The King of Comedy-喜剧之王查理·卓别林

The King of Comedy-喜剧之王查理·卓别林

His own father had died from drinking too much. And his moth er wasn’t really able to look after Charles and his older half-brother2, Si d. She was often sick in mind and had to be sent into hospital. When Charles couldn’t get work he wandered about the city streets. He found food and shelter wherever he could. Sometimes he was sent away to a h ome for children who had no parents. He was cold and miserable there a nd the children were scolded and punished for the slightest fault. He hate d it.

Thirty years later this same Charles Chaplin was accepting the h ospitality3 of kings. Everyone wanted to meet him. Pictures show him in the company4 of men like Churchill, Einstein and Gandhi. He had becom e almost a royal figure in the bright new world of the cinema—Charlie Chaplin, the king of comedy.

He once wrote, “You have to believe in yourself. That’s the s ecret. Even when I was in the children’s home, when I was wandering t he streets trying to find enough to eat to keep alive, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world.”

Any regular visitor to the cinema must have seen some of Charl ie Chaplin’s films. People everywhere have sat and laughed at them unti l the tears streamed down their faces. From his very first appearance they know what to expect from the mild little man with the stiff black moust ache, wide-open eyes, round black hat and shoes too large for his feet.

The character of the “little tramp5”, which Chaplin played in hundreds of films, is one everyone can understand. The poor man makes all kinds of stupid mistakes. He is always in trouble. Yet he dreams of g reatness. He makes us laugh with his crazy attempts to escape6 his cruel

fate. He finds surprising ways out of every difficulty. And life never qui te destroys7 him. The little tramp is not very different from the cold, ho meless, poorly dressed child who refused to despair8. Like the child he is weak, frightened and foolish, but he never gives up.

Even people who don’t understand English can enjoy Chaplin’s films because they are mostly silent. It isn’t what he says that makes us laugh. His comedy depends upon little actions which mean the same t hing to people all over the world.

Chaplin raises his thick black eyebrows or rolls his eyes. He str aightens his coat or swings his walking-stick in the air. He hides behind a fat lady or under a table to escape from his enemies. Trying to be bra ve, he faints away on the floor. He shakes the dust off his rags to make a proud appearance at some grand social occasion. He pretends to be w hat he is not and never could be—a rich, successful, important man. It is all the secret of Chaplin’s huge success.He discovered the character o f the little tramp almost by accident. As young men, he and his brother t raveled to America in a small company of actors and acted in various cit ies. One day Charles was invited to join a new company that was makin g film comedies. He accepted the offer9 and soon became popular.

V ery soon he had made dozens of short films for this company. But it was in his second film that he wore the clothes which made his fame—black hat, tight coat, baggy trousers, huge shoes, moustache and w alking-stick.

His appearance was a popular success, right from the beginning. But his first pictures hadn’t much story. They were full of action. His manner is terribly funny and makes one roar10 with laughter.

By the time he was thirty Chaplin was the greatest, best known, and best loved comedy actor in the world. He received thousands of dol lars for each film he made. He had formed his own film-making compan