Explorations Read-Aloud: “My Autobiography” by Charles “Charlie” Chaplin

Every Friday, at 11:00 am, on the library’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, the library will stream a brand new recording of local thespian, Joseph Coté reading aloud selections from a wide variety of fascinating and entertaining books of fiction and non-fiction.

For March 20, Coté will read aloud from Charles “Charlie” Chaplin’s My Autobiography.

A silent comedy star whose legendary slapstick routines are recognizable to this day, Charles ‘Charlie’ Chaplin’s My Autobiography is an incomparably vivid account of the life of one of the greatest filmmakers and comedians, with an introduction by David Robinson.

As a child, Charlie Chaplin was awed and inspired by the sight of glamorous vaudeville stars passing his home, and from then on, he never lost his ambition to become an actor. 

Chaplin’s film career as the Little Tramp adored by the whole world is the stuff of legend, but this frank autobiography shows another side. 

Sir Charles ‘Charlie’ Chaplin was born into a theatrical family in 1895 in Walworth, London. Chaplin’s father died of drink while his mother, unable to bear the poverty, suffered from bouts of insanity. 

From a childhood of grinding poverty in the south London slums, Chaplin found an escape in his early debut on the music hall stage, followed by his lucky break in America, the founding of United Artists with D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks, the struggle to maintain artistic control over his work, the string of failed marriages, and his eventual exile from Hollywood after personal scandals and persecution for his left-wing politics during the McCarthy Era.

Best known for his work in silent films, his most famous role was The Little Tramp, a universally recognizable and iconic character who appeared in films such as The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931). Other films include Modern Times (1936), a commentary on the Great Depression, and The Great Dictator (1940), a satirical attack on Hitler and the Nazis. If you enjoyed My Autobiography, you might like Andy Warhol’s The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Click the links to find the library’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page.

Thoughts to share? Book ideas to suggest?
Contact Joseph at friday-explorations@usa.net