Charlie Chaplin vs America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided, Scott Eyman, c. 2023.
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The Book Page
The book for the week: Charlie Chaplin vs America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided, Scott Eyman, c. 2023.
Background: The Hollywood Reporter, April 2, 2015, link here.
- b. 1889, England
- 1947, age 58, famous and loved by many; sails to England to visit his home
- was unaware of the storm clouds; never, never thought the US would renege on its promise of safe return
- en route on the Queen Elizabeth learns that the US will not allow him to return to the US
- morality issues (politics and sex)
- happily married to Oona, with four children; he was 54 when he married her, age 18
- he would spend the rest of his life with Oona, died in 1991, age 66
- settles in Switzerland
- 1972: the US allows Chaplin to return to the United States to attend the "Oscars" to accept an honorary statuette, age 83
- d. 1977
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Prologue
Pretty much tells the whole story. Read the prologue and one has the scaffolding for the story.
Hedda Hopper, May 19, 1952.
CC leaves for Europe with return visa in hand
sets off for England / Paris with Oona
kids stay behind in Beverly Hills
Hedda Hopper close to RMN
Hopper hated CC -- personalized all her relationships
A week later, the children -- Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, and Victoria would follow Oona and CC
QE --> Cherbourg, France
Sept 19, 1951: return visa rescinded!!!
then QE --> to London.
early films -- subtle, but right wing sensed a heretic
overall tenor of his movies shifted -- Modern Times -- 1936
The Great Dictator, 1940, huge success
but almost the rest of the 40s decade a disaster
Part I
Chapter 1
Stepbrother Syd, but it sounds like he was actually is brother. Need to re-read this portion again and more closely.
Parents died at a very, very young age, 37 and 33 years, respectively or something like that.
England.
By 18 / 19 years old, doing well and starting their career in show business.
Father -- mother -- Charlie and half-brother Syd
1881: Charles Chaplin, Sr -- 18 y/o
marries Hannah Hill, June 1885
14 weeks later --> Syd, parentage a mystery
Sydney John Hill, March 16, 1885
57 Grandon Street, Lambeth
Hannah: Hannah Harriet Pedlington Hll Chaplin: stage name: Lily Harley.
1889, April: second son, April 15 -- to Mr Charles Chaplin and nee LilyHarley (stage name)
1889: elder Chaplin -- playing 4 different London music halls / night and touring the provinces
Hannah affair with Leo Dryden
3rd child: August 31, 1892 -- George Dryden Wheeler, eventually to be Wheeler Dryden. (father of Spencer Dryden -- drummer for Jefferson Airplane]
child snatched by father and disappeared; until reunited iwth Syd / C in Hollywood years later
Destitute / poverty / syphilis -- madhouse (mother)
CC -- greatly feared syphilis -- maybe that's why he favored young teenagers
Charles, Sr -- died 1901 -- 37 y/o -- alcoholism
CC -- 4th grade education at best
CC -- quick rise through the music halls with the greatest of the great: Dan Leno, Harry Lauder, Marie Lloyd
1904 - 1906 with William Gillette, Sherlock Holmes
1906: Syd --> Fred Karno's legendary comedy troupe
Fred Karno: music hall equiv of Mack Sennett --
1908: Karno signs CC -- through Syd's help
CC -- turns 19 and on his way!!!
Stan Laural -- several years as CC's understudy in the Karno Troupe -- mass produced comedians and comedy.
1910 -- CC to America for first time; NYC of course
Marx at the time said CC -- greatest comedian he had ever seen
Marx Bros and Karno Trope -- often played same locations
Salt Lake City, 1913 -- signed with Mack Sennett's Keystone Company in Edendale, CA
last engagement with Karno: Kansas City, Nov 29, 1913
--> to the movies
Chapter 2
December 16, 1913: 24 years old; begins work at the Keystone studio.
Within three years, rich and famous, mostly for creation of the Tramp -- every movie similar themes -- from The Kid (1921)
--> Limelight (1952) -- the reason he went to London / Paris -- 1952
1914: Essanay Company at $1,250 / week
1915: Mutual Film Corporation: $10,000 / week
1916: million-dollar contract with First National plus 50% of profits
Chaplin's deals: he maintained ownership of all his movies --
CC studio: on La Brea Avenue, just south of Sunset
United Artists - January , 1919 -- CC, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D. W. Griffith
Women in his life at this time
2) first love: Hetty Kelly -- p. 41, she 15; 1908, they met -- CC -- 19 y/o
1) actually earlier, Phoebe Field, 12 y/0; he 18;
Hetty Kelly ended up marryig an Army officer --
CC and Hetty's brother Arthur -- on a boat train -- Spanish Flu had killed Hetty in Nov 1918!!!
CC was devastated
3) Edna Purviance -- leading lady he hired in 1915, Essanay Co.
The way to get to CC was through Edna
That's how Wheeler Dryden ended up being a general assistant to CC!!
4) first wife: Mildred Harris -- m. Sept 1918 -- 17 y/o actress; Norman Spencer Chaplin, b. July 7, 1919, lived only three days; The Kid
5) second wife -- Lita Grey -- hired in March 1924 -- leading lady in The Gold Rush shortly before she turned 16; Charles Chaplin, Jr., b. May 5, 1925; rancorous divorce; the only woman he ever hated
6) occasioanl age-appropriate woen: Pola Negri, Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Marion Davies
but remained loyal to Edna Purviance
a partner in Regent Films -- A Woman in Paris, 1923
7) Georgia Hale -- replaced Lita Grey -- leading lady, The Gold Rush,
on and off companions late 1920s to early 1930s
kept drawing salary from CC through March, 1953
1918: campaigned to raise money for Third Liberty Loan where they met President Woodrow Wilson
Chapter 3
1914: beginning of socialist connections
1922: Florence Deshon committed suicide, FBI opened a file on CC
J. Edgar Hoover takes over BOI in 1924 as director -- soon renamed FBI
Hoover and FBI become synonymous
Chapter 4
1933
Chapter 5
1938
Part Two
Chapter 6
Late 1930s -- rise of the Nazis
The Great Dictator pp Paulette Goddard in the movie
Chapter 7
FDR's third inauguration, 1941
Chapter 8
1941: meets Joan Berry, 22; he, 53
he had just split up with Paulette Goddard
Berry's real name: Mary Louise Gribble
J. Paul Getty for several months
also A.C. Blumenthal
intermediary, CC's close friend: Tim Durant
Berry: goes to Hedda Hopper, p. 144
Chapter 9
Berry -- CC paternity suit --FBI swamrs in
Chapter 10
Oona O'Neill --- b. May 1925
Eugene O'Neill and Agnes Boulton
dtd J. D. Salinger
turned 18, May 14, 1943
he, 36 years older
Hedda Hopper / FBI spring into action
paternity suit Berry continues
Berry herself -- schizophrenic; died in 2007
Chapter 11
but worse yet to come -- Senator William Langer (R-ND). See this article.
introduced a bill directing the attorney general to investigate CC for the purposes of deportation
bill didn't pass, but Langer didn't give up
[The Strange Love of Martha Ivers -- p. 195]
In the crosshairs: Walter Wanger, David Selznick, Sam Goldwyn, Warner bros, CC
Chapter 12
1947
several chapters on Monsieur Verdoux
Chaplin's sons by Lita Grey (Sydney and Charlie, Jr) -- came closer to their father
CC in INS; McCarthy
Part Three
Chapter 13
1948 -- began working on Footlights (early name) --> Limelight
Chapter 14
Hoover
Chaplin out of the country
Chapter 15
Limelight: commercial and critical success -- p. 279
Chapter 16
1952: eisenhower defeats Adlai Stevenson
CC: remained in forced exile
Chapter 17
November, 1953: Eugene O'Neill died
Chapter 18
IRS comes after CC
Chapter 19
Geraldine's memories --
1962 -- CC -- honorary degree from Oxford University
They Shoot Horse, Don't They (first mentioned, p. 272). Wiki.
Chapter 20
Syd dies, April 16, 1965; date of CC's birthday; 80 y/o
After Limelight, Chaplin off American screens for more than 10 years
Modern Times reissued, 1959, great success, $2.1 million in global sales but did not play in America
A Countess from Hong Kong: Marlon Brando, Tippi Hedren, Sophia Loren
1975: knighted; as early as 1956 -- had talked about it -- but GB afraid of upsetting America
CC died Christmas Day, 1977
Oona lived another 13 years
Six children altogether: two by Lita Grey; four with Oona
Epilogue
1940s and 1950s: devastating
1) nonconforming; another country; another time
2) refused to go along ot get along -- despited fellow actors and didn't change
3) too independent for the studio bosses; they felt they couldn't control him
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