HIS INFLUENTIAL STORY
Chaplin appeared in numerous short films, but all was not great. Chaplin created friction with the directors; basically, they didn’t appreciate Chaplin telling them how to do their jobs. Chaplin asked Sennett if he could direct a picture. Sennett, about to fire the cocky Chaplin, received an urgent wire from his distributors to hurry and send more Chaplin film shorts. He was a sensation! Sennett agreed to let Chaplin direct.Chaplin’s directorial debut, Caught in the Rain (1914), with Chaplin playing a tipsy hotel guest, was a 16-minute short. Sennett was not only impressed with Chaplin’s acting but also his directing. Sennett added a $25 bonus to Chaplin’s salary for each short he directed. Chaplin flourished in the unexplored field of movie making. He was also able to get Keystone to sign Sydney as an actor in 1914.
Chaplin’s first full-length motion picture, The Tramp (1915), was a monstrous hit. After Chaplin made 35 films for Keystone, he was lured to Essenay Studios at a higher salary. There he made 15 films before being lured to Mutual, a Wall Street-backed production company where Chaplin made 12 films between 1916 and 1917, earning a hefty $10,000 a week plus bonuses, amounting to $670,000 that year. As the highest paid entertainer in the world, Chaplin continued to improve comedies with better plot and character development. |
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When film-making technology began to include sound in the late 1920s, Chaplin began writing soundtracks for nearly all of his films. No longer would he have to leave the melodies to the chance of random theater musicians (musicians used to play live music during the screening of films), he could now take control over what the background music would sound like as well as add special sound effects.One particular song, “Smile,” which was the theme song Chaplin wrote for Modern Times, became a hit on the Billboard charts in 1954 when lyrics were written for it and sung by Nat King Cole. Chaplin did not return to the U.S. until 1972, when he was honored with an Academy Award for his “incalculable effect in making motion pictures the art form of the century.” The 82-year-old Chaplin could barely speak while receiving the longest standing ovation in Oscar history, a full five minutes. Although Chaplin made Limelight in 1952, before he was denied U.S. re-entry, his music for the film won him an Oscar in 1973 when the movie was finally played in a Los Angeles theater. In 1975, Chaplin became Sir Charlie Chaplin when knighted by the Queen of England for his services to entertainment. |