Imagine you are a six year old boy living in England in 1895. You live in a tiny garret in one of the poorest sections of London with your older brother and your mother. There is never enough to eat. Your mother takes odd jobs to earn a few pennies to buy food. Your father is not there to help her. When your mother becomes ill and is unable to work, she has to go to an asylum. You and your brother are sent to a children’s home. Although you are given clothes, food and a place to sleep, your mother is not there to love you. You think some of the other children are lucky because they own a toothbrush.

Many children that lived in England at the turn of the 20thcentury lived like this. There was one little boy who was able to overcome the obstacles of poverty and sadness to become one of America’s first and funniest movie stars. This little boy genius was Charles Chaplin.

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in England. His parents were music-hall performers. In those days, there were no movies, radio or television so music-halls were an important form of entertainment. When he was very young, Charles would go to the theater with his mother and watch her perform and sing. One day, she was ill with laryngitis so five year-old Charles went on stage in her place. He imitated her, sang a few songs and danced. He discovered he loved to hear the sound of applause and the sound of coins as they hit the stage floor when he finished his performance. Charles remembered how he felt being on stage for the first time and said, “I was quite at home.”

Because of her poor health, Mrs. Chaplin was never able to sing again. Charles’ father had abandoned them, so Mrs. Chaplin sewed to earn a little money for food and rent. Sadly, the years of poverty and malnutrition affected her mind. She eventually had to stay in an asylum where nurses could care for her. Charles attended school when he could, worked odd jobs and joined acting groups. When he became old enough, he decided to leave England. His pioneering spirit brought him and his brother to America with a group of actors hoping to find work. He was soon asked to be in the movies.

Charles arrived in America at just the right time. The motion picture business was just beginning in the early 1900’s. All the movies made at that time were silent pictures, so the ability to pantomime was important. Charles was very good at telling an audience what he meant through gestures and mime.

It was here in America that he invented one of the most famous characters in the movies. One day, the director said they needed a funny-looking character for a certain scene. He told Charles to put on any kind of silly costume. Charles dressed in a suit coat that was slightly small, baggy pants and shoes that were too big. He put a bowler hat on his head and added a little black mustache. He grabbed a cane and walked onto the movie set. The character known as “the little tramp” was born.

Charlie Chaplin became America’s first movie star. He was recognized wherever he went. There were dolls, games and songs named after him. He built his own movie studio so he could keep making movies the way he wanted. He wrote, directed, produced, and composed the music. He brought his mother to America, bought her a house and hired a nurse to look after her.

Although Charles Chaplin became a very wealthy man, he never forgot the ordinary man. Through his films, he could express to people that he knew and understood their troubles. Memories of his poor childhood never left him. A large part of his childhood is seen in his little tramp. In his movies, the tramp wanders the streets looking for a place to sleep, food to eat and someone to love him. No matter what tragedies would befall the little tramp, he was a gentleman. If he bumped into a lamp, he would turn and tip his hat in apology to the lamp. Charlie was able to make simple, sometimes seemingly sad events funny. Just watch “The Gold Rush” and see him starving in a blizzard, so hungry he cooks and eats his shoe, taking it apart like someone would cut a steak. Watch him put forks in dinner rolls and make them look like dancing legs. This gift endured him to thousands of people.

Much has been said about Charlie’s personal life. Married numerous times and the father to ten children, he endured public divorces, paternity suits and even a claim that he had Communist tendencies. In the 1950’s Charles left the United States and moved to Switzerland. He came back to America just once in 1972 to accept a special Oscar for his work in motion pictures.

In his later years, he wrote his autobiography and kept busy. He was a self-taught musician and could play the violin and piano. He talked of making more movies. Charles Chaplin lived to be 88 years old. He died on Christmas Day in 1977.

Perhaps the secret to his success can be found in a message he gave to a group of children gathered for a meeting of the American Child Health Association when he was at the height of his popularity. He said, “Brush your teeth every day so that you’ll always be proud to laugh. And remember that as long as you can laugh, you’re happy and happiness means much towards good health.”

Some Chaplin films to see:

• City Lights
• The Gold Rush
• The Circus
• Modern Times
• The Great Dictator