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Charlie Chaplin

Both Chaplin and Hitler were born in April 1889. Chaplin’s mother, was a singer, a soubrette, a mender of old clothes. She was incarcerated in asylums, put in a padded cell and given shock treatments. All the flower-sellers and wistful prostitutes in Chaplin’s films represent the doomed love he’d experienced as a child. His father died of drink. Chaplin was despatched to the Southwark workhouse, then to a school for orphans.
Vladimir Lenin said that ‘Chaplin is the only man in the world I want to meet.’ Chaplin stayed with Churchill at Chartwell and at Nancy Astor’s house. He met Bernard Shaw and Keynes. H.G. Hitler watched Сhaplin’s The Great Dictator at a private screening — twice. Both were short and sported an identical mustache. Each man ‘appealing to millions of people with an almost mesmeric magic’.
His assistant director called him a ‘tyrannical, wounding, authoritative, mean, despotic man’. ‘The violence of his anger was always so out of proportion to the object that had stirred him that I couldn’t help being frightened of it,’ said one of his sons. Offered numerous prizes and awards, he once said: ‘I don’t think you are qualified to judge my work,’ returning a trophy.
His political beliefs were branded as a communist. His sexual scandals upset morality. In 1952, his re-entry visa to the United States was rescinded, so he moved to a villa in Switzerland.
He died on Christmas day 1977. His coffin was stolen by grave robbers, who phoned one of his wives and the co-star of The Gold Rush, hoping they could make a ransom demand. ‘We’ve got Chaplin,’ they announced. ‘So what?’ she said, slamming down the phone.
[D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin (seated) and Douglas Fairbanks at the signing of the contract establishing United Artists motion picture studio]
55 Media in collection ∙ page 1 of 1

First St. Joseph's Hospital, Chatham, Ontario

In 1890, a meeting was held between Reverend Paul, O.F.M. of St. Joseph's Parish, Reverend Mother Ignatia Campbell, and Mother Aloysia Nigh, along with some of the prominent doctors of Chatham. They decided tha... more

Funny party resting after their sport making

soldiers taking a rest from entertaining their comrades in traditional vaudeville style. Judging by the other photos in this 'Horse Show' series, the men on horses in the background would also have been enterta... more

Friend of a motor transport section placed in position by the roadside in France

Charlie Chaplin scarecrow, France, during World War I. This rather bizarre and macabre photograph shows two soldiers, identified in the caption as members of a transport unit, laughing at a scarecrow figure dre... more

Charlie Chaplin talking to a Scot

In his traditional garb of bowler hat, ill-fitting coat and walking cane, a Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) impersonator entertains a Scottish officer with his imitation of the clowns popular music hall slapstick a... more

[John P. Sousa, Charlie Chaplin, and Clifford Harmon, full-length portrait, standing, facing front]

Photo shows group probably gathered for the concert where Chaplin conducted the Sousa band at the Hippodrome, New York City, Feb. 20, 1916.

[John Philip Sousa in band uniform standing with Charlie Chaplin]

Photo shows group probably gathered for the concert where Chaplin conducted the Sousa band at the Hippodrome, New York City, Feb. 20, 1916.

Market Square, Letterkenny

Centuries of transport methods colliding in the bustling Market Square at Letterkenny in Donegal.....Date: 1928??..From Wikipedia, Donegal motor registration numbers were: IH 1 to IH 9999 (Dec 1903 - Jan 1952).... more

Lyric Theatre, Third Avenue between 12th and 13th street, Ma...

Digital ID: 482715. Lyric Theatre, Third Avenue between 12th and 13th street, Manhattan.. Abbott, Berenice -- Photographer. April 24, 1936. .Notes: Code: III.D.1. Box office and marquee of Lyric theater, m... more

Old age pensioner in Surry Hills alley with stick, Aug 1949, from Series 02: Sydney people & streets, 1948-1950, photographed by Brian Bird

Format: Photograph..Find more detailed information about this photographic collection: <http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=111061..From the collection of the State Library of New Sout... more

Charlie Chaplin in the vagabond / Greenwich Litho. Co. N.Y.

Motion picture poster for "The Vagabond" starring Charlie Chaplin, showing him playing a fiddle for a woman washing clothes in a washtub.

Charlie Chaplin in the vagabond / Greenwich Litho. Co. N.Y.

Motion picture poster for "The Vagabond" starring Charlie Chaplin, showing him playing a fiddle for a woman washing clothes in a washtub.