The Life Of Charlie Chaplin – The King Of The Silent Comedy

The well known Charlie Chaplin had a great history and career. He was at one point a cultural phenomenon. There were toys made about him, songs written for him, and he featured in cartoons. All that success didn’t come easy because his early life was very rough. At a young age, his father had left the family and their mom had to take care of the kids. Since both of his parents had worked in the industry and were artists, it gave him the motivation to pursue that career. Acting was a natural talent he had and at age 12, he had already performed in a legitimate stage show. This sparked the beginning of his acting career. Today, he is sometimes referred to as the king of the silent comedy. Chaplin had many significant events in his personal life such as living in poverty without a father at a poor age, those events caused him to work at a young age and, he affected society by popularizing silent films.

Charlie Chaplin was born little before the progressive era on April 16, 1889. He had a difficult childhood. Being born into a family of artists, he had quickly picked up his parents interests as well. His father, who abandoned the family gave the mother a hard time to take care of herself and the kids. His mother known as Lily Harley (stage name) was a hall singer and influenced Chaplin at a young age. For a few years, she was able to take care of the family until she was diagnosed with severe mental issues. This led to a difficult life for the kids. This didn’t stop Chaplin because his first performance on stage was when he was five years old. His mother had been performing when she suddenly lost her voice mid-performance. The manager who insisted that five-year-old Chaplin will replace her mother. He was sent to the age and surprisingly wowing the crowd with his amazing performance.

Eventually, his mother never gained her singing voice back and was bankrupt. He had the same love for performing just as his mother did. No matter where he was working, his ultimate goal was to become an actor. Small groups and businesses had worked with him until producer Mack Sennett had interests in working with him. This had occurred on Chaplin's first trip to the United States. Sennett had offered him a contract where he was paid $150 a week. In 1914, Chaplin wanted his appearance and character different from the other Sennett movies. This was the beginning of “The Little Tramp” and it rose to fame very quickly. After a year of working with Sennett, he had successfully been in 35 movies. That's when he left Sennett and had joined the Essanay Company which offered him around $1200 a week. Working with that company, he successfully had made 14 more movies.

One of the classics “The Tramp” was also made around that time. Eventually, his contract came to an end and Chaplin finally had become independent. Between all of this, Chaplin had quick and a variety relationships. He had married a 16-year-old girl in 1918 by the name of Mildred Harris. The relationship didn’t last long and they divorced just after two years. Chaplin remarried another 16-year-old girl named Lira Grey in 1924. His wife had an unexpected pregnancy and both partners weren’t happy about it. This was Chaplin’s first kids and both of them were boys. Chaplin had stayed with her more than his first relationship and in fact, had featured his wife in the movie “The Gold Rush”. They eventually divorced in 1927. Chaplin hadn’t stopped there because he soon married another girl.