My principal thanks remain to the late Lady Chaplin, who gave me full access to Sir Charles’s working papers, without seeking to impose the restraints implied in an ‘authorized’ biography, which this assuredly is not. I am also grateful to her children for their kindness and patience. It was in large part due to the urging of Victoria Chaplin, her husband Jean-Baptiste Thierrée and their friend David Gothard that I first undertook the book. Nor could it have been possible without the wholehearted co-operation of Miss Rachel Ford, who was for many years responsible for ordering and maintaining the Chaplin archives, and her successors Pam Paumier and Kate Guyonvarch, who have become cherished personal friends. I received great courtesy and kindness from the household staff at Vevey in the 1980s – Renato, Gino, Mirella, Fernanda and the late ‘Kay-Kay’ McKenzie – during my stays there.
An important personal link with Chaplin was Jerry Epstein. He had been Chaplin’s producer and assistant, and became my agent. Even more important was his great gift of friendship which, like Chaplin himself, I was privileged to share. He urged me to embark upon this book for several years before I finally found courage to attempt it.
In sharing the mass of material they assembled during the years of research for their incomparable film series Unknown Chaplin, Kevin Brownlow and the late David Gill far exceeded any ordinary calls of friendship or scholarship. Not a week went by without an envelope in the post, addressed in Brownlow’s meticulous hand, containing some new discovery turned up in his monumental files. Al and Candy Reuter were no less generous in searching out rare stills and posters not represented in the Chaplin collection. The late Inman Hunter freely made available the treasures of his own collection, including the personal papers of Edna Purviance, which after his death passed to the British Film Institute.
I am particularly indebted to the pioneer researches of David Clegg and the late Harold Manning, who spent years combing public archives and the volumes of The Era in the Birmingham Public Library. Mr Manning, when I knew him, was a vigorous nonagenarian with a store of vivid theatrical memories that went back to his first Christmas pantomime in 1899. He was, in addition, a scrupulous and indefatigable scholar, whose advice often proved invaluable. David Clegg’s own listings have made a major contribution to the record of Chaplin’s theatrical appearances which appears in the appendices.
Research in the archives of the Greater London Record Office produced much new evidence of Chaplin’s childhood years; and here I owe a particular debt to Mr Alan Neate, the former Record Keeper for the Director-General, who had over the years carefully noted every Chaplin reference that surfaced. Mr Neate also drew my attention to the discovery by Mrs Weston of the record of Hannah Chaplin’s and her father’s adult baptisms.
Others in this country to whom I am especially grateful are Roy Waters, who helped me with research on Sherlock Holmes and has lent or given me rare photographs from his collection; the late Peter Cotes, whose The Little Fellow, written with Thelma Niklaus, remains one of the best appreciations; Colin Sorenson of the Museum of London, who has passed on a note of any Chapliniana that has come under his eye; Tony Barker, for music hall references; John Whitehorn of Francis, Day and Hunter for dating the songs of Charles Chaplin Senior; Peter Jewell and the late Bill Douglas for advice and pictures; John and William Barnes, for their inexhaustible knowledge and unquenchable curiosity; Ken Wlaschin, whose eagle eye has often spotted a reference, a postcard or a music sheet; Miss Kathleen Saintsbury for memories of her father; Mrs Fred Karno Junior for her recollections of the Karno troupes. I am also grateful to the Garrick Club and its former librarian, the late Dr Geoffrey Ashton, for access to their files of The Era, and Pauline Mason (née Chaplin) for her family recollections.
In the United States, my first debt is to Mark Stock, painter and most dedicated of Chaplinians, who gave me every possible help in Hollywood. Marc Wanamaker was also of inestimable assistance in driving me around the wildernesses of California, giving helpful leads and supplying photographs. Betty Tetrick (née Chaplin) and her late husband Ted were generous hosts and wonderful informants about life at the Chaplin studio; they also lent me rare and precious photographs. Moreover, they introduced me to Wyn Evans (née Ritchie), with her precise and fascinating reminiscences of her parents’ days with Karno and her own meetings with Hannah Chaplin.
Of those who worked with Chaplin, I have enjoyed the privilege of talking to David Raksin, to Marilyn Nash, to Dean Riesner (once the Horrid Child in The Pilgrim), to Eric James. I was also able to interview a number of important collaborators who have since died: Hans Koenekamp, who photographed the first film in which Chaplin appeared in the famous costume; Lita Grey Chaplin; Georgia Hale, the exquisite leading lady of The Gold Rush; Eugène Lourié, the great designer who was art director on Limelight; Dan James, with whom I spent a memorable day at his cliff-edge eyrie at Carmel. I spoke by phone to Virginia Cherrill Martini, Chaplin’s leading lady in City Lights, to Tim Durant, and to Nellie Bly Baker, Chaplin’s first studio secretary. An exceptional experience was to meet William James, who, as the child star Billy Jacobs, had worked at Keystone even before Chaplin arrived there. Anthony Coogan talked to me of his father, and Steve and David Totheroh of their grandfather. I had encouragement, and the inspiration of their own work, from Timothy J. Lyons and Jack McCabe.
Since the original edition of this book appeared, a new generation of Chaplin enthusiasts and scholars has matured. Many of them have become good friends as well as advisers and critics. The dogged enthusiasm of Jeffrey Vance has not only kept my nose to the grindstone, but has been instrumental in ensuring that the memoirs of Lita Grey, Eric James and Eleanor Keaton have seen the light of day. The English expert in film comedy, David Wyatt, made it possible for me to call upon the outstanding research of Brent Walker, in collaboration with Phil Posner and Steve Rydzewski, for revision of the Keystone filmography. David Wyatt also expanded the scenario of His Musical Career. Other valued members of the Chaplin community at the start of the twenty-first century include Glenn Mitchell, compiler of the invaluable Chaplin Encyclopaedia, Hooman Mehran, Professor Frank Scheide, Martin Bentham, A. J. Marriott and Paul Marygold.
A special debt of gratitude is due to Charles Mandelstam in New York, for obtaining the FBI files on Chaplin. I would also like to record with particular appreciation the support I have received, in friendship, interest and encouragement, from Alexander Walker; from Mo and Lynn Rothman; from Peter Rose and Albert Gallichan; from my colleagues at the Giornate del Cinema Muto of Pordenone, especially Piera Patat, Paolo Cherchi-Usai and Livio Jacob; from Laurent Mannoni, exemplar of humane scholarship; and above all from my endlessly patient, lifelong friends Roger Few and Harry Ogle.
At Collins, I must thank Christopher MacLehose, Roger Schlesinger and my editor Ariane Goodman, who nursed the original edition of the book along; and at Penguin, Stefan McGrath, Caroline Pretty and Jane Robertson, a truly indefatigable copy editor, who together have made possible this new and, I believe, much improved version of the book; Michael Page and Michael Paul read the proofs and the latter’s unsparing scrutiny discovered errors that had lain undetected for seventeen years; finally, Peter Stratton’s sympathetic design has given a fresh look to the illustrations.
Embleton, Northumberland, June 1984
London, August 1992
Bath, July 2001