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XXIX
law suits and another marriage
The forties brought Chaplin law suits, violent press attacks, general unfavorable publicity, and failure for his only film of the decade. Following the opening of "The Great Dictator" in October 1940, Chaplin spent some time in New York, in an apartment overlooking the East River. He was variously reported to be planning a film about a refugee in New York, to be considering the lead in "The Flying Yorkshireman," which Frank Capra was preparing to make, to be negotiating a picture version of the play, "Shadow and Substance," with Joan Barry. He decided on "Lady Killer," which became "Monsieur Verdoux" in 1947.
True or not, the following note in Sheilah Graham's gossip column is typical of the snide turn comments on the comedian took during this period. Chaplin, Miss Graham wrote, was so sure he would win the 1941 Academy Award that he had prepared a rejection speech which he practiced before friends. Its keynote was to be, "How can anyone decide which member of a picture is the person responsible for its success?" It seems doubtful that he would make such a speech considering the way his films are made — though it might apply to the average Hollywood picture. Like almost everything in the industry, whatever truth there was in this was magnified out of all proportion.
Income tax difficulties vexed him most in the first years of the decade. Finally the government's claim for a