Friday, March 30, 2007

A day without laughter is a day wasted



That's a quote from the man himself. I could have cropped tight on the cane and you would still have recognised him. A candidate for London's most famous resident (yes, british NOT american), Charlie Chaplin is commemorated by a statue in Leicester Square. If you don't know about his story, take a moment or two to read up about him - I think you may be surprised.

If you have a moment, YouTube have the last silent film he made, Modern Times, here are the segments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. I'm not saying that they aren't dated in places, but he is still funny.

A more general view of the statue on My Other Stuff.

posted by Ham at 00:05 -- Comments here: 10

Comments on "A day without laughter is a day wasted"

 

Blogger Cheltenhamdailyphoto said ... (00:30) : 

Marvellous, Ham. Enjoyed all of that. Strangely, i nearly posted him myself today. There's a mural of his antics in Cheltenham. Such a brilliant man. Never knew he'd been in the workhouse.

 

Blogger Unknown said ... (10:21) : 

I've never really been a fan of Chaplin. He's amusing, but not as funny as say Laurel & Hardy.

 

Blogger Ham said ... (11:39) : 

Lynn, is there any link to Cheltenham?

Gail's man, thing about Chaplin is that he's clever. I think a lot of it is that we can't easily go back to enjoy the silent movies. Mind you, Harold Lloyd can make me laugh...

 

Blogger Cheltenhamdailyphoto said ... (12:07) : 

Well that's what i was going to find out, Ham, then i posted something else. I'll get the pic done and the research and post it!

 

Blogger Olive said ... (14:52) : 

I love Charlie Chaplin, when I was kid people would tell me that I looked like the Kid (from The Kid) - even though I was a girl! - but ever since then I've been obsessed with him!!
This is one of my favourite statues in London, thanks for posting it Ham.

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (15:39) : 

I was in Leicester Square 2 weeks ago and missed the statue. Probably due to the crowds waiting to see the celebrities arriving for the 300 premiere.

Chaplin was undeniably great, but I prefer Harold Lloyd and, particularly, Buster Keaton. It always amazes me that the cute Jackie Coogan in The Kid grew up to be wacky-looking Uncle Fester!

 

Blogger Olive said ... (16:01) : 

Talk about a wrong turn eh?
His face does look the same though, I think (and hope) the wacky look was mostly because of the make-up (and perhaps the baldness).

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (16:32) : 

True, the baldness plus the looong nose and that funny voice he used. As a child, he was also very good in a Max Davidson silent called "The Rag Man"

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (06:29) : 

This strikes me as one of those statues for the benefit of those who put it up, not the person depicted. Especially since Chaplin spent most of his life in the States, and then chose Switzerland (Vevey) to live out the rest of his life.

 

Blogger Z said ... (18:15) : 

I think we've seen most of his films, at least the ones that are easily found. We've driven by his estate in Vevey. Maybe we should visit and take a photo or two for an "excusion" photo... hm.

 

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Name: Ham Location: London, United Kingdom View my complete profile