The Dictator and the Tramp: Book Series Launched to Reexamine Life and Art of Charlie Chaplin

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - He was a music hall comic, a famous but lonely tramp, an artist who mocked Hitler and a suspected communist. Controversy and acclaim followed the life and art of Charlie Chaplin, the subject of a new series of books published through the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the British Film Institute and the Charlie Chaplin Research Foundation.

During his career, detractors would charge that Chaplin was a communist degenerate who got kicked out of the United States and deserved it, while supporters countered that he was a comic genius and a victim of McCarthyism.

"His public persona affected the way his movies were interpreted," said Frank Scheide, co-editor of the series and associate professor of communication. "In the past, many critics treated Chaplin's art as if it were the work of a genius totally separated from his times, while others allowed their opinions of his art to be affected by controversies associated with him. Instead of objective critiques, many focused on either defaming or defending the artist," Scheide explained.

Today, scholars and film critics consider Chaplin one of the major filmmakers and artists of the 20th century. In the book series, contributors will place him in a more contemporary historical perspective.

The first volume in the new series, Chaplin: The Dictator and the Tramp," features essays by several authorities on Chaplin and early film. They examine "The Great Dictator," a 1940 Chaplin film recently re-released internationally on DVD, as well as "The Tramp and the Dictator," a recent documentary about the movie by filmmaker Kevin Brownlow.

Additional contributors include co-editor Hooman Mehran; Glenn Mitchell, author of "The Chaplin Encyclopedia"; and David Robinson, Chaplin's principal biographer. The edition, released in England in April, is due out in the U.S. in July.

"The critics in this volume examine the Chaplin who continues to intrigue audiences, an international comic star who was very much a product of his time and place in history," said Scheide.

The author of the textbook "Introductory Film Criticism: A Historical Perspective," Scheide teaches courses in film history at the U of A. He has been studying Chaplin's career since he was an undergraduate and is surprised that whenever he asks his students if they have heard of the comedian, the majority answer yes, although most have never seen a Chaplin film before taking his class.

At the turn of the century, Chaplin and members of his troupe, who had gotten their start in English music halls, brought their act to the stages of vaudeville in the U.S. In 1912, aspiring film producer Mack Sennett spotted Chaplin, signing him the following year to a one-year contract as a film comedian at the Keystone Film Company.

"By 1916, Chaplin was making $10,000 a week, the highest salary of anyone in the world," said Scheide. "Men of his generation are fighting on the battlefield, and he is criticized for making all this money. Yet he raised millions for the war bond effort, and his films were popular with soldiers. In studying Chaplin you find a complex life and career, as well as the international appeal of his art."

As Chaplin's fame grew, he won over new audiences, who in turn brought intriguing new interpretations to his work. Film and theater historian Ono Hiroyuki notes that the Japanese viewed Chaplin as "a filmmaker whose movies touched on love, comedy and tears."

The 1931 movie "City Lights" was adapted as a Kabuki theater production only six months after its world premiere and prior to its release in Japan. The famous boxing scene became a female wrestling match, with the Chaplin-like Kabuki character entering the ring with a 300-pound Sumo wrestler in drag.

For Chaplin's silent tramp-the outsider, clown and cog in the industrial machine-"The Great Dictator" was a significant departure into the future of film. The satire on Nazi Germany ushered in Chaplin's first talking picture.

"Chaplin criticizes Adolph Hitler during a time when most Americans were embracing isolationism and avoiding events in Europe, which included a world war involving dictators like Hitler and Joseph Stalin. He certainly went against popular sentiment in America by claiming that these dictators represented an imminent danger to all humanity," said Scheide.

Chaplin plays two roles in the film, the Jewish barber who loses his memory before regaining it two decades later, and the Hitler look-alike Adenoid Hynkel, also known as 'Der Phooey' of Tomania. Even though he portrayed Hynkel as a clown, Chaplin encouraged his audience to take this clown very seriously.

Although Russia was an ally in the fight against Hitler, Americans increasingly viewed the Soviet Union as an enemy after the war. Under the influence of McCarthyism, Scheide points out, some labeled Chaplin a communist to punish him for his liberal views.

Chaplin's film "Limelight" will be the focus of the next book in the series, due out in April 2005. Series distributors are the University of California Press and the British Film Institute in Great Britain. For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.chaplinreview.com/

"His artistic innovations were clearly shaped by the age in which he lived," said Scheide. "One of his major achievements was adapting slapstick to film. In his jerky walk, Chaplin developed a body language that imitated the way motion pictures presented movement in early silent movies. Nobody could parody this effect as well."