Many people that personally know me know that I am a big Charlie Chaplin fan. I’m not even going to get into his life, the man led an interesting & long one! But I do want to share my thoughts on Charlie Chaplin & why I find him so fascinating. Robert Downey Jr. played a fantastic & convincing Charlie in 1992’s “Chaplin”-fantastic movie, I totally recommend it!





Chapin is an icon; he was extremely popular in the late teens & 1920’s. He has had such an influence on popular culture & although he was famous in a decade so long ago, his little tramp character most certainly will live on forever.


Most people just see Charlie Chaplin as a comic but he was more than that, he was a true artist. He wrote, directed, produced, helped compose music & starred in his own movies. He was a millionaire in a time where $5.00 was a good chunk of change! He had his own studio & was in charge of his career. . It’s not just “The Little Tramp” that made him so memorable but other things as well-ever heard of United Artists?? UA was brought about as a joint venture on February 5, 1919,by Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith. Essentially this meant that they had independence & creative control over their careers.





I am not one for comedy movies, I actually hate them but I do admit that I love to watch the Chaplin in some of his early films (just to name a few) “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” in which he starred with Marie Dressler, “The Rink” &“The Immigrant” I think what I love most about his comedy stuff is the simplicity of it & the emotion portrayed in the films (that goes with all silent films). Raw emotion is what is really portrayed in “The Kid”. When little Jackie Coogan is ripped away from Chaplin by child services…although there is no dialogue, you can feel the emotion & the sadness of what’s taking place.


“Modern Times” is another one of my favorite Chaplin movies. The movie has a deeper meaning-it shows the dawn of a new, modern & industrialized era. In 1936, that’s exactly what was going on. The simplistic days of the 1920’s were long gone. Chaplin managed to make this film a silent; this film starred Paulette Goddard (I’m pretty sure I should have been her :p). I really love the message he is giving in this movie. This is the last movie that starred the character of “The Little Tramp”. The musical score is beautiful and years later the melody was turned into the song, “Smile” (one of my all time favorite songs before I knew Chaplin had any influence on it).


“Limelight” is a mirror image of Chaplin’s professional life at that time. He was dealing being just a forgotten entertainer & the movie shows him dealing with his personal demons. It was 1952 and the days of silent films were long, long ago by that time. It’s a beautiful movie & I feel that it deserved way more recognition.





With the holidays just around the corner, I tend to think about Chaplin around the holidays because he actually passed away on Christmas Day. I like to watch a Chaplin movie on Christmas to pay tribute to such an amazing person. I’m not usually like this with Old Hollywood actor or actresses but there is something about Charlie Chaplin that captivates me.