01 the Little Tramp

7/30/2019 01 the Little Tramp

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COLEGIUL NAIONAL ANDREI AGUNA BRAOV

LUCRARE PENTRU OBINEREA ATESTATULUI

LA LIMBA ENGLEZ

THE LITTLE TRAMP BEHIND THE SCENES

Elev: Profesor coordonator:

Claudia Cozma Andreea Bell

2013


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Contents

Introduction The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.

Chapter 1 Early Times Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

Childhood

Father, mother

Brother

First show

First job

Chapter 2 Off-screen Drama My pain may be the reason for somebody's laugh. But my laugh

must never be the reason for somebody's pain.

First love

First wife

Second wife

Third wife

Fourth wife

Chapter 3 Modern Times I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is theconclusion that I have drawn from my career.

Communism accusations

Switzerland

Death

Conclusion Cultural EchoesLike everyone else I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral

promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.


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Introduction

The basic essential of a greatactor is that he loves himself in acting.

(C.Chaplin)

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be an actor... or a filmmaker? Probably everyone envies

such peoples lives. They are famous, rich, talented and apparently happy. What more could youwish for, some may ask. Well... what you see on the stage or on the screen is not always the truththat lies behind the spotlights.

The fact that we, and especially our children, are influenced by what we see on TV is not a secretanymore. But how many of us truly wonder what lies behind the mask and what that hidden facereally looks like? Too few, I would argue.

Moreover, what is admirable in this acting job is that the actors the truly talented ones arecapable of playing happy role if the script requires them so, even if perhaps they are living a realtragedy back in their real lives. It takes a lot of self-control and courage as well in order to be able to

do that. And they succeed every time. This is one reason why acting is referred to as a true art.

We are likely to judge other people many times far too soon, before we get to know our ownvictim. More than that, we label other people without knowing their whole story, but also we oftendo not give them the chance to prove whether certain rumours are true or not. Even so, I believe thateveryone deserves a second chance. Unfortunately, too few have the patience to discover the facebehind the mask. Instead of judging these people, I decided to become a part of those who actuallydo, not only talk. And how better can you discover a person than putting yourself in his or hershoes?

This project will portray as much as it can be done the real face behind a great mask, but also

will explore the impacts that this little mask had on the filmmaking industry over time and on theentire world, after all, because this project is not about any mask, it is about that of a little tramp.A tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance andadventure. Some may have already guessed...

Ladies and gentlemen, Charlie Chaplin!


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Chapter 1 Early Times

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

For many years people saw me as the type of man with a deprived childhood that one would expectto find in a Dickens novel. They still, probably, continue to see me this way. I was born on a foggy,wonderful day that I cannot remember, in London. Apparently, that day was the 16th of April, 1889.

I have been raised in a poor family and my parents divorced soon after I was born.

When I wrote my biography, I had been asked many times why I did not mentionmore about my father. The truth is... I did not know nor want to know too muchabout him during his life. He abandoned us not long after my birth, sung on stages,and then died because of alcoholism. What more should I say? It is from him Ilearned that a man's true character comes out when he's drunk.

On the other hand, my mother... Well, with my mother it is a different story. Iremember how wonderful she could have been... On her good days. She supportedus me and my older brother as best she could from what she earned fromperforming on stage as a music hall singer who went by the stage name of LilyHarley.

She was my first influence in choosing acting as a main direction in life. When I wasa child, she used to entertain us by sitting at the window and mimicking passers-by.

"She was one of the greatest pantomime artists I haveever seen, it was through watching her that I learned not

only how to express emotions with my hands and face, but also howto observe and study people." My early years in music hall allowedmy to see stage comedians at work and to observe them, whichwas a great helpful for my later career.

Most of my early life was spent moving from room to room while

my mother struggled to pay the rent and stay enough money tosurvive as a performer. But her performing career withered away,along with our familys funds when she inexplicably lost her voicein the middle of a show, prompting the stage manager to me onto thestage to replace her for that night. Her singing voice neverreturned and after she had lost her ability to perform, the living grewtougher and, eventually, we were taken to a workhouse against mymothers and ours will. There we were beaten with a rod even if wewere only suspected of misbehaving, and my brother was sent on a


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training ship. I stayed there for a few months, until my mother started sewing gloves for money, butthis eventually ended when we could no longer afford to rent the machine.

Our financial problems were like cancer for her heart. I know she wished she could have given us ashinier childhood. But we loved each other, and love is the greatest gift one can offer to a child. Sheslowly succumbed to mental illness, and by the time I was seven years old, she was confined to anasylum for eight months. During this time, I lived with my father and his lovable wife a time

that I have no desire in remembering it and my brother worked on sailing ships receiving highmarks from all of his employers. But his true ambition was to get into the entertainment business,and he left his final voyage with that in mind. Being separated from my closest friend and confidentwas harder than I could have ever expected. Five years later, my father died.

Armed with my mother's love of the stage, I felt determined to make it in show business myself and,

in the same year that I was turning nine years old, using my mother's contacts, I landed with a clog

dancing troupe named the Eight Lancashire Lads. It was a short stint, and not a terribly profitable

one, but the troupe was led by an extremely kind-hearted couple. Plus, it was an opportunity for me

to make ends meet, so that I never had to return to the workhouse again until Sidney came back.

There I met Stan Laurel.

"I (was) newsvendor, printer, toymaker, doctor's boy, etc., but during these occupational digressions,I never lost sight of my ultimate aim to become an actor. So, between jobs, I would polish my shoes,brush my clothes, put on a clean collar and make periodic calls at a theatrical agency."

With Sidneys return, my luck began to turn for the better. I won a part in the stage play Jim, aRomance of Cockney to glowing reviews. All seemed to be goingwell, until Hannah relapses, and is institutionalized for the next sevenyears.

Eventually other stage work did come my way. I made my acting debut

as a pageboy in a stage adaptation ofSherlock Holmes, againto sterlingreviews. From there I toured with a vaudeville outfit named Casey's

Court Circus and, in 1908, I teamed up with the Fred Karno pantomime

troupe, where I became one of its stars as The Drunk in the comedic

sketch,A Night in an English Music Hall.

With the Karno troupe, I got my first taste of the United States and myyears with them had a formative effect on me as an actor andfilmmaker. Stan Laurel, largely known as Brans partner, was one of

my co-performers at the company.

Later, I caught the eye of film producer Mack Sennett, who sent me a telegramto join in his movies. I signed a contract for $150 a week, which was anincredible sum back then.

In 1914 I made my film debut in a somewhat forgettable one-reeler called Makea Living. To differentiate myself from the clad of other actors in Sennett films, Idecided to play a single identifiable character. The Tramp.

In developing the Tramp costume and the whole character, all my pictures arebuilt around the idea of getting in trouble and so giving me the chance to be


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desperately serious in my attempt to appear as a normal little gentleman. He was a composite ofmany Englishmen... with small black moustaches, tight-fitting clothes and bamboo canes. TheLittle Tramp was born, with audiences getting their first taste of him in Kid Auto Races atVenice (1914).

Over the next year, I appeared in 35 movies, a lineup that included Tillie's Punctured Romance,film's first full-length comedy. In 1915 I left Sennett to join the Essanay Company, which agreed to

pay me $1. 250 a week. It's with Essanay that I rose to stardom, so by this time I had hired mybrother Sydney to be my business manager.

During my first year with the company, I made 14 films, including The Tramp (1915). Generallyregarded as my first classic, the story establishes my character as an unexpected hero when he savesfarmer's daughter from a gang of robbers.

Just three years removed from my vaudeville days, by the age of 26, I was a trully movie superstar.I'd moved over to the Mutual Company, which paid me a whopping $670,000 a year. The moneymade me a wealthy man, but it didn't derail my artistic drive. The saddest thing I can imagine is toget used to luxury.With Mutual, I can say that I made some good movies, including OneA.M. (1916), The Rink(1916), The Vagabond(1916), andEasy Street(1917).

When his contract with Mutual expired in 1917,I decided to become an independent producer in adesire forMy new goal then was to have my own studio. It would have given me far more freedom and greaterleisure in making my movies. So, in the fall of 1917, when my contract with Mutual expired, Ibegan building my own studio (for which I was already pilling up money), and signed with yetanother studio, First National. For the first time, I had complete control over every step of my films.For the First National, I continued to create classic shorts, such as: A Dogs Life, Shoulder Arms orThe Bond.

Until I began making spoken dialogue films with The Great Dictator (1940), I never shot from acompleted script. Usually, I started with only a vague premise and then I started working with my

stock company to improvise gags. As ideas were accepted or discarded, a narrative structure wouldemerge. Due to the lack of a script, all of my films were usually shot in sequence. All I needed tomake a comedy was a park, a policeman and a pretty girl. If I felt out of ideas regarding the story, Iwould often take a break from the shot that could last for days. Meanwhile, I was keeping the studioready for when I felt inspired again. I was often hated by the actors I worked with for being anexaggerating exacting director, showing my actors exactly how I wanted them to perform andshooting a scene over and over again until I had the shot I wanted.

I did not like to talk about my so-called secrets in making films when I was alive, and I still do notenjoy this topic even now, when I am dead. It would be the same situation for a magician asked toexplain his own tricks. The truth is boring! People should learn to accept mystery in their livesfrom time to time. It is what makes us life more... stirring.


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Chapter 2 Off-screen Drama

My pain may be the reason for somebody's laugh. But my laugh must never be the reason for

somebody's pain.

I became equally famous for my off-screen life thanks to the... numerous affairs with actresses whohad roles in my movies. Some, however, ended better than others.

My first true love was Hetty Kelly. She was a dancer. By thetime I fell in love with her, she was fifteen and I was nineteen.One year later, I asked her to marry me and she broke myheart when she refused. In response, I suggested it would bebest if we did not see each other again. She agreed, and thatreportedly crushed me. I kept her memory alive many moreyears since then. It completely devastated me when, in 1921, Ilearned that she died three years before of influenza, duringthe 1918 flu pandemic.

When I met Edna Purviance, in 1915, she was working as a secretary inSan Francisco. I was looking for a leading lady forA Night Out, so Iarranged a meeting with her. Eventually, she won the job and remainedas leading lady in many of my movies. She appeared in 33 of my

productions, including The Kid. Certain rumors said that we werehaving a romantic relationship, but it never was something too serious.If it was, we would have married. Anyway, she was a truly amazingperson.

In mid-1918 I met sixteen-year-old Mildred Harris. We dated, and thenmarried on October 23, 1918, in Los Angeles, California. Mildredbecame pregnant and gave birth to a malformed boy. The boy died afteronly three days and we soon separated, in the autumn of 1919. This lossmeant a real trauma for me. I even wanted to make a movie about this. I was at my wits end for anidea. Ten days after my child was buried, I was auditioning babies at my studio. Slowly, this idea

was absorbed by a new plan for a story. The film would be called TheKid.

Pola Negri and I had met in Germany. But what there began as aplatonic relationship, in America turned into a well-publicized affairand marriage speculation which received headline, The Queen ofTragedy to Wed the King of Comedy. The stormy on-off engagementwas halted after nine months.


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Marion Davies I and Marion have an interesting story. One could make a movie about it. Marionwas married to William Randolph Hearst. In 1924, they had a yachting party to celebrate thebirthday of pioneering movie producer Thomas Ince. Marion and her husband invited a group oftheir famous friend to that party. I was invited as well. When I was rumoured to have had a flingwith actress Davies, Hearst (who suspected me for some time) tried to kill me. Luckily for me, life isironic, and when he wanted to shoot me, he mistaken me with the one he was giving a party to

celebrating himself. There was no serious investigation into this. I allegedly tried to persuadeMarion to leave Hearst and remain with me She refused.

When I picked Lillita Louise MacMurray to be my leading ladyfor The Gold Rush, in 1924, I reportedly renamed her Lita Greyand, in my attempt to avoid a scandal, I misled the media abouther age, saying that she was 19, when she was, in fact, 15 yearsold at the time. The marriage had been brought on by anunplanned pregnancy. Lita discovered that she was pregnant bythat fall. She dropped out of the production and I replaced herwith actress Georgia Hale. The resulting union was an unhappyone for both of us. Even the birth of our second child, a

beautiful son named Sydney, in 1926, could not to save theeroding relationship. We split in 1927.

I was working onModern Times by the time I met Paulette Goddard. I saw her as my perfect gaminein my new film. After the release ofModern Times, we traveled to the Orient. We already formed acouple, and during that trip, we got married. There had always been questions in publics mind towhether we were really married. Probably thats because official papers of the marriage have neverbeen seen by media. But we were happy anyway, although our uncertain marriage status haunted herin getting the role of Scarlett OHara forGone with the Wind. Vivien Leigh won that role instead.

Paulette was the most kind-hearted person I had ever met in my life. Even my ex-wife herself, Lita

Grey, was very pleased seeing such an amazing woman in my life. The two of them met once at abirthday party and reportly got along well. Paulette became stepmother to Sydney and Charlie Jr.,and she was the perfect one for that time! My boys completely adored her. And she always wasaround when I was not, as I was working late at my studio.

By 1938 we had drifted apart, as we both were focused heavily on ourwork. "Although we were somewhat estranged, we were friends andstill married." Nevertheless, we divorced on June, 1942, but remainedfriends. When we divorced, everyone found it all very confusing. Butit was not at all confusing. See when everyone thought we werehaving an affair, we were married. Then that they realized we were

married, we were getting divorced.

Joan Barry, on the other hand, was an unhappy, brief affair whichproved to be more like a nightmare. I ended our relationship whenbegan harassing me and displaying signs of severe mental illness.After having a child, she accused me of not recognizing the unbornbaby. Although the blood test proved I was not the father of her child,the court still ordered to support the child. But othing is permanent

in this wicked world, not even our troubles.


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Just met Charlie Chaplin. What blue eyes he has!"this is what 17-year-old Oona O'Neill wrote toher girlhood friend Carol Matthau in 1942.

Oona and I met when she was trying to be considered for a part in my film Shadow and Substance. Iwas instantly smitten by Oona's "luminous beauty and sequestered charm." The movie was never

made, but she found the role of her life... in my life. "It was a great, great love affair, not onlybecause of the intensity, but because of the lasting intensity."(-Matthau)

Both of my boys, Charles Jr. and Sydney, were attracted to Oona when she started coming to ourhouse. "I was constantly surprised by her sense of humor and tolerance. She could always see theother person's point of view". I think I have made her mature, and she kept me young. In 1943, Oonaand I slipped away to be married in rural Carpenteria, near Santa Barbara, California. Her father wasso infuriated by our elopement that he disinherited his daughter, but Oona remained by my side.

We had eight wonderful children together. The oldest, actress Geraldine, was born when I was 55,and the last, actor Cristopher, when I was 73. But "with Oona to look after me and the children toinspire me, I cannot grow old."


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Chapter 3 Modern Times

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn frommy career.

I kept creating interesting and engaging (I think so) films in the 1930s, among them: City Lights,Modern Times and The Great Dictator. The idea ofModern Times appealed to me as a result of an18-month world tour I had taken between 1931 and 1932. It was a trip in which I had witnessedsevere economic angst and sharp rise in nationalism in Europe. Modern Times was more like abiting commentary about the state of world's economic and political infrastructures.

With The Great Dictator, on the other hand, I tried to spoke louder, to show people how I see the

governments of Hitler and Mussolini. "I wanted to see the return of decency and kindness. I am forpeople. I can't help it." I had been just a human being who wanted to see America a real democracy.When I released this movie, everybody thought I was insane. After World War II started, everybodythought I was a genius.

Just as any other public person, I did not have only sympathizers, but also people who disliked me. Iguess I was not universally embraced. Eventually, my romantic liaisons that I had throughout mylife led to my rebuke by some women's groups, which in turn led to me, being barred from enteringsome U.S. states. As the Cold War age sunk in, I did not withhold my fire from injustices I sawtaking place in the name of fighting Communism in my adopted country of the United States.Depressed over the blows of my reputation, I had mostly stopped working, but Oona "urged me on".

I soon became a target of the right wing conservatives.

Representative John E. Ranking pushed for mydeportation. While I was sailing to Britain onvacation, in 1952, the Attorney General of the UnitedStates obliged when he announced in a telegramreceived onboard that I was not permitted to return tothe United States unless I could prove "moral worth".And this is how I had to say goodbye to United States.That was another point in my life when I felthomeless. I could not go back to Britain, because I nolonger felt it as my home anymore. I decided to takeup residence on a small farm in Vevey, Switzerland.

Nearing the unexpected end of my life, I did make onelast return to visit the United States, in 1972, when I was awarded a special Oscar from the MotionPicture Academy. The trip came six years after my final first and only colour movie, A Countessfrom Hong Kong. In 1975, I received more recognition when Queen Elizabeth knighted me.

In the beautiful early morning hours of December 25, 1977, Charlie Chaplin died at his home.What? Do not judge me. I would not talk with "I" about this. I hope you did not expect me to talkwith enthuziasm about my own death. My wife and seven of my children were at my bedside at thetime of my passing.


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Apparently I worth much more dead than alive, because my dead body was stolen not long after Iwas buried, from my grave, near Lake Geneva, in Switzerland, by two men. They demanded$400.000 for my return. Eventually, the men were arrested and my body was recovered 11 weekslater.

Conclusion

Like everyone else I am what I am: an individual, unique and different,with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires,

and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.

I tried, with this project, to make a story based exclusively on real facts, but presented in a slightlydifferent perspective. Charlie remains an iconic artist from days gone by whose work influences andinforms todays creators. He is an artist who was innovative and revolutionary in his field and is apart of those bold visionaries and radicals, groundbreaking frontiersmen and women who inspiredand informed culture as we know it today.

With an unlucky, Dickensian childhood and with a mother who consistently suffered spells ofmadness and was admitted to mental institutions on many occasions, Charlie Chaplin is perhaps thesilent film eras most valuable mind. Even more impressive is the fact that he overcame his poverty-stricken upbringing to become a revered actor, director and composer. His versatile talent extendedto writing, music and sports. He was the author of four books: "My Trip Abroad", "A ComedianSees the World", "My Autobiography", "My Life in Pictures" as well as all of his scripts. Anaccomplished musician, though self-taught, he played a variety of instruments with equal skill andgrace (playing violin and cello left-handed). Not many know he was also a composer, having written

and published many songs, among them: "Sing a Song"; "With You Dear in Bombay"; and "TheresAlways One You Cant Forget", "Smile", "Eternally", "You are My Song", as well as thesoundtracks for all his films. Moreover, all of his work was purely original. He financed andproduced all his films (with the exception of "A Countess from Hong Kong"), and was the author,actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well.

When the United States Govern labelled Chaplin a Communist, which of course was like namingsomeone a witch in 17th century Salem, he responded with one of his greatest masterpieces,ModernTimes, where he even criticized the fact that he had been labelled. There is a particular scene thatshows a factory workers' strike and they are parading down the street, and Chaplin sees thatsomeone has dropped a flag (assumed to be red) and picks it up, and the police arrest him, claiming

him the Communist leader of the strike.

I consider this project a tribute to slapstick comedys founding father and, personally, I like to thinkat Chaplin as one of those angels that only children and poor people have. His life story is a truerags-to-riches, but money never changed his heart... or mind. His destiny was unique, indeed, withromance as a main theme. It was one of those destiny that write novels. The hero, Charlie Chaplin,finds in the last chapter of his life his own happy ending among his princess, Oona. Here are someof their childrens testimonies:
http://www.charliechaplin.com/http://www.charliechaplin.com/


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Their son Michael, 67, who has seven children of his own, says about his father: "He was a difficultman, but they were always solid in their relationship. That gives you a lot in later life."Their daughter Jane, 56, says she "was upset" when she realized that Oona made Charlie her firstpriority. "Sometimes I felt like I was intruding on their intimacy, but now I understand a love likethat. It's once in a lifetime."

By 1952, Chaplin's leftist leanings had ignited Red hunters in Washington. The IRS was after him,and conservatives were calling for his deportation (British-born, Chaplin had kept his citizenship).After he was no longer allowd to live in the United States, Chaplin settled with his family on Manoirde Ban, a 37-acre Swiss estate overlooking Lake Geneva. Their world became their love.

On his 70th birthday in 1959, Chaplin told an interviewer, "With Oona to look after me and thechildren to inspire me, I cannot grow old." So it remained, until his death on Christmas Day, 1977,at age 88. Oona lived until 1991. Jane looks back on their supreme devotion: "They were alwaysholding hands, even when he was an old man," she says. "They were kept together by magic."


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Bibliography

http://www.hhsdrama.com/documents/BioCharlieChaplin.pdf

http://viola.bz/charlie-chaplins-women/

http://www.biography.com/people/charlie-chaplin-9244327?page=3

http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/original-creators-charlie-chaplin

http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Chaplin_fredericksburg_06

http://www.goldensilents.com/comedy/sydneychaplin.html

My Autobiography Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin (1992) movie

Wikipedia

*all quotes from this paper belong to Charlie Chaplin
http://www.hhsdrama.com/documents/BioCharlieChaplin.pdfhttp://viola.bz/charlie-chaplins-women/http://www.biography.com/people/charlie-chaplin-9244327?page=3http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/original-creators-charlie-chaplinhttp://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Chaplin_fredericksburg_06http://www.goldensilents.com/comedy/sydneychaplin.htmlhttp://www.hhsdrama.com/documents/BioCharlieChaplin.pdfhttp://viola.bz/charlie-chaplins-women/http://www.biography.com/people/charlie-chaplin-9244327?page=3http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/original-creators-charlie-chaplinhttp://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Chaplin_fredericksburg_06http://www.goldensilents.com/comedy/sydneychaplin.html


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Note: The character of Felix the Cat was inspired by an animation of Charlie Chaplin. The two arepictured together in a still from Felix in Hollywood.

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01 the Little Tramp

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