New Chaplin Books and CDs

Has anyone out there seen either of the two new CC cds - The Chaplin Revue soundtrack on MCA/Decca or the new Chaplin/Carl Davis cd on BMG?

Also while browsing on www.amazon.com, a big online bookstore, I found reference to two yet to be published books on CC:

Charlie Chaplin : The Beauty of Silence (Impact Biography); Alan Schroeder; Hardcover (Not Yet Published)

Charlie Chaplin and His Times; Kenneth S. Lynn; Hardcover; $35.00 (Not Yet Published)

Does anyone know about these?

Quoting Ms. Milton:

No problem. If it's as bad as Milton's book we'll just have to have another auto-de-fe. More crispy bits for the salad, Tom.

Connie K.

: *absolutely beautiful* booklet insert. One of the ones we got (thanks : Hooman) was misprinted with every other page blank, so check closely. As : with Carl Davis product, it's very good. My only complaint is that it : feels 'segmented.' You get selections from THE KID, THE GOLD RUSH, THE : CIRCUS, CITY LIGHTS and MODERN TIMES - pieces which span a much larger : career - sort of like a 'Chaplin's Greatest Hits' collection.

Hi David -

Thanks for the info on the Davis cd. On the list, as soon as it shows up here. Hooman told me about the Chaplin Revue cd - it's a re-release of the original LP. Let me know if it turns up there in LA.

: Don't know anything about the Alan Schroeder book, but if we find out : we'll post and let you know.

: As to the Kenneth Lynn book, I'll cite no less an authority than our : favorite unbiased Chaplin 'scholar' and critic, Ms. Joyce Milton, who : told Bonnie during their lunch interview in June:

: 'There's a guy named Kenneth Lynn who is coming out with a book which I : guess is mainly Charlie's politics, which I think I covered pretty well. : I don't know what's left for him to say. He's on the board of the : American Spectator.'

: Additional word has it that the book is due out the first of the year. : *I* can hardly wait. NOT!

: David

Not another politics book! What's the point? Maybe it's because all these right wing pinheads can't appreciate art and feel the need to agrandize themselves by hanging on to 50's style red scare opinions, even though communism is practically a non-entity in the 90's. There's so much more to Chaplin than politics.

Maybe we should hope that this fellow does stick to politics

Well, what do you expect? After all, we're too busy trying to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Education and the Environment, starve babies and kick old people out into the street.

Not a non-entity. Just going by a different name these days.

Now there we agree, but I wonder if we would agree that it's when Chaplin *does* let his politics take over he's at his very, very worst.

What name do you mean? Liberal?

: > There's so much more to Chaplin than politics. : Now there we agree, but I wonder if we would agree that it's when Chaplin : *does* let his politics take over he's at his very, very worst.

Not necessarily. I think the worst thing I can say about his politics was that he was naive. His heart was always in the right place.

I doubt that that's what any neocon actually wants. But it might come close to being the practical result of what they want. Where did many of these homeless people come from? From mental institutions which the state governments stopped supporting. I don't know if that was a BETTER way of handling the problem, but it was certainly TIDIER. I'd like to return to the day when I could go into the public library in Chicago without having a homeless person who hasn't had a bath for six weeks perfuming the air of the reading room.

???????? Now don't tell me Ted Kennedy is really a Communist in disguise! Don't know about you, but I hope we don't return to a mentality which identifies Progressivism and Liberalism with Communism. That's as silly as identifying Conservatism with Nazism and Facism.

No, I don't agree. What makes Chaplin more interesting and substantial than any other silent comedian (IMO) or than most silent filmmakers is that his films do make incisive (and surprisingly durable) social comments, mainly by making us aware of the absurdity of the status quo. But it's futile to try to identify him with any specific political philosophy. Take _Modern Times_, for example. He didn't like exploitation of workers, but he didn't like unions either. So where does the film come down? On the side of common sense, I'd say.

You're probably thinking of _Verdoux_, but one could make a case that that film basically argues for the dignity of the individual and the corrupting influence of systems. Sounds Libertarian or Anarchistic to me.

Connie K.

I don't get it. I have a copy of "Charlie Chaplin and his times" by Kenneth S. Lynn. It is one of my favorite Chaplin books, mostly because of its selatious details. I can't remenber when it was published. I bought mine on amazon as I recall, and I'm sure I disn't pay anywhere near that for it.

JeT