I have not read many (well, there’s some “non-fiction” books…but I digress), but one that I have had fun reading is “Shadow and Substance: My Time with Charlie Chaplin (A Novel)” by Gerry Mandel. I have read it 3 or 4 times. Summary is that it takes place in the late 1990s and it’s about a guy named Cooper whose a huge Chaplin fan, who been hired to work on a documentary on Chaplin. And who appears from the mists of time to help him with this quest but Chaplin himself. Is Charlie a ghost? Time traveler? I’ll let you decide.
That does sound like a hokey description. But a fitting one that doesn’t give away too much.
Is it a literary masterpiece? I wouldn’t say that. Is it a lot of fun to read? Yes.
And if the title sounds familiar, it’s taken from one of many film projects that Chaplin had started on but never completed. And when he met his last wife Oona.
And Jason Allin, a filmmaker and a topnotch Chaplin impersonator, is currently recording an audiobook version. Hooray!
His whole autobiography is full of great stories. Traumatic childhood, going to America, making a huge success in movies, etc.
One story I really liked is a good example of what it was like to be super famous to an extent that no one had experienced before. With the popularity of movies, going from a fad to a international medium, Charlie was one of the first people to experience it.
He tells the story in his autobiography of how he fist found out how famous he really was. He was finishing up his film “Burlesque on Carmen” in 1915 (parody of the opera Carmen) and sent a telegram from California to his brother Sydney in New York saying that he’ll be leaving by train and to meet him in New York about various offers that were coming through.
With telegrams, a message is sent from city to city until it gets to its destination (this video from the Arizona Ghostriders helps explain it more). So each city got word that Chaplin was coming through, and so crowds began to gather in each train station. And each city there were bigger and bigger crowds. When the train got to Amarillo, Texas, this is what he saw:
Peeking out of the wash-room window, I saw the station packed with a large milling crowd. Bunting and flags were wrapped and hung from pillar to post, and on the platform were several long tables set with refreshments. A celebration to welcome the arrival or departure of some local potentate, I thought. So I began to lather my face. But the excitement grew, then quite audibly I heard voices saying: ‘Where is he?’ Then a stampede entered the car, people running up and down the aisle shouting: ‘Where is he? Where’s Charlie Chaplin?’
Chaplin, Charles . My Autobiography (Neversink) (p. 234). Melville House. Kindle Edition.
And a day or so later when reaching Kansas City:
The large railroad station in Kansas City was packed solidly with people. The police were having difficulty controlling further crowds accumulating outside. A ladder was placed against the train to enable me to mount it and show myself on the roof. I found myself repeating the same banal words as in Amarillo. More telegrams awaited me: would I visit schools and institutions? I stuffed them in my suitcase, to be answered in New York. From Kansas City to Chicago people were again standing at railroad junctions and in fields, waving as the train swept by. I wanted to enjoy it all without reservation, but I kept thinking the world had gone crazy! If a few slapstick comedies could arouse such excitement, was there not something bogus about all celebrity? I had always thought I would like the public’s attention, and here it was – paradoxically isolating me with a depressing sense of loneliness.
Chaplin, Charles . My Autobiography (Neversink) (pp. 236-237). Melville House. Kindle Edition.
It seemed that everyone knew me, but I knew no one…
Chaplin, Charles . My Autobiography (Neversink) (p. 238). Melville House. Kindle Edition.
Below is a shortened version on a 1921 newsreel when he returned for a visit to London. It’s not the same event as what he writes about above, but it gives you a brief idea of what it was like where you can get an idea of the crowds:
I was wondering whether or not to include this day’s challenge because I don’t want to give publicity to poorly written books. But, on the other hand, I wanted to share my thoughts on books to be wary of.
This one is at the top of my list: Joyce Milton’s “Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin”.
I first heard about the book when I was on the road in a circus (ah, a story for another time!) in the summer of 1996 when I saw a newspaper article about it. I was excited to see another book about him and looked forward to getting it when I went back home.
Two obvious choices, but I’m going with them anyway:
His own “My Autobiography” (what a genius title! haha), and David Robinson’s “Chaplin: His Life and Art”
Chaplin: His Life and Art by David Robinson
Robinson’s book was the first Chaplin book I bought. It was around the beginning of my fanhood days. I had seen it in my favorite used book store, but was hesitant to get it because “what if it was no good?” The internet wasn’t a big thing yet, so I couldn’t Google it or check Amazon to find out other reviews. Then one day I was sitting in one of my college classes and out of nowhere I had an urge to go down to the store and get it after class.
So I drive down there and I stop and think I better skim through it, and right away there were some interesting images. One was of the Chaplin family tree (up to date as of book publishing, circa 1985), a newspaper clipping announcing his birth, and a picture of a child age Charlie for the Sherlock Holmes play. All three of these (especially the last one) sold me. And I have loved the book ever since!
A few years later I bought another edition of it that was published around the time of the “Chaplin” had more updated information about his family.
Below is a recent interview with David (during the coronavirus ordeal) by Dan Kamin for the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum YouTube channel:
My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin
I don’t remember when I first read Chaplin’s autobiography. Maybe before I bought it, like from the library? I don’t know. ut When “Chaplin” came out, they re-released the book in paperback and I bought it. And then visited England about 2 years later and while in a bookstore in the airport, I found another copy, and how could I *not* buy a copy from his birth country? And so I bought that as well. I still have both of those, which the silhouette of Downey as the Tramp on the cover. Wore them out.
I loved reading about his rough childhood, getting on stage, coming to America, being scared to death of getting into movies but taking the plunge anyway.
I do hope that sometime in the near future there will be a new, or re-release, of an audiobook version. There was one I listened to years ago on cassette tape (that gives an idea how long ago! LOL) from the library.
Love these two books. Absolute must-haves for Chaplin fans or fans of movies in general.
My Father, Charlie Chaplin by Charles Chaplin, Jr.
Charlie Sr, Charlie Jr, and Lita Grey Chaplin
Another book that I really love is “My Father, Charlie Chaplin” by Charlie Chaplin Jr (one of two sons when Chaplin was married to Lita Grey). That is a lovely book. One of my favorite stories was when senior Chaplin came home, still in makeup, and came over to toddler-aged junior. Junior was confused who this strange looking man was with his father’s voice, and started to cry. Not knowing why his son was crying, Senior tried to cheer junior up, and then it dawned on him why there was crying. The makeup. So senior washed off the makeup and junior began smiling at the familiar clean face of his dad.
I had so much fun doing the 30 Day Doctor Who Challenge that I thought I would do another one, this time on another one of my top favorites. But this one was not as easy because, unlike the many different Doctor Who challenges that fans have come up with, there was only one that I could find for Charlie, and I only found a few parts of the 30, and that was from a few years ago.
So I decided to create my own, inspired by the bits that I found:
1 How did you become a Chaplin fan 2 Favorite female costar 3 Favorite keystone 4 Favorite Essanay 5 Favorite Mutual 6 Favorite First National 7 Favorite United Artists 8 Thoughts on “Chaplin” the movie starring Robert Downey Jr 9 Favorite all time Chaplin movie 10 Least favorite 11 Favorite soundtrack 12 Favorite song 13 Favorite unreleased film/home movie 14 Favorite heavy (bad guy) 15 If you went back to meet him, at what time in his life would you do so? 16 Favorite non-fiction book 17 Least favorite book 18 Favorite photo of him in costume(Little Tramp or other) 19 Favorite photo out of costume 20 As of right now, what was the last movie you watched 21 what non Chaplin movie reminds you of a Chaplin movie? 22 what was the last Chaplin movie you saw that you had not seen before? 23 Favorite male costar 24 Favorite scene 25 Favorite story about him told by him 26 Favorite story about him told by someone else 27 What film would you recommend to recruit a fan? 28 Favorite fiction book 29 Favorite documentary 30 Favorite piece(s) of memorabilia that you own
For those of you who want to have an image of the list, I created this one:
I was planning on working on this for this month, but some last minute life changes popped up. I don’t know how often I’ll write a post (took me a few days to write this one), but I know how I’ll answer them. Most of them. Some answers change slightly from day to day, mood to mood, lol. But I’m looking forward to it 🙂
Okay, maybe not, but it’s my first vlog. I did something a little different than most. I just shot some of my books (yes, it’s just a part of my book collection), along with some of my DVD/Blu ray box sets, and a Smothers Brothers record album.
What’s shown ranges from childhood (Snoopy!) to recent loves (Warehouse 13! The Fault in Our Stars!), and some are childhood loves that I recently acquired (Dick Van Dyke Show! Mork and Mindy! Doctor Who!)
I also used this video to experiment with a few things. Some of my goals that I met are:
muting the sound of the video
having music not start at the beginning, but a few seconds in
just basic editing of the video clips and putting them together in the right order
just making the thing and uploading it and not letting fear from keeping me from doing so
Those may seem like small things, but it’s all a learning curve. And a good healthy dose of confidence.
What I liked about it:
the accidental recording that I ended up using at the beginning. When I loaded all the bits into the editor, I saw that and thought “I could use that!”
that I did the thing! YAY!
It’s not the greatest thing ever, but I’m glad I did it, and looking forward to all the things I will learn from it :).
The future…
So what have I got for the future? Taking on the Doctor Who Tag started by YouTuber Luke Spillane. That was one of the things that got me going on finally making a vlog. And I also plan on talking about Sherlock Holmes, having been born with a cleft lip and palate and all that it entails, and whatever else I come up with.
Oh, and I have another channel as well. A gaming channel where I have begun to play Assassin’s Creed (the first one). I love the series and thought why not start off with the first one?
First, what the heck is Paper Towns? It’s a brand new book (released last Friday) by a certain Mr. John Green, author of young adult fiction and along with his brother, Hank, is a NerdFighter.
Although it’s aimed at the teen/early 20s crowd, older readers like me seem to like it. (I have not finished reading it yet, but have enjoyed it a lot so far). Takes place in Orlando, Florida and is about a teen boy named Quentin, aka Q, and his friendship with Margo Roth Spiegelman.
So here’s how I bought my copy:
I’ve known about this book since John read parts of it on his and Hank’s YouTube channel. And when it came time for the release of the book, I was determined to go and get me a copy. I went to the local used book store where they also carry new books in the hopes they would have it. I asked the lady behind the counter if they had it. She wasn’t familiar with it, looked it up and said it would not get there until the next Tuesday.
Drat!
I talked to her and another woman behind the counter about the book, who wrote it, and that he grew up in Orlando and that the book also takes place in Orlando. They certainly seemed interested in the book and after chatting a bit more, I left. A bit disheartened that I did not get it but glad that I was able to talk about it with them.
I headed home and on the way back, I figured that I would head over to another book store later that day after Katie woke up from her nap. Which is what I did.
Rushed down to another book store and looked for the book in the Teen section. I found his others: Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and one of the stories in Let It Snow: Three Holiday Stories. And I was soooo tempted on buying those. But money being what it is, I decided to just look for Paper Towns.
Not finding it, I went up front to the check out desk and asked the woman there. There was no one else at the desk so she wasn’t able to come and help me find exactly where it was, but she looked it up and offered a couple places of where to look. One being the teens section, the other being one of the tables down the middle of the store.
Looked at one table. Nope. Another. Nope. Meanwhile I pushed Katie in her stroller. Whenever I stopped to look, she would get fussy.
Looking down all the tables, I decided to look at the Teens section again. And there it was, in a different segment of the bookshelf, and not with all his other ones.
There have been two different covers for PT made, both having Margo on the cover. One is bright with a yellow background with her smiling. The other is dark, blue background, and Margo is looking sad. The store only had dark Margo. So I grab it, buy it, and head home….
The exciting part happens the following week when I meet John Green!
Here’s a vid of John reading a rough draft of PT last year. I love the visuals that he puts in it:
