Comments on: Not actually a tramp, though.

Not actually a tramp, though.

Segundus — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:31:25 -0800

Files have been released showing that the MI5 investigated Charlie Chaplin's origins at the request of the FBI, attempting to check claims that besides being a communist, he might be Jewish, and/or French. His life story by his own account has him born in London, but no birth certificate has been found and last year evidence emerged that he might in fact have been born in a gypsy camp.

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:23:21 -0800

This is preposterously cool. Now, in a perfect world it would next be discovered that he was Django Reinhardt's uncle.

By: MuffinMan

MuffinMan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:05:11 -0800

Unconfirmed contemporary accounts also question whether he was born with a full moustache too.

By: timshel

timshel — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:33:46 -0800

What a hero.

By: CG

CG — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:36:09 -0800

It gives some authenticity to his character as the Tramp.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:46:54 -0800

We are all fellow-travellers.

By: Optamystic

Optamystic — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:48:11 -0800

Charlie Chaplin accepts his honorary Oscar.

By: asok

asok — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:50:09 -0800

And this is why we must continue to persecute the traveller community, to create a world free of the threat of future Chaplins!

By: clarknova

clarknova — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:09:12 -0800

I just mentioned this to a gypsy and her response was "Oh yeah? You didn't know?" Apparently he's one of the famous ones, but you have to have gypsy-dar to know that.

By: Flashman

Flashman — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:03:50 -0800

I guess it doesn't prove he was actually born in the neighbourhood, but I used to live right next door to a church in Southwark, London that bore a plaque stating that this was where Chaplin's parents had married.

By: 2N2222

2N2222 — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:42:04 -0800

attempting to check claims that besides being a communist, he might be Jewish, and/or French.... but no birth certificate has been found and last year evidence emerged that he might in fact have been born in a gypsy camp. Oh my God... NOOOOO!!!

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:58:05 -0800

Apparently he's one of the famous ones, but you have to have gypsy-dar to know that. I'd heard this on the Rom side of my family my whole life, but from some of the same people who insist that Shakespeare was Rom and that most Greek restaurants in the U.S. are actually Rom ("and you can tell which ones they are -- we run the GOOD ones!").

By: argonauta

argonauta — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:19:37 -0800

His autobiography, (published in 1964) says, "Grandma was half gypsy. This fact was the skeleton in our family cupboard. Nevertheless, Grandma bragged that her family always paid ground rent."

By: communicator

communicator — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:22:29 -0800

I used to live in Hanwell, London, next to the old Hanwell School (basically a workhouse for children) where he lived as a child. What a gloomy forbidding place it was.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:11:24 -0800

Unconfirmed contemporary accounts also question whether he was born with a full moustache too. (the moustache wasn't real until later in his career)

By: Capt. Renault

Capt. Renault — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:23:30 -0800

He was no Buster Keaton, but he was pretty good.

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:44:32 -0800

Yeah, that's kind of like saying that Kandinsky was no Picasso, but he was pretty good.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:48:29 -0800

Gypsy? But that's EVEN WORSE than Jewish! Damn near as bad as being born French. Or poor. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, tell me he wasn't born poor?

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:49:32 -0800

He was no Buster Keaton, but he was pretty good. He was probably distracted by writing, directing, and scoring his own films.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:57:28 -0800

Capt. Renault: He was no Buster Keaton, but he was pretty good. shakespeherian: He was probably distracted by writing, directing, and scoring his own films. Buster Keaton (his lifelong stage name) was recognized as the seventh-greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly... Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, [when] he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies." Occupation: Actor Director Producer Writer

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:59:06 -0800

(the moustache wasn't real until later in his career) Cool fact, shakespeherian. Groucho's was real, but supplemented with shoe polish (later stage makeup) until late in life.

By: Pickman's Next Top Model

Pickman's Next Top Model — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:19:05 -0800

IAmBroom: Buster Keaton (his lifelong stage name) was recognized as the seventh-greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly... And that's how you do damning with faint praise.

By: Pickman's Next Top Model

Pickman's Next Top Model — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:24:02 -0800

shakespeherian: He was probably distracted by writing, directing, and scoring his own films. You left out producing. It's the difference between winding up as Jimmy Durante's straight man and being able to say "Fuck off, HUAC, I'm taking my movies and hitting the road. Good luck ever seeing them again."

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:41:33 -0800

I just mentioned this to a gypsy and her response was "Oh yeah? You didn't know?" I knew this already. Read it on Wikipedia ages and ages ago.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:51:31 -0800

His autobiography, (published in 1964) says, "Grandma was half gypsy. This fact was the skeleton in our family cupboard. Nevertheless, Grandma bragged that her family always paid ground rent." Does this make her "lace curtain Gypsy"?

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:18:45 -0800

Cool that someone found specific evidence to back up Chaplin's self-identification as Romanichal, especially considering the state of archives from that era and the traditional lack of engagement between the Romani community and the English gummint.

By: Capt. Renault

Capt. Renault — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:48:26 -0800

He was probably distracted by writing, directing, and scoring his own films. Which Buster then stole in a single scene, with a single line.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:55:20 -0800

IAmBroom: Buster Keaton (his lifelong stage name) was recognized as the seventh-greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly... And that's how you do damning with faint praise. So you're what, Pickman's Next Top Model... the world's sixth-greatest? At anything?

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:11:40 -0800

Which Buster then stole in a single scene, with a single line. I think it's pretty great that Chaplin directed that film and wrote that line specifically for Keaton: Rivalry is silly. Let's have great films.

By: Capt. Renault

Capt. Renault — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:27:47 -0800

I meant all of this only in the spirit of good-natured ribbing. But I really think Buster's superior.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:34:22 -0800

Keaton never wrote a great line for Chaplin, did he. THEREFORE HE IS A JERK

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:41:11 -0800

But I really think Buster's superior. You know who else...?

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:48:32 -0800

Lucille Bluth

By: Capt. Renault

Capt. Renault — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:55:55 -0800

THEREFORE HE IS A JERK A jerk who wrote the best gag in all of movies, and had the best joke of teevee written about him, sure.

By: knoyers

knoyers — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:32:14 -0800

I would not be at all surprised if Chaplin was a gypsy, but a random letter from some elderly fan in the 1970s, at least 80 years after his birth, is not strong evidence.