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| Edna and Carl Miller |
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Edna Purviance in deleted scenes from THE KID
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100 years ago today, KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE, the first film featuring the Little Tramp, was released
Chaplin biographer David Robinson refers to the “extraordinary phenomenon” that Kid Auto Races At Veniceis, noting in particular that “at the time it was shot, the Chaplin persona had still not appeared on the screen. The spectators at the races were therefore the first people anywhere to glimpse the figure that was to become universally famous. We can observe this first audience, as they progress from initial bewilderment and embarrassment at the antics of this obstreperous little vagabond to uninhibited laughter as they realize he is an entertainer. Kid Auto Races is thus incidentally a documentary record of the world’s first encounter with its greatest clown.”
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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)
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| Tramp costume, c.1918 |
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| Chaplin's bowler hat, cane, and shoes from a 1987 Christie's auction. |
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| 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. |
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| Rollie Totheroh, Charlie’s cameraman for over 35 years, looks pensively at the costume Chaplin wore in The Kid (1921). Photo from 1954. |
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| 82-year-old Chaplin holding a cane he used in Modern Times (1936). |
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Chaplin with Mary Pickford & her niece, Gwynne, 1919
Gwynne was the daughter of Mary's sister, Lottie.
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Charlie & Paulette at a wrestling match, February 1935
Note Charlie's glasses in the top photo.
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World Tour (1931-32) Revisited: Out & About in St. Mortiz, Pt. 2
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| Learning to ski, St. Moritz, c. 1932 |
For those who may have just discovered "Discovering Chaplin," my "World Tour Revisited" series follows Chaplin chronologically on his 16-month world tour to promote City Lights, which started in February 1931 & ended in June 1932. I began the series one year ago on February 12th when Chaplin left the U.S. for England. You can read previous posts in the series under the label "World Tour (1931-32) Revisited."
Presently (in February 1932), Chaplin is in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where he has been since December. He is accompanied by his lover and traveling companion, May Reeves, and his brother, Sydney.1 Douglas Fairbanks, who invited Chaplin to St. Moritz, was along for the first part of the stay, but by February had already returned to Hollywood. This post includes a few more pictures from Charlie's visit to the swank Swiss ski resort where he made his skiing debut.
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| Outside the Palace Hotel, St. Moritz |
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| Charlie & Syd (far left) at the Apollo Kino. |
Chaplin met several other celebrities who were wintering in the Alps, including Adolphe Menjou, the star of his 1923 film, A Woman Of Paris, as well as photographers Lee Miller2 and George Hoyningen-Huene, both of whom he had posed for in Paris in the spring. He was also introduced to Egyptian businessman, Aziz Eloui Bey & his wife Nimet. As usual, Charlie was the life of the party:
Having just completed City Lights, he ate dinner as if he were blind, wrapped Nimet's head in a table napkin and proceeded to extract an imaginary tooth (a sugar lump) from her mouth, then posed for Huene before a snowy replica of his alter ego, the Little Tramp.3Charlie & May will remain in St. Moritz until they leave for Italy on March 2nd.
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| Charlie posing next to a Tramp ice sculpture (right), and shaking hands with a dog. Photos by George Hoyningen-Huene. Vogue, March 1932 |
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| May Reeves & Syd Chaplin in front of the Tramp sculpture. |
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| Charlie chatting with Adolphe Menjou in St. Moritz, top left. |
1 Syd returns to his home in Nice by the end of February but will rejoin Charlie in Italy and accompany him on the rest of his tour.
2 Chaplin supposedly had an affair with Lee Miller in Paris in March 1931, a month before he met May Reeves.
3Lee Miller: A Life by Carolyn Burke
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Charlie & Mabel Normand in MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT, released Feb. 9th, 1914
This was the first film in which Chaplin acted in his Tramp costume (it was filmed before Kid Auto Races At Venice, but released later.) The film also features Chaplin's first appearance with his first leading lady, Mabel Normand.
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Tonight on TCM: THE GREAT DICTATOR @ 12:00AM (EST)
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Holding a cat (probably one of his own), c. 1958
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Chaplin with Merle Oberon & Fredric March, 1942
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RIP, Shirley Temple
Below are photos of Shirley with Paulette Goddard and Chaplin's eldest sons, Charlie, Jr, and Sydney, in Palm Springs, 1935
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Charlie up a tree--literally, c.1918
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Picture Show Art Supplement, December 11, 1926
“That is Charlie’s greatest asset. He plays his comedies on the strings of our hearts.”
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Charlie & Georgia Hale on the set of THE GOLD RUSH
Also shown are "Georgia's friends" played by: Betty Morrissey (far left), Joan Lowell (second from left), and Kay Deslys (far right).
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Surfer boy
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Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS with symphony orchestra featured at Catalina Island Museum’s Silent Film Benefit
I hope this gets a great turnout. Catalina Island was a place Charlie loved dearly.
http://ecatalina.com/news/2014-02-12/Chaplin-and-Symphony-Orchestra-featured-at-Catalina%20Island-Silent-Film-Benefit#
http://ecatalina.com/news/2014-02-12/Chaplin-and-Symphony-Orchestra-featured-at-Catalina%20Island-Silent-Film-Benefit#
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The real Charlie with impersonator Charlie Rivel in Paris, 1952
The photo is currently up for sale on ebay. The caption says: "Charlie Rivel greets Chaplin at a Paris night club in typical Chaplin makeup."
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I wondered if the impersonator was really Rivel since he would have been an older man by this time, but his costume looks similar to the one worn by real Rivel in this photo:
Below are more photos of circus clown Charlie Rivel as Chaplin: (source: fauxcharlot.blogspot.com). Read more about Rivel here.
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I wondered if the impersonator was really Rivel since he would have been an older man by this time, but his costume looks similar to the one worn by real Rivel in this photo:
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| (source: fauxcharlot.blogspot.com) |
Below are more photos of circus clown Charlie Rivel as Chaplin: (source: fauxcharlot.blogspot.com). Read more about Rivel here.
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With Paulette in Japan, 1936
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Valentine greetings from "Chawley"
I posted this last year. I still think it's a bit scary.
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| Motion Picture, March 1917 |
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70 years ago today...
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| Chaplin with his attorney Jerry Giesler. |
On February 14th, 1944, Charlie was booked and fingerprinted for violation of the Mann Act (transporting a woman across state lines for immoral purposes)1 and conspiracy to deprive Joan Barry, his former protegé, of her civil rights. Clad in a yellow sweater, white coat with purple handkerchief, and brown pants, Charlie looked nervous and annoyed and at first refused to be fingerprinted with cameramen in the room, declaring, "I'm exercising my prerogative; if I do, it's under duress."
Prints were eventually made of all ten of his fingers, a lengthy process which took twenty minutes. Afterward, he fumbled as he dipped his pen in ink to sign his arrest card.
He emerged shaken and was lead quickly to the washroom. His attorney, Jerry Giesler, following him with a gasoline-soaked towel. As Charlie removed the ink from his fingers, Giesler told reporters: "He doesn't have anything to say."
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1The indictment stated that Chaplin "feloniously" transported Joan Barry to New York in October 1942 "with the intent and purpose of engaging in illicit sex relations." As Chaplin's lawyer pointed out during the trial, Joan would have willingly had sex with Charlie at any time without having to schlep her to New York to do it.
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