↧
Chaplin with Chinese opera star Mei Lanfang, Shanghai, 1936
↧
Charlie & Adolphe Menjou at Hearst castle, c. late 1920s
The woman in the clip might be Menjou's wife, but I'm not sure.
↧
↧
World Tour Revisited: Out & about in Biarritz, September 1931
 |
| With Russian opera singer, Feodor Chaliapin, and his daughter, who were visiting Biarritz at the same time as Charlie. Both men were invited to a party given by Mischa Elman in St. Jean de Luz where they engaged in a role reversal exercise in which Charlie sang a group of Basque folksongs, then Chaliapin did a pantomime routine about a girl trying to tie herself into a corset. |
 |
| Charlie & May (second from right) with friends. |
 |
| A carriage ride through Biarritz. Same day as previous photo. |
 |
| Charlie and May take tea at the home of designer Jean Patou. |
 |
| At the Hotel Miramar, Biarritz (this photo and below). |
Coming up this week:
Charlie returns to London on the 18th.
His world tour reaches the halfway point & I take a look back over the last 9 months.
↧
On the set of The Circus with film producer and writer L'Estrange Fawcett.
↧
Images of "Carlito" in Modern Times from Brazilian magazine, Cinearte, May 1936
Charlie was known as "Carlito" in Brazil and Argentina; "Charlot" in France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Charlie first heard about his French nickname from Max Linder who told him that in France he was called "Charlot" and his brother, Sydney, "Julot." They were highly amused by this and spent the day calling each other by their nicknames.
↧
↧
Set visit during the filming of The Kid
The original caption identifies the girl between Charlie and Jackie as a young Sue Carol. Virginia Cherrill, Chaplin's leading lady in City Lights, went to school with Carol in Illinois and was visiting her in Hollywood when she was discovered by Chaplin at a boxing match in 1928.
↧
Charlie with Paulette, his sons, and Dr. Cecil Reynolds, 1934
Dr. Reynolds was Charlie's brain surgeon friend who played the minister in Modern Times.
↧
World Tour Revisited: Leftovers
September 1931 marked the halfway point of Chaplin's 18-month world tour. I thought I would take this post to look back over the past 9 months with some photos that didn't make into my original World Tour Revisited posts.
U.S., Feb. 1931
London, Feb. 1931:
![]()
Party following the London premiere of City Lights, Feb. 27th, 1931
Berlin, March 1931
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Boar Hunt, Normandy, March 25th, 1931
![]()
![]()
Nice, April 1931
![]()
![]()
French Riviera Summer 1931
![]()
![]()
Bullfight, San Sebastian, August 1931
Biarritz, September 1931
![]()
U.S., Feb. 1931
 |
| On the train to New York en route to England. |
London, Feb. 1931:
 |
| On the roof of the Ritz Carlton. |
 |
| With Jack Fitchett, a friend from his vaudeville days. |
Party following the London premiere of City Lights, Feb. 27th, 1931
 |
| Winston Churchill toasts Charlie. |
 |
| With journalist Hannen Swaffer. |
 |
| Dancing with Lady Doreen Stanley at a party following the premiere of City Lights. |
Berlin, March 1931
 |
| At the Hotel Adlon. |
Vienna, March 16th, 1931
Paris, March 1931
 |
| At the Folies Bergère. Chaplin's press agent Carlyle Robinson is in the background. |
French Riviera Summer 1931
 |
| L-R: Charlie, May, Syd & Minnie Chaplin. |
 |
| Aboard the HMS Shropshire in Cannes. |
 |
| Charlie and May Reeves on the streets of Cannes. |
 |
| On the beach in Juan-les-Pins. Source: Lisa Stein Haven |
 |
| Source: Lisa Stein Haven |
 |
| Sunbathing with May. |
Bullfight, San Sebastian, August 1931
 |
| Harry d'Arrast and May are seated next to Charlie on the right. |
Biarritz, September 1931
↧
Chaplin & John Freuler, president of the Mutual Film Corporation, during the filming of The Cure, 1917
↧
↧
Charlie & Kono (far left) with visitors on the set of City Lights, c. 1930
Chaplin's guests are Mei Ushiyama and her husband, Harry. Evidently, Mei was a well-known beauty salon owner.
I have a feeling this is a composite photo because the image of Chaplin (possibly taken on the same day as this photo of Chaplin with Morris Gest) is flipped the wrong direction and appears to have been inserted after the fact.
(Photo source: Charles Chaplin In Japan by Hiroyuki Ono)
↧
British war relief party in Beverly Hills, August 1941
L-R: Orson Welles, Dolores Del Rio, CC, & Carmen Figueroa.
↧
With Clare Sheridan, 1921
Writer and sculptress Sheridan (a cousin of Winston Churchill) spent several days with Charlie in November 1921. She created a bust of him& camped on the beach with him & her son, Dickie. No one knows for sure if they were actually lovers. However, in her memoir, The Naked Truth, Clare wrote the following: “Dear Charlie, how funny it would have been if … and on the whole not so unsuitable but …” (the dots are hers).
↧
World Tour Revisited: Charlie returns to London, September 18th, 1931
Charlie arrived in London from Paris late in the evening on the 17th aboard the Golden Arrow and drove to the Carlton Hotel virtually unnoticed, a far cry from his arrival from America, nearly nine months ago to the day, in February.
May Reeves did not accompany Charlie to London, but chose to visit her parents instead. She felt her relationship with Charlie had "lost its rhythm," and that a temporary separation would do them good. Charlie agreed and gave her a "ten-day-leave." 1
 |
| Charlie (left) takes a stroll along the Embankment, September 18th, 1931 |
When Charlie awoke on the 18th, he met with reporters in his suite at the Carlton where he answered questions about his stay in London, his next film, the identity of "Mysterious Mary" and whether or not she would be in his next film. Charlie, who "seemed genuinely shy" and "twisted about a good deal on the sofa," 2 wasn't forthcoming with answers, saying only that in his next film he would still play the Tramp but would not speak in it as the Tramp but as another character, an American. Referring to "Mary" (aka May), he only said that she was not with him in London and it was too early to say whether she would be in his next picture. Charlie was also vague with reporters about his immediate plans in London saying only that he would like to visit Manchester because he once lived there and attended school, but could not remember the name of it.* At the time, Charlie intended to stay in his hometown only a few days, but ended up staying until the end of December.
As an epilogue to the scene with the journalists, Mr. Chaplin came outside the Carlton Hotel and allowed himself to be photographed buying a newspaper from the one-legged news-seller who sits in a wooden box at the corner, and for a bit Mr. Chaplin seemed the more embarrassed of the two.3
 |
| Charlie buys a newspaper from the one-legged vendor outside the Carlton. |
Coming up: Charlie spends the weekend with Winston Churchill.
_________________________________________________________________________________
1 May Reeves, The Intimate Charlie Chaplin
2The Manchester Guardian, September 19th, 1931
3The Manchester Guardian, September 19th, 1931
*Charlie was enrolled at the Armitage Street School in Manchester in 1899.
↧
↧
World Tour Revisited: Charlie visits Churchill at Chartwell, September 19th, 1931*
Chaplin & Churchill first met in 1929 at a party at Marion Davies' beach house in Santa Monica & took an immediate liking to one another. A couple of days later, Charlie invited Churchill and his entourage to his Hollywood studio where they were treated to a screening of Shoulder Arms and toured the set of City Lights. "You could not help liking him," Churchill told his wife, Clementine, in a letter, "He is a marvelous comedian--bolshy in politics--delightful in conversation." 1
Charlie remembered Churchill as a charming man with a "direct, unassuming manner. He has a slight lisp when he talks and a stoop in his carriage like Napoleon. You feel immediately a dynamic force--a man with a thirst for accomplishment. He is a wonderful talker and will rattle off brilliant epigrams. Besides being a statesman he is a great writer and an excellent painter. 2
Although they rarely saw eye to eye on politics, the two men discussed many things at Chartwell, including Charlie's interest in making a film about Napoleon. "You must do it," Churchill said. "Apart from the drama, think of its possibilities for humor. Napoleon in his bathtub arguing with his imperious brother who’s all dressed up, bedecked in gold braid, and using this opportunity to place Napoleon in a position of inferiority. But Napoleon, in his rage, deliberately splashes water over his brother’s fine uniform and he has to exit ignominiously from him. This is not alone clever psychology. It is action and fun."3
 |
| With Churchill & his family at Chartwell in Westerham, Kent, Sept. 19th, 1931. L-R: Tom Mitford, Churchill, 2nd Lord Birkenhead, Clementine Churchill, Diana Churchill, Randolph Churchill, and Charlie. |
Next on Charlie's itinerary: A meeting with Gandhi.
_________________________________________________________________________________
* Charlie first visited Chartwell in February 1931 with his friend, Ralph Barton, who had accompanied him on his voyage to England. Barton had become obsessed about his ex-wife Carlotta Monterey's marriage to Eugene O'Neill and Charlie hoped the trip abroad would lift his friend's spirits. Not long after their arrival, Barton began acting strangely. Charlie noticed he had cut the wires to the clocks in the room, and Carlyle Robinson had even seen him fingering a pistol. A few days after the City Lights premiere in London on Feb. 27th, Barton announced he was returning to the States. On May 19th he killed himself in his New York apartment. Charlie received word of his friend's suicide while he was in the south of France.
2 Chaplin, "A Comedian Sees The World, Part II," A Woman's Home Companion, Oct. 1933
3 Ibid.
↧
On the set of The Gold Rush with boxer Mickey Walker
↧
Ford Factory, Highland Park, Michigan, 1923
↧
Cover of Illustrated magazine, September 20th, 1952
↧
↧
Color home movie footage from The Great Dictator
This behind-the-scenes footage was taken by Charlie's half-brother, Sydney, during production of The Great Dictator. This is my edit of the original 26-minute footage which can be found on both the MK2 & Criterion DVD sets of the film.
Music: "The Great Dictator", from Charlie Chaplin: Essential Film Music, Carl Davis, conductor, & "Falling Star" from Oh! That Cello by Thomas Beckmann
Don't miss:
Opening shot & .21: Charlie (in costume) behind the camera
2:30: Charlie loses his temper.
2:49: Assistant director, Wheeler Dryden, Charlie's half-brother (Dryden is also the voice of the translator, Heinrich Schtick, during Hynkel's speech)
3:02: Betty Chaplin (later Betty Chaplin Tetrick, Charlie's cousin), at left wearing a white blouse, and Syd's wife, Gypsy. They are seen again at the 5:33 mark.
4:17: Henry Bergman (Bergman is not in the film but has an uncredited role as assistant).
4:28: Charlie waves to his brother.
4:45: Syd's panning shot taken from the roof of the Chaplin Studio garage, note the Hollywood sign in the distance, the set from City Lights where Charlie assessed the nude statue (5:00), & the Chaplin studio gate (5:31).
↧
Catalina Island, 1930
↧
Photos by Witzel & Hartsook, 1914
↧