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The Circus Clippings 114/376

Margaret Chute, Picture-Play, New York, February 1927.

CHAPLIN GAINS RAPIDLY.

      Actor Feels „Splendid,“ Says Lawyer – Takes

      Automobile Drive.

      Charlie Chaplin, motion picture comedian, is recovering

rapidly from the breakdown that followed institution by his wife,

Lita Grey Chaplin, of a suit for divorce.

      Yesterday he was feeling „splendid,“ said his lawyer,

Nathan Burkan, at whose apartment at 1,136 Fifth Avenue

the comedian is stopping while in Nw York. He took

a short automobile ride during the afternoon, Mr. Burkan added.

Neither he nor Mr. Chaplin expected to leave for

California to appear in answer to the suit „for some time

yet,“ he said.

(...) New York Times, Jan. 24, 1927

„He expresses through his face, his hands, his agile figure“

Editorial content. „Two Dreams Come True

      Charlie Chaplin at last films his long-cherished tale

      of a circus clown, and in the course of the

      production an envoy from home, an English journalist,

      visits the studio and at last meets her idol.

      She tells in the story below her impressions of her

      famous fellow countryman at work.

      By Margaret Chute

      IT was the blazer that attracted my attention first

of all. Within the circus tent, on the orderly studio

lot nestling between Sunset Boulevard and La Brea Avenue,

all was dim, cool, and shady; and from the surrounding

neutral tones that blazer sprang to my sight like a burst of

fireworks.

      He who was wearing it, a slender little man with a shock

of curly hair, stood with his back to me, talking

to an electrician. So for several minutes I enjoyed the full

radiance of that orange-and-royal-blue-striped

blazer. Then its wearer turned, and I met Charlie Chaplin

for the first time.

      At the sound of his voice, low and crisp, with

an unmistakable not of London in it, I wanted to hug him;

he represented ,home‘ to me – six thousand

miles away. Simultaneously, like a couple of vaudeville

patter performers, we exclaimed: ,It‘s good to hear

a London voice!‘ Whereat we both laughed.“ (...)

      „Between that day and the afternoon when I saw him

at work with the lions, I found out one or two

special characteristics of this strange, emotional man.

For instance, Charlie loves to spring surprises

on his studio staff. He has three dressing rooms – one

at home, two at the studio. Sometimes, when

he is not expected to work, he arrives early in the morning,

fully made up, and chuckles like a child because

he has fooled the staff!

      To them all he is known as ,He‘ or ,Charlie.‘ Each morning

the staff await his arrival. As the car drives in, his

camera man, Roland Totheroh, always called ,Rollie,‘ lets

out a yell – ,He‘s here!‘ Then every one charges

into the projection room, along with Charlie, to see the

,rushes‘ of the previous day‘s work. Sometimes

he is elated at what he sees; sometimes he gets mad, and

may change whole sequences.“ (...)

      „Charlie wears himself out over his work, as I realized

after only five minutes of watching him making

a scene. His energy is immense. Often, when a scene

really pleases him, he orders a retake, anyway

– just for fun!“ (...)

      „It was a really hot day when I watched him making

scenes in a lion‘s cage, with the assistance

of the lion, a trained dog, the trainer of the lion, the man

who trained the dog, his camera staff, his publicity

manager, and others. Only Chaplin was in make-up; the others

sat in canvas chairs under big umbrellas, or stood

behind the cameras. Inside the lion‘s cage, with trainers

shouting, camera men grinding away and calling

directions, the dog barking and the lion giving vent to healthy

roars, Charlie played five or six difficult scenes,

working like an express train.

      He rehearses quietly, speaking the words that tell

the story of the scene. But once the cameras

start, he hardly speaks at all; instead he expresses through

his face, his hands, his agile figure, all he has been

saying before. He becomes a mass of nervous energy,

like a human dynamo, and for two or three minutes

he works with the force of a dozen men.“ (...)

      Three photos.

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