Charlie Chaplin

Charles Spencer Chaplin rose from abject poverty on London’s backstreets to Hollywood royalty. Almost a century after he last graced our screens, his Little Tramp remains instantly recognisable. However, his political views meant he was not always revered, particularly in his adopted home of America.

Early Life and Background

He was born on 16th April 1889 in Walworth, South London, to music-hall singer Charles Chaplin Senior and actress and vocalist Hannah Chaplin. His parents separated when he was about one-year-old. His father, an alcoholic, did little to support his poverty-stricken family. Chaplin’s mother suffered from mental illness and was first committed to an asylum when he was nine years old. Even before her repeated absences, the family would regularly live in workhouses and charity institutions. Because of the harsh conditions, he developed a strong sense of empathy for the poor and marginalised, a theme he frequently explored in his films.

Chaplin first performed on stage with a clog-dancing troupe called the Eight Lancashire Lads around 1898. When he was twelve, he won a small but important role as Billy the page boy in stage productions of Sherlock Holmes.

Stage apprenticeship and move to film

By the mid-1900s, Chaplin was working in music-hall. His first big break came when he joined Fred Karno’s famous comedy troupe in February 1908. He quickly established himself as a star member of the troupe as “The Drunk” in a sketch known as A Night in an English Music Hall. Chaplin toured the United States with the troupe, which also included another top comic among its ranks: Stan Laurel.

In 1913, Chaplin signed with Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Company, earning about $150 a week. His early shorts for Keystone were broad slapstick, but he rapidly developed a more nuanced, character-based comedy style when he began writing and directing his own material.

Creation of the Little Tramp

Chaplin assembled the elements of his iconic ‘Little Tramp’ costume - bowler hat, toothbrush moustache, tight coat, baggy trousers and cane - in early 1914. The character immediately resonated with audiences, thanks to his comic blend of dignity, resilience, clumsiness and sentimentality. Within a year, he was one of cinema’s most recognisable faces.

Chaplin left Keystone for Essanay in December 1914, then moved to Mutual in 1916. He later recalled his time at Mutual, where he made such two-reel classics as The Floorwalker (1916), The Fireman (1916), One AM (1916), Easy Street (1917), The Cure (1917), The Immigrant (1917) and The Adventurer (1917), as the happiest of his career, but left in 1918 to join First National as an independent producer. Each move earned the star a generous wage increase and greater artistic control.

United Artists and major silent features

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded United Artists with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith, which allowed him to finance and control his own productions. This meant he could spend more time writing, directing, producing, and editing. Such artistic freedom meant his output slowed considerably, but he continued to create a hit with each release.

His films at this time include:

• The Kid (1921): His first feature, combining pathos and comedy in the story of a tramp and an abandoned child, played by Jackie Coogan.

• A Woman of Paris (1923): A sophisticated drama in which he appeared only briefly.

• The Gold Rush (1925): A tale set during the Klondike Gold Rush, which is today considered one of his masterpieces.

• The Circus (1928): An underrated work when released that many critics consider among his funniest films.

  
  

During this period, Chaplin refined his style, blending visual gags with social commentary and emotional depth.

Confronting sound: City Lights and Modern Times

The transition from silent pictures to talkies proved difficult for silent comedians. Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd both saw their careers decline as they struggled to adapt. Chaplin simply ignored it, releasing City Lights as a silent film in 1931, almost two years after the rest of Hollywood had embraced talking pictures. Today, historians consider the film about a tramp who befriends a blind flower girl to be one of his greatest achievements.

He again resisted full dialogue in Modern Times (1936), incorporating only a song the Little Tramp sings in gibberish into the otherwise silent picture. The film satirised modern mechanised life while confronting industrialisation and factory regimentation. It marked the Little Tramp’s last appearance in a feature film.