A Streetcar Down Legacy Lane
Historically, before the twentieth century, the role of art was to represent and imitate the world as realistically and authentically as possible so that every audience member could understand and connect to the material: painters painted landscapes or cityscapes, for example, and theatre companies put on productions of plays that portrayed the world as it was physically perceived by everyone. Playwrights like Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw were revered for their realistic representations of society. However, in the early 1900s, a new movement developed in the arts: expressionism. Expressionism was an extremely significant step forward because it is, by definition, an artistic style that stresses and emphasizes an artist’s emotional (or “expressive”) experience in the world, rather than the world’s concrete physicality. This new approach to art was especially prevalent in music, visual arts, and the theatre, and was a completely different way of viewing the world: this style was not based on the typical objective depiction of nature and reality, but rather was founded on personal experience, and was entirely subjective to each artist.
In the theatre, expressionist playwrights began emerging. Some of the most prevalent were August Strindberg from Sweden and Frank Wedekind from Germany, who impacted later playwrights on an international level: in America, for instance, they greatly affected the works of Eugene O’Neill, Elmer Rice, and Sophie Treadwell.
However, perhaps the most well-known American playwright became a pioneer in both the theatre and in film because he merged realism with expressionism to create works that represented the “tangled domestic portraits and the idiomatic language” (Tischler 25) of Southern United States and in which he was able to “express the full range of human emotion” (Tischler 25) through the complex psychological webs of his characters. Through the unique, innovative, lyrical, and poetic style of his plays, which were almost always set in the deep South where he grew up, he addressed many themes that not only affected people on a regional level, but also touched people universally.
This man was Tennessee Williams.
Born on March 29, 1911, in Colombus, Mississippi as Thomas Lanier Williams, he was “early influenced by his grandfather, his mother, his sister, and the Mississippi Delta where he spent the happiest years of his youth” (Donahue 2), as well as by his love for literature (the Waverly novels, and stories by Charles Dickens) and plays by Shakespeare, Strindberg, and Chekhov. He began writing plays in University, but it was not until 1937 that he found the theme which he would spend the rest of his life writing about: his sister, Rose, due to signs of mental breakdown, “underwent a prefrontal lobotomy” (Answers.Com) that resulted in placing her in lifetime of institutional care. “So deeply did Williams empathize with her trauma that it shaped his master theme – the confining nature of human existence” (Answers.Com).
Williams’ greatest legacy is indeed found in the characters he left behind in his plays. Characters like Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski from A Streetcar Named Desire, Big Daddy, Brick, and Maggie the Cat from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and both Laura and Amanda Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie, to name a few, are all memorable characters because they are “emotionally displaced people who generally suffer from the inability to face reality or to come to terms with their environment” (Donahue 220). His plays are teeming with frustrated and tormented people who are plagued with loneliness, fear of life, and who desperately try to reach out to others around them for help. Perhaps these characters are so memorable and successful because they were particularly important to Williams himself: he was notorious for fashioning them based on people who were especially present and relevant in his own life, as well as on himself. For example, Scott Fitzgerald in his play Clothes was someone he created to express his own fears of failure and “loss of creativity” (The New York Times). As he was once quoted saying: “You can’t manufacture unreal people. You have to transmute their reality through your concept of them. They became sifted through myself so that something of my own life went into their creation” (The New York Times).
However, the characters he created were not only great because of their autobiographical roots in Williams’ own life. They have also become legendary because he found a way, through the richness of the English language and his understanding of human psychology, to recreate “a state of mind or soul rather than simply constructing a plot” (Donahue 220). This is very important because, although critics often define his works as “psychological tragedies” (Donahue 220), they look negatively on the fact that he rarely ends his dramas on a positive note and that they “simply end without a resolution of the conflict or tragic condition” (Donahue 230). But is that not the definition of “tragedy”? Nevertheless, Williams’ insight on the complexity and conflicts of his characters are what make his plays great works. And although they all physically take place in settings that could define his works as realism, his main concern when writing was the internal world of his characters and how he could dramatize their inner lives and struggles. In the end, the point was for the audience to experience the world of these tormented and tragic people through their eyes, and not through the objectivity of the classic “fourth wall” of the stage. “Williams has stated his preference for this interior world of his characters” (Donahue 220) and his plays continue to invite audience after audience to watch them and appreciate the human being in every character. As Tennessee Williams stated: “I don’t deal with social problems because those are not the problems that move me” (Donahue 220).
But however unintentionally, Williams has indeed left behind a legacy other than his characters. These are found in the social matters addressed in his plays (such as the nymphomania and rape experienced by Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire). People had previously resisted touching upon these subjects, and despite the fact that these matters had indeed been raised in other forms of literature (such as poetry, novels, and short stories), “it had not previously been accepted in the theater” (Donahue 221). Although the content of Williams’ plays initially received reactions of indignation and disapproval from audiences and the general public alike, they became milestones that greatly changed both the perception and the portrayal of sexuality and violence in the theatre. This enormous shift in perspective and theatrical representation also contributed significantly to the many elements in his work “which made him a revolutionary and innovative playwright” (The New York Times).
Williams’ plays are set in the deep South of the United States, much like where he grew up, and, as he stated, “is the beauty spot of creation, a dark, wide spacious land that you can breathe in” (Donahue 3). Inspired by the land, its culture, and the people that inhabit it, Williams addressed themes and ideals that he believed were especially prevalent to that region of the United States: the “Southern way of life gradually being displaced by a society with different values” (Donahue 3), for one, was a recurring theme, although buried innately in each character. He also addressed less specific themes, such as “the duality of flesh and spirit” (Fedder 122), and “the destructive tendencies of the bourgeois civilization” (Fedder 122). The examination of these themes in a Southern context “not only helped to pave the way for other writers, but also helped the South find a strong voice in those auspices where before it had only been heard as a whisper” (The Mississippi Writers Page). In short, Williams helped Southern America find a stable and more influential place in the world of the theatre.
However, Williams’ humanistic themes stretched far beyond the South of the United States, and “rose above regionalism” (The Mississippi Writers Page), to touch the world on an international level and universal scale. His works influenced people everywhere due to his lyrical and poetic dialogue, high dramatic tension, and real, “human”, vulnerable characters to which any audience could connect.
Likewise, Williams’ plays gave actors the opportunity to further their careers by playing roles that were rich in realism and psychologically in-depth. A good example of this is acting legend Marlon Brando, whose creation of the role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway launched his career as an established and greatly admired actor. He later played the same role on film, which founded a steady and reliable career for him in the movie industry, placed him in extremely high demand, and got him tremendous fame and fortune.
Tennessee Williams’ “plays not only shaped the aspirations of an entire generation of playwrights, directors and actors, but they also re-defined the scope and the poetic possibilities of the American theater” (The New York Times). He left us great characters to examine, exceptional roles to play, notable literature to read and analyze, and impacted the world of the theatre in a monumental scale that raised the bar and set the standard for future generations of playwrights worldwide.
But what is truly remarkable about Tennessee Williams is his unforgettable, unique style: the mélange between more recent plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg, contrasted with the Shakespearian and Greek tragedies that inspire, influence, affect, and guide the development of his plays must truly be what makes him an unforgettable and permanent presence in the theatre. Due to his combination of realism and expressionism, and his success at having bridged the gap between classicism and modernism, Tennessee Williams can be considered futuristic because he never severed his ties with the past while dominating the present with originality and personality.
That makes him kind of a big deal, does it not?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
from Kendra
Stephen Sondheim
No single person has had more influence on the form of American musical theater in the 21st century than Stephen Sondheim. His shows have consistently pushed the envelope in terms of what is acceptable for the genre in content, form and style. Though Broadway recently has gone in a more spectacle oriented, easily accessible, Disneyfied direction from the one Sondheim has been paving since the beginning of his career, his shows are widely considered to be the pinnacle of what the genre can be.
Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930 in Manhattan. His parents were in the fashion industry and were pretty well off. They divorced when he was ten and his mother got full custody. Sondheim’s relationship with his mother was extremely troubled. She blamed Sondheim for his father’s leaving and made him believe it, as well as used him as a replacement for his absent father (Secrest 30). To escape this environment, he spent a lot of time in the country in Bucks County, PA with his friend Jimmy Hammerstein’s family. Jimmy’s father was none other than the Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who took on the young Sondheim as a sort of protégé. Sondheim looked up to his new mentor and wanted to write for the musical theater just like him (“Stephen Sondheim Biography”).
Sondheim’s first Broadway jobs were writing lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. His first produced Broadway musical was the successful 1962 musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Anyone Can Whistle opened two years later and closed almost immediately. He wrote the lyrics to Richard Rogers’ music for Do I Hear A Waltz? and after that insisted on writing both music and lyrics for his shows. His career really got started with Company in 1970, followed by Follies and A Little Night Music. Those three musicals won consecutive “Best Musical” Tony Awards for Sondheim. Next was an adaptation of The Frogs for the Yale School of Drama, then Pacific Overtures about the opening of Japan to foreign influence. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street opened in 1979 and closed a very successful decade in Sondheim’s career. Then came the most upsetting flop of Sondheim’s career (though one of his best scores) in Merrily We Roll Along. After that show’s run lasted only two weeks, Sondheim ended his longtime collaboration with producer/director Harold Prince and quit the high-stakes Broadway process. His next show, Sunday in the Park with George, started as a workshop at Playwright’s Horizons before eventually moving to Broadway and winning Sondheim a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Into the Woods, possibly Sondheim’s most accessible show, came next, followed by Assassins and Passion in the 1990’s. His latest musical, Road Show, is currently in previews on Broadway and is set to open on November 18th (“Stephen Sondheim Biography”).
Possibly the biggest factor that separates Sondheim from other theater artists is that the bottom line is never the raison d’être for any of his work. His shows have almost never been commercially successful, and he certainly never produced any Andrew Lloyd Webber-style smash hits. He took risks in the shows he was involved in, oftentimes at the expense of commercial success.
In America after World War II, Broadway theater reflected the sense of “complacent self-confidence” and was an art form that was purely escapist. It “did not mirror life as it was, but as it should be” (Gordon 2-3). By the 1970’s when Sondheim’s career was taking off, there was more of a sense of “sterile disillusion” in America after the social strife of the 1960’s (Gordon 3). It didn’t make sense for Broadway to remain a fluffy fairyland, and Sondheim recognized the need of the theater to reflect and comment on the times. Some critics decry Sondheim’s departure from the form as it was, and call his work “sterile, cynical, over-intellectualized, and arid” (Gordon 3). Those charges are pretty harsh. His shows aren’t always the easiest to “get,” but they’re extremely rewarding and entertaining to an intellectually engaged audience member.
Company was Sondheim’s breakout show, the one in which he finally seemed to find his voice as a composer and lyricist. It truly revolutionized the genre. Not only was the subject matter a complete departure from the escapist fluff of the previous decades on Broadway, but it was the first “concept musical” with a nonlinear plot. The music was inspired by a buzzing busy signal and the frenetic pulse of New York City; “Another Hundred People” rivals George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” for the best, most complete musical representation of the city. The orchestration doesn’t just support and echo the melody, as is the case in a lot of musical theater songs (especially those of Andrew Lloyd Webber). It mimics a noisy city street, honking horns, chattering passers-by, and the vocal line just sort of floats on top and even gets embedded in the rich orchestration. The harmony is as important in Sondheim’s music as the melody is, if not more so.
Sondheim uses his music to add another layer of expression beyond the lyrics. In his musicals, it’s definitely not just there to be pretty to listen to, but has a character- or plot-driven reason for being exactly how it is. For instance, in the opening number of Company, the entire company sings to the lead character, Bobby, “we love you.” They hold the word “love” for five measures (in the original production, that amounted to 15 seconds) and it’s a dissonant ii7 chord in the key of C. There’s a dissonant G as the lowest note in the bass and the highest note in the soprano, so the dissonance really stands out. For the entire five measures the listener is waiting for the chord to resolve to a V on the word “you.” Instead, the word “you” is just an even more dissonant-sounding inversion of the ii7. So much information about the characters can be garnered from these two chords. The “love” they feel for Bobby is dysfunctional. They sing the word for a very long time, especially when heard in the context of the rest of the quickly-moving song it’s in, and that corresponds to the characters’ putting on the appearance of true affection, as opposed to a real connection. When the chord fails to resolve on the word “you,” we get that the relationships Bobby has with these characters aren’t fulfilling or beneficial for the parties involved. This kind of complexity in musical expression is another trait of Sondheim’s that sets him apart from other musical theater composers (Sondheim Company 13).
Sondheim also has a way of allowing his characters to go through epiphanies in song. Sweeney Todd’s Epiphany comes near the end of Act I in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He takes his sights off of his own personal situation, his craving to kill the judge who wronged him years ago, and vows to fight his injustice more indiscriminately, singing “they all deserve to die… and I will get him [the judge] back, even as he gloats/in the meantime I’ll practice on less honorable throats” (Sondheim Sweeney Todd). Maria, in West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Sondheim), has a similar moment at the end of Act II. After her lover, Tony, was killed in gang violence, Maria instantly goes through the same kind of immediate loss of faith in humanity that Sweeney went through. Bernstein, however, didn’t or couldn’t compose a song to take her through the change, and the show closes with a monologue. I would argue that Sondheim is more skilled than his predecessors at using music to articulate the human condition. Musical theater as a genre often gets labeled as mindless and silly entertainment, but if more composers used the music as Sondheim does, as another layer of expressive possibility, the form would gain respect as legitimate art.
Stephen Sondheim can be credited with giving legitimacy to American musical theater. He brought it from an easy, fluffy, escapist genre to a legitimate, complex, thought-provoking form of artistic expression. Though his shows aren’t as lucrative as spectacular Disney adaptations or other easier, more accessible musicals, the benefits of producing his work outweighs the possible loss of revenue. Even since his earliest shows in the early 1970’s, no mainstream Broadway musical has been as revolutionary, as intellectually engaging, or as complex as any of Sondheim’s shows. His work represents the best that the musical theater genre has to offer.
No single person has had more influence on the form of American musical theater in the 21st century than Stephen Sondheim. His shows have consistently pushed the envelope in terms of what is acceptable for the genre in content, form and style. Though Broadway recently has gone in a more spectacle oriented, easily accessible, Disneyfied direction from the one Sondheim has been paving since the beginning of his career, his shows are widely considered to be the pinnacle of what the genre can be.
Stephen Joshua Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930 in Manhattan. His parents were in the fashion industry and were pretty well off. They divorced when he was ten and his mother got full custody. Sondheim’s relationship with his mother was extremely troubled. She blamed Sondheim for his father’s leaving and made him believe it, as well as used him as a replacement for his absent father (Secrest 30). To escape this environment, he spent a lot of time in the country in Bucks County, PA with his friend Jimmy Hammerstein’s family. Jimmy’s father was none other than the Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who took on the young Sondheim as a sort of protégé. Sondheim looked up to his new mentor and wanted to write for the musical theater just like him (“Stephen Sondheim Biography”).
Sondheim’s first Broadway jobs were writing lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. His first produced Broadway musical was the successful 1962 musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Anyone Can Whistle opened two years later and closed almost immediately. He wrote the lyrics to Richard Rogers’ music for Do I Hear A Waltz? and after that insisted on writing both music and lyrics for his shows. His career really got started with Company in 1970, followed by Follies and A Little Night Music. Those three musicals won consecutive “Best Musical” Tony Awards for Sondheim. Next was an adaptation of The Frogs for the Yale School of Drama, then Pacific Overtures about the opening of Japan to foreign influence. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street opened in 1979 and closed a very successful decade in Sondheim’s career. Then came the most upsetting flop of Sondheim’s career (though one of his best scores) in Merrily We Roll Along. After that show’s run lasted only two weeks, Sondheim ended his longtime collaboration with producer/director Harold Prince and quit the high-stakes Broadway process. His next show, Sunday in the Park with George, started as a workshop at Playwright’s Horizons before eventually moving to Broadway and winning Sondheim a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Into the Woods, possibly Sondheim’s most accessible show, came next, followed by Assassins and Passion in the 1990’s. His latest musical, Road Show, is currently in previews on Broadway and is set to open on November 18th (“Stephen Sondheim Biography”).
Possibly the biggest factor that separates Sondheim from other theater artists is that the bottom line is never the raison d’être for any of his work. His shows have almost never been commercially successful, and he certainly never produced any Andrew Lloyd Webber-style smash hits. He took risks in the shows he was involved in, oftentimes at the expense of commercial success.
In America after World War II, Broadway theater reflected the sense of “complacent self-confidence” and was an art form that was purely escapist. It “did not mirror life as it was, but as it should be” (Gordon 2-3). By the 1970’s when Sondheim’s career was taking off, there was more of a sense of “sterile disillusion” in America after the social strife of the 1960’s (Gordon 3). It didn’t make sense for Broadway to remain a fluffy fairyland, and Sondheim recognized the need of the theater to reflect and comment on the times. Some critics decry Sondheim’s departure from the form as it was, and call his work “sterile, cynical, over-intellectualized, and arid” (Gordon 3). Those charges are pretty harsh. His shows aren’t always the easiest to “get,” but they’re extremely rewarding and entertaining to an intellectually engaged audience member.
Company was Sondheim’s breakout show, the one in which he finally seemed to find his voice as a composer and lyricist. It truly revolutionized the genre. Not only was the subject matter a complete departure from the escapist fluff of the previous decades on Broadway, but it was the first “concept musical” with a nonlinear plot. The music was inspired by a buzzing busy signal and the frenetic pulse of New York City; “Another Hundred People” rivals George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” for the best, most complete musical representation of the city. The orchestration doesn’t just support and echo the melody, as is the case in a lot of musical theater songs (especially those of Andrew Lloyd Webber). It mimics a noisy city street, honking horns, chattering passers-by, and the vocal line just sort of floats on top and even gets embedded in the rich orchestration. The harmony is as important in Sondheim’s music as the melody is, if not more so.
Sondheim uses his music to add another layer of expression beyond the lyrics. In his musicals, it’s definitely not just there to be pretty to listen to, but has a character- or plot-driven reason for being exactly how it is. For instance, in the opening number of Company, the entire company sings to the lead character, Bobby, “we love you.” They hold the word “love” for five measures (in the original production, that amounted to 15 seconds) and it’s a dissonant ii7 chord in the key of C. There’s a dissonant G as the lowest note in the bass and the highest note in the soprano, so the dissonance really stands out. For the entire five measures the listener is waiting for the chord to resolve to a V on the word “you.” Instead, the word “you” is just an even more dissonant-sounding inversion of the ii7. So much information about the characters can be garnered from these two chords. The “love” they feel for Bobby is dysfunctional. They sing the word for a very long time, especially when heard in the context of the rest of the quickly-moving song it’s in, and that corresponds to the characters’ putting on the appearance of true affection, as opposed to a real connection. When the chord fails to resolve on the word “you,” we get that the relationships Bobby has with these characters aren’t fulfilling or beneficial for the parties involved. This kind of complexity in musical expression is another trait of Sondheim’s that sets him apart from other musical theater composers (Sondheim Company 13).
Sondheim also has a way of allowing his characters to go through epiphanies in song. Sweeney Todd’s Epiphany comes near the end of Act I in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He takes his sights off of his own personal situation, his craving to kill the judge who wronged him years ago, and vows to fight his injustice more indiscriminately, singing “they all deserve to die… and I will get him [the judge] back, even as he gloats/in the meantime I’ll practice on less honorable throats” (Sondheim Sweeney Todd). Maria, in West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Sondheim), has a similar moment at the end of Act II. After her lover, Tony, was killed in gang violence, Maria instantly goes through the same kind of immediate loss of faith in humanity that Sweeney went through. Bernstein, however, didn’t or couldn’t compose a song to take her through the change, and the show closes with a monologue. I would argue that Sondheim is more skilled than his predecessors at using music to articulate the human condition. Musical theater as a genre often gets labeled as mindless and silly entertainment, but if more composers used the music as Sondheim does, as another layer of expressive possibility, the form would gain respect as legitimate art.
Stephen Sondheim can be credited with giving legitimacy to American musical theater. He brought it from an easy, fluffy, escapist genre to a legitimate, complex, thought-provoking form of artistic expression. Though his shows aren’t as lucrative as spectacular Disney adaptations or other easier, more accessible musicals, the benefits of producing his work outweighs the possible loss of revenue. Even since his earliest shows in the early 1970’s, no mainstream Broadway musical has been as revolutionary, as intellectually engaging, or as complex as any of Sondheim’s shows. His work represents the best that the musical theater genre has to offer.
from Lindsay
Judy Garland
Judy Garland, was born “Frances Ethel Gumm” on June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota to a family that were frequent involvers in the community theater. By the age of 2 and a half she was already singing “Jingle Bells” in a handsewn dress by her mother, on the stage where her family performed. She become known as “Baby Gumm”, and formed a group with her two sisters, called the “Gumm Sisters”. The family moved to California in 1926 to pursue their careers. Frances decided to change her name to Judy, which was a popular name during that time and got her last name of Garland when, “According to legend, a reporter once told her she was "as pretty as a garland of roses."
From then on Garland signed with MGM in 1935 as well with Decca in 1937. Her first movie was in 1929, even before she signed with MGM, singing in a revue “The Good Old Sunny South.” She was in 4 more films before she landed the role of Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz” in 1939, and she was not the studios first choice. They had originally wanted Shirley Temple to be the part, but she was under contract at another studio, and couldn’t be used. Judy was the third girl in line for the part, and during the filming she was forced to wear a special corset, and tape to bind her breasts in order to make her appear younger than she was. The famous blue gingham dress was especially used because it made her image less adult like and had a kind of blurring affect to her body. The studio also made her take pills that would boost her energy and help her control her weight, which she became extremely reliant on, and struggled with for the rest of her career. The studio also tried to get her to see psychiatric help, but it was impossible to do it secretly and Garland’s mother would have nothing of that. But, reviews of Judy’s work in the move was extremely positive, one reviewer said that her portrayal was “A pert and fresh-faced miss with the wonder-lit eyes of a believer in fairy tales.” Judy went on to have other successes in movie musicals like “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “Babes in Arms”, as well has having a extremely successful television show, which would later have episodes of the very young and talented Liza Minelli singing with her mother, but unfortunately her young death stopped her from being able to continue her career.
Garland would go on to have 4 unsuccessful marriages, the third one producing the very famous Liza, but by the 2nd marriage, Garland was emotionally starting to break down. Exhausted from all her work and medicinal abuse, she started gaining a Hollywood reputation of being “unreliable and unstable”. MGM dropped her in 1950 due to her physical and emotional difficulties, mainly her experience as being in the movie of “Annie Get Your Gun”, and it was then that her life and career starting taking a downward toll. In 1967, Garland went to London due to the fact that she was in monetary trouble as well as personal trouble, and due to the performances there, it was clear that she wasn’t in very good shape. Garland died in London on June 22, 1969 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, when she was only forty-seven years old. Many reports believe that her suicide stemmed from her unhappy family like that she enduring growing up. Her parent’s relationships impacted her a lot, especially when her father died of spinal meningitis, but her parent’s relationship was already rocky before that with reports of her father being unfaithful with members of his own gender. Her mother who traveled with the Gumm sisters as agent and manager, found it unacceptable, and tried living vicariously though her children, which therefore helped to alienate Judy from her mother. Judy herself said, “Mother was the real-life Wicked Witch of the West…Mother…Was no good for anything except to create chaos and fear. She didn’t like me because of my talent…She had a crude voice and my sisters had lousy voices too…When I review my financial problems, I have to admit they began with mother.” Garland and her mother stopped speaking before the death of Mrs. Gumm in 1953. Garland even before that attempted to take her life when her career started getting rocky and attempted suicide by slashing her throat with a piece of glass. It would not be her first attempt. One of her downfalls would also be the fact that she was terrified to not be able to keep audiences engaged, a fear that started all the way back in the 1940’s. Co-star Ray Bolger said after Judy’s death, “Judy didn’t die of anything except wearing out. She just plain wore out.”
Judy’s legacy will always be a part of little girl’s lives even decades after her death. The song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is one that is just as common as most Christmas songs. Judy was just as famous decades after her death. “The Wizard of Oz”, is still playing on TV. and you can catch most of her movies playing nightly on any late night channel. She even won an academy award for the movie after her death as a special kind of award. The name Judy Garland is still a common name as it was 60 years ago. Fan sites are still incredibly popular on the Internet as well as many published biographies on her short life. There are also many recordings of her concerts as well as the soundtracks form the movies she was in. One of her biggest selling nights, as well as CDs, was Judy at Carnegie Hall, which is “described as the greatest night in show business history. A two-record recording of it sold an unparalled two million copies.” She was a vocal legend, her voice was unparalled during her career, as well as her vibrant personality. Judy Garland will forever be remembered though as the young woman in the gingham blue dress with her adorable puppy Toto, going on a wild adventure over the rainbow.
But, what is probably Judy’s biggest legacy is her children, Liza Minelli and Lorna Luft, half sisters from their mother’s different marriages. Both would follow in their mother’s foot steps and be involved and successful in both show business as well as drug addictions. Lorna would clean up her act only to help Liza clean up hers. Minelli is best known for her academy award winning performance as Sally Bowles in Cabaret, but was showing prominent talent when she was making appearances on her mother’s TV. show at a young age. Youtube videos can be seen now of the two and the incredible talent and personality that was captured on the tv screen in the 1960’s. Luft on the other hand also had a career in show business being in shows such as “Promises, Promises”, and the revival of “Guys and Dolls”. Liza’s looks and vocals rivaled her mother’s as a young girl and she even said during her time on the Judy Garland show, she said it wasn’t even performing with her mother, but with the legend Judy Garland itself, Judy felt the competition between her and her daughter at an early age. But, it was said that Judy loved her children more than her mother was capable of.
Judy Garland, was born “Frances Ethel Gumm” on June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota to a family that were frequent involvers in the community theater. By the age of 2 and a half she was already singing “Jingle Bells” in a handsewn dress by her mother, on the stage where her family performed. She become known as “Baby Gumm”, and formed a group with her two sisters, called the “Gumm Sisters”. The family moved to California in 1926 to pursue their careers. Frances decided to change her name to Judy, which was a popular name during that time and got her last name of Garland when, “According to legend, a reporter once told her she was "as pretty as a garland of roses."
From then on Garland signed with MGM in 1935 as well with Decca in 1937. Her first movie was in 1929, even before she signed with MGM, singing in a revue “The Good Old Sunny South.” She was in 4 more films before she landed the role of Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz” in 1939, and she was not the studios first choice. They had originally wanted Shirley Temple to be the part, but she was under contract at another studio, and couldn’t be used. Judy was the third girl in line for the part, and during the filming she was forced to wear a special corset, and tape to bind her breasts in order to make her appear younger than she was. The famous blue gingham dress was especially used because it made her image less adult like and had a kind of blurring affect to her body. The studio also made her take pills that would boost her energy and help her control her weight, which she became extremely reliant on, and struggled with for the rest of her career. The studio also tried to get her to see psychiatric help, but it was impossible to do it secretly and Garland’s mother would have nothing of that. But, reviews of Judy’s work in the move was extremely positive, one reviewer said that her portrayal was “A pert and fresh-faced miss with the wonder-lit eyes of a believer in fairy tales.” Judy went on to have other successes in movie musicals like “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “Babes in Arms”, as well has having a extremely successful television show, which would later have episodes of the very young and talented Liza Minelli singing with her mother, but unfortunately her young death stopped her from being able to continue her career.
Garland would go on to have 4 unsuccessful marriages, the third one producing the very famous Liza, but by the 2nd marriage, Garland was emotionally starting to break down. Exhausted from all her work and medicinal abuse, she started gaining a Hollywood reputation of being “unreliable and unstable”. MGM dropped her in 1950 due to her physical and emotional difficulties, mainly her experience as being in the movie of “Annie Get Your Gun”, and it was then that her life and career starting taking a downward toll. In 1967, Garland went to London due to the fact that she was in monetary trouble as well as personal trouble, and due to the performances there, it was clear that she wasn’t in very good shape. Garland died in London on June 22, 1969 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, when she was only forty-seven years old. Many reports believe that her suicide stemmed from her unhappy family like that she enduring growing up. Her parent’s relationships impacted her a lot, especially when her father died of spinal meningitis, but her parent’s relationship was already rocky before that with reports of her father being unfaithful with members of his own gender. Her mother who traveled with the Gumm sisters as agent and manager, found it unacceptable, and tried living vicariously though her children, which therefore helped to alienate Judy from her mother. Judy herself said, “Mother was the real-life Wicked Witch of the West…Mother…Was no good for anything except to create chaos and fear. She didn’t like me because of my talent…She had a crude voice and my sisters had lousy voices too…When I review my financial problems, I have to admit they began with mother.” Garland and her mother stopped speaking before the death of Mrs. Gumm in 1953. Garland even before that attempted to take her life when her career started getting rocky and attempted suicide by slashing her throat with a piece of glass. It would not be her first attempt. One of her downfalls would also be the fact that she was terrified to not be able to keep audiences engaged, a fear that started all the way back in the 1940’s. Co-star Ray Bolger said after Judy’s death, “Judy didn’t die of anything except wearing out. She just plain wore out.”
Judy’s legacy will always be a part of little girl’s lives even decades after her death. The song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is one that is just as common as most Christmas songs. Judy was just as famous decades after her death. “The Wizard of Oz”, is still playing on TV. and you can catch most of her movies playing nightly on any late night channel. She even won an academy award for the movie after her death as a special kind of award. The name Judy Garland is still a common name as it was 60 years ago. Fan sites are still incredibly popular on the Internet as well as many published biographies on her short life. There are also many recordings of her concerts as well as the soundtracks form the movies she was in. One of her biggest selling nights, as well as CDs, was Judy at Carnegie Hall, which is “described as the greatest night in show business history. A two-record recording of it sold an unparalled two million copies.” She was a vocal legend, her voice was unparalled during her career, as well as her vibrant personality. Judy Garland will forever be remembered though as the young woman in the gingham blue dress with her adorable puppy Toto, going on a wild adventure over the rainbow.
But, what is probably Judy’s biggest legacy is her children, Liza Minelli and Lorna Luft, half sisters from their mother’s different marriages. Both would follow in their mother’s foot steps and be involved and successful in both show business as well as drug addictions. Lorna would clean up her act only to help Liza clean up hers. Minelli is best known for her academy award winning performance as Sally Bowles in Cabaret, but was showing prominent talent when she was making appearances on her mother’s TV. show at a young age. Youtube videos can be seen now of the two and the incredible talent and personality that was captured on the tv screen in the 1960’s. Luft on the other hand also had a career in show business being in shows such as “Promises, Promises”, and the revival of “Guys and Dolls”. Liza’s looks and vocals rivaled her mother’s as a young girl and she even said during her time on the Judy Garland show, she said it wasn’t even performing with her mother, but with the legend Judy Garland itself, Judy felt the competition between her and her daughter at an early age. But, it was said that Judy loved her children more than her mother was capable of.
from Lucia
Hal Prince
Born Harold Smith Prince on January 30th, 1928, Hal Prince is now known as one of the most successful producers of the stage. To be completely honest, I am quite embarrassed that I don’t know who he is; but this is a strong way to find out more about him.
A native of New York, his father (a New York stockbroker) and his mother raised him in a “privileged, upper-middle lover-rich class, Jewish” home (Prince 1). His parents had the finds and the resources to take him to the theatre often and at an early age. He worked at a Smith-Corona portable till where he wrote four novels and four full-length plays. He went to the University of Pennsylvania for the liberal curriculum at the age of sixteen. He was not a drama major because it did not exist at the University, but he expresses in his autobiography that one does not “get much valuable, practical experience in college dramatic programs” (Prince 3). He excelled greatly and graduated with a
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B.A. in English at the age of nineteen in 1948. Upon graduation he moved to New York and “began his theatrical career as an apprentice and stage manager for the noted producer and director George Abbott” (Encyclopædia Britannica). He had sent around some plays he had written and got to the desk of the head of a big script department, then it was passed to George Abbott. George Abbott, a famous and successful producer (among other things), helped Prince get on his feet because of his huge influence in the theatre since 1913. At first, Prince helped out around the office doing “on spec” jobs and working on television shows (Prince 4).
Prince’s career began to really take off when he got involved with a musical about a strike at a pajama factory. The Pajama Game opened on May 13, 1954 in the St. James Theatre. “The budget was so tight that Prince and Griffith worked as their own stage managers” (Stewart 455). While The Pajama Game was still running, Prince got involved with the musical comedy Damn Yankees. Everyone was unsure about the success of the show because it had “no stars in the cast and two precarious themes (baseball and the Faust legend)”, but there was no problem with finding the money to fund it (Ilson 22). Damn Yankees opened on May 5, 1955 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for a “total of 1,019 performances” (Stewart 163). Next came New Girl in
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Town, which told the story of a prostitute quitting her job at a “brothel to come east to New York for a reunion with her father . . .” (Stewart 420). George Abbott was the director of this musical and the dark material paved the way for later Hal’s later projects: Sweeney Todd, Evita and The Phantom of the Opera. It opened on May 14, 1957 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran until May 24, 1958. Hal Prince’s good friend Stephen Sondheim wanted his help with his new modern day Romeo and Juliet musical West Side Story. It opened in the Winter Garden Theatre on August 26th, 1957 and ran for 732 performances. Prince finally got the chance to produce a straight play in 1958 when A Swim in the Sea opened in the Royal Poinciana Playhouse in Palm Beach, Florida on April 28th. It never got to Broadway, but Prince believes that “investors should take failures in stride” (Prince 48). Fiorello! (11/23/59-10/28/61), Tenderloin (10/17/60-4/23/61), A Call on Kuprin (5/25/61-6/3/61) were the last three shows that Prince did with his partner Bobby Griffith because he died on June 7, 1961. He took some time off to go to Europe, but returned for the chance to direct A Family Affair (1/27/62-3/25/62). Among the hundreds of shows he has been involved with, his most well known are A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (5/8/62-8/29/64), Fiddler on the Roof (9/22/64-7/2/72), Cabaret (11/20/66-9/6/69), Company (4/26/70-1/1/72), Candide
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(12/1/56-2/2/57), Evita (9/25/79-6/25/83), Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (3/1/79-2/6/79), The Phantom of the Opera (1/2/88-present *the longest running Broadway show), Showboat (4/24/83-6/26/83), and Parade (12/17/98-2/28/99). Luckily, Hal Prince’s career is not yet over and continues to thrive on the stage.
Born Harold Smith Prince on January 30th, 1928, Hal Prince is now known as one of the most successful producers of the stage. To be completely honest, I am quite embarrassed that I don’t know who he is; but this is a strong way to find out more about him.
A native of New York, his father (a New York stockbroker) and his mother raised him in a “privileged, upper-middle lover-rich class, Jewish” home (Prince 1). His parents had the finds and the resources to take him to the theatre often and at an early age. He worked at a Smith-Corona portable till where he wrote four novels and four full-length plays. He went to the University of Pennsylvania for the liberal curriculum at the age of sixteen. He was not a drama major because it did not exist at the University, but he expresses in his autobiography that one does not “get much valuable, practical experience in college dramatic programs” (Prince 3). He excelled greatly and graduated with a
Roderique 2
B.A. in English at the age of nineteen in 1948. Upon graduation he moved to New York and “began his theatrical career as an apprentice and stage manager for the noted producer and director George Abbott” (Encyclopædia Britannica). He had sent around some plays he had written and got to the desk of the head of a big script department, then it was passed to George Abbott. George Abbott, a famous and successful producer (among other things), helped Prince get on his feet because of his huge influence in the theatre since 1913. At first, Prince helped out around the office doing “on spec” jobs and working on television shows (Prince 4).
Prince’s career began to really take off when he got involved with a musical about a strike at a pajama factory. The Pajama Game opened on May 13, 1954 in the St. James Theatre. “The budget was so tight that Prince and Griffith worked as their own stage managers” (Stewart 455). While The Pajama Game was still running, Prince got involved with the musical comedy Damn Yankees. Everyone was unsure about the success of the show because it had “no stars in the cast and two precarious themes (baseball and the Faust legend)”, but there was no problem with finding the money to fund it (Ilson 22). Damn Yankees opened on May 5, 1955 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for a “total of 1,019 performances” (Stewart 163). Next came New Girl in
Roderique 3
Town, which told the story of a prostitute quitting her job at a “brothel to come east to New York for a reunion with her father . . .” (Stewart 420). George Abbott was the director of this musical and the dark material paved the way for later Hal’s later projects: Sweeney Todd, Evita and The Phantom of the Opera. It opened on May 14, 1957 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran until May 24, 1958. Hal Prince’s good friend Stephen Sondheim wanted his help with his new modern day Romeo and Juliet musical West Side Story. It opened in the Winter Garden Theatre on August 26th, 1957 and ran for 732 performances. Prince finally got the chance to produce a straight play in 1958 when A Swim in the Sea opened in the Royal Poinciana Playhouse in Palm Beach, Florida on April 28th. It never got to Broadway, but Prince believes that “investors should take failures in stride” (Prince 48). Fiorello! (11/23/59-10/28/61), Tenderloin (10/17/60-4/23/61), A Call on Kuprin (5/25/61-6/3/61) were the last three shows that Prince did with his partner Bobby Griffith because he died on June 7, 1961. He took some time off to go to Europe, but returned for the chance to direct A Family Affair (1/27/62-3/25/62). Among the hundreds of shows he has been involved with, his most well known are A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (5/8/62-8/29/64), Fiddler on the Roof (9/22/64-7/2/72), Cabaret (11/20/66-9/6/69), Company (4/26/70-1/1/72), Candide
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(12/1/56-2/2/57), Evita (9/25/79-6/25/83), Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (3/1/79-2/6/79), The Phantom of the Opera (1/2/88-present *the longest running Broadway show), Showboat (4/24/83-6/26/83), and Parade (12/17/98-2/28/99). Luckily, Hal Prince’s career is not yet over and continues to thrive on the stage.
from Corey
Charlie Chaplin: The First Artist
Charlie Chaplin. What do you think of when you hear that name? Charlie. Chaplin. What alliteration! I know I think of a funny, short man with a mustache and baggy pants. I think of black and white films. I think of catchy tunes from the roaring twenties radiating with the style of “ragtime.” Anything else? Oh, a top hat. Is that all Mr. Chaplin was though? A funny man in a top hat and baggy pants? Or did his existence possibly influence and innovate Hollywood to morph into what it is today?
All of these aforementioned images presently reside as the defining aspects of Charlie Chaplin’s brilliant career in many people’s minds, which is absolutely fine in many regards. However, in this essay, I not only intend to enlighten the general American about his biographical life and achievements, but to also enlighten myself. I mean I’m an actor in the business. He revolutionized American and silent filmmaking. I am bound to learn something from him. The following essay will discuss the life and works of Charlie Chaplin and how his career changed the way we experience film today.
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born April 16, 1889 in Walworth, England to actress Hannah Hill and a ballad singer with the name of Charles Chaplin Sr. Charlie lived a rough childhood due to a number of devastating complexities: his mother was mentally ill and was repeatedly placed into the Cane Hill Asylum at Coulsdon and his father was a raging alcoholic who eventually died from alcoholism in 1901. Due to these simultaneous extremities, Charlie, along with his older brother Sydney, were forced to closely bond and quickly mature. However, due to their parent’s abilities and familiarities in the show business, the Chaplin brothers were able to find a “home” on the stage as well as natural ability when it came to performing.
Charlie flourished with success even from a very young age. His father was essentially the catalyst in beginning Charlie’s stage career. He introduced Charlie to the “music hall” and the art of “vaudeville comedy” throughout England. Eventually “Charlie made his professional debut as a member of a juvenile group called ‘The Eight Lancashire Lads’ and rapidly won popular favour as an outstanding tap dancer” (charliechaplin.com). Charlie found immediate success with American audiences as well, specifically in the stage arena of performance. He rapidly gained the reputation of “the funny man” from his vaudeville comedy acts, which eventually lead to multiple motion picture contracts and, in 1913, “12 two-reel comedies” including “The Floorwalker”, “The Fireman”, “The Vagabond”, “One A.M.” (charliechaplin.com). Chaplin soon gained recognition among American audiences as well as film companies and therefore was in very high demand from both. This high demand inadvertently caused him to move to working as an independent producer. As an independent, Chaplin was able to work much more freely and maintained the ability to incorporate what he had always desired to put into film. Robert Moss pinpoints one of Chaplin’s essential breakthroughs in his book Charlie Chaplin: A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies: “In 1918 Chaplin continued on his mercurial course, signing with First National in what was the most celebrated contract of that time: the comedian was to receive one million dollars for producing eight films” and he maintained full control of them as well (14). In the post World War 1 era Chaplin doubtlessly lived as the most popular and premier entertainer in the world. Since he worked as an independent, Chaplin gravitated towards hopping from one film company to another, “culminating into the creation of his own firm, United Artists, in 1919” (Moss 15). (“United Artists” still is a successful, functioning film studio today, with CMU alum Paula Wagner as its CEO, and has represented numerous iconic films throughout the years including “Rocky,” “The Pink Panther,” and “James Bond.”) Throughout the early 1900’s, Chaplin was THE celebrity. His success was incredible. Moss reminisces about “A small theatre in New York made a…fortune showing nothing but Chaplin pictures for nearly a decade” (15). So, it is easy to see the large amount of success Chaplin gained in less than two decades. But why were his films successful? What about them were so intriguing and funny?
Chaplin’s style at the beginning of his career was extremely witty, witty to the point of almost containing a mischievous aspect to it. It is easily categorized as part of the “slapstick” genre of comedy “involving fast and furious antics, usually improvised in some familiar location: a doctor’s office, a bar, a park, and the like” (Moss 24). In 1914, Chaplin began his era of filmmaking famously regarded as the “Keystone comedies.” On the technical side of things, these types of reels could easily be made anywhere between a day and a week and cost less than $1,000. They were very cheap, quick to produce, and brief in length. While at Keystone, Chaplin made thirty-two comedies of the slapstick genre in one year, “adding attributes and mannerisms as he went along” (Moss 24). Chaplin used parks as settings for many of these farcical films and created very humorous situations with these settings. For example, in “Twenty Minutes of Love” the park bench is the ‘parlor’ where Charlie flirts with somebody else’s girl, using a stolen watch as a gift” (Moss 26). While working at Keystone, Chaplin was also under an apprenticeship with a man named Mack Sennett. Author and professor Donald W. McCaffrey pinpoints the importance of this apprenticeship and how it laid the basis for Chaplin’s future work in his book Focus on Chaplin: “Not one of the Keystone creations ranks with his best works, but it was a formative period – a necessary step in the comedian’s evolving grasp of the cinema medium” (1). His Keystone comedies laid the foundation for what Chaplin accomplished in the film industry. After working for Sennett, Chaplin moved on to work for the Essanay film studio in 1915 where he began to focus more on taking his time with his films and finding the exact effect he desired. “During the year at Essanay, he reduced the volume of his output to 14 films, expanded the shoot schedule a week or two, and increased the investment in each film to between $1200 and $1500” (Moss 35). While at Essanay, Chaplin produced films such as The Tramp and The Bank, where he creatively discovered a character that “would become the great comic portrait of all times” (McCaffrey 1). From there, Chaplin eventually moved on from short two-reel films to producing such silent full length features as The Kid (1921), starring one of the best child actors of all time, Jackie Coogan, along with The Golf Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), and City Lights (1931). According to McCaffrey, with these films “Chaplin reached the zenith of his creative abilities. The tramp-clown figure was the center, the focus, of his creation” (2).
Music was also a paramount aspect of Chaplin’s filmmaking career. Though he was musically untrained, his father, as a ballad singer and performer, had introduced him to the art, ultimately allowing for Chaplin to develop “quick ear, and a superb sense of rhythm, a taste for the art, experience with it on the stage, and an amateur performer’s devotion to it” (charliechaplin.com). We can now see that music was as integral to his films than any other aspect. However, unlike most directors and actors of the time, Chaplin composed most of his own music: “But perhaps of no other one man can it be said that he wrote, directed, acted, and scored a motion picture. Incidentally, Chaplin even conducted the orchestra, himself, during recordings, an added reason for the satisfying impression of wholeness in the Chaplin films” (charliechaplin.com). He was completely self-sufficient – director, actor, singer, composer, and musical director.
Chaplin was essentially the first, legitimate movie star in the film industry. He took stardom to the next level due to his brilliant comedic timing and creative ability. McCaffrey quotes Peter Cotes in a review Cotes wrote pertaining to Chaplin’s My Autobiography in Films and Filming:
“Looking back over Chaplin’s legendary career…and his creation of Charlie, the world’s greatest comedian, the best known figure of our day, and an art which ranged from the pinnacles of high comedy to the ocean depths of human despair, I would call him the first artist of modern times” (3).
Charlie Chaplin is the quintessential comedian of Hollywood’s history. He set the foundation for the comedy on the big screen that we see today, and ultimately made it work. Chaplin revolutionized the styles of comedy with his Keystone, slapstick genre of filmmaking that is now widely regarded as the fundamental source for comedy films. Again, McCaffrey states “Chaplin himself elevated the often labeled ‘lowly’ slapstick to what critics call ‘high art’” (5). I know I now have a greater respect for comedic cinema and the genre of comedy due to what Chaplin accomplished in his lifetime. No matter how hard anyone tries though, Hollywood’s first legitimate funny guy will always be remembered as the short, silent man with the baggy pants, small mustache and bowl hat.
Charlie Chaplin. What do you think of when you hear that name? Charlie. Chaplin. What alliteration! I know I think of a funny, short man with a mustache and baggy pants. I think of black and white films. I think of catchy tunes from the roaring twenties radiating with the style of “ragtime.” Anything else? Oh, a top hat. Is that all Mr. Chaplin was though? A funny man in a top hat and baggy pants? Or did his existence possibly influence and innovate Hollywood to morph into what it is today?
All of these aforementioned images presently reside as the defining aspects of Charlie Chaplin’s brilliant career in many people’s minds, which is absolutely fine in many regards. However, in this essay, I not only intend to enlighten the general American about his biographical life and achievements, but to also enlighten myself. I mean I’m an actor in the business. He revolutionized American and silent filmmaking. I am bound to learn something from him. The following essay will discuss the life and works of Charlie Chaplin and how his career changed the way we experience film today.
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born April 16, 1889 in Walworth, England to actress Hannah Hill and a ballad singer with the name of Charles Chaplin Sr. Charlie lived a rough childhood due to a number of devastating complexities: his mother was mentally ill and was repeatedly placed into the Cane Hill Asylum at Coulsdon and his father was a raging alcoholic who eventually died from alcoholism in 1901. Due to these simultaneous extremities, Charlie, along with his older brother Sydney, were forced to closely bond and quickly mature. However, due to their parent’s abilities and familiarities in the show business, the Chaplin brothers were able to find a “home” on the stage as well as natural ability when it came to performing.
Charlie flourished with success even from a very young age. His father was essentially the catalyst in beginning Charlie’s stage career. He introduced Charlie to the “music hall” and the art of “vaudeville comedy” throughout England. Eventually “Charlie made his professional debut as a member of a juvenile group called ‘The Eight Lancashire Lads’ and rapidly won popular favour as an outstanding tap dancer” (charliechaplin.com). Charlie found immediate success with American audiences as well, specifically in the stage arena of performance. He rapidly gained the reputation of “the funny man” from his vaudeville comedy acts, which eventually lead to multiple motion picture contracts and, in 1913, “12 two-reel comedies” including “The Floorwalker”, “The Fireman”, “The Vagabond”, “One A.M.” (charliechaplin.com). Chaplin soon gained recognition among American audiences as well as film companies and therefore was in very high demand from both. This high demand inadvertently caused him to move to working as an independent producer. As an independent, Chaplin was able to work much more freely and maintained the ability to incorporate what he had always desired to put into film. Robert Moss pinpoints one of Chaplin’s essential breakthroughs in his book Charlie Chaplin: A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies: “In 1918 Chaplin continued on his mercurial course, signing with First National in what was the most celebrated contract of that time: the comedian was to receive one million dollars for producing eight films” and he maintained full control of them as well (14). In the post World War 1 era Chaplin doubtlessly lived as the most popular and premier entertainer in the world. Since he worked as an independent, Chaplin gravitated towards hopping from one film company to another, “culminating into the creation of his own firm, United Artists, in 1919” (Moss 15). (“United Artists” still is a successful, functioning film studio today, with CMU alum Paula Wagner as its CEO, and has represented numerous iconic films throughout the years including “Rocky,” “The Pink Panther,” and “James Bond.”) Throughout the early 1900’s, Chaplin was THE celebrity. His success was incredible. Moss reminisces about “A small theatre in New York made a…fortune showing nothing but Chaplin pictures for nearly a decade” (15). So, it is easy to see the large amount of success Chaplin gained in less than two decades. But why were his films successful? What about them were so intriguing and funny?
Chaplin’s style at the beginning of his career was extremely witty, witty to the point of almost containing a mischievous aspect to it. It is easily categorized as part of the “slapstick” genre of comedy “involving fast and furious antics, usually improvised in some familiar location: a doctor’s office, a bar, a park, and the like” (Moss 24). In 1914, Chaplin began his era of filmmaking famously regarded as the “Keystone comedies.” On the technical side of things, these types of reels could easily be made anywhere between a day and a week and cost less than $1,000. They were very cheap, quick to produce, and brief in length. While at Keystone, Chaplin made thirty-two comedies of the slapstick genre in one year, “adding attributes and mannerisms as he went along” (Moss 24). Chaplin used parks as settings for many of these farcical films and created very humorous situations with these settings. For example, in “Twenty Minutes of Love” the park bench is the ‘parlor’ where Charlie flirts with somebody else’s girl, using a stolen watch as a gift” (Moss 26). While working at Keystone, Chaplin was also under an apprenticeship with a man named Mack Sennett. Author and professor Donald W. McCaffrey pinpoints the importance of this apprenticeship and how it laid the basis for Chaplin’s future work in his book Focus on Chaplin: “Not one of the Keystone creations ranks with his best works, but it was a formative period – a necessary step in the comedian’s evolving grasp of the cinema medium” (1). His Keystone comedies laid the foundation for what Chaplin accomplished in the film industry. After working for Sennett, Chaplin moved on to work for the Essanay film studio in 1915 where he began to focus more on taking his time with his films and finding the exact effect he desired. “During the year at Essanay, he reduced the volume of his output to 14 films, expanded the shoot schedule a week or two, and increased the investment in each film to between $1200 and $1500” (Moss 35). While at Essanay, Chaplin produced films such as The Tramp and The Bank, where he creatively discovered a character that “would become the great comic portrait of all times” (McCaffrey 1). From there, Chaplin eventually moved on from short two-reel films to producing such silent full length features as The Kid (1921), starring one of the best child actors of all time, Jackie Coogan, along with The Golf Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), and City Lights (1931). According to McCaffrey, with these films “Chaplin reached the zenith of his creative abilities. The tramp-clown figure was the center, the focus, of his creation” (2).
Music was also a paramount aspect of Chaplin’s filmmaking career. Though he was musically untrained, his father, as a ballad singer and performer, had introduced him to the art, ultimately allowing for Chaplin to develop “quick ear, and a superb sense of rhythm, a taste for the art, experience with it on the stage, and an amateur performer’s devotion to it” (charliechaplin.com). We can now see that music was as integral to his films than any other aspect. However, unlike most directors and actors of the time, Chaplin composed most of his own music: “But perhaps of no other one man can it be said that he wrote, directed, acted, and scored a motion picture. Incidentally, Chaplin even conducted the orchestra, himself, during recordings, an added reason for the satisfying impression of wholeness in the Chaplin films” (charliechaplin.com). He was completely self-sufficient – director, actor, singer, composer, and musical director.
Chaplin was essentially the first, legitimate movie star in the film industry. He took stardom to the next level due to his brilliant comedic timing and creative ability. McCaffrey quotes Peter Cotes in a review Cotes wrote pertaining to Chaplin’s My Autobiography in Films and Filming:
“Looking back over Chaplin’s legendary career…and his creation of Charlie, the world’s greatest comedian, the best known figure of our day, and an art which ranged from the pinnacles of high comedy to the ocean depths of human despair, I would call him the first artist of modern times” (3).
Charlie Chaplin is the quintessential comedian of Hollywood’s history. He set the foundation for the comedy on the big screen that we see today, and ultimately made it work. Chaplin revolutionized the styles of comedy with his Keystone, slapstick genre of filmmaking that is now widely regarded as the fundamental source for comedy films. Again, McCaffrey states “Chaplin himself elevated the often labeled ‘lowly’ slapstick to what critics call ‘high art’” (5). I know I now have a greater respect for comedic cinema and the genre of comedy due to what Chaplin accomplished in his lifetime. No matter how hard anyone tries though, Hollywood’s first legitimate funny guy will always be remembered as the short, silent man with the baggy pants, small mustache and bowl hat.
from Abdiel
Katharine Houghton Hepburn is one the most well acclaimed screen personalities of our times. Her career which lasted for seven decades covered the gamut from romance to drama to comedy. She possessed unique talent and her stardom endured through generations. Though she experienced the ups and downs of a long career she was able to weather the bad times and Hollywood never gave up on her. She still holds the record for the most Oscars won for Best Actress. She won four of them out of twelve nominations, quite an accomplishment.
Hepburn was born May 12, 1907 in Hartford Connecticut. In 1928 she graduated from Bryn Mawr with a degree in history and philosophy. Her debut on Broadway with a bit part in Night Hostess, came that same year. The daughter of a strong willed lady suffragist Katharine Martha Houghton, cofounder of Planned Parenthood, Katherine was raised to speak her mind and be determined. She took control of her career early on and managed to continue working within the framework of the established studios. Her striking beauty was backed by her enormous talent and her strong personality. She filmed over fifty films and partnered with famous leading men, such as Cary Grant and her personal partner Spencer Tracy.
It was during her training at Bryn Mawr, that Hepburn met a producer with a stock company in Maryland, his name was Eddie Knopf. He casted her in the production of The Czarina and The Cradle Snatchers where she performed small roles. Her first leading role on a stage in Great Neck, New York came her way when a producer fired the leading lady of The Big Pond and had Hepburn assume the role. She was totally thrown off balance and was not able to handle the unexpected turn of events, fumbling her lines and speaking so rapidly she was not understood and was fired. Yet, she easily found employment in those early years, and drew attention with her performances, especially for her role in Art and Mrs. Bottle in 1931.
Her upbringing involved rigorous sports activity helped her performances. According to Larry Swindell of the Star Telegram, in her first Broadway lead in the Warrior’s Husband her entrance was a 15 foot leap which she masterfully executed. Katharine Hepburn stage career also included her performance of Shakespearean heroines, such as Viola in Twelfth Night, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, and a spectacular Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, all performed at the American Shakespeare Festival in Connecticut. She was nominated for two Tony Awards: as Best Actress in a Musical in the 1970 production of Coco for the lead role character, and as Best Actress in a Play in 1982 for the leading role of the production The West Side Waltz. After RKO studios finally convince the 22 year old actress to leave the stage, she performed her own pratfalls in films like Bringing Up Baby (1938), a great example of screwball comedy. As a child she won awards for figure skating and developed a love for swimming, even in extremely brisk water, an activity that she practiced into her eighties. Not all was joy in her growing years, at age fourteen she found her brother Tom hanging for a rope tied to the attic’s rafters and fell into depression. Though her family did not talk about it her maternal grandfather and her father's brother, Charlie; also committed suicide. After, her brother Tom’s suicide she avoided crowds and was homeschooled. For years to come she would cite his birthday as her own.
After her first screen performance in 1932 in George Cukor’s A Bill of Divorcement, she became well regarded and commanded good pay for her performance. In 1932, her performance in Morning Glory won her the first Oscar for Best Actress in the role Eva Lovelace opposite Douglas Fairbanks. Her performance in Little Women in the same year is thought to have been the reason for the film to have been the most successful of the year. She soon became one of RKO studios best well known names; her thirst for challenges was endless. After proving herself in melodramas she embarked on a journey in which she proved her comedic strain. It would take her three decades to conquer her second Oscar as Best Actress in the 1967 film Guess Who is Coming to Dinner next to Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier. The following year her outstanding performance in The Lion in the Winter bestowed upon her the recognition of a third Oscar statuette. Her twelve Oscar nominations include roles in notable films, such as Summertime (1955), The Rainmaker (1956), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962). From the start of her career her star shown brighter, even with stiff competition such as Greta Garbo and Bette Davis, she was in a category all her own. However, Hepburn was not as popular in her personal life as she was a talented actor. She could be standoffish denying requests to sign autographs. She showed a different treatment to her co-workers always friendly with crews and stage hands and staff. Yet, her distance earned her the nickname of Katharine of Arrogance and kept fans away from her films.
Probably the most remarkable event of her personal life came when she met Spencer Tracy, in the 1942 production of Woman of the Year directed by George Stevens where she commanded a hefty salary of $ 250,000.00. The pair fell in love, even though Tracy was already married. Their love affair lasted for many decades, spanning from 1943 until Tracy’s death in 1967. They soon became one of the most well known duos on and off screen. Though their liaison was most discreet, it became a legend. They appeared together in nine movies together, including Keeper of the Flame (1942), Adam’s Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), Desk Set (1957), and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967). Hepburn and Tracy were very careful to keep their relationship from the public eye, keeping separate households and being extremely cagy not to be spotted out in the town together. According to author William J. Mann “The brilliance and singular devotion she gave to the creation and maintenance of her public image should inspire awe-especially when one sees all that went on behind it”.
Her outspoken style won her as many admirers as detractors but it failed to change her. Sometimes it ran her into problems. In 1972 she was fired by the producer of Travels with my Aunt for demanding too many changes to the script. In 1976 before the start of the shooting of the film The Blue Bird (1976) she dropped out. Her behavior off screen which many determined to be elitist and her remarkable refusal to become tangled in Hollywood’s games, the fact that she never wore make up, always wore slacks and did not attempt to mask her disdain for many of her contemporaries made her unwelcomed, not exactly what the studios expected from their top rated stars. Author of Kate Remembered, A. Scott Berg cites a passage of their first conversation which describes her uncanny honesty "Look, I only invited you for drinks tonight because I ¬wasn't sure how ¬we'd get on, but ¬you're more than welcome to stay for dinner; there's plenty of food. But I can tell by the way ¬you're dressed, and I must say I like that tie, ¬you've got another date. It's probably better if you go anyway because ¬we're starting to talk too much already, and then we ¬won't be fresh for the performance tomorrow. Shall we say eleven?"
She ventured into made-for- TV during the 1970’s with productions such as The Glass Menagerie (1973), Love Among the Ruins (1975) and The Corn is Green (1979). It seemed every endeavor she set to accomplish she could muster with ease. Yet, her career also included such as flops included Break of Hearts (1935), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Mary of Scotland (1936) and Quality Streets (1937). Her trademark was to play strong willed women with sharp tongues and a mind of their own. She received her share of recognition for her lifelong dedication to acting. She was ranked the number 1 woman in the AFI’s list of “50 Greatest Movie Legends” published in June of 1999. On the American Film Institute's list of "Top 100 U.S. Love Stories," compiled in June 2002, Hepburn led all actresses with six of her films on the list. She won her last Oscar for Best Actress opposite Henry Fonda in the production of A Golden Pond in 1981 at the age of 74.
Katharine Hepburn resided in Manhattan's Turtle Bay Gardens the better part of her life. She lived in a typical four story brownstone located at 244 East 49th Street, between 2nd & 3rd Avenue. She died on June 29, 2003 in Connecticut of natural causes at the age of 96. She will always be remembered as a remarkably talented actor who defended her independence, spoke her mind and defended her ground.
from Dylan
Charlie Chaplin can be considered one of the most influential people in the film industry of the 20th century. His works in silent films have become legend. Chaplin’s career in Hollywood spanned a remarkable sixty-five years. He was not only a skilled and accomplished actor, but also a director, screenwriter, producer, and composer. This made him one of the only men, if not the only man, of his time to control every aspect of a single film.
Chaplin has entertained and touched many audiences, even in this modern day of special effects and other innovations in technology in films. This is because his characters have a root in the human psyche. People can become attached with the mere facial and body expressions of Chaplin. To the average audience, acting without words would seem to be confusing and unidentifiable. But, for a supremely skilled talent as Chaplin was, mere words would only muddle the precision and genuine portrayal of his characters. He truly knew the extent and impact that every action he performed had upon his audience and cast mates. Only a true genius like Chaplin could play with an audience’s emotions, making them laugh, cry, and sometimes both at the same time. To be a successful comedian, is to be a truthful and realistic actor, and Chaplin was that, and much, much more.
Chaplin’s most distinct and well-known character, “The Tramp,” is the main reason for his timeless fame. “Chaplin’s Tramp is universal. He could be jaunty, malicious, soppy, wistful, cunning, crass, observant, beautiful, painstaking, annoying, mean, innocent…”(Shipman 100). Chaplin was a film actor ahead of his time in many ways. He seems to have employed techniques of the so-called “Method Acting” system decades earlier than its induction. In an excerpt from his autobiography, he describes his process for becoming the Tramp character: "I had no idea what makeup to put on. I did not like my get-up as the press reporter [in Making a Living]. However on the way to the wardrobe I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering Sennett had expected me to be a much older man, I added a small moustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born." (Chaplin 154). Such specifically chosen objects and wardrobes only further the knowledge that Chaplin was supremely adept at his craft. Each aspect of the Tramp was so meticulously designed and then modified to suit the need of a particular audience reaction. With such a versatile character, Chaplin assumed his rightful place as a “film legend” and “one of the greatest actors who ever lived.”
Charlie Chaplin has not only inspired the general population, but also countless actors who aspired to be just as revolutionary and influential. Buster Keaton, Academy Award winner and a long-standing competing actor in the silent films, looked up to Chaplin and his sentimental characters, “At his best, and Chaplin remained at his best for a long time, he was the greatest comedian who ever lived.” Tony award winning stage and screen actor, Zero Mostel, said, “The best comics are also good actors. Chaplin is a wonderful actor.” Agnes de Millie, Tony award winning choreographer and dancer, said, “When Chaplin talked about pictures we all sat still and listened hard. We knew very well what we had among us. The greatest actor of our time, unique, irreplaceable. He stood quite outside the jurisdictions or embroiling of Hollywood. He was beyond jealousy. He was absolute.”
Chaplin’s life however wasn’t always all about the glitz and glamour of stardom. It is an interesting journey to know the past behind man who created the Tramp, who was instilled with such depth and history. Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in London, England. His parents were both entertainers and musicians and separated when he was still a toddler. When he was younger, he transferred frequently from one school to the next and eventual into a workhouse, all the while becoming increasingly impoverished due to his mother’s mental illness and the absence of a father. Chaplin first started to perform in 1898 with a young group of dancers named The Eight Lancashire Lads. For the next decade or so, he toured with several different groups performing is such shows as Sherlock Holmes, Wal Pink’s Repairs, Casey Court’s Circus Company, and Fred Karno’s company. By 1913, he signed his first film contract, which was with the Keystone Film Company at one hundred and fifty dollars per week. A year later he signed with Essanay at twelve hundred and fifty dollars per week. In 1915 he signed with Mutual Film Corporation at ten thousand dollars per week with a signing bonus of an astounding amount at that time of one-hundred-and-fifty thousand dollars. This salary made him, undoubtedly, the highest paid actor in the world at that time.
Chaplin has performed in over eighty films, and has directed almost as many. However, one of the things that Chaplin did that probably changed the film industry the most came in 1919. With the help of Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith, he formed the film studio United Artists. At the time, already established producers and distributors had much control over the aspects of an actor’s income and creative freedom. The four founders decided to find a way out of such a time, when their career’s futures were at stake. So, the solution was to create a production company to call their own. A change from other production companies, United Artists never owned other studios or had total control over an actor under such strict contracts. United Artists thrives even today, and has since been collaborated and affiliated with Disney, Twentieth Century Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and many other film studios.
From 1928 until 1931, Chaplin worked on a film entitled City Lights. City Lights stared the Tramp character falling in love with helping care for a blind flower girl. He eventually raises the money, after much trouble, to pay for a surgery, which cures her blindness. When he finally meets with her again she doesn’t know who he is, just thinking him to be some poor man. In the end, the girl finally recognizes him after touching his hand after giving him a coin in pity. The final scene is especially remarkable for Chaplin. He said of his performance, “in ‘City Lights’ just the last scene … I’m not acting …. Almost apologetic, standing outside myself and looking … It’s a beautiful scene, beautiful, and because it isn’t over-acted.”
At the time, sound had already been incorporated into motion pictures, but Chaplin decided to keep on the tradition. Although, he decided to compose the film’s score to be the only sound track used for the film. At first, United Artists predicted the film to be a failure. During the premiers of the film, both Bernard Shaw and Albert Einstein attended. Their reactions instantly told Chaplin that his film would be a hit. City Lights became one of the highest grossing films of 1931, and one of Chaplin’s most financially and critically successful films. Throughout the twentieth century, City Lights has maintained popularity. It is preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. The American Film Institute has ranked the film as the eleventh greatest American film in history.
From 1938 until 1940, Chaplin worked on his first “talkie.” The film, The Great Dictator did not just mark the beginnings of his works with sound films, but also his use of political satire. Chaplin has been said to have started making the film after the Nazis mistakenly identified him as Jewish, spreading leaflets about this “disgusting Jewish acrobat.” The Great Dictator was the first of many propaganda films against Hitler and the Nazi party, and helped start to stir a strong condemnation towards them. The film became Chaplin’s highest grossing film, breaking box-office records. The Great Dictator was also nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and earned one for Best Original Screenplay, which of course was written by Chaplin. It was also another of his films to be preserved in the National Film Registry
Charlie Chaplin is certainly an artist who carries on a long legacy in the film business. Between being an actor, director, writer, composer, and producer, he is an influential figure towards every aspect of the industry. Chaplin’s films will survive for many, many, years to come and will most definitely influence the future generations of entertainers.
Chaplin has entertained and touched many audiences, even in this modern day of special effects and other innovations in technology in films. This is because his characters have a root in the human psyche. People can become attached with the mere facial and body expressions of Chaplin. To the average audience, acting without words would seem to be confusing and unidentifiable. But, for a supremely skilled talent as Chaplin was, mere words would only muddle the precision and genuine portrayal of his characters. He truly knew the extent and impact that every action he performed had upon his audience and cast mates. Only a true genius like Chaplin could play with an audience’s emotions, making them laugh, cry, and sometimes both at the same time. To be a successful comedian, is to be a truthful and realistic actor, and Chaplin was that, and much, much more.
Chaplin’s most distinct and well-known character, “The Tramp,” is the main reason for his timeless fame. “Chaplin’s Tramp is universal. He could be jaunty, malicious, soppy, wistful, cunning, crass, observant, beautiful, painstaking, annoying, mean, innocent…”(Shipman 100). Chaplin was a film actor ahead of his time in many ways. He seems to have employed techniques of the so-called “Method Acting” system decades earlier than its induction. In an excerpt from his autobiography, he describes his process for becoming the Tramp character: "I had no idea what makeup to put on. I did not like my get-up as the press reporter [in Making a Living]. However on the way to the wardrobe I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering Sennett had expected me to be a much older man, I added a small moustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born." (Chaplin 154). Such specifically chosen objects and wardrobes only further the knowledge that Chaplin was supremely adept at his craft. Each aspect of the Tramp was so meticulously designed and then modified to suit the need of a particular audience reaction. With such a versatile character, Chaplin assumed his rightful place as a “film legend” and “one of the greatest actors who ever lived.”
Charlie Chaplin has not only inspired the general population, but also countless actors who aspired to be just as revolutionary and influential. Buster Keaton, Academy Award winner and a long-standing competing actor in the silent films, looked up to Chaplin and his sentimental characters, “At his best, and Chaplin remained at his best for a long time, he was the greatest comedian who ever lived.” Tony award winning stage and screen actor, Zero Mostel, said, “The best comics are also good actors. Chaplin is a wonderful actor.” Agnes de Millie, Tony award winning choreographer and dancer, said, “When Chaplin talked about pictures we all sat still and listened hard. We knew very well what we had among us. The greatest actor of our time, unique, irreplaceable. He stood quite outside the jurisdictions or embroiling of Hollywood. He was beyond jealousy. He was absolute.”
Chaplin’s life however wasn’t always all about the glitz and glamour of stardom. It is an interesting journey to know the past behind man who created the Tramp, who was instilled with such depth and history. Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in London, England. His parents were both entertainers and musicians and separated when he was still a toddler. When he was younger, he transferred frequently from one school to the next and eventual into a workhouse, all the while becoming increasingly impoverished due to his mother’s mental illness and the absence of a father. Chaplin first started to perform in 1898 with a young group of dancers named The Eight Lancashire Lads. For the next decade or so, he toured with several different groups performing is such shows as Sherlock Holmes, Wal Pink’s Repairs, Casey Court’s Circus Company, and Fred Karno’s company. By 1913, he signed his first film contract, which was with the Keystone Film Company at one hundred and fifty dollars per week. A year later he signed with Essanay at twelve hundred and fifty dollars per week. In 1915 he signed with Mutual Film Corporation at ten thousand dollars per week with a signing bonus of an astounding amount at that time of one-hundred-and-fifty thousand dollars. This salary made him, undoubtedly, the highest paid actor in the world at that time.
Chaplin has performed in over eighty films, and has directed almost as many. However, one of the things that Chaplin did that probably changed the film industry the most came in 1919. With the help of Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith, he formed the film studio United Artists. At the time, already established producers and distributors had much control over the aspects of an actor’s income and creative freedom. The four founders decided to find a way out of such a time, when their career’s futures were at stake. So, the solution was to create a production company to call their own. A change from other production companies, United Artists never owned other studios or had total control over an actor under such strict contracts. United Artists thrives even today, and has since been collaborated and affiliated with Disney, Twentieth Century Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and many other film studios.
From 1928 until 1931, Chaplin worked on a film entitled City Lights. City Lights stared the Tramp character falling in love with helping care for a blind flower girl. He eventually raises the money, after much trouble, to pay for a surgery, which cures her blindness. When he finally meets with her again she doesn’t know who he is, just thinking him to be some poor man. In the end, the girl finally recognizes him after touching his hand after giving him a coin in pity. The final scene is especially remarkable for Chaplin. He said of his performance, “in ‘City Lights’ just the last scene … I’m not acting …. Almost apologetic, standing outside myself and looking … It’s a beautiful scene, beautiful, and because it isn’t over-acted.”
At the time, sound had already been incorporated into motion pictures, but Chaplin decided to keep on the tradition. Although, he decided to compose the film’s score to be the only sound track used for the film. At first, United Artists predicted the film to be a failure. During the premiers of the film, both Bernard Shaw and Albert Einstein attended. Their reactions instantly told Chaplin that his film would be a hit. City Lights became one of the highest grossing films of 1931, and one of Chaplin’s most financially and critically successful films. Throughout the twentieth century, City Lights has maintained popularity. It is preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. The American Film Institute has ranked the film as the eleventh greatest American film in history.
From 1938 until 1940, Chaplin worked on his first “talkie.” The film, The Great Dictator did not just mark the beginnings of his works with sound films, but also his use of political satire. Chaplin has been said to have started making the film after the Nazis mistakenly identified him as Jewish, spreading leaflets about this “disgusting Jewish acrobat.” The Great Dictator was the first of many propaganda films against Hitler and the Nazi party, and helped start to stir a strong condemnation towards them. The film became Chaplin’s highest grossing film, breaking box-office records. The Great Dictator was also nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and earned one for Best Original Screenplay, which of course was written by Chaplin. It was also another of his films to be preserved in the National Film Registry
Charlie Chaplin is certainly an artist who carries on a long legacy in the film business. Between being an actor, director, writer, composer, and producer, he is an influential figure towards every aspect of the industry. Chaplin’s films will survive for many, many, years to come and will most definitely influence the future generations of entertainers.
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