Chaplin: A Life?Chaplin is arguably the single most important artist produced by the cinema,? wrote film critic Andrew Sarris. Born in London in 1889, Charlie Chaplin grew up in dire poverty. Severe alcoholism cut short his father?s flourishing career, and his beloved mother first lost her voice, then her mind, to syphilis. How did this poor, lonely child, committed to the Hanwell School for the Orphaned and Destitute, become such an extraordinary comedian, known and celebrated worldwide? Dr. Stephen M. Weissman brilliantly illuminates both the screen legend himself and the turbulent era that shaped him. |
Contents
Introduction | |
Chaplin | |
A Family Romance | |
Family Secrets | |
Improvisations | |
The Invulnerable Child | |
Life Is a Tragedy in Closeup but a Comedy in Long Shot | |
Child Prodigy | |
The Greenhorn and the Guvnor | |
The Immigrant | |
Lets Go to the Movies | |
Birth of a Tramp | |
The Moon Shines Bright on Charlie Chaplin | |
What Happened Next | |
Afterword | |
Acknowledgments | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acting actor alcoholic artistic audience audience’s Autobiography Bertie boys British music hall cane career Chaplin’s Own Story Charlie Chaplin Charlie Sr.’s Charlie’s child childhood City Lights clown Cockney comedian comic Courtesy Jeffrey Vance D. W. Griffith Dickens dream dressed drunken elegant experience family’s famous father film film’s filmmaking final Fred Karno Geduld Guv’nor Hannah Chaplin Hanwell Henry Lehrman Hollywood Ibid impersonation interview Jeffrey Vance Collection Karno Kennington Road Keystone Keystone’s King of Comedy Lancashire Lads later laugh Lehrman Leno Leo Dryden Lily Harley Lily’s Limelight lion comique Little Tramp lived looked Mack Sennett memories Methley Methley Street mother movie music hall music hall star never night onstage orphanage pantomime performance played poverty recalled Robinson scene screen character screen character’s slapstick social song stage studio swell Syd’s Sydney Sydney Chaplin syphilis theater theatrical touring troupe week woman working-class York young Charlie