When Isolation Is Ok

Dear Cedric. A strange thing happened to me today. I saw a big thundercloud move down over Half Dome, and it was so big and clear and brilliant that it made me see many things that were drifting around inside of me; things that relate to those who are loved and those who are real friends. For the first time I know what love is; what friends are; and what art should be. Love is a seeking for a way of life; the way that cannot be followed alone; the resonance of all spiritual and physical things...Friendship is another form of love -- more passive perhaps, but full of the transmitting and acceptances of things like thunderclouds and grass and the clean granite of reality. Art is both love and friendship and understanding: the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things. It is more than kindness, which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light of the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is a recreation on another plane of the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of all the interrelations of these.

Ansel.

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Love you all,

Gabrielle

My favorite photo of Charlie...a still from his film, Modern Times (1936)

My favorite silent film of his was The Kid.  It still makes me cry. The Great Dictator, his first 'talkie', is a close second.

Recommendations: If you are curious to learn more, rent or add to your Netflix, the movie "Chaplin", released in 1992.  A stellar cast and a great watch for anyone who considers themselves a movie fan. Also, check out his autobiography, 'Charles Chaplin: My Autobiography' published in 1964. It's great read, even if you aren't partial to silent films. Charlie Chaplin certainly lived a fascinating, inspiring life.  He was a genuis and a true world citizen.

Without futher ado...Happy Birthday, Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie's Artistic Legacy (a few select ripples in a great pool of genius)
 

At the conclusion of 1917, Chaplin signed a contract with First National to produce eight two-reel films. First National financed and distributed these pictures (1918-23) but otherwise gave him complete creative control over production which he could perform at a more relaxed pace that allowed him to focus on quality. Chaplin built his own Hollywood studio and using his independence, created a remarkable, timeless body of work that remains entertaining and influential.

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the United Artists film distribution company with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith, all of whom were seeking to escape the growing power consolidation of film distributors and financiers in the developing Hollywood studio system. This move, along with complete control of his film production through his studio, assured Chaplin's independence as a film-maker. He served on the board of UA until the early 1950s.

During World War I Chaplin was criticized in the British press for not joining the Army. He had in fact presented himself for service, but was denied for being too small and underweight. Chaplin raised substantial funds for the war effort during War bond drives, by making, at his own expense, The Bond, a comedic propaganda film used in 1918. The lingering controversy reportedly is thought to have prevented Chaplin from receiving a knighthood in the 1930s.

His first "talkie", The Great Dictator (1940), was an act of defiance against German dictator Adolf Hitler and Nazism, filmed and released in the United States one year before the US abandoned its policy of isolationism to enter World War II. Chaplin played the role of a Nazi-like dictator "Adenoid Hynkel" Dictator of Tomainia, clearly modeled on Hitler. The film also showcased comedian Jack Oakie as "Benzino Napaloni", dictator of Bacteria. The Napaloni character was clearly a jab at Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Fascism.

(The brilliant globe scene...a classic...)

Paulette Goddard filmed with Chaplin, depicting a woman in the ghetto. The film was seen as an act of courage in the political environment of the time, both for its ridicule of Nazism and for the portrayal of overt Jewish characters and the depiction of their persecution. Chaplin played both the role of Adenoid Hynkel and that of a look-alike Jewish barber cruelly persecuted by the Nazis. The barber physically resembles Chaplin's Tramp character, but is not considered to be the Tramp. At the conclusion, the two characters Chaplin portrayed swapped positions through a complex plot, and he dropped out of his comic character to address the audience directly in a speech.  

(Still awe inspiring and relevant, this speech captured his passion and love of country and humanity.  Amazing for his first 'talkie' and must watch for any film geek...cinematic gold)

During the era of McCarthyism, Chaplin was accused of "un-American activities" as a suspected communist sympathizer and J. Edgar Hoover, who had instructed the FBI to keep extensive secret files on him, tried to end his United States residency. FBI pressure on Chaplin grew after his 1942 campaign for a second European front in the war and reached a critical level in the late 1940s, when Congressional figures threatened to call him as a witness in hearings.

When the first Oscars were awarded on May 16, 1929, the voting audit procedures that now exist had not yet been put into place, and the categories were still very fluid. Chaplin had originally been nominated for both Best Actor and Best Comedy Directing for his movie The Circus, but his name was withdrawn and the Academy decided to give him a special award "for versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus" instead. The other film to receive a special award that year was The Jazz Singer.

In 1952, Chaplin left the US for what was intended as a brief trip home to the United Kingdom for the London premiere of Limelight. J. Edgar Hoover learned of the trip and negotiated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to revoke Chaplin's re-entry permit. Chaplin decided not to re-enter the United States, writing; ".....Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States."

Chaplin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Chaplin's star was not dedicated until the 1970s, due to controversies over his politics in the 1950s and 1960s). In 1985 he was honored with his image on a postage stamp of the United Kingdom, and in 1994 he appeared on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. He has also a bronze statue in Waterville, County Kerry in Ireland, to show Irish appreciation for his love of the country.

In 1975, on March 4, he was finally knighted at age eighty-five as a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. The honor was first proposed in 1931, and again in 1956, when it was vetoed by the then Conservative government for fears of damage to relations with the United States at the height of the Cold War and planned invasion of Suez of that year

Chaplin was left-handed. In one book of left-handed lore, he is shown playing a violin left-handed. He rebuilt a violin to make left-handed playing easier; this would require disassembling it, moving inside parts around, and reboring the holes in the neck for the tuning pegs to allow him to restring the instrument.

Chaplin's second honorary Oscar award came forty-four years later in 1972, and was for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". He came out of his exile to accept his award, and received the longest standing ovation in Academy Award history, lasting a full five minutes.

He died in his sleep on Christmas Day, 1977, in Vevey, Switzerland, aged 88. He was interred in Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery, Vaud, Switzerland. On March 1, 1978, his body was stolen by a small group of Polish and Bulgarian mechanics in an attempt to extort money from his family. The plot failed, the robbers were captured, and his body was recovered. He was reburied under two meters of concrete to prevent further attempts.

A minor planet 3623 Chaplin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina in 1981 is named after him.

(Sources, Wikipedia, & Charles Chaplin: My Autobiography. Simon & Schuster, 1964.)

Thanks for reading!
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Gabrielle
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us" ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes