Charlie Chaplin (1951)

new friends 151 The meeting of mother and son in California was very moving. They had not seen each other in nearly ten years. But not then, nor afterward, did Mrs. Chaplin comprehend the rank that her son, whom she addressed as "The King," occupied in the world. Nor could she understand that the years of struggle were over. Frightened by the evidence of her son's wealth, she felt that such grandeur could not belong to him. She feared that his work might not be honest. When she saw him in his makeup she protested: "Why do you want to make yourself look hideous, you who are so beautiful?" A special screening for her of one of his films merely confused her. Her only reaction was the complaint, why were they working her poor boy so hard! Chaplin installed his mother in a house at Santa Monica overlooking the sea. She was provided with a companion and a nurse and received the best of care. Nevertheless this, too, proved grist for the gossip mill. Chaplin was criticized for not taking his mother into his own home. Unless it be considered good to torment oneself this would have been useless. His mother's condition depressed Chaplin; and all that could be done for her was to assure her comfort. She enjoyed long drives and trips to the zoo with Kono. At times she would brighten and do a little song and dance for company. Chaplin met Clare Sheridan at a dinner given by Abraham Lehr, an associate of Sam Goldwyn. Miss Sheridan, a sculptor and a "free thinker," was a cousin of Winston Churchill and the widow of a descendant of the great dramatist, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. As a woman who had traveled everywhere and was at home on all social levels, Chaplin found her an interesting personality. She had just returned from Russia where she had had interviews with Lenin and Trotsky. She had made busts