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CHAPLIN’S NEW FILM

‘Propaganda? Nothing so dull—
| want to make

HARLIE Chaplin-told news-

+ papermen probing him
about his new film, A King in
New York: “It’s not political.
That word frightens me. The
film is a comment on modern
life, not a satire, and in very
ight-hearted vein.”

Flashback to 1940. The Hit-
ler hordes were on the ram-
page; the United States was
still on the touchline. A film,
The Great Dictator, appeared,
and with the praise from U.S.
aemocrats .came ugly snarls
from her own would-be dic-
tators and isolationists

After a long, tolerant silence,
came Charlie’s riposte:

“Some people have suggest-
ed that I made this picture for
propaganda purposes. This jis
far from the truth. I am not
interested in propaganda as
such —_most of it is didactic
and dull. .

“I made The Great Dictator
because I hate dictators and
because I want people to
laugh.” :

Seventeen years and Charlie

is saying practically the same -

thing. Both statements at first
sight are a little breath-taking.
The Great Dictator not “prop-
aganda”? Remember that mag-
nificent final speech?

“Let us fight “for a° new

Re

CHARLIE CHAPLI

world that will give men a
chance to work, that will give
youth a future and old age
security,” and so on until the
final: “Soldiers, in the name
of democracy, let us unite!”
A King in New York not
“political”? We shall see.
Bos os t :
however,

iis, significant

that .Charlie set to work on
it almost immediately he ar-
rived at his new home above
Lake Geneya. That.is, after

OPEN FORUM

Veteran supporter

C. F. COLEMAN, ‘Salmon
Arm, B-C.: Enclosed find do-
nations to help the Pacific
Tribune enlarge again to 16
pages as soon as possible.

Included in these donations
is $2.50 from a lady friend of
mine. I lent her a few dollars
to make up her taxes on time,
and she gave me the discount
for the paper. Such actions re-
hew your faith in the work-

ers.

I am doing the best I can
on subs, but it is slow work.
Tam a cripple now; rheumat-
ism in my left ankle, so it is
hard to get around. One of the
results of growing old, but
there does not seem much a
fellow can do about it — I
was 81 a couple of weeks ago.

Letter from India

DARSHAN SINGH, India:
Greetings to all my Canadian
friends. Perhaps you would
like to know what I am doing
at the present time.

Right now I am sitting in a
small town in the rural area.
I am here to make collections
for the Communist party. So
far I have raised about Rs.
1500, but this is a small sum
compared to the obligations: of
the organization.

I contested the general elec-
tions as a Communist party
jidate. Out of about 500,-

000 votes cast I*polled- about
151,000. My adversary a min-
ister’ of the’ central cabinet,
polled 250,000. Another “ultra-
reactionary candidate polled
86,000. The constituency I con-
tested was very big — about
70 miles long and 80: miles
wide, with -a- population. of
about one and a half million.
I did not have enough finances
and the needed transportation.

My main opponent spent no
less than Rs. 60,000 and had
eight cars working for him. I
did not have even a bicycle.
So on the whole the result was

“not too bad.

The Communist party has
done- well. in the elections,
doubling its vote from six mil-
lion to 12 million. We are. the
second biggest party in the
country.

All the books sent me from
Canada I have received. I am
very grateful. Please convey
my good wishes to all my
friends.

@ Darshan Singh ~came_ to
Canada as a student in 1939
and returned to his native
India in 1948; During. his
years in B.C. he played an
active part in the trade
union movement, holding
various offices in the In-
ternational Woodworkers.
He contributed frequently
to the columns of the Pa-
cifie Tribune and wrote
ene book, published in
Toronto,

peop

le laugh’
virtually being forced to .the
decision to shake off the dust
of the U.S, his domicile for
40 years.

It would be indeed surpris-
ing if during the hour and
40 minutes that people hold
their bellies laughing, as
Charlie predicts, the vaunted
American Way doesn’t get a
few sly digs in the paunch
from the former Cockney lad
from Lambeth.

But Charlie would not cal!
that being “political.” And
should there be any allusion
to the military atomaniacs,
well, that won’t be “political”
either.

“I. believe in peace not
through the H-bomb but
through disarmament,’ Char-
lie said when he got his Inter-
national Peace Prize in 1954.

But the nearest this master

‘of satire has ever come to ad-

mitting to political beliefs is
once, when he exclaimed:
“Peace — I like it. And if that
is political, then I am politi-
cal,” and, again, when he said:

“IT want to see people well
fed, with a roof over their
heads — that’s all the politics
I have.” ; :

For Charlie’s way is not to
knock home the things he be-
lieves in with a rhetorical
sledgehammer. Nothing so
“didactic and dull:”* Pees

The man who can appeal to
more hearts than any man
alive, arid, through the heart,
to more heads, the man’ who
still. made successful silent
films when “talkies” were su-
preme,. knows how to “get
across” with the minimum of
words, the maximum of laughs
and a few tugs at the heart-
strings.

$e $e 5 os
Charlie’s genius’ is made up,
among many other ingred-

lents, of his mental and (even
at 68) his physical nimbleness;
his versatility as author, actor,
producer, . composer, conduc-

These clothes worn by Charlie Chaplin in The ‘Kid j
1921 were preserved by Rollie Tetherch who fiimed most 0!

Chaplin’s early pictures,
tor; his compassion for the
under-dog and mécking of ail
hypocrisy; his business and
particularly his professional
shrewdness; his essential hum-
anity, even to the romantic ex-
travagancies of his ‘stormy
past.

He replied;- “His

girls at their table.”

Double-take

King Hussein has appealed to the United States for
immediate naval, air and financial help to resist Com-
munist infiltration into Jordan... . :

The king, who has been holidaying in Madrid and
San Sebastian, made his appeal to Washington through
members of the U.S. military mission in Spains. 2

LONDON DAILY MAIL, September 6—front page.

Madrid’s night clubs will probably be declaring a
special dividend as a result of the lavish patronage of
King Hussein of Jordan recently,

Every night between 12 and 1 a.m. the king, his
three bodyguards and French doctor, stoked up at the
Ritz on double iced orangeade (their religion forbids

alcohol) and then drove off for a night’s fun.

I acked Don Felipe, manager of the Vila Rosa, how
he made any money if the party took only soft drinks.

Majesty always bought whisky
or French champagne for the ladies with whom he and
his party danced, and there were usually at least eight

LONDON DAILY MAIL, September 6—back page.

Mhese weapons of destructiO™

September 13, 1957 —

Charlie is the-kid- who ke?!
his mother ‘in stit¢hes. with a
mimicry to take her mind qi j
their penury; he is the mo? ;
youth who puzzled his wot
mates in the Fred Karno on
fit with his alternate aloo”
ness and life of - the - pal)
spirit. = f

Charlie is the man, for year
haunted by his childhood poy
erty, who demanded ‘(and 89
a Hollywood contract in we ]
for the precise sum of $100
a week — “$75 to live on ae
a thousand to go into Ss”
bonds.”

He is the self-styled “em
tional cuss” who loved ®
wisely, but too much, ee
seems at last to have foun”
happiness with Oona, daus”,
ter of playwright Euge?
O’Neil, and their six childret :

Perhaps above all, Charlie ‘
the man who has taught ‘|
how humanist beliefs shoul?
be “put aeross” without lab’
ling them “politics” or pro8®
ganda.” ee

“If wa are to survive in th®
day of nuclear energy 2

we must develop a toleraDt
and kindness for our fell@

men. It is not enough to 5
intellectual, we must hav
feeling.” _ :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE