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Timothy Brock on Restoring Charlie Chaplin’s Sound


CC with Abe Lyman Orchestra circa 1925

Chaplin’s archive does contain the entire, full, orchestrated scores. But Chaplin, as a filmmaker, was making changes all the time, sort of trial and error, and he was that way as a composer as well. He would compose a piece of music, they would make a short score of it and orchestrate it, and he would sit down with the orchestrator and tell him what to do. They’d make a full score, they’d make parts for the forty to sixty musicians, and then they would listen to it, and he’d go, “Hmm, no, I don’t like that, let’s have the oboe do this line instead, on trumpet here . . .” So players were writing stuff down all the time, because he was dictating the changes he was listening to. All of those changes were done on the parts, or on pieces of paper they attached to the parts. I found music for Modern Times on the back of laundry receipts and paper menus and things like that, whatever scraps of paper players could find at the last moment and write down some notes. - Timothy Brock

Read more about the delicate process of restoring Charlie Chaplin’s music in a new interview of Timothy Brock on Criterion’s website.

An Encounter with Pierre Etaix


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Pictured above: Michael Chaplin, one of Charlie Chaplin’s sons, and Pierre Etaix, the revered filmmaker from France, whom we had the pleasure of meeting yesterday evening at the Swiss Embassy in Paris at a presentation of Chaplin’s World by Yves Durand, and of the book The Freak: Chaplin’s Last Film by author Pierre Smolik (a drawing by Pierre Etaix illustrates the book’s preface).

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At the mere mention of “Chaplin”, Etaix’s eyes filled with emotion. He spoke of his lifelong admiration for Chaplin. P

In the photograph above, Pierre Etaix tells Kate Guyonvarch, managing director of the Chaplin office, that when he was a child he snipped some fur off of his aunt’s coat and stuck it to his upper lip, creating his own Charlot moustache. Etaix also remembers his surprise and awe at seeing Chaplin himself twice at Chaplin film screenings in Paris: once at the former Cinéma Paramount and once at the Cinémathèque Française, where he showed up extra early and sat in the theatre for over an hour and a half to be sure to have a seat, only to be asked to change seats by Cinémathèque staff when Chaplin himself showed up!

Show and Tell: Not Just Any Cog in a Machine


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Pictured above is no ordinary cog. It is a relic from Chaplin Studios that film archivist and historian Bruce Lawton recently showed us (and let us hold!). The small cog is made of wood and was used as a prop in Modern Times, in a factory scene with Chester Conklin.

Modern-Times 141

In Bruce’s own words:

“It was acquired by my great-grandfather, Don Malkames - who was an A.S.C. cinematographer and early film history preservationist - when he was working in California in the day. He first showed it to me at his house in Yonkers, NY during the summer of 1977 when I was 9 years old - where it was kept in his cinemachinery museum. I was already an avowed Chaplin fanatic - so I was mightily impressed! My Grandfather, Karl Malkames (also an A.S.C. cinematographer - and pioneering film restorer and preservationist) entrusted it to me one Christmas in the mid-1990s. It was Karl that first introduced me to Chaplin films as a very young child (he ran MODERN TIMES for me repeatedly - and it became my favorite film.) Presumably it is one of the VERY few existing cogs from the production.

Thanks, Bruce Lawton, for sharing this bit of history with Chaplin fans. Here he is pictured with the cog: IMG 1402

Photos from the Opening of Chaplin's World


Chaplin’s World by Grévin is FINALLY open! Here are some photos from the inauguration celebrations of April 16th, 2016 (Charlie Chaplin’s 127th birthday):

Michael Chaplin Kate Guyonvarch Eugene Chaplin at opening of Chaplin s World Michael Chaplin, Kate Guyonvarch (managing director of the Chaplin office) & Eugene Chaplin in front of the Manoir de Ban, the former Chaplin family home

Manoir de Ban The red carpet leading to the Manoir de Ban for the evening inauguration of Chaplin’s World

Chaplin Family in Manoir de Ban Some Chaplin family members, actress Claire Bloom & performer Arturo Brachetti in the Manoir de Ban

Ribbon cutting ceremony The Chaplin’s World ribbon cutting ceremony

Michael and Eugene Chaplin Ribbon cutting ceremony Philippe Meylan, Michael Chaplin and Eugene Chaplin at the Chaplin’s World ribbon cutting ceremony

Ribbon cutting ceremony2 The Chaplin’s World ribbon cutting ceremony

Michael Patricia and Eugene Chaplin Michael Chaplin, his wife Patricia, and Eugene Chaplin

The Press floods easy street The press floods Easy Street at the Chaplin’s World inauguration

michael eugene and colette aeby at chaplin s world Colette Aeby worked at the Manoir de Ban as a kitchen girl when she was 16 years old. She has fond memories of Charlie & Oona Chaplin and their children. Here she reminisces with Michael and Eugene Chaplin.

Carole Sandrin Tatyana Franck Cecilia Cenciarelli Carole Sandrin (who looks after the Chaplin photographic collection deposited at the Musée de l’Élysée - Lausanne), Tatyana Franck (director of the Musée de l’Élysée) & Cecilia Cenciarelli (head of the Chaplin Project at the Cineteca di Bologna) seem to have found the perfect spot for an impromptu meeting to discuss Chaplin projects…

carole sandrin opening of Chaplin s World Carole Sandrin (who looks after the Chaplin photographic collection deposited at the Musée de l’Élysée - Lausanne) caught up in the cogs from Modern Times at Chaplin’s World

arnold lozano of the chaplin office opening of chaplin s world Arnold Lozano of the Chaplin office visits a special barber at Chaplin’s World

the gold rush cabin opening of chaplin s world The cabin from The Gold Rush at Chaplin’s World

freak wings opening of Chaplin s world The wings Chaplin had made for The Freak on display at Chaplin’s World

manoir de ban opening of Chaplin s World View of lake and mountains from the Manoir de Ban, the former Chaplin family home, now Chaplin’s World

clare sheridan bust opening of Chaplin s World The gorgeous bust of Chaplin by Clare Sheridan on display at Chaplin’s World

And of course… iconic tramp costume opening of chaplin s world Chaplin’s iconic Tramp costume on display at Chaplin’s World

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