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Josephine Gardin-Chaplin


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It is with deepest regret that we share news of the passing of Josephine Hannah Gardin-Chaplin, daughter of Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neill, on Thursday, July 13, 2023. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her beloved family and friends.

For years, Josephine managed the Chaplin Office in Paris on behalf of her siblings until she took leave to care for her husband Jean-Claude Gardin.

She appeared in a number of films, including Pier Paolo Pasolini’s THE CANTERBURY TALES, and her father’s LIMELIGHT and A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG.

Our deepest condolences are with her family.

The Chaplin Office

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Online Discussion: 100 Years of The Kid - The Reality of Child Stardom


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Online Discussion on November 30th at 6:00 PM GMT: 100 Years of The Kid - The Reality of Child Stardom

In 1921, five-year-old Jackie Coogan was propelled to stardom in THE KID, one of Chaplin’s most personal movies, resonating his own childhood experiences and his rag-to-riches story.

Jackie, only four when shooting started, was to become a prototype for the child actor as we know it. He went from whirlwind fame to suing his mother and stepfather over their squandering of his entire film earnings, which he had expected to receive when he reached adulthood. In 1939, thanks to his court case, the California Child Actor’s Bill, also known as the “Coogan Act”, was passed to protect the rights of child performers and entertainers and is still the basis for current US legislation.

Join Dr. Carol Homden, group Chief Executive of Coram, Kate Guyonvarch from The Chaplin Office in Paris, Pamela Hutchinson, editor of Silent London, and Professor Dame Carolyn Hamilton, Managing Director of Coram International, for a discussion on this landmark change in legislation for child performers.

Book here. Proceeds will go to children’s charity Coram. Admission is free for our social media followers. Just join the guest list as “Chaplin Office Subscribers”.


Hollywood Heritage will celebrate the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley




Hollywood Heritage invites you to support their mission to raise funds and awareness to honor the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley, a location in Hollywood where three of the greatest comedies of all time, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid” (1921), Buster Keaton’s “Cops” (1922), and Harold Lloyd’s “Safety Last!” (1923) were filmed. Each of these films has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as works “of enduring importance to American culture.” Hollywood Heritage hopes to install signs, a plaque, and an honorary mural at the alley.

The unveiling ceremony of the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley will take place on September 29, 2021, the inaugural National Silent Movie Day in the U.S.


Launch of project MAPPING ARCHIVAL HOLDINGS OF CHAPLIN’S SHOULDER ARMS (MASh)


The Swiss film archive Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern is launching its new archival and historical research project MAPPING ARCHIVAL HOLDINGS OF CHAPLIN’S SHOULDER ARMS (MASh) on April 16 – Charlie Chaplin’s birthday.

The collaborative project aims to locate, identify, and describe all historical film prints of Charlie Chaplin’s wartime comedy SHOULDER ARMS (U.S. 1918) preserved in archives and collections worldwide. For further details, visit the Project MASh website.


Celebrating 100 Years of THE KID




THE KID had its world premiere one hundred years ago today, on January 21, 1921 at Carnegie Hall in New York City in a pre-public subscription showing as part of a benefit for the Children’s Fund of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. A milestone in his artistry, THE KID was Charles Chaplin’s first full-length film as a director and his most ambitious production to date.

Chaplin created something completely new with THE KID. Films were either dramas, or comedies – but here, as in life, the two were combined in the most natural seeming way. Chaplin wrote in his autobiography that “there had been satire, farce, realism, naturalism, melodrama and fantasy, but raw slapstick and sentiment, the premise of THE KID, was something of an innovation.” He recalled being told by an industry professional, “It won’t work. The form must be pure, either slapstick or drama; you cannot mix them, otherwise one element of your story will fail.” But Chaplin followed his intuition, the film was an instant success, and the cinema industry never looked back.



In February 1921, the Morning Telegraph noted that “THE KID will live when other pictures have died. Its pathos is universal in its appeal. Its humor is classic. Chaplin is a humanitarian. He understands the hearts of the irresponsible, the children and the willing failures of the world. The joys of THE KID cannot be catalogued, they must be seen.”

THE KID is still a hit with audiences 100 years on. It is no surprise that the honorary Academy Award presented to Chaplin in 1972 was for the incalculable effect he had had in making motion pictures the art form of the 20th century. In 2011, THE KID was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

You can learn more on THE KID section of our website, watch some classic clips on our Youtube channel and listen to the soundtrack on Spotify.

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Children's Play in Lausanne - La Paternelle


La Paternelle, a Swiss nonprofit mutual insurance company supporting orphans, has organized a children’s play for 125 years. This year, the children’s troupe will be performing a show based on Charlie Chaplin which will take place inside a circus tent set up for the occasion in Lausanne.

More information on La Paternelle’s website.


Sneak Peek - Chaplin Kabuki Show


In December 2019 the Japan Arts Council National Theatre in Tokyo will stage a revival of the 1931 kabuki show KOMORI NO YASUSAN, written by Kimura Kinka in 1931 and based on Chaplin’s City Lights. The show has been revived and revised by Ono Hiroyuki in collaboration with Matsumoto Koshiro the 10th, who will perform in the show. Here are the first photographs of Matsumoto Koshiro the 10th in costume for the performance:

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