If I had to choose one thing that I associate my mother with, it would be autobiographical books. Throughout her lifetime, she enjoys reading them so much so that our evening walks together always include her sharing interesting details from the life paths of inspiring personalities. That was how I was introduced to the autobiography of Charlie Chaplin, a world-famous director, actor, and businessman who published his book in 1964. I had never watched his movies, but after my mother’s narratives, both the book and his movies intrigued me. I found at least five valuable takeaways from his course of life that I would like to present in this article.
His Poverty Did Not Affect His Language
At the age of five years, his mom’s voice disappeared and she never regained it. In fact, this was the first evening when Charlie Chaplin stood on the theater stage to distract the annoyed audience, and it was his mother’s last as her voice cracked and transformed into a whisper. Consequently, she lost her job as a theater actress and their income fell off dramatically as from that moment on, she earned their living through dress-making for church members They moved from a three-room apartment to a two- and then one-room apartment and occasionally, they even lived in the workhouse. It is remarkable that despite their economic poverty, their mother insisted on keeping the richness of their language probably because she was an actress herself.
“Living as we did in the lower strata, it was very easy to fall into the habit of not caring about our diction. But Mother always stood outside her environment and kept an alert ear on the way we talked, correcting our grammar and making us feel that we were distinguished.”
p. 32, Chaplin: 1964
Actors Were Expected To Drink Alcohol
There is no doubt that alcoholic excess bears a risk of destroying family relationships, but there is something noteworthy of how it happened in Charlie Chaplin’s case. His father, Charles Chaplin Sr, was also a fine, successful artist who played in the London Music Hall in the second half of the 19th century. In those days, a visit to the theater implied drinking alcohol with the performers after the play, with some theaters generating their main income from the bars. Over time the actors used to become regular drinkers. Some of them were given high wages solely for spending it at the bar. Charlie’s father followed the same ill-fate which eventually led to Charlie’s mother divorcing him. Hence, Charlie Chaplin hardly remembered his father.
“Let Me Feel That I Have a Brother”
When it comes to friendships, a common past marked by meaningful interaction does not necessarily lead to a similar present and future. This holds for siblings as well who usually spend their whole childhood and adolescence together but once they grow up, it is solely up to them whether they organize themselves in a way that keeps their mutual attachment alive or not.
In his autobiography, Charlie Chaplin described a situation that made this insight obvious. In the described life phase, the two brothers always lived in two different places. While Charlie was on a tour as a theatrical actor in the Northern provinces of England, his brother, Sydney, lived in London and worked as a bartender. Their mother, meanwhile, remained admitted in a psychiatric hospital to get cured of her insanity. About this situation, Charlie reported that Sydney wrote to him regularly to keep him posted about their mother, but he, himself, did not use to reply often—up until one particular letter from his brother reached him.
“One letter touched me deeply and drew me very close to him; he reproached me for not answering his letters and recalled the misery we had endured together which should unite us even closer. ‘Since Mother’s illness,’ wrote Sydney, ‘all we have in the world is each other. So you must write regularly and let me know that I have a brother.”
p. 86, Chaplin: 1964
Learn more about Charlies’s older brother Sydney here.
Elusiveness Induces Desire
Charlie Chaplin emigrated to the United States to further enhance his professional development. By doing so, he left the theater scene behind and began his career in the film industry, as this scene from his autobiographical movie demonstrates.
For shooting his movie Carmen, Charlie Chaplin lived in California. In this time period, he became good friends with the famous American actor Nat Goodwin who was at the end of his career while Chaplin was at the beginning of his film career. As Chaplin was about to leave for New York City to complete his film, Nat Goodwin shared insightful advice with him. In line with the proverb “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” the senior American actor suggested to him to stay away from the public’s eye. He told him about some popular actors who used to accept all invitations to private parties. Eventually, this behavior caused a declining interest in their performances on the stage because these actors had become tangible for the audiences at home.
The Fight Against Sound Films
In the late 1920s, the film industry was marked by an evolving innovation that Charlie Chaplin did not like—sound in movies. The quality of the sound started improving gradually and films such as the musical The Broadway Melody quickly won the hearts of the general public. Even though the world around him was changing, Chaplin kept on producing silent films. Interestingly, he found himself confronted with the challenge that the actors’ pantomime skills began to fade ever since they started using their timing for talking instead of movements and gestures. Chaplin, himself, struggled with the use of sound in his pictures because he was worried about the appearance of his character The Tramp with sound.
With the rising popularity of so-called “talkies,” Charlie Chaplin had concerns about becoming old-fashioned in this new era of the film industry. He took a break of 16 months during which he traveled the world, looking for energy to reinvent himself. Eventually, he returned to Hollywood and began to implement sounds into his pictures as well.1
Conclusion
It was a great learning experience for me to explore the world of Charlie Chaplin. His autobiography not only provides an account of the history of Hollywood’s filmmaking but also serves as a remarkable documentation of the sociohistorical context in which he happened to live.
From my point of view, Charlie Chaplin truly deserves acknowledgement for his exceptional life work. Coming from a very poor background, he managed to diversify his talent as an actor, composer, and director to an extraordinary extent. If you are hooked by now to the five above-mentioned takeaways, you can get a further glimpse of Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography here. The BBC Radio 4 Extra Show produced a ten-part series with audio recordings read from the book. Alternatively, you can watch the 1992-released movie that is based upon his autobiography.
References
- Content by Chaplin, C. (2012). My autobiography. Melville House.
- His Poverty Did Not Affect His Language: p. 32
- Actors Were Expected To Drink Alcohol: p. 24
- Let Me Feel That I Have A Brother: p. 87
- Elusiveness Induces Desire: p. 176
- The Fight Against Sound Movies: p. 316-320, 353
- 1Alex Bauer (2017) @Medium.com
