My answer for this is the same as Day 3. Very first one in any format was the Sibling Revelry on cassette. First vinyl was Purple Onion. Not only my first albums but also my favorites 🥰 And I share how I got each one of those in that post.
And since I showed the front covers of those albums also on Day 3, and I didn’t want to use the same picture again, I decided to share the back covers this time 😅
I don’t go to concerts very much. In fact, I think the last time I went to one was to see the Smothers Brothers. And they retired in 2010, so that gives you an idea. But I saw them much more than all other concerts combined (John Denver in ’85, Janet Jackson in ’90, and David Byrne also in ’90… I think that’s it, 😂).
So how many times? I don’t remember. I lost count. But there were a few that stood out.
The first time I saw them, it was February 1990. Not only did I see them in concert, I got to meet them backstage.
Here’s my Instagram post I made for my personal #OTD a couple years ago!
But I’ll tell more of this tale in my future Day 6 “Have you lucky been lucky enough to meet them?” post :).
My small George Harrison / Beatles experience
I saw them a few more times with my grandmother. Once with both my grandmother and grandfather when they played with Florida Symphony (Philharmonic? not sure) Orchestra. After I got married, I saw them a few more times with my (at the time) husband. At one concert, we sat in a row that was technically the second row, but the first row was short, and our row was longer and wrapped around a little bit so it was like sitting first row. And it was at that concert I saw their montage of photos and video clips about their life that was shown between their usual routines and then change to the closing Yo-Yo Man bit. The montage got to the Comedy Hour (found that part of the montage here) and up came the clip of when George Harrison came on to thank them for having the Beatles on a couple weeks earlier.
At the time of this particular concert, it was a few weeks after 9/11 and just a few days after George’s passing. Everyone was still a bit emotional. And when that clip showed up on the screen at the concert… well, I never heard so much cheering, clapping, stomping of feet, roaring of cheers before! Was the roof going to cave in from the reverberating happy noise? In the following times I saw Tom and Dick, and that montage was shown, there wasn’t the same kind of uproarious cheer, so that night was something special.
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night
Then there was the time when my mom, daughter, and I went to see them at the Strawberry Festival in 2008. My daughter had never seen them live and was curious to see what they were about on stage. It was an outside venue. And it started to rain. More and more. But they stayed on stage. My mom and daughter went to seek shelter, but my feeling was if they were going to be on stage, I was staying put. I had come to the realization the previous couple times that I won’t be seeing them live many more times, and to not take it for granted. And I wasn’t going let a little (ha!) water ruin my fun.
Though I was concerned about them being onstage, with whatever electrical equipment mixed in with rain.
The last time
The last time I saw them was in 2009. It was their 50th anniversary and there was no way I was going to miss seeing them. It was, oddly enough, at the university I graduated from years earlier. When I had attended in the 90s, I thought “Wouldn’t it be cool if they came over and performed here? But that’s *never* going to happen!”
Well, not while I was a student there. A stint with the circus, marriage, two kids, and divorce later 🤣
My dad went with me. He averaged seeing them about once every 20ish years: once in the 60s, once in 1990 as mentioned above, and again in 2009. It was a great show. And they sang my favorite song they have sung straight, “They Call The Wind Mariah“. Dick introduced the song by saying they hadn’t performed it in 40 years, and Tom (just loud enough for the mic to pick it up) says “I hope I remember how it goes,” which everyone laughed at.
The concert I didn’t see
In the beginning of 2010, my cousin Nancy (who helped tracked down some Smothers albums for me in the pre-internet days and recorded the Comedy Hour when it was re-aired on E! network), had told me about how they were going to be at that year’s Strawberry Festival. And for some unknown reason I didn’t get tickets. I have absolutely no idea why. If I had known they were going to retire later that year, I would have gone.
But maybe, in the future ?
At the time of writing this, they are planning a tour of some places and already played in some areas, though different kind of concert. They had planned doing it earlier this year, but scheduling was delayed because of upsurge in Covid cases. A mix of performing, showing clips from the Comedy Hour, and “Question & Answer” session. They are making an appearance in Florida, and I hope to be there!
Live recordings
A fun filmed live performance was done back in the late 80s for PBS’s series “An Evening With Pops” with the Boston Pops with the legendary John Williams conducting/ It gives you a good idea of what it was like seeing them in concert. Below I have a playlist of shortened version of their live performance.
Fun little side bonus
From this same episode of the Evening with Pops. Tom and Dick do no appear in, but Dickie’s bass can be seen in a couple shots: The 1988 Olympic Spirit theme , composed and conducted by John Williams
Charlie’s oldest daughter, Geraldine, tells wonderful stories about her dad. My favorite: taking the family to a restaurant and eating a fish while grossing out his kids.
Sydney, the Trouble Maker
Another one is one I don’t know where I read it from but it takes place during his exile in Switzerland. Brother Sydney would come over to visit his nieces and nephews who all seemed to love and adore their uncle. Charlie would be another room, probably working. Syd would tell them an off color joke and they would laugh and the kids would go off and tell their father while Sydney stayed behind. He would then hear his little brother yell at them “Who told you that joke?”
And then angrily shout “SYDNEY!”. And Sydney would just sit there laughing.
From son, Eugene
Another great video is Eugene, the fifth child from Charlie’s long marriage with Oona. Both him and his older sister Geraldine tell wonderful stories. I really liked what he says towards the end about how his father belongs to everyone, but emotionally belongs to him.
There are oodles of other stories I could share, but I better stop with what Ia already picked out.
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:
Back in 2017, I decided to watch A Countess From Hong Kong. It was the 50th anniversary. I did not have it due to it not having been released on video until recently. So I bought the DVD, did a live tweeting of it to record my first thoughts while watching it..
I already shared some of my thoughts on Day 10. It was a weird sensation to watch a film of his that:
was in color
widescreen
I had never watched before (outside a couple clips)
I did a live tweet while watching. Below I copied and pasted my tweets, all are timestamped so you an follow along if you wish. Maybe I might do a commentary for it? Hmmm…
My live tweets (typos included)
(I put a star by my favorites)
Livetweeting #CharlieChaplin ‘s Countess From Hong Kong in 20 minutes. Sort of a 50th anniversary celebration 🙂 #CountHK 19:40:46, 2017-07-07
Since #CharlieChaplin wrote and directed it, but only gave himself cameos, I feel I’ll be seeing his “direction” in everyone #CountHK 19:58:33, 2017-07-07
And play… #CountHK 20:00:25, 2017-07-07
Bit nervous for this, don’t know why #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 20:01:34, 2017-07-07
Ah, the familiar dance hall girl theme #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 20:02:52, 2017-07-07
Written and directed by Charles Chaplin. Woop! #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 20:03:42, 2017-07-07
That looked like that hurt #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:28:58, 2017-07-07
Ah, lovely Tippi Hendrin. She seems to have escaped the birds #CountHK #CharlieChaplin #badHitchcockjoke 21:30:34, 2017-07-07 *
Charlie could have done better job with the beach. #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:36:15, 2017-07-07
The lovely Chaplin girls 😊#CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:37:28, 2017-07-07
I like that zoom on Brando #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:42:37, 2017-07-07
Oooh. BUSTED! Never try to outsmart your wife. She always figures it out! #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:44:37, 2017-07-07 *
And the ending credits #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:48:32, 2017-07-07
Pretty good! I’ll have to watch it again, but I thought it was nice. VERY weird to watch Chaplin movie in color. #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:50:46, 2017-07-07
Reminded me of King of New York. And a few others where Charlie falls for a dancehall girl. #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:52:41, 2017-07-07
But that makes me having seen all of Chaplin’s films. Only took 25 years, lol. Don’t like rushing a good thing 😉 #CountHK #CharlieChaplin 21:55:06, 2017-07-07
To end this livetweet: This is My Song sung by Petula Clark, music & lyrics by Chaplin #CountHK #CharlieChaplin https://t.co/3UiNFEnSXj 22:19:41, 2017-07-07
Bonus
Curing the filming, Charlie celebrated his 77th birthday with the cast. And shared in on a tall cake with a Little Tramp figure at the top. Film from British Pathé YouTube channel. And, sorry, no sound (which seems fitting).
Bit of trivia: the little girl with the blonde hair in pigtails is Tippi Hedren’s daughter, future actress Melanie Griffith.
There’s One A.M. with Charlie coming home drunk and does battle with a clock pendulum and a Murphy bed. There’s Behind the Screen where Charlie discovers a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to get a job movies. And the lovely The Immigrant. Among several others. Like, everything…LOL
Really, really difficult to decide. You would think the less films made for a period would make it easier. But nooooooo. We’re talking Chaplin here. It only gets harder with each following era. All of these are superb! I feel like throwing a dart on a list and see where it lands (or where it lands nearest to) to determine which one I like best.
The one I watch the most, so I’m going with it as my answer: Easy Street. Yeah, I know, it’s a cliche answer (at least, I feel it is), but I really like this one. It’s a bit autobiographical (Chaplin grew up on the slums of late Victorian London streets. The more autobiographical he got, the more I loved the film; i.e. Limelight). There’s gang violence in the streets, and Charlie has to temper the ruffians.
Eric Campbell. Now there’s a classic old fashioned bad guy. But I’m getting ahead of myself. And the lovely Edna! I really love the way she is introduced with that angelic light on her as she plays the piano.
Highlights of the film
Charlie literally gaslighting the heavy (Chaplin actually hurt himself with the lamppost. Needed some stitches on his nose. Sacrifice for the sake of the art!), feeling sorry for the woman who he catches stealing food for her large family so he steals more, the cute little kid who scares the police, and the chase at the end where the heavy gets…well, I don’t want to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it 😉
What a flirt! And a practical joker (to someone who deserves it, really)
Chaplin’s Essanay films are the least watched era for me. He is, understandably, still finding himself as a filmmaker (it was his second year in films after all. As much as a genius as he was to become, not even he could be a master of it in such a short time), but the Tramp character starts to emerge more at this time. “The Tramp” and “A Woman” are good examples of this.
This is also the year that Edna Purviance joined Charlie’s ensemble.
The Tramp is great because of the silliness he gets himself into. This was also one of the first Chaplin films I bought, in some department store that had a small selection of VHS tapes. And that version of the film had narration as well. Maybe affected my love for the film. Also a slightly better paced story than A Woman.
I like how (around 9:30) he gets accidentally sacked by a big bag of flour (?) and gets covered in it. And he does that quick look at the camera. Doesn’t matter how many times I have seen it, it always makes me laugh.
But A Woman I love because of the amazing job he does in playing a woman (though this wasn’t his first time. That would be A Busy Day). Also the clever way he flips over his adversaries into a nearby pond.
When I was a young fan, I remember looking through a Chaplin book and, seeing a picture of a woman, thinking it was the leading lady. And then reading the caption and thinking “That’s Charlie?!?” in amazement.
