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childhood and stage career 11
of Charles, Guy and Wheeler Dryden, were brought up by their father.
Despite their touring of England and the Continent, the elder Chaplins were always hard up. When money came in, the father drank it up.
Young Charles was taught to jig and sing as soon as he could toddle. He was barely two or three years old when his mother was already boasting about his acting. At parties, after their own performances, his parent would pull Charles out of bed, stand him on the table and have him recite for the group. He could mimic everyone he saw and sing all the songs.
At five, Charles had his stage premiere, replacing his mother who was suddenly taken ill. His father pushed him onto the stage and ordered him to sing an old coster song, "Jack Jones." Charlie overcame his terror and sang with all his might, was showered with coins, and kept repeating the song until dragged off by his father.
His parents drifted apart, reducing Charles to a dismal childhood in London's Kennington slum. The death of his father followed soon afterwards. He died of alcoholism in St. Thomas' Hospital. His mother's recurring ill health, not helped by her hardships, wrecked her stage career.
Sid and Charles were sent to the Hanwell Residential School, variously described in publicity stories as an orphanage and a poorhouse. Sid left for sea shortly after and Charles spent a lonely and unhappy year or two at Hanwell. He would creep off by himself to daydream of riches and grandeur. His mother's health improved and she took her children back, supporting them by sewing blouses.
Charles was about seven years old when he joined a music-hall act called "The Eight Lancashire Lads," doing clog dancing and mimicry. When the troupe was engaged to impersonate cats and dogs in the pantomime "Puss in