Charlie Chaplin: The first world star of cinema

On April 16, 1889, Charles Spencer Chaplin, the son of artists, was born in London, who, as actorhe would become known worldwide by his name, Charlie Chaplin, but also by the name of his cinematic character, which was loved by as few in the history of world cinema, Charlotte.

Charlie Chaplin recorded an impressive career, being a leading personality of silent and speaking cinema, and became a timeless symbol of 7th art, participating in cinematic films, as an actor and then as a creator, from 1910 to 1910.

Charlie Chaplin was the first world star of cinema and through the type of early 20th century we are watching the impact it caused on the days of his great glory.

Charlie Chaplin and Charlie

He writes « FREE STEP » on March 23, 1928, when the frenzy for « Charllo » overwhelmed the world:

« Indeed, there are some types in novels that, once they are arrested in the author’s mind, become independent, live a life of their own and oblige the writer from a creator who was to become their simple biographer.

« Others do not again exceed the personality of their author, such as Don Quixote of Cervantes.

« The same thing happened with the type of » Charllo « that Charlie Chaplin created on the screen. At first, « Charllo » was just a jerk, a poor clown promoted to eat kicks and gamble to laugh at the naive American audience.

« Slowly, however, the type of Charllo was imposed on his creator, and today Charlie Chaplin is no longer his performer. The one who dictates is Charllo.

« And what we see on the screen, with the » goldsmith « , » child « or » horseback « , is the soul, the deep human soul of Charllo.

The poor clowns now tells us his drama – which happens to be the drama of so many people.

»What is Charllo? For me, the man who closes in the treasures of purity, kindness and love, but who does not care because he does not have those external gifts that impress the world and who, because he knows it, always bends his head and stifles with a stoicism – a stern –

« Oh, Sarlo is not just that. Symbolic man, at the same level that Don Quixote or Hamlet, Charllo today expresses various aspects of eternal human tragedy.

« Those who stop in his chants alone, and laugh with them, are the people who either did not come or are unable to go to the depth of the drama. Others, if they laugh at him, do it like Figaro: so they don’t cry …

Towards the end of the 1920s the big jump became a voice. It was a big shock for both the public and the actors and creators. « FREE STEP » publishes Charlie Chaplin’s first impressions:

« My first impression was not good at all. The microphone before which I was posted, it seemed to me as something completely mysterious, I tried to resist all my strengths, I became crimson by the rage, I was screaming and suddenly lit the lights.

»Later I heard my voice amazed. Unfortunately, it is completely impossible to have this first speech of my first film, the filming of which was fifty meters in length. The public would only hear voice and insult!

»In so much I am obliged to admit that things technically made things wonderful. To see my shadow on the screen and listen to her! I admit that we made me a great impression. Too bad I was so rude. « 

The « ATHENS NEWS » of September 20, 1931 publish a text by the English writer and close friend of Charlie Chaplin, Themas Bork.

« What more often does it give you the impression that he is seeking to find the real Charlie Chaplin. This may explain some enigmatic, inexplicable points of its character.

« He explains his external heat and his inner coldness. He explains why he is the only artist in the cinema, who conquered the whole world – because he is like so many millions of obscure people, the Taidiotis who is constantly investigating something better, something that will give him joy, without knowing what he was.

« This is the human instinct, and in all the guard, culture and wild you will find people who have not been reconciled with this instinct.

« It is addressed to the humble and the simple and although they have not inherited the earth, they are still the large volume of its population.

»His vital is incredible. One would say that he consumes the last drama of his life in whatever he undertakes.

« The little kid who slightly takes his breath and feels in every member, in every one of his life in the air, is nothing to do with Charlie’s enormous vitality. »