Comic Actor, Writer, Producer, Director, Film Maker, Composer
Perhaps millions of people, worldwide, knew Charlie Chaplin, as a comic actor who appeared in numerous films specializing in comedic roles; but how many knew him as a musician, singer, instrumentalist, and composer of songs and film music?
Chaplin wrote the music for almost all his films. This came as a complete surprise to me, until I recently heard music composed by Chaplin on the radio. I was astounded, as I had never heard of Chaplin as a composer. Numerous books and articles have been written about Chaplin, but they usually don’t concentrate on Chaplin, the musician and composer.
Early Life: Charles Spencer Chaplin was born April 15th or 16th (the day is disputed), in 1889 in South London, England. His father, Charles, was a music hall star and his mother, Hannah, was a singer in music halls. Young Charlie was exposed to music, dance, acting and singing at a very early age, by both parents. His early years were spent in the English music halls and vaudeville theaters.
At five years of age, Chaplin’s father took him to a music hall where his mother was scheduled to sing. Her voice was weakened, and she couldn’t perform. (Unfortunately, his mother later suffered from mental illness and eventually was committed to an asylum.)
It was decided that the young boy would take her place. “During his performance the audience started to throw money at him; he couldn’t gather it up fast enough. The audience laughed and shouted as they just couldn’t get enough of him. Obviously, this made quite an impression on young Chaplin,” wrote Kenneth S. Lynn, in Charlie Chaplin and His Times. The influence of the English music halls was present in Chaplin’s composing. “It was the music halls that would represent the breath of the streets and the dreams of ‘ordinary’ men and women on the stage,” wrote Simon Louvish, in Chaplin the Tramps Odyssey. “The music halls were his Eton College and his Harrow School for Boys; referring to the schools that he infrequently attended.” In other words, what he heard in the music halls was the basis of his education.
One day, Chaplin was walking around Kennington Cross in South London, when he heard the song, “Honey Suckle and the Bee,” being played by a clarinetist; Chaplin remarked, “It opened my soul to music.”
Chaplin was so enthralled with music he bought a violin. Being left-handed he reversed the strings and the bridge so he could easily play. He also learned to play the piano and cello. Again, he reversed the strings and the bridge on the cello allowing him to play left-handed. He practiced for hours at a time and became proficient on these instruments. He said music cheered him up when he was grim. He wrote,” I strove for a mood, usually music created it.”
Chaplin once heard a Hungarian violinist in a restaurant. He was so intrigued, he stayed four hours until closing time. Later, after 27 years, Chaplin remembered that violinist and brought him to life portraying him in an act, with Buster Keaton on piano.
During the years 1913 to 1919, Chaplin rose to fame in Hollywood. He was considered a super-star of the silent film era, doing a series of short comedies where he introduced his “Little Tramp” character. After 1918 he produced his own feature length films. He was a silent film star who easily transitioned into the “talkie” era. This was the start of a notable career, lasting more than 75 years.
Chaplin’s most famous character, “The Tramp,” was portrayed in five of his films dating from 1921 to 1935. They are: The Kid, The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights, and Modern Times, all became famous, popular movies.
A story that is most likely significant in the creation of the “Tramp” character, is about entertainer, George Robey. He was a music hall favorite who sang comic songs and had a very funny delivery. He dressed in a black clergyman’s coat, wore an ill-fitting bowler hat, elongated shoes and carried a flexible cane. Another prop was his black mustache that took on different permutations for different characterizations. “Could this be where Chaplin got his inspiration for “The Little Tramp?” wrote Simon Louvish, in Chaplin: The Tramps Odyssey.
Regarding Chaplin’s film making, much of it was innate, but he also learned from Mack Sennett, who was known as the “King of Comedy.” Sennett learned from D.W. Griffith, who also influenced the young comic. Chaplin was a tough task-master and disciplinarian and was not afraid of hard work, expecting the same from his employees. He sometimes spent hours and days on one shot in order to make it perfect. Chaplin made more than 70 films in his long career, composing the music for many of them.
In many ways Chaplin felt compelled to compose not only songs, but entire film scores for his many movies that he not only wrote, produced and directed, but starred in himself.
Music and Composing:
(Some information in this section was from Phil Posner’s article: His Musical Career: Chaplin The Perfect Composer)
Chaplin was not formally trained in music. His parents, being in show business in the English music halls, were responsible for his early learning experiences. He was blessed with a keen musical ear and a very good sense of rhythm. As a child, he became aware of the magic and mystery of music. He didn’t understand it, but he loved it.
It must be remembered that a large part of his film making, and acting was in the silent movie era. In this era, it was customary to have some musical accompaniment to go with the action on the screen. The music ranged from a single player on organ or piano all the way to a full symphony orchestra in the larger theaters. Before the 1920s the musical selections were largely left to the discretion of the local musicians. On major productions the studios would send cue sheets to indicate to the musicians what to play in certain scenes. The
purpose of the music was to enhance the dramatic action on the screen, whether comedy or tragedy.
Chaplin became aware of different musical styles both from performances he was in and from those he attended. Ragtime, jazz, show tunes from Broadway, and classical pieces, were often used in his own music, as he was very eclectic in composing.
In his comedic style, emotional content was paramount. He controlled mood in depicting situations and characters that were important for the audience appreciation of the story and the performers. To his credit he was aware of his own limitations as a composer and was not adverse to using arrangers and music directors when he felt he needed them. His music was said to be simple, elegant, romantic, but not too comedic. His first film score, The Kid, was made in 1921, before talkies.
In his music written for the talkies, it was, understandably, more subdued than his music for the silent era. The silent era music played almost an equal role to the action on the screen. Chaplin used a recurring theme or leitmotif, assigned to each character. Again, mood was very important in both depicting situations and characters. He used exciting chase music that added to the excitement and comedic action on the screen. He used short musical phases to accent an action or situation. Usually his music was serious unless he mimicked the action with appropriate music. Many of his musical sequences were dance rhythms—waltzes, tangos and two-steps.
Melodic development was an important part of Chaplin’s music. Some great melodies were assigned to female actresses. His melodies have elements of sweetness, loveliness, touching, and feeling. He re-used some of his own movie themes, he was not above self-borrowing. He also paraphrased other composer’s music for his own films. Some examples are: How Dry I Am, Comin through the Rye, Loch Lomond, The Flight of the Bumble Bee, and Sleeping Beauty.
Chaplin’s concept of character was both brilliant and original. His pictures that portrayed little nuances of vulgarisms came from his training and exposure in the music halls. “No other composer could have so well formed the moods and emotions for his films,” wrote, Phil Posner in his article, His Musical Career: Chaplin The Perfect Composer. “He was the only composer to be fully aware of their effects and was the perfect composer to attain them.”
Some of his familiar songs are: Smile, The Vagabonds, Breakaway, Getting Acquainted, Easy Street, His Trysting Place, Life After America, The Fatal Mallet, The Face onThe Bar, and The Circus.
Chaplin’s best-known films are: The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), and Modern Times (1936). Chaplin designated City Lights as the finest film he ever made. He said the music was one of the primary reasons for this conviction.
Chaplin, most likely, considered himself a lady’s man as he had numerous affairs, girlfriends and wives, frequently at the same time! He had four wives: Mildred Harris, his first wife, then, Lita Grey, Paulette Goddard, and Oona O’Neill; the daughter of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright, Eugene O’Neill. (In 1937, O’Neill moved to Danville, California to “Tao House” where he wrote three of his most famous plays. Today the home is a National Historic Site that is open to visitors.) When his daughter, Oona, married Chaplin she was only 18 years old and he was 54, a 36-year difference.
In addition to his other accomplishments Chaplin authored several books, two of them were of an autobiographical nature: My Auto-Biography (1964), and My Life in Pictures (1974), written just three years before his death. Queen Elizabeth II, knighted Chaplin in1975. He became Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, KBE (Knight of the British Empire).
Chaplin is regarded as one of the greatest comic actors ever to grace the silver screen, then and now. He is universally known as one of the most important and influential men in the film industry. Chaplin’s movies and music still enjoy world-wide appeal and fame and no doubt will, for years to come.
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