He was accused of communism and prevented from entering America ... positions that you do not know about the life of Charlie Chaplin

A child stands on stage, in front of an angry crowd, in an attempt to save his mother, who was betrayed by her voice in the splendor of her singing, to stand in front of the audience, shocked without movement. At this moment, the child intervened to complete the song about his mother. At that time, the five-year-old won the love of the masses, who shouted out their cries of loud applause, and to stop throwing garbage, replacing it with coins, as an expression of their love for what they saw.

This child, Charlie Chaplin, is one of the most famous symbols of comedy in the world, who hides behind his funny picture, engraved in the minds of millions, grief and pain that spanned years, burdened by the legacy of poverty and humiliation during his lost childhood spent between shoe and shaving, and the cheap toy industry .

The foregoing are nothing but brief glimpses of the hidden side of the famous, cold-faced comedian, Charlie Chaplin, who is best known for presenting the comedy in complete silence, accompanied by his silence with his Western looks that almost express his lost past among the shelters, which had been hiding for Chaplin a future full of surprises. (1)

Screenshots from the past

"Time is the greatest writer, because he always writes the greatest ending." (2)

(Charlie Chaplin)

Hannah Harriet Chaplin, who works on stage, lives with her "illegal" son, "Sydney Chaplin", in the suburb of "Worth", which is the poorest and most miserable area in London, and over time, Hana married Charles Chaplin, the father who was working With her on the stage. Little did not pass over their marriage, until they had a baby in 1889 named him "Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin" nicknamed "Charlie Chaplin", and who lived with his mother Hana and his brother Sir in a very poor environment, with a father who is never responsible, because he was known as a drunkard and neglecting his home. . This was evident with the departure of his wife and three-year-old son Charlie with his poor mother who was caring for two children in difficult financial conditions.

Hana had to take care of two children while she couldn't care for herself, and she had to work on the sewing machine next to singing, hoping to provide food for her children. Because her husband stopped giving aid, Hana mortgaged all she owned, even the stage clothes she was holding and wearing at home to comfort her children by imitating the artists that she also abandoned. As a number of sources indicate, Hana assumed the responsibility alone, that responsibility that exceeded her abilities, to start her financial situation deteriorating more and more, and the suffering of her children began to increase, before it came in 1896, when the English government deposited the children of Hana in the reform of the poor, to represent this The incident, a severe shock to Hana, made her enter a violent psychological crisis , after which she entered the psychiatric hospital, leaving her children to suffer the hardships of life alone. (3, 4)

"I worked as a newspaper salesman, a playmaker, a blowing glass, seeking a doctor, a razor boy, and a shoe shine ... In all these professional adventures, I never seemed to miss my ultimate goal, which is to become a comedian." (5)

(Charlie Chaplin)

After many attempts by Charlie and his brother Sydney to return to their father, their goal was achieved for a very short period, but it was certainly not the best period in Charlie's life, as he watched his father come home every day, and he was drowning in alcohol. As a result, his health deteriorated rapidly, leaving him early in life at the age of 38. From here, the two children returned to their homeless life among the shelters.

Charlie and his brother Sydney were sent this time to the "Hanoi School for Orphans and Needy Children", and this coincided with the departure of their mother from the mental hospital. At the time, conditions seemed to be conducive to family reunification, but, due to poor financial conditions, Charlie had no choice but to work to help his mother, who managed the illness, and she was unable to work. Charlie then worked as a newspaper seller, toy maker, and blower glass. He even worked as a barber, wiping shoes. It was not easy for a nine-year-old child only, but harsh conditions often get out of the person unless he imagines it is possible.

Obviously, Charlie is de facto responsible for the maintenance of his mother and brother. Not much has passed, and under extreme poverty , his mother has re-entered the mental hospital. This was reason enough for Charlie to hate poverty, and considered him his prime enemy. At that time, his relentless endeavors to confront poverty started through gradual steps that led him to the world of theater, starting with these simple and small roles that are negligible in some plays. (3)

The American dream

"One must be sure of himself, this is the secret, even when I lived in an orphanage, and even while I wandered on my face in the streets and alleys looking for a bread to fill my hungry stomach, even in these harsh conditions I considered myself the greatest actor In the world, I used to feel very excited about my chest just because I believed in myself, and without this confidence I would have gone to waste with the sink of failure (2)

(Charlie Chaplin)

One of the most important scenes that changed Charlie's life was the scene of Charlie's father returning at midnight every day to the house, with his cup of wine. Despite its downsides, it made him master the role of the "drunken man" he was famous for throughout his acting career, and made him his own audience who loved his way of imitating characters with such precision that stems from real scenes suspended from Charlie's mind from a young age.

In 1910, Charlie traveled to the United States of America, and that was the first visit in which he played the role of a drunken man. A role that everyone loved and became attached to it, until it was called "The Drunken Drunk". This was not the last visit to Charlie, after two years after the first visit, he returned to the United States again, to receive a special invitation to join the New York Film Company after he achieved great success in his plays, and he was famous for his "amazing" ability to imitate characters, especially that character who was known It contains the "drunk drunk man."

Charlie's steps in the world of art were not perfect, but rather tinged with fear and anxiety, but he actually took his first steps in the world of cinema, and he broke his hesitation and fear by saying: “Nevertheless, it will mean a new life for me” (6) , and his first short movie will be shown in the name of “Kassab” Living ”in 1914. The reactions were positive, one of which was a comment from a critic when he described Charlie as a" first-class comedy ". The movie represented the first step in forming Charlie's unique personality, which began with the selection of his costume that gave his comedic personality a special elegance, the costume that Charlie became famous for throughout his comedy career. Yes, the outfit with a tight coat and big pants, as well as a hat and a mustache. In fact, the arrangement of this outfit had no previous planning (6), as Charlie said: “ I had no idea which character I was going to play, but the moment I dressed up and put on make-up I felt the character. I started to recognize it, and walked with haughty steps. To the stage, at which point the "Tramp Tramp" character was born. (6)

Not much went by, until Charlie produced his first 16-minute movie. And because the movie was a great success, the shows poured on him, to become - in that period - one of the richest actors, and studios became racing to sign a contract with him. Until we arrived for the day when his life changed radically, when he was awarded a contract in Hollywood worth one million dollars. Then, he bought a big house in California, and made his brother Sydney his technical advisor. He moved his mother from a psychiatric hospital to his home. Charlie did not stop there, after Charlie became an actor, director and screenwriter , he opened his own studios, known as "Charlie Bell" Studios. (7)

During this long career, Charlie got married to three women, and each marriage ended in separation, until he married a fourth time, Una O'Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, whom Charlie loved and had eight children with. This was one of the most important stages of Charlie's stability, which was short-lived until US intelligence began to monitor him with the goal of expelling him from the country. (8)

Communism ... the satirical charge!

"I am still in one situation, one case only, and that is being a comedian, this makes me in a position greater than the politician." (9)

(Charlie Chaplin)

Charlie did not know that he was monitored by US intelligence, and he did not know that the charge was "that he is a communist", coinciding with the era of the Cold War, where the charge of communism was one of the worst charges facing any individual living in the United States. Not much went by until Charlie was summoned by the CIA, accusing him of being a communist, the accusation that plunged him into bouts of laughter mixed with mockery.

Later, the accusations turned out to be based on a sentence that Charlie said during World War II, saying: "If we want to win the Second World War, and if we want Russia to show us its full cooperation, we must stop campaigning against the Communists." (2) This statement was sufficient reason to accuse him of Communism, to result in this charge to suspend his actions with Hollywood, or even enter the United States.

This sentence was not the only one to lead to Charley’s accusation. The movie “Monsieur Verdu”, which was produced in 1947, also played an important role in pointing the finger at Charlie when he attacked wars and their beneficiaries, as the hero of the movie “Monsieur Verdu” symbolized To the fake Western civilization, as a criminal who works in a bank, seduces a number of women, then kills them to seize their money, in an attempt to save his family from poverty.

After proving the charges against Charlie, he was summoned again to the FBI, and despite his insistence that he was a non-Communist, and that he had not read any book on Communism, this did not prevent the decision to expel him from America and prevent him from entering it forever. As a result, Charlie traveled from America to Europe, where he, his wife and children lived, and he said: "I have no need for America anymore. I will not return to it even if Jesus Christ appears." (10)

A call to revive the past

20 years after Charlie was accused of communism and expelled from the United States, he received an unexpected message, containing an invitation to him to receive an Academy Award. Charlie stood with the message in his hand, looking at her with fear and hesitation based on his old fears, especially those memories in which he was treated in a barbaric way as if he were an enemy.

After urging Charlie's wife to receive the award, he decided to go, as this was the first step they would take in the United States of America after a break of 20 years, steps that were mixed with sadness and anger for what happened to him. On his way to the party, Charlie asked the driver to stand at one of his studios, where he was making his films, to be surprised by his conversion to a museum. Charlie felt distressed, asked the driver to continue his path, and his eyes filled with tears.

Charlie arrived at the stage, standing looking at that big crowd, the moment when he thought that no one would applaud, and that everyone had forgotten him. However, what he did not fully expect is what happened, as people began to applaud for two continuous minutes, as the Americans never forgot the comic legend "Charlie Chaplin". (11)

These events, with all its ramifications, left a deep imprint on Charlie’s soul and his way of thinking, as the personality of the vagrant was centered in most of his films, and the concerns that dominated his works were governed by the harsh life that Charlie lived for very long periods of his life. Amidst all the adventures that Charlie lived in his miserable life, He was able to create a new kind of comedy that made millions of people laugh, even though in fact it stemmed from the great concerns he carried from childhood.