Joker: Charlie Chaplain
“To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it,” said Charlie Chaplain. As an adolescent, I watched countless movies of Chaplain merely because the religious institution which educated me had their own copies of the movies and they considered Chaplain innocent entertainment. Watching those movies, I grew up thinking of Chaplain as a happy-go-lucky man, quite like the drunk millionaire in City Lights : exuberant, affectionate, and wildly generous, as well as singing, dancing, and embracing the Tramp (Chaplain) as his best friend. It took me a few years to learn that Chaplain’s personal life was a tragedy. This man who made us all laugh endlessly was crying all the time deep within himself. Born into extreme poverty in London, Chaplain’s early years were anything but theatrical delight. His father was an absent alcoholic and his mother, a talented singer, suffered from severe mental illness. When she was institutionalised, young Chaplain was sent to a workhous...
