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Charles Chaplin made Limelight at the most troubled period of his adult career. In the late 1940s, America¹s Cold War paranoia reached its peak, and Chaplin, as a foreigner with liberal and humanist sympathies, was a prime target for political witch-hunters. It did not help that he had recently been cited in an unseemly paternity suit. Pilloried as he was by the right-wing press and reactionary institutions like the American Legion, it seemed that America had turned against the man it had once idolised.
In this atmosphere, his 1947 film, Monsieur Verdoux, with its sardonic view of war, was attacked as being anti-American. Not surprisingly, then, in choosing his next subject he deliberately sought escape from disagreeable contemporary reality. He found it in bitter-sweet nostalgia for the world of his youth - the world of the London music halls at the opening of the 20th century, where he had first discovered his genius as an entertainer.
His story concerns a once-famous comedian who has lost the ability to command his audience. Chaplin said that he based the character on real-life stage personalities whom he had seen lose their gifts and their public - the American black-face comedian Frank Tinney (1878-1940) and the Spanish clown Marceline (1873-1927) with whom he had himself worked as a boy. Clearly he was also thinking of his own present bitter experience of a faithless public.
Chaplin spent more than two years writing Limelight. His method was remarkable, and unique in his work. As a preliminary, he wrote the story in the form of a full-length novel - some 100,000 words long and entitled "Footlights". The novel - never published or apparently even intended for publication - relates the story as it appears in the finished film, but in addition includes two separate biographies of Calvero and Terry, detailing their lives before the action of the film proper begins.
What makes these biographies so remarkable is that we can trace in them a great deal of extended autobiography, as Chaplin quite openly introduces episodes from his own life and those of his parents. Just like Chaplin¹s own father, Calvero is devastated when he discovers his wife¹s infidelity and drifts into alcoholism. In the novel, Calvero even dies in the same hospital - St Thomas’ on the banks of the Thames - where Charles Chaplin Senior died in 1901 at the age of only 37.
The character of Terry, the young dancer, was equally clearly based on Chaplin’s mother, Hannah, though with reminiscences too of Chaplin’s first and never forgotten love, Hetty Kelly.
Claire Bloom, who plays Terry, remembered that in rehearsing her, Chaplin was always recalling gestures of his mother or Hetty, and the clothes they wore. With this strong underlay of nostalgia, Chaplin was at pains to evoke as accurately as possible the London he remembered from half a century before. In this he was helped by the great Russian-born designer, Eugene Lourié, who remodelled a set on the Paramount lot to look like a Victorian London street. A permanent setting of a theatre at RKO-Pathe was decorated to look like the Empire Theatre, London’s grandest music hall.
For the climactic scene Chaplin planned a ballet, in which Claire Bloom - not a dancer herself - was doubled by Melissa Hayden, a star of the New York City Ballet. Since the coming of sound films, Chaplin had always composed his own music scores, with the assistance of arrangers. Exceptionally, the music for the ballet - 25 minutes, though it was reduced in the final film - had to be composed in advance. Chaplin was relieved when Melissa Hayden and her partner and fellow star André Eglevsky assured him that the music was suitable for choreography. The "Limelight theme" was to remain one of Chaplin’s best-loved compositions; and in 1972, twenty years after the film’s first release, he and his musical collaborators Ray Rasch and Larry Russell were awarded a belated Oscar for "Best Original Dramatic Score".
The beautiful, 20-year-old English stage actress Claire Bloom was chosen to play Terry after much soul-searching; and Chaplin’s son Sydney was given the secondary male role. Perhaps it was a comfort in these difficult days - and an element of the nostalgia - to have his family around him: four other children and his half-brother Wheeler Dryden also played in the film, and even his young wife Oona doubled for Claire Bloom in two brief shots. Though Chaplin’s public life was beset by problems, the shooting of Limelight at least was trouble-free and completed in 55 shooting days an exceptional standard of economy for Chaplin’s feature productions. The premiere was, appropriately, held in London on 16 October 1952. In Chaplin¹s absence, open official hostility in America escalated to a point where he decided not to return to "that unhappy country". Thereafter he made his permanent residence in Europe. At that moment Chaplin believed that Limelight would be his last film. It was not: but if it had proved so, this exercise in nostalgia and family autobiography would have been a fitting conclusion to his career.
In this atmosphere, his 1947 film, Monsieur Verdoux, with its sardonic view of war, was attacked as being anti-American. Not surprisingly, then, in choosing his next subject he deliberately sought escape from disagreeable contemporary reality. He found it in bitter-sweet nostalgia for the world of his youth - the world of the London music halls at the opening of the 20th century, where he had first discovered his genius as an entertainer.
His story concerns a once-famous comedian who has lost the ability to command his audience. Chaplin said that he based the character on real-life stage personalities whom he had seen lose their gifts and their public - the American black-face comedian Frank Tinney (1878-1940) and the Spanish clown Marceline (1873-1927) with whom he had himself worked as a boy. Clearly he was also thinking of his own present bitter experience of a faithless public.
Chaplin spent more than two years writing Limelight. His method was remarkable, and unique in his work. As a preliminary, he wrote the story in the form of a full-length novel - some 100,000 words long and entitled "Footlights". The novel - never published or apparently even intended for publication - relates the story as it appears in the finished film, but in addition includes two separate biographies of Calvero and Terry, detailing their lives before the action of the film proper begins.
What makes these biographies so remarkable is that we can trace in them a great deal of extended autobiography, as Chaplin quite openly introduces episodes from his own life and those of his parents. Just like Chaplin¹s own father, Calvero is devastated when he discovers his wife¹s infidelity and drifts into alcoholism. In the novel, Calvero even dies in the same hospital - St Thomas’ on the banks of the Thames - where Charles Chaplin Senior died in 1901 at the age of only 37.
The character of Terry, the young dancer, was equally clearly based on Chaplin’s mother, Hannah, though with reminiscences too of Chaplin’s first and never forgotten love, Hetty Kelly.
Claire Bloom, who plays Terry, remembered that in rehearsing her, Chaplin was always recalling gestures of his mother or Hetty, and the clothes they wore. With this strong underlay of nostalgia, Chaplin was at pains to evoke as accurately as possible the London he remembered from half a century before. In this he was helped by the great Russian-born designer, Eugene Lourié, who remodelled a set on the Paramount lot to look like a Victorian London street. A permanent setting of a theatre at RKO-Pathe was decorated to look like the Empire Theatre, London’s grandest music hall.
For the climactic scene Chaplin planned a ballet, in which Claire Bloom - not a dancer herself - was doubled by Melissa Hayden, a star of the New York City Ballet. Since the coming of sound films, Chaplin had always composed his own music scores, with the assistance of arrangers. Exceptionally, the music for the ballet - 25 minutes, though it was reduced in the final film - had to be composed in advance. Chaplin was relieved when Melissa Hayden and her partner and fellow star André Eglevsky assured him that the music was suitable for choreography. The "Limelight theme" was to remain one of Chaplin’s best-loved compositions; and in 1972, twenty years after the film’s first release, he and his musical collaborators Ray Rasch and Larry Russell were awarded a belated Oscar for "Best Original Dramatic Score".
The beautiful, 20-year-old English stage actress Claire Bloom was chosen to play Terry after much soul-searching; and Chaplin’s son Sydney was given the secondary male role. Perhaps it was a comfort in these difficult days - and an element of the nostalgia - to have his family around him: four other children and his half-brother Wheeler Dryden also played in the film, and even his young wife Oona doubled for Claire Bloom in two brief shots. Though Chaplin’s public life was beset by problems, the shooting of Limelight at least was trouble-free and completed in 55 shooting days an exceptional standard of economy for Chaplin’s feature productions. The premiere was, appropriately, held in London on 16 October 1952. In Chaplin¹s absence, open official hostility in America escalated to a point where he decided not to return to "that unhappy country". Thereafter he made his permanent residence in Europe. At that moment Chaplin believed that Limelight would be his last film. It was not: but if it had proved so, this exercise in nostalgia and family autobiography would have been a fitting conclusion to his career.
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Early years
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England, on April 16th 1889. His father was a versatile vocalist and actor; and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an attractive actress and singer, who gained a reputation for her work in the light opera field. Charlie was thrown on his own resources before he reached the age of ten as the early death of his father and the subsequent illness of his mother made it necessary for Charlie and his brother, Sydney, to fend for themselves. Having inherited natural talents from their parents, the youngsters took to the stage as the best opportunity for a career. Charlie made his professional debut as a member of a juvenile group called "The Eight Lancashire Lads" and rapidly won popular favour as an outstanding tap dancer.
Beginning of his career
When he was about fourteen, he got his first chance to act in a legitimate stage show, and appeared as "Billy" the page boy, in support of William Gillette in "Sherlock Holmes". At the close of this engagement, Charlie started a career as a comedian in vaudeville, which eventually took him to the United States in 1910 as a featured player with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company. He scored an immediate hit with American audiences, particularly with his characterization in a sketch entitled "A Night in an English Music Hall". When the Fred Karno troupe returned to the United States in the fall of 1912 for a repeat tour, Chaplin was offered a motion picture contract. He finally agreed to appear before the cameras at the expiration of his vaudeville commitments in November 1913; and his entrance in the cinema world took place that month when he joined Mack Sennett and the Keystone Film Company. His initial salary was $150 a week, but his overnight success on the screen spurred other producers to start negotiations for his services. At the completion of his Sennett contract, Chaplin moved on to the Essanay Company (1915) at a large increase. Sydney Chaplin had then arrived from England, and took his brother’s place with Keystone as their leading comedian.
The following year Charlie was even more in demand and signed with the Mutual Film Corporation for a much larger sum to make 12 two-reel comedies. These include "The Floorwalker", "The Fireman", "The Vagabond", "One A.M." (a production in which he was the only character for the entire two reels with the exception of the entrance of a cab driver in the opening scene), "The Count", "The Pawnshop", "Behind the Screen", "The Rink", "Easy Street" (heralded as his greatest production up to that time), "The Cure", "The Immigrant" and "The Adventurer".
Gaining independence
When his contract with Mutual expired in 1917, Chaplin decided to become an independent producer in a desire for more freedom and greater leisure in making his movies. To that end, he busied himself with the construction of his own studios. This plant was situated in the heart of the residential section of Hollywood at La Brea Avenue. Early in 1918, Chaplin entered into an agreement with First National Exhibitors’ Circuit, a new organization specially formed to exploit his pictures. His first film under this new deal was "A Dog’s Life". After this production, he turned his attention to a national tour on behalf of the war effort, following which he made a film the US government used to popularize the Liberty Loan drive: "The Bond". His next commercial venture was the production of a comedy dealing with the war. "Shoulder Arms", released in 1918 at a most opportune time, proved a veritable mirthquake at the box office and added enormously to Chaplin’s popularity. This he followed with "Sunnyside" and "A Day’s Pleasure", both released in 1919.
In April of that year, Chaplin joined with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to found the United Artists Corporation. B.B. Hampton, in his "History of the Movies" says: "The corporation was organized as a distributor, each of the artists retaining entire control of his or her respective producing activities, delivering to United Artists the completed pictures for distribution on the same general plan they would have followed with a distributing organization which they did not own. The stock of United Artists was divided equally among the founders. This arrangement introduced a new method into the industry. Heretofore, producers and distributors had been the employers, paying salaries and sometimes a share of the profits to the stars. Under the United Artists system, the stars became their own employers. They had to do their own financing, but they received the producer profits that had formerly gone to their employers and each received his share of the profits of the distributing organization."
The Masterpiece Features
However, before he could assume his responsibilities with United Artists, Chaplin had to complete his contract with First National. So early in 1921, he came out with a six-reel masterpiece, "The Kid", in which he introduced to the screen one of the greatest child actors the world has ever known - Jackie Coogan. The next year, he produced "The Idle Class", in which he portrayed a dual character. Then, feeling the need of a complete rest from his motion picture activities, Chaplin sailed for Europe in September 1921. London, Paris, Berlin and other capitals on the continent gave him tumultuous receptions. After an extended vacation, Chaplin returned to Hollywood to resume his picture work and start his active association with United Artists.
Under his arrangement with U.A., Chaplin made eight pictures, each of feature length, in the following order: "Woman Of Paris" (1923) which he wrote, directed and produced, but in which he only appeared in a cameo role and gave the limelight to Edna Purviance and Adolphe Menjou; "Gold Rush" (1925); "Circus" (1928); "City Lights" (1931); "Modern Times" (1936); "The Great Dictator" (1940), in which he played a dual role and talked on the screen for the first time; "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947) in which the public saw a new Chaplin, minus his traditional moustache, baggy trousers and wobbly cane; and "Limelight" (1952) . In 1957, he released his comedy "A King in New York" which Chaplin wrote, acted in and directed, as well as composing the music, and in 1966 he produced his last picture "A Countess from Hong Kong" for Universal Pictures, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.
Last Years
Chaplin’s versatility extended to writing, music and sports. He was the author of at least four books, "My Trip Abroad", "A Comedian Sees the World", "My Autobiography", "My Life in Pictures" as well as all of his scripts. An accomplished musician, though self-taught, he played a variety of instruments with equal skill and facility (playing violin and cello left-handed). He was also a composer, having written and published many songs, among them: "Sing a Song"; "With You Dear in Bombay"; and "There’s Always One You Can’t Forget", "Smile", "Eternally", "You are My Song", as well as the soundtracks for all his films.
Charles Chaplin was one of the rare comedians who not only financed and produced all his films (with the exception of "A Countess from Hong Kong"), but was the author, actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well.
He died on Christmas day 1977, survived by eight children from his last marriage with Oona O’Neill, and one son from his short marriage to Lita Grey.
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England, on April 16th 1889. His father was a versatile vocalist and actor; and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an attractive actress and singer, who gained a reputation for her work in the light opera field. Charlie was thrown on his own resources before he reached the age of ten as the early death of his father and the subsequent illness of his mother made it necessary for Charlie and his brother, Sydney, to fend for themselves. Having inherited natural talents from their parents, the youngsters took to the stage as the best opportunity for a career. Charlie made his professional debut as a member of a juvenile group called "The Eight Lancashire Lads" and rapidly won popular favour as an outstanding tap dancer.
Beginning of his career
When he was about fourteen, he got his first chance to act in a legitimate stage show, and appeared as "Billy" the page boy, in support of William Gillette in "Sherlock Holmes". At the close of this engagement, Charlie started a career as a comedian in vaudeville, which eventually took him to the United States in 1910 as a featured player with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company. He scored an immediate hit with American audiences, particularly with his characterization in a sketch entitled "A Night in an English Music Hall". When the Fred Karno troupe returned to the United States in the fall of 1912 for a repeat tour, Chaplin was offered a motion picture contract. He finally agreed to appear before the cameras at the expiration of his vaudeville commitments in November 1913; and his entrance in the cinema world took place that month when he joined Mack Sennett and the Keystone Film Company. His initial salary was $150 a week, but his overnight success on the screen spurred other producers to start negotiations for his services. At the completion of his Sennett contract, Chaplin moved on to the Essanay Company (1915) at a large increase. Sydney Chaplin had then arrived from England, and took his brother’s place with Keystone as their leading comedian.
The following year Charlie was even more in demand and signed with the Mutual Film Corporation for a much larger sum to make 12 two-reel comedies. These include "The Floorwalker", "The Fireman", "The Vagabond", "One A.M." (a production in which he was the only character for the entire two reels with the exception of the entrance of a cab driver in the opening scene), "The Count", "The Pawnshop", "Behind the Screen", "The Rink", "Easy Street" (heralded as his greatest production up to that time), "The Cure", "The Immigrant" and "The Adventurer".
Gaining independence
When his contract with Mutual expired in 1917, Chaplin decided to become an independent producer in a desire for more freedom and greater leisure in making his movies. To that end, he busied himself with the construction of his own studios. This plant was situated in the heart of the residential section of Hollywood at La Brea Avenue. Early in 1918, Chaplin entered into an agreement with First National Exhibitors’ Circuit, a new organization specially formed to exploit his pictures. His first film under this new deal was "A Dog’s Life". After this production, he turned his attention to a national tour on behalf of the war effort, following which he made a film the US government used to popularize the Liberty Loan drive: "The Bond". His next commercial venture was the production of a comedy dealing with the war. "Shoulder Arms", released in 1918 at a most opportune time, proved a veritable mirthquake at the box office and added enormously to Chaplin’s popularity. This he followed with "Sunnyside" and "A Day’s Pleasure", both released in 1919.
In April of that year, Chaplin joined with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to found the United Artists Corporation. B.B. Hampton, in his "History of the Movies" says: "The corporation was organized as a distributor, each of the artists retaining entire control of his or her respective producing activities, delivering to United Artists the completed pictures for distribution on the same general plan they would have followed with a distributing organization which they did not own. The stock of United Artists was divided equally among the founders. This arrangement introduced a new method into the industry. Heretofore, producers and distributors had been the employers, paying salaries and sometimes a share of the profits to the stars. Under the United Artists system, the stars became their own employers. They had to do their own financing, but they received the producer profits that had formerly gone to their employers and each received his share of the profits of the distributing organization."
The Masterpiece Features
However, before he could assume his responsibilities with United Artists, Chaplin had to complete his contract with First National. So early in 1921, he came out with a six-reel masterpiece, "The Kid", in which he introduced to the screen one of the greatest child actors the world has ever known - Jackie Coogan. The next year, he produced "The Idle Class", in which he portrayed a dual character. Then, feeling the need of a complete rest from his motion picture activities, Chaplin sailed for Europe in September 1921. London, Paris, Berlin and other capitals on the continent gave him tumultuous receptions. After an extended vacation, Chaplin returned to Hollywood to resume his picture work and start his active association with United Artists.
Under his arrangement with U.A., Chaplin made eight pictures, each of feature length, in the following order: "Woman Of Paris" (1923) which he wrote, directed and produced, but in which he only appeared in a cameo role and gave the limelight to Edna Purviance and Adolphe Menjou; "Gold Rush" (1925); "Circus" (1928); "City Lights" (1931); "Modern Times" (1936); "The Great Dictator" (1940), in which he played a dual role and talked on the screen for the first time; "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947) in which the public saw a new Chaplin, minus his traditional moustache, baggy trousers and wobbly cane; and "Limelight" (1952) . In 1957, he released his comedy "A King in New York" which Chaplin wrote, acted in and directed, as well as composing the music, and in 1966 he produced his last picture "A Countess from Hong Kong" for Universal Pictures, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.
Last Years
Chaplin’s versatility extended to writing, music and sports. He was the author of at least four books, "My Trip Abroad", "A Comedian Sees the World", "My Autobiography", "My Life in Pictures" as well as all of his scripts. An accomplished musician, though self-taught, he played a variety of instruments with equal skill and facility (playing violin and cello left-handed). He was also a composer, having written and published many songs, among them: "Sing a Song"; "With You Dear in Bombay"; and "There’s Always One You Can’t Forget", "Smile", "Eternally", "You are My Song", as well as the soundtracks for all his films.
Charles Chaplin was one of the rare comedians who not only financed and produced all his films (with the exception of "A Countess from Hong Kong"), but was the author, actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well.
He died on Christmas day 1977, survived by eight children from his last marriage with Oona O’Neill, and one son from his short marriage to Lita Grey.
参考资料： http://www.charliechaplin.com/article.php3?id_article=22
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Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin (1889-1977) grew up in poverty in London, England, became a successful pantomimist in the English music halls in his early 20s, and joined Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios in 1913. He soon began both starring in and directing two-reel comedies featuring his comic alter ego, the Tramp. That persona and the films became tremendously popular in the middle and later 1910s, and Chaplin negotiated that popularity into increasingly large salaries. By 1919, he had not only built his own movie studio but also co-founded United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffith. Building his own studio gave Chaplin an unusually high degree of creative independence in Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1940s, at a time when the studio heads like Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner usually held the bulk of power.
电影以及其拍摄时间：
All of Chaplin's films between A Woman of Paris (1923) and Limelight (1952) were distributed through United Artists after Chaplin independently produced them. Besides those two feature films, Chaplin also made The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), and Monsieur Verdoux (1947) during this period.
http://www.fadetoblack.com/foi/charliechaplin/bio.html
电影以及其拍摄时间：
All of Chaplin's films between A Woman of Paris (1923) and Limelight (1952) were distributed through United Artists after Chaplin independently produced them. Besides those two feature films, Chaplin also made The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), and Monsieur Verdoux (1947) during this period.
http://www.fadetoblack.com/foi/charliechaplin/bio.html
参考资料： 美国联邦调查局官方网站
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