Richard Carnahan
2006-01-27 18:28:05 UTC
Chaplin daughter writes of brief glimpse of father
Fri Jan 27,10:46 AM ET
Jane Chaplin was 17 when she had her first proper conversation with her
aged father, the screen legend Charlie Chaplin, and now she is writing
a book about growing up with a man she hardly knew but the world still
recognizes as "The Little Tramp."
Entitled "Seventeen minutes with my father," it will be the first book
by any of the Chaplin children [aside of course from CC Jr.'s MY
FATHER, CHARLIE CHAPLIN and Michael Chaplin's I COULDN'T SMOKE THE
GRASS ON MY FATHER'S LAWN], she told Reuters in a street cafe Cartagena
on Colombia's Caribbean coast. She has lived a life of leisure in the
beautiful old port city for three years since a brief affair with a
Colombian.
"Writing, I've discovered that he was a very nice man. I was brought up
to believe he was a son of a bitch," said Chaplin, a slender
dark-haired woman in her late 40s who had previously tried her hand
unsuccessfully at screen-writing.
"He comes out fantastic in the book, yeah. My mother, on the other hand
..."
British-born Charlie Chaplin had eight children with Jane's mother
Oona, who was the daughter of American playwright Eugene O'Neil and was
37 years younger than her husband.
"She was always, I guess because of the age difference, always very
protective of him. You know: 'Don't disturb your father, because he's
working. Don't, he's busy. Don't tell him about that."'
Jane said she grew up fearing rather than knowing her father, and being
constantly told by her mother and by servants that that he was a genius
and she would never match him.
Chaplin, who was born in 1889, started his career in British music
halls but made his name in film in the United States, where he stayed
for around 40 years. He abandoned the country for Switzerland in 1952
after being accused of "un-American activities."
A PRIVATE CONVERSATION
Jane's father was already 68 years old when she was born, and she was
raised in the family home in Switzerland. A self-doubting adolescent
who did poorly at school, she didn't get her first proper chance to
speak to him alone until one day when her mother had to go out on an
errand in 1974, when she was 17.
"It had been a wish all my life, and so, she leaves, and I'm in the
library with him, and he's watching TV, a football game, but the sound
is down."
"He reached out and touched my hand and said 'Do you want to continue
watching this?"'
She didn't, and so began the only private conversation she ever had
with her father.
He said her mother had told him she was nervous about taking an exam
for acting school.
"In that conversation I discovered he had had a lot of doubts all his
life, that it hadn't been easy. I discovered the man, I guess."
Her father died in 1977 and her mother in 1991.
Jane thinks some of her siblings -- who include actress Geraldine
Chaplin -- could react poorly to elements of the book, although she
suspects they don't have any confidence in her ability to finish it.
"They probably all think, 'Oh, she probably abandoned the project."'
The book is now more than 400 pages long, although Chaplin has still to
start looking for a publisher.
"Maybe you could put it in your article that I'm looking for a literary
agent," she said.
Meanwhile, Chaplin, who still draws income from a family company
selling rights associated with their father's image and work, is trying
to write the final pages while participating in the hectic social
calendar of Cartagena.
"I wanted to finish before the end of the year but, with all the
partying going on, it's sort of difficult," she said.
Fri Jan 27,10:46 AM ET
Jane Chaplin was 17 when she had her first proper conversation with her
aged father, the screen legend Charlie Chaplin, and now she is writing
a book about growing up with a man she hardly knew but the world still
recognizes as "The Little Tramp."
Entitled "Seventeen minutes with my father," it will be the first book
by any of the Chaplin children [aside of course from CC Jr.'s MY
FATHER, CHARLIE CHAPLIN and Michael Chaplin's I COULDN'T SMOKE THE
GRASS ON MY FATHER'S LAWN], she told Reuters in a street cafe Cartagena
on Colombia's Caribbean coast. She has lived a life of leisure in the
beautiful old port city for three years since a brief affair with a
Colombian.
"Writing, I've discovered that he was a very nice man. I was brought up
to believe he was a son of a bitch," said Chaplin, a slender
dark-haired woman in her late 40s who had previously tried her hand
unsuccessfully at screen-writing.
"He comes out fantastic in the book, yeah. My mother, on the other hand
..."
British-born Charlie Chaplin had eight children with Jane's mother
Oona, who was the daughter of American playwright Eugene O'Neil and was
37 years younger than her husband.
"She was always, I guess because of the age difference, always very
protective of him. You know: 'Don't disturb your father, because he's
working. Don't, he's busy. Don't tell him about that."'
Jane said she grew up fearing rather than knowing her father, and being
constantly told by her mother and by servants that that he was a genius
and she would never match him.
Chaplin, who was born in 1889, started his career in British music
halls but made his name in film in the United States, where he stayed
for around 40 years. He abandoned the country for Switzerland in 1952
after being accused of "un-American activities."
A PRIVATE CONVERSATION
Jane's father was already 68 years old when she was born, and she was
raised in the family home in Switzerland. A self-doubting adolescent
who did poorly at school, she didn't get her first proper chance to
speak to him alone until one day when her mother had to go out on an
errand in 1974, when she was 17.
"It had been a wish all my life, and so, she leaves, and I'm in the
library with him, and he's watching TV, a football game, but the sound
is down."
"He reached out and touched my hand and said 'Do you want to continue
watching this?"'
She didn't, and so began the only private conversation she ever had
with her father.
He said her mother had told him she was nervous about taking an exam
for acting school.
"In that conversation I discovered he had had a lot of doubts all his
life, that it hadn't been easy. I discovered the man, I guess."
Her father died in 1977 and her mother in 1991.
Jane thinks some of her siblings -- who include actress Geraldine
Chaplin -- could react poorly to elements of the book, although she
suspects they don't have any confidence in her ability to finish it.
"They probably all think, 'Oh, she probably abandoned the project."'
The book is now more than 400 pages long, although Chaplin has still to
start looking for a publisher.
"Maybe you could put it in your article that I'm looking for a literary
agent," she said.
Meanwhile, Chaplin, who still draws income from a family company
selling rights associated with their father's image and work, is trying
to write the final pages while participating in the hectic social
calendar of Cartagena.
"I wanted to finish before the end of the year but, with all the
partying going on, it's sort of difficult," she said.