September 6th, 2022 by Calvero

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 😅

Posted in 1960s, 20th century, classic comedy, Folk Music, History, Music, Nostalgia, Personal, Smothers Brothers Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 9th, 2022 by Calvero

I have a non-musical one, and a couple musical ones.

The non-musical one is probably is not a surprise. “Mom Always Likes You Best” (and it’s variants) 🤣.

I am the oldest of 4. So of course I can really relate to the type of sibling bickering that is in the routine. But what I didn’t think would happen, or was possible, was that it would become even funnier.

After I became a mom of 2.

My daughters are a few years apart, but once the youngest started talking, they started fighting. And they would argue over who got away with more. And so on.

One time they started up, and I stood there listening to them, and started to laugh. And my oldest asked me “Mom, what are you laughing about?” And then quickly caught on “Are you thinking of the Smothers Brothers?”

While still laughing, I nodded yes. And then she started laughing. And my youngest laughed too, though I don’t think she understood exactly why.

Below is from the same-titled album, along with “You Can Call Me Stupid”, which is what I liked to call “Mom Always Liked You Best, part 2”.

Back in 1993 when they rebroadcast the Comedy Hour on E!, with Tom and Dick setting up the episode and afterwards talking about memories they had. Below, they share the time when their mom appeared on the show, and slapped Dickie.

And here’s them talking about it for the Television Academy Foundation a few years ago:

And here is a neat cartoon done

Favorite Musical Routine

“Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” from Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2 is a great one. Also the reference to Ralph was great, especially for me since that’s where my fanhood started.

(Background – Ralph was a character from their sitcom they did right before starting the Comedy Hour. He was Tom’s angel supervisor who would call Tom on various different items to give out assignments.)

From the same album, “I Talk to the Trees” is also fantastic.

Added bonus…

Lincoln Logs, circa mid-20th century. I had them when growing up as well. Our dog chewed up one of the logs. And the thought of termites being put in them… 😅. And here’s a cool little video about them. And, yes, they are still around!

Some of the 1949 St. Louis Cardinals baseball trading cards.

Posted in 1960s, 20th century, classic comedy, classic television, Folk Music, History, Nostalgia, Personal, Smothers Brothers, television Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My two favorite Smothers Brothers albums - Best of and Purple Onion
July 18th, 2022 by Calvero

There were a total of 12 albums released. During the 60’s, 11. Years later, in 1988, a “Best Of”. And all of them I love to bits. But which one is my favorite?

There’s two.

Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers

This one which is pretty much like it sounds: a compilation of routines from their albums that are tops. I got the cassette version as a birthday present from a family friend. I don’t remember any other birthday presents I got that year.

It was also my first foray into hearing them. I listened to that a lot. Brought it with me a few months later when I had jaw surgery. Since my whole head was wrapped up in bandages and my eyes swollen, watching tv was out of the question, so I brought things to listen to, this album being one of them. My jaw was also tightly rubber-banded shut to hold things in place, and I couldn’t laugh the regular way. When I wanted to laugh, all that energy had to go somewhere and I convulsed with laughter which shook the hospital bed, and I made weird sounds since I couldn’t move my head. The nurses probably wondered if I was ok 😂.

This is the tracklist of what’s on the cassette version:

  • Tom Dooley
  • Chocolate
  • Laredo
  • The Saga Of John Henry
  • Gnus
  • Crabs Walk Sideways
  • Mediocre Fred
  • Mom Always Liked You Best
  • You Can Call Me Stupid
  • Jenny Brown
  • The Military Lovers
  • I Talk To The Trees
  • Hangman
  • Michael, Row The Boat Ashore

I later saw my local library had the CD version which had more routines on it. Needless to say, I checked that out several times until I bought my own copy.

And then at some point I bought the vinyl version. Because that’s the kind of fan I am 🤓

I definitely would recommend this album if you are a new fan.

But it’s easy to say a “Best of” album as a favorite.

The Songs and Comedy of the Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion

That summer of 1989 I was home recovering from jaw surgery, and my mom mentions that she thinks she has a Smothers Brothers record somewhere.

“Really?!? WHERE?!?”

“Oh, it’s somewhere in the steam trunk”

Although I had my own records when I was little (Sesame Street, Disney, Beach Boys, Elton John), I don’t remember my parents listening to their records. I remember listening to their 8-tracks many many times, and my own. But in ’89 I went through their record collection (Sgt Pepper! Including the sheet of cut-outs!), and lo-and-behold I found the Purple Onion album.

It was a good thing I didn’t know about mom having this record when I was little, because otherwise it would have gone the way of my own records… which is probably why they weren’t brought out often! 😂

Below, my daughter listening to the album on our (then) brand new record player. I am hoping to get a better player later on, because the one I have is 😒.

I love this album, partly for sentimental reasons, but also because it has great balance of routines and songs. One of them, “They Call The Wind Maria”, is my favorite song they sing straight (2nd half of track 4). It has a comedic intro, but once they start singing, they sing it straight.

“Down in the Valley” is also performed straight (again, right after a comedic intro, but this time it’s how people come up to them and question whether or not they are really brothers and if their real name is Smothers 🤣).

And from this album I heard about the famous folk song “Tom Dooley” (track 7) that I had previously never heard of. It was the only routine that I was familiar with, it being the first track from the “The Best of” album. I loved Tom’s intro saying that another group (that I had equally hadn’t heard of – The Kingston Trio) had stolen the song from his brother. I started to listen to the Trio because of this.

Sidenote – Tom Dooley was based on a real person who (according to legend) was innocently hung for the death of his lover. You can begin you rabbit hole journey of the song here, here, and here.

In reality, Tom and Dick would often credit The Kingston Trio for opening the doors to their, and many others, popularity.

Back on track

Below is the playlist of the whole Purple Onion album:

The reasons why this is my favorite boils down to a great balance of straight singing and comedic routines, both done superbly.

A couple factoids I learned many years later from David Bianculli’s excellent 2009 book “Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” that

  1. This was all the material they had at the time.
  2. Dickie wasn’t established as the straight man yet.
  3. Only the opening routine was recorded at the Purple Onion. Due to technical issues, the other recordings from that performance were scrapped . Most of the album was recorded at the Tidelands Club.

Afterthought – I should have put this part of the challenge after I went through all their albums. Oh well 🙃

Posted in 1960s, 20th century, classic comedy, Folk Music, History, Music, Nostalgia, Personal, Smothers Brothers Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My introduction to Tom and Dick Smothers: The Smothers Brothers Show sitcom
March 12th, 2022 by Calvero

So there I was in 1986, a 13 year old kid, flipping TV channels on our TV in our family room looking for something to watch. And then I see them. It was on the Nickelodeon channel during a block of shows called Camp Nickelodeon (shortly later to be renamed Nick at Night). It was a black and white sitcom that I had never seen before – “The Smothers Brothers Show”. And two guys who (I thought) I had never seen before , the blond haired one telling his dark haired brother that he was an angel.

I was familiar with 50s and 60s sitcoms such as I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, I Dream of Jeanie, and my absolute all-time favorite: The Dick Van Dyke Show. But this one I had never seen before. Who were these guys?

I decided to keep watching to find out. Fate, or destiny, or something, had blindsided me without me knowing it.

The Smothers Brothers Show. A sitcom where the blond-haired Tom arrives on Earth as an angel (after drowning at sea) and comes to ask his dark-haired brother Dick for help in earning his angel wings.

There’s only one complete episode I can find online: ” ‘Twas The Week Before Christmas”

I found out years later that they hated making the show, especially Tom since he had so many lines and, without him knowing at the time, was dyslexic, and had trouble. And they had little input into the creative process. And for the first few episodes they did not sing their theme song (that later changed. See – or hear – above). That would change when they were offered “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” after the angel show was canceled.

But for 1986 me, 13 years old, I guess I was the right demographic for this show. I loved it and watched it every Sunday evening. And my parents took notice.

One night my dad mentions that he went to see Tom and Dick in concert back in the 60s.

“Really? So did I!” my mom replies.

“Where?”

Mom says where (some college campus somewhere)

“That’s where I saw them!” dad says and they laugh.

And we laughed at the possibility of if they had met there rather than how they actually met (at a wedding where each of their best friends were getting married).

Censorship? Really?

And then I began to hear murmurs about how they had censorship battles. This totally baffled me: “What’s so controversial about the sitcom?” I had no idea about the Comedy Hour….yet.

In the summer of 1987, I was once again flipping tv channels (we did that a lot back then), and stopped on VH1. It was in the middle of the music video “Meet Me Half Way” by Kenny Loggins. I watched the rest, and when the VJ, Bobby Rivers came on, he introduced a couple of guests in the studio: Tom and Dick. And my jaw just dropped. VH1 was doing a week (or weekend, I forget) long spotlight on comedy, and for some reason, had the guys on. They talked about their comedy and the Comedy Hour. And then I saw my first clips of this controversial show I had heard about before but never saw.

The only clip I really remember is an opening where Tom is trying to put on police riot gear. Dick asks him what he is doing when they should be starting a show. Tom says that he’s getting ready for college. I laughed even though I didn’t get the real meaning. I later found out they were referring to the riots on college campuses between students and police over Vietnam protests.

Then the Reunion show

A few months later I hear that they were coming back to tv for a Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour 20th Reunion show! I was excited to see it, but I wasn’t able to watch it during the broadcast, so I recorded it. (That poor VHS tape had no idea what it was in for!). It had all the regulars on from two decades earlier: Pat Paulsen, John Hartford, Leigh French, Mason Williams, Glen Campbell, Jennifer Warnes; a couple writers who went on the bigger careers after the 60s series: Bob Einstein and Steve Martin.

I only caught their closing routine during the original broadcast:

I loved it! I sat there and laughed until i cried. It was fantastic. So I watched from the beginning all the way through. Absolutely fabulous!

Also, they sang and played their instruments well too (which I was not yet really used to)

I would watch a segment before going to junior high as a boost for my day (alas, was too young for coffee). And it continued when they returned with a short season and specials of the new Comedy Hour later in 1988 and 1989 (which I recorded and wore out the tape).

Why a fan?

I was not (well, still not, lol) the typical age for being a fan of theirs, so what was it that got me hooked? First they were funny. When I first caught them was when I was just beginning to stop judging what I liked/didn’t like based on how old it was. And what I saw, I really liked.

When I was little, my parents had an 8-track player and I listened to a lot of the musical artists that I later discovered had appeared on the Comedy Hour (Peter, Paul, and Mary; Simon and Garfunkel; The Beatles; Glen Campbell; Joan Baez; Judy Collins). So there was a sense of familiarity and nostalgia with a show that was thrown off the air before I was born. Also I recognized some of the songs the brothers sang like “Slithery Dee“, “Michael Row the Boat Ashore“, “Down in the Valley“, “The Impossible Dream“. All these musical familiarities.

The sibling bickering. Being the oldest of 4, that was hilarious (also seeing my grandmother argue with her two brothers).

It was a great way for my to learn about history, particularly the 60s as it was happening.

Also being inspired by their fight with CBS about freedom of speech.

And that’s how it started and has happily kept on going since then 🙂 …

Posted in 1960s, 20th century, classic comedy, classic television, History, Music, Nostalgia, Personal, Smothers Brothers, television Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Charlie Chaplin and a Little Tramp doll
December 14th, 2021 by Calvero

And now, the last one!

I have been a fan for about 30 years now, and while I have not constantly been buying things, I have gathered a nice assortment, and stories to go with them. Below are not all the things I have, but the ones that mean the most.

“Chaplin: His Life and Art” by David Robinson

The first thing, and still one of my top things, is a hardback copy of David Robinson’s “Chaplin, His Life and Art”. It’s sitting just a couple feet from where I’m writing now. And it was the first Chaplin item I bought. I wrote more about how I got it on Day 16.

Charlie Chaplin: King of Comedy by Gerith Von Ulm

This book’s biggest distinction in my collection is it being the oldest of all my Chaplin books. Published in 1940, it’s a biography with Chaplin’s longtime Japanese valet and secretary, Toraichi Kono, as it’s main source I found it in a tiny bookstore. Well it was more like a stall. Part of a flea market that was inside an air-conditioned building. It was so tiny that only two or three people could fit!

Photographs from the set of Limelight

Back in 1995 I bought two photographs from a photographer who was on the set of Limelight. Bernie Schoenfield was a professional photographer who was hired by a magazine to shoot pictures during the making of the film.

I have not seen these photographs anywhere else since, not even on the internet, so they are very special to me 🥰

I had started to write more about meeting him for this post, but it was too long, and deserves it’s own post anyway. So that will be for later!

Movie Posters

I have a big poster for The Kid that I bought from a street vendor in Paris, France, many years ago. We were walking along a street, saw a vendor selling various books and some posters. While I was looking at The Kid poster, a young girl (10-12) and her mom were walking past and the girl said excitedly “Oh, Charlie Chaplin!”

Below is my Instagram post of two other posters. I had both of these up last year. Then a month or so later, The Adventurer fell down. But, as I said in my IG post, I love these so much!!

Chaplin doll

My sister’s mother in law gave it to me. She was given it by students of hers. She told me she doesn’t know why since she didn’t collect dolls or was a Chaplin fan. So when she found out I was a fan, she said I would enjoy it much more than she did. It originally came with a metal cane, but I have lost that over the years.

“Le manoir de mon pere” by Eugene Chaplin

This book I got awhile ago and it’s only in French, no English translation. Even though I couldn’t read French, I got it anyway because there’s lots of pictures of. I am currently learning French, and one of the reasons why is so I can read this book. A couple weeks ago I took it out and could immediately read the title without having to figure it out (Yeah, it’s not hard to figure out, but I understood *why*). I was proud of myself. And one day I plan on being able to read the whole book 🙂

Want to get Eugene’s book?

Speaking of foreign language (or, rather, non-English). I also have “Mein Freund Charlie” by Jerry Epstein which is the German edition of Remembering Charlie (another great book with lots of pictures)

Customized Jacket with Chaplin’s face

Way back in the summer of 1996, I was in a circus (and, boy, is that a whole other story! And yes, Chaplin is linked with that too). One of our stops was in Harrisburg, PA, in a field next to a mall. My boyfriend and I went to inside to look around and saw a shop where you could get costumed designed one-of-a-kind shirts, jackets, etc made. He had a jacket with his three types of clowns he performed as (yes, really, he was a professional clown!). And me? I had Chaplin’s face put on the back of a black jacket. It looked, and still looks, awesome!

Chaplin CD soundtrack with ticket stub

I wrote about this back on Day 8, but I’ll share it her as well

My very worn out Chaplin soundtrack CD.  And ticket stub from my first viewing!
“A picture I took a couple years ago: My very worn out CD of the Chaplin soundtrack, and in the middle, my ticket stub from the United Artists theater where I watched it on it’s nation-wide opening day.”

And that’s it!

After almost 3 years, I finally finished my 30 Day Charlie Chaplin Challenge! Huzzah! This was a lot of fun to write about. Most challenging was on Attenborough’s Chaplin movie because there was so much I had stuck in my brain since seeing it in theaters in 1993 and I finally got a big chunk of it somewhat organized and written out.

Future Challenges

I have a few other 30 Day Challenges lined up like:

  • Smothers Brothers (been wanting to do this for a loooong tiiimmee!)
  • Favorite Albums (challenged by my sister Megan)
  • Favorite Movies (challenged by my friend Sean) – Will there be a Chaplin movie on this list? Is that a rhetorical question?

Onward!

Posted in 20th century, 20th century film, Charlie Chaplin, classic comedy, History, Silent movies Tagged with: , , , ,

Charlie rescues the kid - The Kid 1921
October 30th, 2019 by Calvero

One of the best things that I like about the films from here on out is that Charlie Chaplin wrote the music for them. Either right as he was making the film or years later. And not just a few years, but a few decades.

The film I picked for this is one that he wrote the music 50 (yes, 50!) years after the movie was originally released. But I’m not here to just write about the music. This post is for my favorite First National film.

And that is The Kid. Where Chaplin just rips my heart out, stomps on it, and leaves me an emotional wreck. Because, really, it is hard not to cry at this film. Some sad crying but also some happy crying.

Basic premise is this: Charlie finds a baby abandoned on the street He decides to bring the baby up as his own at his home in the city slums. And the adventures begin. The kid is played by Jackie Coogan.

I love how Edna Purviance’s character of the mother is portrayed. She is visibly torn over whether to keep the baby or not, and then is continuously haunted by his memory. Not knowing that the little boy she befriends is her son. (UGH! Ugly crying!) When she gives him the toy dog, and then a sad long walk towards the camera, and he waves to her without her seeing it… is beautifully shot.

One of Chaplin’s best scenes in any of his films, where the authorities had found out that Charlie is not the legal father and they come for the “Proper care and attention” (take the kid away to an orphanage).

I had mention in my last post how I loved his films that were autobiographical. This is another one of those. When he was a boy, he was separated from his mother and brother due to the family living in extreme poverty. And just before starting on this film, he lost his first child, Norman, nicknamed Little Mouse, due to some sort of severe deformation (what that was, I have never been able to find out).

Here is a short interview with a much older Jackie Coogan from the early 1980s where he talks about how Chaplin directed him (clip via Criterion YouTube channel):

In 2003, a number of Chaplin’s films (First National and later) were re-released on DVD. There were a wonderful set of introductions done by the amazing Chaplin biographer, David Robinson. Below is for this film. (following clips from the Official Charlie Chaplin YouTube channel)

A wonderful documentary (part of a series of docs done for the above mentioned DVD release) tells the making of the film. It also includes an interview with a more modern filmmaker from Iran and how Chaplin has influenced him.

Finally, the soundtrack:

And a bonus bit: Chaplin, age 81 or 82, (in color and talking a little), conducting a little of his score:

Want to watch the film? You can rent or purchase it streaming at Amazon, or get the DVD or Blu Ray.

And a Happy (belated) Birthday to Jackie, whose 105th birthday was 4 days ago!

Posted in 20th century, 20th century film, Charlie Chaplin, classic comedy, film soundtracks, History, movies, Music, Nostalgia, Silent movies, Soundtracks Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

October 10th, 2019 by Calvero

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 😉

Posted in 20th century, Charlie Chaplin, classic comedy, movies, Nostalgia, Silent movies Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

January 9th, 2019 by Calvero

This isn’t too hard to decide on: Edna Purviance (second would be Paulette Goddard). From the time Chaplin hired her for her first movie, A Night Out, she definitely had something special.

I don’t remember when I first saw Edna… The Tramp (somehow I got my hands on a narrated version) maybe? Those early days of fandom are a bit fuzzy (25+ years will do that to ya!), but that’s definitely one of the first times I saw her.

Edna and Charlie in A Burlesque on Carmen

Some of my favorite films she was in was Easy Street, Burlesque on Carmen (a satire on the opera Carmen. She plays the flirtatious Carmen. Her parts are great! The “finished” film is a bit long though… thanks a lot Essanay!), Shoulder Arms, and The Kid (heart-wrenching and beautiful!)

And there is that last appearance, a cameo in Monsieur Verdoux, but according to the wonderful Edna Place site, she isn’t there. She did to a reading for a part for Charlie, but in the end, it didn’t work out. She had been rumored for many years to be in the background, and I looked for her, and haven’t seen anyone that looks like her.

They did a\have a romantic relationship off-screen but nothing that led to marriage, and quite frankly, Chaplin was a bit of a cad to her towards the end of their relationship. They did remain friends until she passed away.

But I thought it was sweet on Chaplin’s part to continue to pay her, even after she stopped working for him and up until her death after he was exiled from the United States. One of her last letters to Charlie that he shared in his autobiography was so sweet and funny, and she begs him to come back to America. “You belong here.” Sadly, she did not live long enough to see that happen. She passed away of throat cancer in 1958.

Three great sites (all sister-sites to each other) to find out more about her are:

  • Edna’s Place – A great blog. Not updated very often (something I can relate to) but has oodles of info
  • EdnaPurviance.org – The first Edna site I came across many years ago. Also has extensive database of Chaplin books and documentaries. French version is here.
  • Leading Ladies – Started by Edna’s grand nieces, Lita and Ellie Hill, and later partnered with Linda Wada (of the above two sites) to help preserve Edna’s memory. You can also buy “The Sea Gull”, a book about the film that was going to be Edna’s last film, but mysteriously destroyed by Chaplin.

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, classic comedy, History, movies, Nostalgia, Silent movies Tagged with: , , , , , ,

January 7th, 2019 by Calvero

I don’t know if “reluctant” is exactly the right word, but it’s the closest word I can think of. Maybe “gradual” is a better word.

Charlie Chaplin is one of those people who just always seemed to have existed. My whole life I have known who he was. Or, should I say, I always knew who the Little Tramp was. Everybody does. Just in silhouette people recognize him. But it was several years before I saw Chaplin without his ultra famous costume on.

Now, I wasn’t crazy about old movies. Silent movies even less so. They were old, usually in black and white, and boring. And silents? No talking? Are you kidding me? The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life were the only ones that I liked. But Chaplin snuck up on me, bit by bit.

One of the earliest memories was Maria from (old school) Sesame Street impersonating him on the show.

Then there was catching a part of a (then new) Chaplin documentary, Unknown Chaplin, when I was 10ish (that doc will show up later in the challenge 😉 ). While it would be a few more years before I became a fan, that one viewing stuck in my memory. Loved how it told the making of (what I found out much later) The Gold Rush.

When I was well into my teens (circa 1989), I got the huge book “Chronicle of the 20th Century” which had small newspaper like articles that covered various historical world events of the last century as if they were happening in the present. And Chaplin was in there. A lot. And I thought to myself “If I was a fan of his, I would love this book even more”.

What really got me hooked was after I became a fan of classic comedy (that started about 1986, when I was 13). It started with the Smothers Brothers. I collected anything (mostly albums) that I could get my hands on. On Dick Smothers solo album Saturday Night at the World, there was a song (side 1, track 4) called “Smile” which I just loved .

I looked on the back of the album to see who wrote it: C. Chaplin, J. Turner, and G. Parsons. Seeing the C. Chaplin, I thought “Is that Charlie Chaplin? The Little Tramp guy? He wrote music too?”.

And when I watched Tom and Dick in interviews, they talked about the comedians who came before them and who they looked up to. That got me curious about those others. I got into Abbott and Costello around 1989. In two different A&C books I saw, for the first time (that I know of), a picture of Chaplin out of costume, which really through me for a loop:

Where’s his mustache? What, it wasn’t real? And his HAIR! It’s WHITE!

And then a short time after that, I got into Laurel and Hardy. While reading “Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy” by John McCabe, I read the story that Stan told about being Chaplin’s understudy back in England during their music hall days.

The guys in the middle: Stan (with necktie), and Charlie (no tie)

In it, Stan recalls a story of when the comedy troupe they were in came to America. Both of them were wondering around town when suddenly nature called. There were no public bathrooms, so they went into a saloon. Being proper English gentlemen, they felt they should buy something before using the facilities. So they each bought drinks, quickly gulped them, and then ran to the saloon’s bathrooms. I busted out laughing imagining this happening.

All that was left to finish the job of me becoming a fan was actually watching one of his movies. It was on the tv show “Dead Comics Society” on the Comedy Network (now Comedy Central). It was hosted by Robert Klein. I happened to catch it playing “Modern Times”

A trailer for a re-release of Modern Times (seems to be made around the late 40s, early 50s ?)

I didn’t think I could laugh at a movie as hard or as long as I did this one. The machine feeding Charlie in the factory had my sides hurting from laughing so much! The roller skating scene was amazing. And wow, is it packed with social commentary. And a bit of foreshadowing of Chaplin’s own life. And I discovered where “Smile” came from.

I was a full throttle fan by the time “Chaplin” came out in early 1993. I owned and read a few books, and watched a bunch more movies. Amazed by the fact that he acted, wrote, directed, composed music, produced, built his own studio, co-founded a film corporation, often all at the same time for a number of his films. I watched “Chaplin” in the theater three times, and could tell what was accurate, impressed with some Easter Eggs, and sometimes had me thinking “Where the heck did *that* come from?”. (More thoughts on that movie will show up later in the challenge).

There’s a lot of aspects to Charlie’s life that mad me laugh, cry, be baffled, impressed, roll my eyes, and feel angry (seriously 1952 America? seriously?). As Chaplin said in the beginning of “The Gentleman Tramp” documentary, “I went through a hell of a lot.”

The one thing he is not? Boring.

Posted in Charlie Chaplin, classic comedy, movies, Nostalgia, Personal, Silent movies Tagged with: , , , , ,

January 4th, 2019 by Calvero

Five years ago, I posted 3 Chaplin articles (Doctor Who meets Charlie Chaplin. Sort of – Comic Book Review, Sherlock Holmes – Charlie Chaplin connections, Matching a Charlie Chaplin film with music ) to celebrate his 125th birthday and the 100th anniversary of his first films. This year I have bumped it up to a 30 day challenge!

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 🙂

Posted in books, Charlie Chaplin, classic comedy, film soundtracks, History, movies, Music, Nostalgia, Silent movies, Soundtracks Tagged with: , , , ,