Charlie Chaplin
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What a little tramp! Charlie Chaplin, who brought laughter to millions worldwide as the
silent “Little Tramp” clown. Born in East Street, Walworth, London on 16 April, 1889, Charles
Spencer Chaplin was the son of a music hall singer and his wife. Charlie Chaplins parents
divorced early in his life, with his father providing little to no support, either financial or
otherwise, leaving his mother to support them as best she could. Chaplins mother Hannah was the
brightest spot in Charlies childhood; formerly an actress on stage, she had lost her ability to
perform, and managed to earn a subsistence living for herself, Charlie, and Charlies older
half-brother Sidney by sewing. She was an integral part of Charlies young life, and he credited her
with much of his success. Sadly, she slowly succumbed to mental illness, and by the time that
Charlie was 7 years old, she was confined to an asylum; Charlie and Sidney were relegated to a
workhouse (a government facility for orphaned and abandoned children).
Furthermore, The Great Dictator was Charlie Chaplins first truly talking picture, and
when it was finally released in 1940, it was a worldwide sensation. In the same year that Charlie
Chaplin began working on The Great Dictator, the House Un-American Committee begins
investigating Charlie. At first glance, there seems to be no reason for this — until the second
glance. Earlier Chaplin had done his patriotic part in raising money for the war effort, alongside
his long time friends Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford – raising large amounts of money for
the war. Charlie was a lifelong pacifist, but he was also a realist who saw that the aggression of
the Axis powers had to be stopped. In many ways, Chaplin was politically naive — such as
speaking at fund raisers for the Communist USSR, whom Chaplin simply saw as our allies in the fight. And by suggesting that America immediately open a two front war to help our “friends” in
the Soviet Union. These were some of the reasons that the government began keeping tabs on the
immigrant film maker. Although he worked for all of these years in America, he maintained his
British citizenship, and had no intention of becoming an American citizen.
Moreover, due to the false rumors that Chaplin was a communist or communist
sympathizer, as well as an organized protest by various unions resulting in theaters refusing to
show his films. Charlie took a vacation to England, wanting to show his new wife and children
his native country. Upon leaving the territorial waters of the United States of America, Charlie
Chaplin received a cable, informing him that the State Department had rescinded his reentry
permit — effectively locking him out of the country as an undesirable alien. There were many
reasons for this — Chaplins unorthodox political views, the false accusation that he was a
Communist, and not least of all, money. There would have been an attempt by the federal
government to seize Chaplins assets, which were enormous. However, his wife Oona returned to
the United States, and promptly took all of the liquid assets, as well as liquidating everything she
could — leaving the government without a penny for its trouble.
However, Chaplins professional pace seemed to be slowing down, to an outside observer.
After all, he was now 69 years old.