Charlie Chaplin, Part 1: The Making of the World's Greatest Comedian — Victorian Poverty, Silent Superstardom, and a Troubling Private Life

About this episode

This episode explores the early life and career of Charlie Chaplin, highlighting his rise to fame and the personal challenges he faced.

This is Part 1 of our two-part series on Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin, one of the greatest icons of silent cinema and film comedy, built his legend on making the world laugh. But behind his beloved image was a private life that was increasingly troubling — and, throughout his life, increasingly difficult to contain. Part 1 of our two-part series follows Chaplin from a childhood in poverty and the workhouse, through the London music halls and Fred Karno's comedy company — where he learned the precision and physical storytelling that would transform silent film — to Hollywood, where he arrived at twenty-four as an unknown English comic and, within little more than a decade, would become the king of silent comedy. It traces his extraordinary rise in Hollywood: Keystone and the birth of the Tramp; Mabel Normand, Edna Purviance and The Tramp ; the phenomenon of 'Chaplinitis'; and the creative freedom that came with unprecedented contracts at Mutual and First National. Along the way came Easy Street , The Immigrant , Shoulder Arms and The Kid — films that made screen comedy more humane, ambitious and emotionally expansive than it had ever been before. The episode also follows the…

People in this episode

Host: Patrick Rankin

Topics covered

• Charlie Chaplin
• silent cinema
• film history
• comedy
• personal struggles
• Hollywood

Keywords

• Charlie Chaplin
• silent film
• comedy history
• Victorian poverty
• Hollywood
• The Tramp
• film relationships

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Keystone, Mutual, First National, Fred Karno's comedy company

Books & works: The Gold Rush, Easy Street, The Immigrant, Shoulder Arms, The Kid

Places: London, Victori

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