Charlie Chaplin's Red Letter Days: At Work with the Comic Genius
Charlie Chaplin’s Red Letter Days is a newly discovered eyewitness account that reveals what was going on behind the scenes in Chaplin’s fun factory as he was creating the hilarious comedies that rocketed him to worldwide fame. Written by Fred Goodwins, one of the actors in the company, the breezy narrative originally appeared in 1916 as a series of thirty-seven articles in the British magazine Red Letter. Its republication marks a major find for cinema buffs and anyone who has ever been touched by Chaplin’s artistry. Dan Kamin, who trained Robert Downey, Jr. for his Oscar-nominated performance in Chaplin and created Johnny Depp’s physical comedy routines in Benny and Joon, annotated the book to highlight its many revelations about Chaplin and the familiar faces that populate his films. The shadow of World War One looms over every page, as Chaplin, a British subject, was being slammed by the British tabloid press for his controversial failure to enlist.