjoyed it as much as I did, seeing it the first time. It's a great triumph for you and the members of the cast. The direction is splendid, and undoubtedly the finest thing Henry King has ever done. May it bring you the success you deserve." (Moving Picture World, Jan. 23, 1926)).

Belle Bennett as Stella Dallas

With Swedish photographer Karl Gullers following a midnight photo shoot at Chaplin's Beverly Hills home, 1946

Chaplin's Academy Award for The Circus is on the bookcase behind him (far left), next to some Napoleon figurines.

Charlie being carried by big, lovable Henry Bergman, c. 1918

Bergman, whose career began as an operatic tenor, joined Chaplin’s stock company in 1916. He remained with him, as an actor and assistant, until his death in 1946 (his final film appearance was in Modern Times, 1936).
In the 1920s, he opened a popular Hollywood restaurant called Henry’s (possibly financed, or co-financed, by Chaplin). Henry would often go from table to table talking with customers, with his ever-present cigar dangling from his mouth. Charlie, who was fascinated by the success of the restaurant, was a regular customer. His favorite dishes were the lentil soup and coleslaw.

Henry's, c. 1928

Working with Charlie Chaplin: Vol. 4

I couldn't come up with a title for this one but suffice to say you didn't want to get on Chaplin's bad side. I must admit that I did consider calling it "For Christ's Sake!" You'll see why...

[Chaplin to assistant director and half-brother, Wheeler Dryder, during production of Monsieur Verdoux] "No, no, no, shut up, you silly bastard, for Christ's sake, we cut to Annabella, you don't understand anything about motion pictures. I know what I'm doing, yeah, that's what I cut to. I have been in this business for 20--for 30 years, you don't think I am gaga? Oh, shut up...Christ... We cut to Annabella, I know goddamn well what I am doing...For Christ's sake, I have been cutting this scene in my mind for the past three years...I know exactly...then the music starts....Don't talk to me." (reminiscences of Robert Florey via "Charlie Dearest" by Brian Taves, Film Comment, April 1988)

Group shot on the set of Monsieur Verdoux, 1946:
L-R: Robert Florey, Wheeler Dryden, Henry Bergman (in front), Rollie Totheroh, and CC

After I had been working at the Manoir for a few days I ventured to ask if he ever stopped work for a cup of tea during the afternoon. He snapped back, "I don't like tea." Feeling this to be a bit lacking in consideration, I retorted equally, "Well, I do." To my surprise instead of a lordly rebuke he said quite gently, "How thoughtless, you must forgive me, Eric." He at once rang for Gino [the butler] and from that day and every day thereafter a gentle tap would be heard on the door at precisely 4:00 pm and Gino would appear with a silver tray containing a pot of tea, a wedge of chocolate cake, and an assortment of sweet biscuits. At this point Mr. Chaplin would then absent himself from the room for five minutes. Occasionally he would remain, sitting in the armchair facing me and I would feel waves of suppressed irritation wafting over me as he tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair and dared me with his eyes to linger a moment longer than he considered necessary. (Eric James, Making Music With Charlie Chaplin, 2000)

CC with longtime music associate Eric James

[Chaplin to son Sydney, who played Neville in Limelight] "For Chrissakes, come on Syd!. Get some feeling into the lines...Show a little warmth!...For Chrissakes, what's wrong with you? Get the lead out of your pants!" (Jerry Epstein, Remembering Charlie, 1989)

With Sydney in Limelight

It was on A Woman Of Paris. We were all in watching rushes. And he said, "Rollie, that's out of focus." And I said, "Gee, if it was out of focus, my eyes are sharp, I'd tell you." "For Christ's sake! Jesus Christ! Lousy!" he said. So I said, "Well, if you can say that is lousy, you'd better get yourself another boy." He said, "I will." "Okay." So he ran down to Mr. [Alfred] Reeves office. I went back and sat in my office. They went to lunch, and I went to lunch and came back...Word came down that we'd call it a day. [That night, Alf Reeves went came to talk to Rollie at home and made sure that he would come in the next day. Rollie said he would, and give Charlie his two weeks' notice.]The next morning I was sitting on the bench and instead of Charlie driving in through the gates where he always did, he came into his front office through the screen door and I was sitting on the bench outside. He mentioned to me to come down to him and he turned around and put his behind up in the air and he said, "Kick me in the ass, Rollie." And I did. And he said, "You know, I wanted to take that shot over anyhow." ("Roland H. Totheroh Interviewed," Timothy J. Lyons, ed., Film Culture, Spring 1972

With Rollie, 1923

He got so frustrated with Almira Sessions that he started yelling and screaming. 'Why can't you get anything straight? All you have to do is this, this and this...'" (Interview with Marilyn Nash, "Limelight" newsletter, Spring 1997)

Almira Sessions as Lena Couvais in Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

"Hello, Gardiner," he said, looking at me with those strange, deep blue, and at times, pathetic eyes. "Say, you didn't show up at 6 a.m." And then rather sharply: "You held everything up, you know." I explained to him that there had been some mistake about the call as I had not received one the night before and that I was sorry I had caused him any inconvenience, but that it really wasn't my fault. "I must have cooperation at all times from people who work for me," he answered. "If people don't show enthusiasm over their work with me, I've no use for them. And if you feel you are not going to be able to put everything you've got into this role. I can always get someone else."I felt mortified and completely tongue-tied. I pulled myself together and, as calmly as I could, that I would do everything possible to do my part to the utmost and was looking forward to being in the picture more than any other assignment I had had previously."Well, that's fine, Reggie," he said, smiling now. "Let's say no more about your being late this morning." I smiled and thanked him and he walked away over to the camera. (Reginald Gardiner, "The Pleasure of Meeting A Dictator," New York Herald Tribune, September 16, 1940)

Reggie Gardiner, left, as Schultz in The Great Dictator (1940)

Chaplin on cover of Danish magazine, 1946

This pose was new to me. See other photos from this session here.

Chaplin at home, 1946

Tony Bennett on Chaplin & Chaplin on The Best Years Of Our Lives

At 10:30 tonight on TCM, guest programmer Tony Bennett will introduce Modern Times, starring one of his heroes, Charlie Chaplin. In his autobiography, Bennett wrote that Chaplin "never made a movie without love, and as a result, each of his films is a masterpiece." Because of his admiration for Chaplin, he was touched by a gift he received from him in the early 1970s:

One day a package arrived in the mail for me. I opened it to find a canister that held an original copy of the last ten minutes of Modern Times, the film in which the song "Smile" (composed by Chaplin) first appeared. Chaplin had heard my recorded version, and out of appreciation sent me this treasured gift. Imagine that. ¹

Another of Mr. Bennett's picks tonight is William Wyler's 1946 post-World War II classic The Best Years Of Our Lives, a film Chaplin once called "the most significant picture to come out of Hollywood in years--significant not only for what the film itself accomplishes but also for the encouragement the film's success will give to other producers [to make daring and out-of-the-ordinary films]. ²

Below is a humorous anecdote told by German philosopher Theodor Adorno involving himself, Chaplin, and one of the stars of the film, Harold Russell:

Perhaps I may justify my speaking about [Chaplin] by recounting a certain privilege which I was granted, entirely without having earned it. He once imitated me, and surely I am one of the few intellectuals to whom this happened and to be able to account for it when it happened. Together with many others we were invited to a villa in Malibu, on the coast outside of Los Angeles. While Chaplin stood next to me, one of the guests was taking his leave early. Unlike Chaplin, I extended my hand to him a bit absent-mindedly, and, almost instantly, started violently back. The man was one of the lead actors from The Best Years of Our Lives, a film famous shortly after the war; he lost a hand during the war, and in its place bore practicable claws made of iron. When I shook his right hand and felt it return the pressure, I was extremely startled, but sensed immediately that I could not reveal my shock to the injured man at any price. In a split second I transformed my frightened expression into an obliging grimace that must have been far ghastlier. The actor had hardly moved away when Chaplin was already playing the scene back. ³

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¹Tony Bennett,  Life Is a Gift, 2014
²Thomas Pryor, "Trail's End For The Tramp," New York Times, April 13, 1947
³Theodor Adorno, "Chaplin Times Two," reprinted in The Essential Chaplin, 2006

Chaplin at his piano and typewriter, 1946

Charlie and Oona leaving a Soviet ship in Long Beach harbor after attending a screening of a Russian movie, 1946.

News photographers overheard Chaplin say, in reference to the Customs officials who were on board, “Oh, I see we are under the power of the American Gestapo.”  This remark made headlines the next day and later turned up in Chaplin’s FBI file.

RIP Henry Bergman (February 23, 1868 – October 22, 1946)

Henry Bergman became an indispensable member of Chaplin's stock company in 1916. He adored Charlie and was a loyal and supportive friend and associate for 30 years. Chaplin repaid that loyalty by keeping Henry on his payroll until his death.

In an interview from 1931, Henry remembers how he came to work for Charlie:

I had known Mr. Chaplin personally. We used to be quite friendly at dinners, etc., and when I mentioned to him that I was looking for a job he said, "Why don't you come with me? You can work with me when I start a company of my own." That's the way it was. (Interview with Mayme Ober Peak, Boston Globe, February 22, 1931. I posted a longer excerpt from the interview here.)

Bergman was a versatile actor and would sometimes have multiple roles in one film. During filming, he was known to be just as tireless as Charlie:

For hour on hour on a sweltering August day during Shoulder Arms, Charlie forced the weighty Henry, in a full parade of German arms and uniform and sweating under a full muff (or crepe hair beard) to pursue him, disguised as a tree stump, through a eucalyptus grove. "You great fat hulk," complained the ex­hausted comedian. "Can't I wear you out?" Henry pled fatigue, but told Chaplin he was determined not to give up until Charlie did. (Harry Crocker, "Henry Bergman," Academy Leader, April 1972). 

In the 1920s, Bergman opened a popular Hollywood restaurant called Henry’s (possibly financed, or co-financed, by Chaplin). Henry would often go from table to table talking with customers, with his ever-present cigar dangling from his mouth. Charlie, who was fascinated by the success of the restaurant, was a regular customer. His favorite dishes were the lentil soup and coleslaw.

One of the last photos of Henry was taken on the set of Monsieur Verdoux. He did not have a role in the film and died from a heart attack shortly after shooting had begun.

Cameraman Rollie Totheroh is between Bergman and Chaplin. Associate Director Robert Florey is on the left of Bergman and Charlie’s half-brother Wheeler Dryden is behind Florey. 

The tools of the trade

"I had no idea what makeup to put on. I did not like my get-up as the press reporter [in Making a Living]. However on the way to the wardrobe I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering Sennett had expected me to be a much older man, I added a small mustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression.
I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born." (Chaplin, My Autobiography, 1964)

Tramp costume, c.1918

Chaplin's bowler hat, cane, and shoes from a 1987 Christie's auction.

Prop mustache worn by Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940), 
attached to a piece of paper signed and inscribed to Chaplin’s friend, Maurice Bessy:
 To Maurice - thank you for your book - merci! Charlie Chaplin, Sept. 1946.

Rollie Totheroh, Charlie’s cameraman for over 35 years,
 looks pensively at the costume Chaplin wore in The Kid (1921).
Photo from 1954.

82-year-old Chaplin holding a cane he used in Modern Times (1936). 

"When will girls like that learn to know when I'm through?"

The following is an excerpt from Hedda Hopper's autobiography From Under My Hat published in 1952.  It is common knowledge that Hopper disliked Chaplin for political and moral reasons and said some rotten things about him, but I believe there is some truth to the following anecdote. This was not the first time Chaplin met some obscure, lower class (or working class) girl and took her to dinner.¹ He was also apt to become bored with a woman once the initial infatuation wore off. The following most likely took place sometime in the mid-1920s:

On one of Laurette's ² first trips West, she, Hartley,³ and I went to a party given by Norma Talmadge and Joe Schenck at their home on West Adams Street.  Hartley wanted to leave before Laurette was ready. She was talking to Charlie Chaplin, who said, "I'll drive you home."

I went along, and the three of us sat in the back seat of Chaplin's Rolls-Royce. He and Laurette started talking about sex attraction: what a powerful thing it was, how hard to foresee or stem. Laurette remarked that a young waiter who carried in her breakfast tray was, though of course he didn't suspect it, attractive to her.

Chaplin chimed in, "Not long ago I walked down Hollywood Boulevard one evening. My car was following me as usual. A few steps ahead of me I saw a forlorn little girl, frail, poorly dressed. She looked so tired, I walked on ahead of her, looked back. Something in her face appealed to me. I turned round, walked back, and said, 'You're hungry, aren't you?'

'I haven't eaten for two days,' she said simply, like a child. I said, 'Would you allow me to buy your dinner?' She was so grateful she nearly fainted in my arms.

"I signaled my chauffeur, handed her into the car, drove her to my home, and fed her." Chaplin gave a bored sigh and a shrug. "She stayed with me for three days.

"She was delightful," Chaplin continued, speaking softly, rolling a remembered sweet on his tongue like the taste of good wine. "I experienced a new kind of thrill. I'd never met anyone quite like her. So giving, so grateful.

"Then I had the chauffeur drive her back to Hollywood Boulevard and let her out where I picked her up." Chaplin turned then to Laurette. "And would you believe it, the following night she found her way back to my home and begged to be let in? Of course I had the servants turn her out." He gave another sad sigh. "When will girls like that learn to know when I'm through?" he said peevishly.   

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¹Jim Tully describes two such women in "The Real Life Story of Charlie Chaplin": A girl who worked at a soda fountain and another known only as "Hotsy-Totsy".
²Laurette Taylor (1884–1946) was an American stage and film actress.
³J. Hartley Manners (1970-1928) was a playwright & husband of Laurette Taylor.

Chaplin & his eldest sons on the set of Monsieur Verdoux, c. 1946

Sydney is on the left, Charlie, Jr. on the right.
Both boys had just returned from service in WWII.