Although Chaplin tells a reporter that they only plan to stay until Christmas (they spent the holidays at the Beau Rivage in Lausanne), their main reason for coming to Switzerland was to find a permanent place to live. They were anxious to find something quickly because Oona was now pregnant with their fifth child (Eugene). One month later, on January 5th, Chaplin purchased his final home, the Manoir de Ban, in Corsier-sur-Vevey.
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Charlie and Oona arrive in Switzerland, December 5th, 1952
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Remembering Lita Grey Chaplin, who died 20 years ago today
Here's Lita, six years after her divorce from Charlie, singing "I've Got To Sing A Torch Song" in the Vitaphone short Seasoned Greetings (1933). She sings two other songs in the short including one with a very young Sammy Davis, Jr. seated next to her. See it in its entirety here.
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Chaplin at the residence of Sir Phillip Sassoon, Park Lane, London, Feb./March 1931
According to the caption on the Chaplin Image Bank site, this was taken during the "Four Georges" art exhibition held at Sassoon's home to aid the Royal Northern Hospital. Chaplin briefly mentions attending this exhibition in his autobiography but incorrectly thought that it was during his first return trip to England in 1921.
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| photo.charliechaplin.com |
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2015 In Review
Well, another year has come and gone so it's time to look back at the year that was and share my plans for 2016.
Top Five Posts:
(I am only counting new posts for 2015)
Before I begin, I'd like to express my deepest gratitude to Kate Guyonvarch and Arnold Lozano from the Chaplin Office in Paris for their support of my blog. The following posts would not have been as popular had the majority of them not been shared on the Chaplin Official Facebook page and/or their Twitter page. So many thanks to them.
I'm thrilled that Francesca Santoro's fascinating remembrances of The Great Dictator was the most popular post of the year.
Charlie dressed in drag is always a crowd-pleaser.
Chaplin fans love their Edna.
Who doesn't like to see Charlie in color?
I was happy to see this make the top 5. I'll be doing more with series this in 2016.
Top Five Most-Commented Posts:
Again, these are 2015 posts only. Interestingly, the posts that received the most comments were not necessarily the most popular. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to comment. We had some great discussions.
- Little Pitchers Have Big Ears
- A Night Out
- Charlie in London, 1921
- Charlie & Paulette, c.1939
- 37 Years Ago
Top Five Labels:
The labels on my site get just as many hits as my posts. Your favorites (in order) are:
- Lita Grey Chaplin (This is a good place to point out that queries about Lita bring more people to my site than any other keyword--this was also the case last year. I'll keep this in mind as the blog goes forward in 2016).
- Mildred Harris
- Mann Act Trial (As It Happened)
- Women (posts about Charlie and his amours)
- (tie) Random Excerpt & World Tour Revisited
So what's in store for 2016?
I have some ideas up my sleeve. It's difficult to keep a blog like this fresh. Posting the same hackneyed photos and stories does not appeal to me, although at times it's hard to keep from it. I had an idea to do a "Day By Day" series where I follow Chaplin around for one year of his life. It would have to be a year where he wasn't making a movie because, sadly, I don't have access to archival materials such as production reports, etc. The years I am considering are either 1927 or 1936 since those were years where he was in the news quite a bit. I might still do it but once I start, there's no going back and it could be quite an undertaking! Plus he wasn't in the news every day so weeks could go by with no update. If I'm going to start the series next month I suppose I better make a decision fast! Next year is also the 100th anniversary of the Mutuals so I plan to have some fun with that. I'd like to take a closer look at some of Chaplin's co-stars from that period--Eric, Henry, Albert, etc. I hope you'll join me.
See you next year!
Much love,
Jess
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Chaplin Day By Day: 1936: Jan. 1-2
Well, I'm going to give my "day by day" idea a try. I've bounced this idea around ever since I started this blog. The plan is that I will follow Charlie around for one year of his life. I chose 1936 for several reasons: it was exactly 80 years ago, it was the year one of his most iconic and popular movies was released, and it was also the year of his travels with, and possible marriage to, Paulette Goddard. There may not be daily updates. Sometimes I may just update the series once a week or every couple of weeks. We'll see how it goes.
January 1st: I'll kick off the month with a spread about Chaplin that appeared in the January 1936 issue of Vanity Fair.
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January 2nd: Charlie and Paulette were among the guests at a dinner party at the Trocadero hosted by newlyweds James H.R. Cromwell, an economist and author, and his wife, Doris Duke. Also in attendance were Cromwell's sister and brother-in-law, Mr. & Mrs. Lionel Atwill, Harry d'Arrast, Eddie Sutherland, Mary Pickford, Eleanor Boardman, and Lionel Barrymore & wife, Irene Fenwick. (Los Angeles Times, January 5th, 1936)
January 1st: I'll kick off the month with a spread about Chaplin that appeared in the January 1936 issue of Vanity Fair.
January 2nd: Charlie and Paulette were among the guests at a dinner party at the Trocadero hosted by newlyweds James H.R. Cromwell, an economist and author, and his wife, Doris Duke. Also in attendance were Cromwell's sister and brother-in-law, Mr. & Mrs. Lionel Atwill, Harry d'Arrast, Eddie Sutherland, Mary Pickford, Eleanor Boardman, and Lionel Barrymore & wife, Irene Fenwick. (Los Angeles Times, January 5th, 1936)
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Portrait by George Maillard Kesslere, New York, 1923
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Working with Charlie Chaplin: Vol. 3
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)
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| 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
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| 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)
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| 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)
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| Reggie Gardiner, left, as Schultz in The Great Dictator (1940) |
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Day By Day: 1936
Sunday, January 5th: Chaplin held a preview of Modern Times at the Alexander Theater in Glendale.
Monday, January 6th:Modern Times was delivered to Joseph Breen, head of the production code office, who viewed the film that day and immediately responded with a letter outlining six sequences he'd like changed, including one that showed a closeup of the udders of a cow!
The "pansy gag" takes place in the jail and involves an effeminate man who enters a cell where Charlie is sitting alone. Alarmed, Charlie demands to be moved, only to end up in a cell with a brutish man doing needlepoint (the latter scene remains in the film).
The word "dope" is changed to "nose powder."
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| Chaplin Studios production report from January 6th. ©Roy Export Co. Est., used with permission. |
Monday, January 6th:Modern Times was delivered to Joseph Breen, head of the production code office, who viewed the film that day and immediately responded with a letter outlining six sequences he'd like changed, including one that showed a closeup of the udders of a cow!
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| Letter from Joseph Breen to Chaplin Studio manager, Alfred Reeves. ©Roy Export Co. Est, used with permission. |
The "pansy gag" takes place in the jail and involves an effeminate man who enters a cell where Charlie is sitting alone. Alarmed, Charlie demands to be moved, only to end up in a cell with a brutish man doing needlepoint (the latter scene remains in the film).
The word "dope" is changed to "nose powder."
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Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, and Spanish actress Conchita Montes
Photo by Edgar Neville by the pool at Chaplin's home, c. late 1930s
Charlie is on the left in shorts.
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via Edgar Neville Romrée
Charlie is on the left in shorts.
via Edgar Neville Romrée
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"How Charlie Chaplin Filmed THE KID"
Great post by John Bengston about the filming locations of Chaplin's 1921 masterpiece, a number of which still exist.
https://silentlocations.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/how-charlie-chaplin-filmed-the-kid-2/
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Read more about Chaplin's film settings in Bengston's Silent Traces. I've spent hours staring at the photos in this book.
https://silentlocations.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/how-charlie-chaplin-filmed-the-kid-2/
Read more about Chaplin's film settings in Bengston's Silent Traces. I've spent hours staring at the photos in this book.
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Chaplin visits a salt mine in Park City, Utah, August 1920
Chaplin's secretary Tom Harrington is second from left.
This was during the time when Chaplin famously edited his film The Kid in a hotel room in Salt Lake City in order to avoid Mildred Harris' attempt to attach the film in her divorce settlement.
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Day By Day 1936
Saturday, January 11th, 1936: Chaplin sends flowers to the private funeral of his friend, John Gilbert, who passed away on January 9th.1 Chaplin met Gilbert around 1920 when both men were living at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
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| CC with Gilbert, who is dressed as football player, Red Grange, at a costume party at the Ambassador Hotel, 1926. Chaplin is, of course, Napoleon. |
1"Last Honors Paid Gilbert,"Los Angeles Times, January 12th, 1936
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RIP
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| Bowie posing with a bio of Buster Keaton, c.1975 |
I only mention the passing of David Bowie here because, well, I was a fan, but also because he had a Chaplin connection. Son Eugene worked as a sound engineer on two of Bowie's albums: Heroes (1977) and Lodger (1979), and then there was his relationship with Charlie's widow, Oona, who was 22 years older. Bowie and Lady Chaplin were introduced at the Manoir around 1980 when Eugene brought the musician and some of his friends over to visit. They hit it off and became very close, very fast, although Oona told a newspaper at the time that their relationship was platonic: "I'm crazy about David. But it's a purely platonic thing. This very charming, very intelligent, very sensitive fellow, who came from the same part of London as Charlie, walked in and wanted to talk. It was as simple as that. I really am very fond of him." (Sunday People, May 11, 1981)
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Page of drawings by Chaplin
If you have an extra $11,000 burning a hole in your pocket you can own this funny little page of sketches "Done by Charlie Chaplin" in London in 1921.
The page shows sketches of a bridge, the Little Tramp’s shoes, baggy pants and coat (‘?Me again?!!!’); another sketch of his shoes, cane, hat, and mustache ('me'); the face of the Tramp (‘still life’); a brush (‘Brush?’); three fish-like, intertwined shapes (‘?Fish?’); a match, and a tunnel.
More information here.
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The page shows sketches of a bridge, the Little Tramp’s shoes, baggy pants and coat (‘?Me again?!!!’); another sketch of his shoes, cane, hat, and mustache ('me'); the face of the Tramp (‘still life’); a brush (‘Brush?’); three fish-like, intertwined shapes (‘?Fish?’); a match, and a tunnel.
More information here.
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Day By Day: 1936
Monday, January 13th, 1936: Chaplin Studio Manager, Alfred Reeves, informs Joseph Breen, head of the production code office, that Chaplin had made the eliminations to Modern Times that his office had requested and that they were awaiting their certificate of approval.
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The certificate arrived later that day:
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The requested eliminations can be seen in my Day By Day post from one week ago. In an interview in March 1936, Chaplin said he regretted having to make the changes:
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Monday, January 13th: On the same day, Chaplin along with Irving S. Cobb sponsored a lecture by poet John Masefield at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles. In My Autobiography, Chaplin described a visit by Masefield to his studio several years earlier:
The certificate arrived later that day:
The requested eliminations can be seen in my Day By Day post from one week ago. In an interview in March 1936, Chaplin said he regretted having to make the changes:
"We had to take out a number of shots we made in the department store using wax models of women. Then in the jail sequence we had to cut entirely a gag that I thought was pretty good. In this sequence, as I am being led to my cell, the officer who has me in charge has another prisoner in tow. This other fellow walks with a mincing feminine step (here Chaplin acted the part of the other prisoner). The big laugh was supposed to come when the officer starts to put this fellow in the same cell with myself." (Atlanta Constitution, March 22, 1936).The fellow with the "mincing feminine step" is still in the final film if you watch closely the scene where the prisoners are being led in and out of the cafeteria. There is one man (below, 4th from the front, with his hand on his hip) who walks in a very effeminate manner.
Monday, January 13th: On the same day, Chaplin along with Irving S. Cobb sponsored a lecture by poet John Masefield at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles. In My Autobiography, Chaplin described a visit by Masefield to his studio several years earlier:
John Masefield visited the studio; he was a tall, handsome, gentle man, kindly and understanding. But for some reason these qualities made me extremely shy. Fortunately I had just read The Widow in the Bye Street which I admired, so I was not entirely mum and quoted some of my favourite lines from it:
There was a group outside the prison gate,
Waiting to hear them ring the passing bell,
Waiting as empty people always wait
For the strong toxic of another's hell.
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Los Angeles Times obituary for Edna Purviance
Edna passed away on January 13th, 1958
A few details in the obituary are incorrect. Edna was really 62 when she died. This error was probably due to the fact that her birth year was often given incorrectly as 1896 instead of 1895. She was born in Paradise Valley, NV, not Reno. She didn't meet Chaplin at a party. The hypnotism trick story is true but it happened after they had already met. Edna was originally supposed to be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery, but due to a last minute, cost saving change made by her sister, Myrtle, she was moved to nearby Grand View.
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| L.A. Times, January 16th, 1958 |
A few details in the obituary are incorrect. Edna was really 62 when she died. This error was probably due to the fact that her birth year was often given incorrectly as 1896 instead of 1895. She was born in Paradise Valley, NV, not Reno. She didn't meet Chaplin at a party. The hypnotism trick story is true but it happened after they had already met. Edna was originally supposed to be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery, but due to a last minute, cost saving change made by her sister, Myrtle, she was moved to nearby Grand View.
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With boxer Ted Lewis, 1918
These photos were taken in front of the 10-room house that sat on the north-end of the Chaplin studio lot.
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National Hat Day
They're claiming on Twitter that it's National Hat Day, and no one wore a more iconic hat than Charlie.
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I'm sure I missed one, but you get the idea.
But this so-called holiday also got me thinking that the Tramp didn't always wear his famous bowler. Sometimes he wore other hats. Take a look.
I'm sure I missed one, but you get the idea.
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Day By Day: 1936: Charlie in the News
Thursday, January 16th:
Part of this series will be sharing little newspaper tidbits that I come across for a particular day.
This clipping is from the nationally syndicated column New York: Day By Day by O. O. McIntire. It has nothing to do with what was going on in Chaplin's life at the time but reveals what people all over the country were reading about him on this day in 1936.
Part of this series will be sharing little newspaper tidbits that I come across for a particular day.
This clipping is from the nationally syndicated column New York: Day By Day by O. O. McIntire. It has nothing to do with what was going on in Chaplin's life at the time but reveals what people all over the country were reading about him on this day in 1936.
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| Salt Lake Tribune, January 16th, 1936 |
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A brief look at Charlie's new "workshop," which opened this month in 1918
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| The Chaplin Studios, 1918. (Panorama photo: Silent Traces by John Bengston) |
The Chaplin Studios, still located at 1416 N. La Brea in Hollywood, were built on a five acre lemon orchard, a fact that pleased Chaplin. Showing off his brand new studio to reporter Grace Kingsley, he pointed out his "lucky" lemon trees:
See, here's a lemon orchard back of the stage. Think lemons must be my lucky fruit--can't escape 'em--had a lemon orchard back of us at Essanay, and one at the Lone Star--hope they keep the lemons in the orchards, though.1
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| "A Lemon." |
When Chaplin purchased the land for the studio, a 10-room mansion, located at the north end of the property, was part of the deal. But Chaplin did not want to live at his studio. Instead, he told Kingsley, "Brother Sid and Mrs. Sid are going to try it."
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| Here's a postcard showing Syd outside his residence on the Chaplin Studio property. He lived there for several years. |
Chaplin went on:
[There will be] none of the put-out-the-dog-and-let-in-the-cat-and-lock-the-cellar-door stuff for me at my workshop....But see, I've got a beautiful apartment--it's a large corner room, where there are bay windows and odd little dormer windows--this is to be a combination office and reception room, and there's a door I can dodge out of and climb a tree in the lemon orchard if I want to get away from anybody.(Chaplin's office can be seen at the far right end of the studio in the top panoramic photo)
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| Charlie escaping from everybody |
Kingsley noted that "for exercise and fun," Chaplin liked to "climb all over the skyscraping girders of the new stages."
Chaplin posing atop the scaffolding of the outdoor stage.
This activity was confirmed in photographs and a letter Syd Chaplin wrote to First National Exhibitor's Circuit, Charlie's distributor, in which he describes seeing his brother lose his balance while doing a stunt high atop the 40-foot steel roof frame of the outdoor stage:
From Moving Picture World (Feb. 2, 1918):
A letter from Sid, the comedian's brother, ...caused no little apprehension on the part of the Circuit's officers. It stated that Charlie, while doing a bit of wire walking on the steel roof frame of the new studio lost his balance and came mighty near canceling his contract by a tumble to the hardwood studio floor, forty feet below. Charlie had gone aloft to get a look over the neighbor's back fences, and while up top was doing a bit of funny business for the benefit of the workmen employed on the floor below. He slipped, but caught himself. Sid says his heart almost quit work. When he found his voice he gave his valuable brother a "calling down" in more senses than one. He adds that he has been sticking closer than a brother ever since and that he finally induced order to keep him out of mischief.
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| From Moving Picture World, 2/2/1918 |
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| Chaplin left his footprints and signature on a cement path at the studio on January 21st, 1918. Evidently the footprints are still there but the signature and date were taken out and moved to Red Skelton's home during the time Skelton owned the studio from 1958-62. |
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