Charlie Chaplin (1951)

cc 142 his youth, yet he was apart from it — he no longer belonged there. "A man cannot go back." At a reception tendered to him at the Garrick Club, he met E. V. Lucas, Walter Hackett, James M. Barrie, Squire Bancroft, and other notables of literature and the theatre. The aging Barrie, sitting beside him, suggested that he play Peter Pan and followed with a discussion of "The Kid." Later, at Barrie's apartment, Gerald du Maurier joined them. Chaplin was an admirer of Thomas Burke, author of "Limehouse Nights," and after their meeting in London the two prowled through that romantically sinister section of London which first reached fame in Burke's book, then acquired perhaps even greater celebrity in the Griffith films, "Broken Blossoms" and "Dream Street." Perhaps the greatest thrill of his London visit was his meeting with H. G. Wells of whose work Chaplin was a devotee. He first met Wells at a screening of "Mr. Kipps," surrounded by reporters. The English picture was embarrassingly bad, but nice things were said about George K. Arthur, the nervous and eager young star. Wells invited Chaplin to visit him in the country where they could have a proper talk. Suddenly Chaplin decided to visit France. The Paris crowds equaled London's, only here they called him "Chariot." Among others whom he met there were Dudley Field Malone and Waldo Frank, the French cartoonist Cami, Sir Philip Sassoon, confidential secretary to Lloyd George, and the boxer Georges Carpentier. In a party including Malone and Iris Tree he visited the Montmartre night spots, observing the habitues. In Le Rat Mort he met a sensational young blonde Russian singer named Moussia Sodskay. He offered to try to find her a niche in Hollywood, but it turned out impossible for her to get a passport. She was an emigree — a woman without a country. She had arrived recently by way of