Happy Birthday, Charlie Chaplin!

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
— Charlie Chaplin

It’s a bumper month for birthdays, particularly our favourite classic movie stars. Last week we fastened our seatbelts with Bette Davis, and today marks the 122nd birthday of the world’s most famous silent clown: Charlie Chaplin.

Born in London in 1889, Chaplin was the son of vaudevillian performers and, after his father left, led a poverty stricken childhood. After turns as a child dancer and actor, he joined the Karno Company on his first tour of America alongside fellow silent star Stan Laurel (of -and Hardy fame).

Like everyone else I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.
— Charlie Chaplin

On his second tour of the US, he signed up with the legendary Mack Sennett’s Keystone Company, paving his way to become silent film’s biggest star.

Charlie Chaplin and I would have a friendly contest: Who could do the feature film with the least subtitles?
— Buster Keaton

With his silent short film Kid Auto Races at Venice, he created the character The Little Tramp, whose bowler hat, clownish gait, and twirling cane, make him the most recognisable film character of all time.

For years, I have specialized in one type of comedy—strictly panto­mime. I have mea­sured it, gauged it, studied. I have been able to establish exact principles to govern its reactions on audiences. It has a certain pace and tempo. Dialogue, to my way of thinking, always slows action, because action must wait on words.
— Charlie Chaplin

Even when the era of sound rolled in, Chaplin was a stout supporter of silent film. It was not until his 1940 feature The Great Dictator that film audiences heard the Little Tramp speak.

Motion pictures need dialogue as much as Beethoven symphonies need lyrics.
— Charlie Chaplin

After 4 more spoken-word features, extradition from the USA, and an Academy Award for the original score of his film Limelight, writing the aptly titled My Autobiography, Chaplin retired in Switzerland with his wife and young children.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
— Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator

All I need to make a comedy is a park, a police-man, and a pretty girl.
— Charlie Chaplin

In the end, everything is a gag.
— Charlie Chaplin

What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.
— Charlie Chaplin

A day without laughter is a day wasted.
— Charlie Chaplin

For more classic film quotes, check out Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Silent Film on Quotables.

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