The Adventurer Clippings 7/84
Carlyle Robinson, Screamer/Motion Picture Times, L. A., July 21, 1917.
Carlyle Robinson
(...) Photo, Photoplay, April 1929, detail
„It has served the masses for three years“
Editorial content. „FUN IN BEING FUNNY (Chaplin)
By Carlyle Robinson
There are few in the civilized world and wherever motion
pictures are a source of entertainment, that have not
at some time or another turned to Charlie Chaplin in their quest
for a good hearty laugh. It is in this manner that they are
amused but they have ever stopped to figure out in which direction
the greatest comedian of all times turns, for amusement
for himself.
At present Chaplin is engaged in the manufacture of laughter.
Not just smiles but laughter of the spontaneous,
side-splitting, tear-producing variety, which seldom fails to run
convulsions of mirth. There is nothing forced about
the laugh that goes with Chaplin. It is natural. The sort that drives
away all gloom and makes life worth while.
Where does this new Charlemagne, this Grand
Mogul of the screen, this King of Jesters, find
the same enjoyment in life, that he puts into life for others?
All sorts of theories have been exploited on the
subject of Charles the Great‘s self amusement. No one seems
to have hit the nail on the head, however, for there
are but three ways in which his hours of recreation amuse.
Literature and music are two of Charlie‘s
amusement producers. Great writers amuse Chaplin more than
anything else. Above all others he finds that which has
been written upon the pages of the twenty volumes of the ,Book
of Knowledge‘ a wonderful tonic. Voltaire‘s Philosophical
Dictionary occupies another warm spot in Chaplin‘s heart and
he also enthuses over the works of Shakespeare. Mark
Twain‘s writings have always amused him and he has burst
forth in spasms of laughter while sauntering through
Schopenhauer‘s pessimistic theories.
When the brain becomes dizzy and the eyes tired of books
more amusement is left for Chaplin in music. It makes
no difference what the instrument he can play it. But of all the
violin is his favorite with the piano a close second.
Hours at a time will find Charlie working on some melody. He may
play the same thing over hundreds of times, and all of
his own creation and then suddenly some suggestion will come
to him, changing the entire recital. Chaplin has arranged
thousands of melodies but not for public use. Merely for his own
amusement.
There is still one remaining method by which he amuses
himself and that is probably the greatest of them all.
It is the great effort he puts in life to amuse others. This is the
serious amusement of his make-up that has swayed
all humanity into laughter.
In his search for amusement Charlie discovered that the
human body is the chief incongruity of life. The secret
of mirth, however, is embodied in his own formula. There is
no question but what his recipe is correct, for it has
served the masses for three years, with each succeeding
twelve months finding greater demand than ever
for it, until at last the Chaplin variety of amusement stock is
bringing more than a million dollars for eight doses.“
Carlyle Robinson is Chaplin‘s press agent.
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