Charlie Chaplin

I was inspired by the two other reviewers, both 16 when they read this great bio. I discovered Chaplin at an even earlier age - 13, I think. I wrote an 8th grade term paper on him. Handwritten. My only other source on Chaplin has been his touching "My Autobiography." I was thrilled to find McCabe's book - a hard bound 1st edition! - at a local thrift shop for .50. I'm glued to it. The writing style is charmingly vintage, it's endlessly informative, entertaining, and there is a previously unknown discovery in each chapter. The author's access to Stan Laurel was priceless. But it if you can find it.

First of all, I have to say that I completely agree with the previous reviewer, Elise Olivarez--I am also 16 years old, and I have seen 80 of Chaplin's 81 films--the only exception is the presumed lost one-reeler HER FRIEND THE BANDIT. John McCabe's book is one of the best interpretations of Chaplin's life and work--well, "interpretation" is probably not the right word to use, inasmuch the author certainly studied Chaplin thoroughly by reading other books and articles before he finally decided to write his own biography about the comic genius. The authour has--very successfully--tried to give a positive and honestly picture of the man Charlie Chaplin. A number of articles and quotes I never had seen before or heard about--not even in David Robinson's book-- and analyses of his films are included. There's no picture book, though, 29 photos are to find, but many of those are really rare, like the one of his two sons Charles Jr. and Sydney from the early 1930's. Chaplin's teenage-brides are of course, a part of the history, and the book gives many details about that, too. But in contrast to many other authors--like Kevin S. Lynn, who more or less described Chaplin as a sex-mad-man--McCabe gives a very fair description about that. As he writes in the book, Chaplin only gave his second and worst marriage, with Lita Grey, only attention with three sentences or so in his autobiography, "During the making of THE GOLD RUSH I married a second time. Because we have two grown sons of whom I am very fond, I will not go into any details. For two years we were married and tried to make a go for it, but it was hopeless and ended in a great deal of bitterness." Lita, on her side, took revenge in 1966 with a many hundred pages long, hatefully book titled MY LIFE WITH CHAPLIN (she wrote another book right before her death in 1995, WIFE OF THE LIFE OF THE PARTY, but this was not yet published when McCabe's book was ready for print). Since Chaplin never gave his balancing version of their connection, McCabe can only give Lita's version, which he does, but first he writes, "It is important to remember that many of the following details about the Grey-Chaplin marriage come from one of the parties only." Very nice of him, I think. I can recommend this book to every Chaplin-fan, also to you who think you know everything about him, like me.

It's a great book. John McCabe really covered over Chaplin's life. I also learned a lot of new things about Charlie and it made me an even bigger fan. Oh, by the way, look at me, 16 years old and a fan of Charles Spencer Chaplin, lol. Shows anyone and everyone that age simply doesn't matter.