Chaplin Fantasies

by:Je’Tamme Derouet

   Of the eleven children by Charlie Chaplin, ten survived. Most went on to do some pretty fascinating things which have been well documented over the years. Geraldine going on with her acting career and of course Charles Jr. and Sydney. And still many of the others with they’re various artistic interests. Even some of the grandchildren have gotten into show business.

  One day I was looking at one of the family photos, taken on the estate in Vevey. There they all were,… (Well most of them anyway).  All lined up in a row like little Chaplin ducks. Snow covering the ground, with them all bundled up nice and tight, when I noticed there on the ground a little basket with a baby. I’d seen it many times before, but I’d never looked at it with such intense focus. Then I gasped as I remembered the words in one of the many Chaplin books I’d read, “And the youngest child (Christopher James) was just 15 when his father died”. Suddenly I leapt from my chair! In all my research on Chaplin’s life, I’d forgotten clean about the baby!

  I remembered thinking even back then when I read it, how vulnerable and frightened he his mother Oona must have felt, all alone in that great big house with his father just having passed, having been the center of their world all those years.

   I slumped back into my chair with an overwhelming sinking feeling, as it reminded me of how captured we all were with that picture of John Kennedy Jr.,  standing so bravely at full salute at his father’s funeral when he was about 4 years old. A single iconic image that would reduce anyone to tears. This is the same emotion I felt looking at that little basket and thinking about that baby and the awesome responsibility he must have felt at 15 for his mother, and for his name. Chaplin. 

 Then suddenly I leapt up again and started doing the math. Let’s see, 15, that’s,. And its 2010. Ok When was he born?  1962! Oh my God, he’s my age! Suddenly it brought back those feelings we all had when John Jr. grew up to become such a beautiful and interesting man, and how we all swooned.

(Now those of you ladies whom have secret or not so secret fantasies about Charlie Chaplin will know straight where my delusional head went at this precise moment!)

  I wonder if he’s still around. If so, is he married? Kids? What has he been doing all these years and how come we haven’t heard much?  So I jumped back online and my fingers started flying as I thought, “He’s got to be somewhere”. Again, my delusion still fully intact and full steam ahead.  Not surprisingly I soon uncovered some interesting facts.

  It seems Christopher James Chaplin (born 6 July 1962 in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland) is an actor who appeared in the film Total Eclipse as the character Charles Cros, as well as in other rolls.

  Interesting indeed. But where is he now, specifically?  You’d think if he was an actor, he’d be easier to find. Not so. It took me awhile, but I actually found him!  By all accounts, though he has traveled extensively, he appears to be living very happily in London among people who love him. He is married, loves flying planes and the outdoors, and has an amazing career in music, even lending his sound to some movies along the way. With the few bits I’ve been able to uncover, he appears to shy away from the press.  And looking over the dozen or so of photographs, naturally I couldn’t help drawing comparisons with he and his father. Thin and lean with the same toothy smile and a shy unassuming look in his eyes. His head of thick black hair and good looks.

  But when I saw his picture for the first time on MySpace, (the one of him holding up a camera), I was stunned! So much so, that here’s what I wrote to him about it…

… Fantasy is defined as illusion, or mental image. I spend my life trying to spin words into images. Opening a vein and dripping my soul across the page. Arranging and re arranging like pieces of a puzzle, in desperate attempt to weave my reality into fantasy. With nervous hope that the words alone will carry enough power to make the mental images burst into life, with enough intensity to pull one effortlessly down the page. It is my passion.  But one that often brings much joyous frustration.

    Yet here you are, with but a single still image, powerful enough to write a thousand fantasies, filled with such promise and hope, drawing us into it gently and yet so completely. Begging the question,…

What is on the other side of the camera that gives you such a provocative expression?

   Is it porn or a new puppy? Is it an exciting new beginning, or a wonderfully familiar scene that reminds you of home and the smell of freshly baked cookies? Perhaps there’s a birthday cake!  And a gift with a great big bow! Or a magically intimate encounter for two, in one safe place in time when you’re completely uninhibited and all is possible in the flash of a button.

    In the darkness of night, each of us has our own very unique and very private hungers. So instead of defining it clearly by writing volumes of what it means to me, perhaps it’s better to let others read their own fantasy into it. In the end, I think it’s an image that forces us to keep looking back in vein, hoping beyond hope, that this time, the fantasy that the image promises, will be delivered. Some might even call it Chaplinesque…

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  Christopher James Chaplin:

Now THAT is art! So for all of the above, and oh so much more, I think the photo should be captioned

 “What’s Your Fantasy?”…

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As fans we’ll never get to meet Charlie Chaplin. We can only glean bits of what he must have really been like from his work, his writing,… and from what so many others have written about him. The rest in some measure will forever be a mystery. But we do have his children and grandchildren….

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 And we DO have the littlest Chaplin,… the frightened 15 year old, the baby in the basket, who with his father’s toothy, shy smile, full head of thick black hair and good looks, but with his own talents and flavor, grew up to become the hot sexy new 2010 Chaplin. This talented musician and actor, when it comes to Chaplin fantasies, may well be the one Chaplin that could possibly eclipse his father. After all, he is here now.

 This begs the question, “What’s your Chaplin Fantasy?”

 Thoughts anyone?

Hello, I am new to this site. I have read some 16 books and countless articles and interviews and have seen almost every movie he ever made several times  so far  and I confess the more I read on charlie Chaplin, the more baffled and fascinated I become with this man. I don’t seem to be alone. Most people I talk to who have done any extensive research on this him seem to agree. I just finished “Chaplin A Life” and I must admit it really wraps up quite nicely all the information I knew about him from a psycological point of view. I doupt someone who didn’t know much about him would get as much out of it, but I simply love the way the author hits the major highlights of his real life as a child and then dovetails them into so many different scenes in his movies and real life as an adult.  Also, the connection between his fathers May 9th death and then his mothers may 9th mental meltdown two years later was fascinating.

But it never really dawned on me until the other night when I watching “The Great Dictator” again and I cought his speach right at the end. The last line was “Look up, Hannah. The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow-into the light of hope, into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up”.

 Of course this was meant for Hannah, the girl in the movie who had been terribly abused as a jew, but I immediately tied it for the first time to his real life mother “Hannah” and I gasped, remembering they’re touching story and life together when he was a child. And how he’d desperately wanted to save her from starvation and madness. This speach was for her, at least in spirit. And that made it so much more beautiful. Thoughts anyone?

Obviously only just began my idea…but basically, living near London, and right next to Cane Hill (you guys should know that place!)…I decided that there should be a museum in or near Lambeth, London.

There is NOTHING in London that represents anything about Chaplin…except for a walk you can go on round Lambeth but that’s only if you’re an expert in knowing the places to go. And the exhibition in the London Movieum, to be honest, isn’t THAT great.

So the idea I have is to have a Chaplin Area…not sure what to call it! But will be a museum. Recreating the screet of Pownall Terrace…so would be a T-Junction street, much like what he uses in most of his films, such as Easy Street.

Each house would represent one of his major films…

So:

Short Films inc. A Woman from Paris                          The Kid

The Gold Rush                                                        The Circus

City Lights                                                              Modern Times

The Great Dictator                                                   Later Films - Monsieur Verdoux, A King in New York and Countess

Each building would represent something from his films or past. Each house will have mini docs on the specific film, as well as info about the film…the inspiration from it…replicas of props…as well as being activities in each house as well such as face painting for kids complete with plastic hat…painting your own Chaplin picture…a Chaplin impersonator walking around…have photos dressed as Chaplin…with Chaplin…be taught how to do The Tramp walk etc etc

At the end of the street there would be a park with bronze statue of Charlie, Edna and a Policeman as well as a bench.

As you enter the place, when you walk in there will be a cafe that represents the hut from The Gold Rush. At the beginning of the street would a small scaled down replica of Aldershot Music Hall, complete with museum of about Chaplin, as well as a mini movie theatre to watch his shorts and have Chaplin talks.

The office and IT departement etc would be a replica of his office at his studios…the English Village style…gift shop be  replica of a circus tent….the entrance of the whole place will look like Lambeth Workhouse from the outside.

There’s a few more ideas in there but that means going into a great amount of detail. But it’s just an idea. I hate the fact that London have NOTHING to honour a guy who helped shape cinema and the fact that he came from London…there should be something there!

Don’t know if this idea will work…but it will take a lot of planning! Haha :) Good thing I’m doing a degree in Events Management! lol

So this is my first blog it seems.

Hhhhhmmm…my friends think I’m mad with my fascination of Chaplin. I think it’s nice because it’s different to other fascinations most people my age have nowadays.

I need to start coming up with blue prints for my Chaplin museum idea. It’s great! And I’m studying Events Management in Music and Media…so I know what I’m doing at least :)

David Lean

If David Lean was alive today he would be celebrating 100!

He started his film career from the bottom as a clap board assistant, and work his way up. in the 1930 he was working on news reels and and his career in film began in 1935 with “Escape Me Never”

He edited countless films since then among others Pygmalian (Bernard Shaw play) in 1938 and “A Passage to India” (1984) which he chose to both direct and edit, and was nominated for Academy Awards for the directing editing and writing of the film.

Among the well known movies he directed are Dr Ziavago and Oliver Twist (He directed many more of course)

The public seemed to love his movies and “Dr Ziavago” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Bridge on the River Kwai”, which are among the largest grossing films ever seem to prove that  point.

This admiration was not all across the board and a lot of the critics had nothing good to say about his film making.(I guess you can’t win them all - and the longevity of his work speaks for itself.

His Centenial is being marked in numerous ways - to find out more details  From the Cheap Seats

Finally, to get a taste of what David Lean was about - here is the trailer for Oliver Twist.

Oliver Twist Trailer