Charlie Chaplin (1951)

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cc 288 Eastman was then raising money for The Liberator. He put the touch on Chaplin but received only twenty-five dollars. In "Heroes I Have Known," Eastman writes: "As it was, I learned right there never to try to drag Charlie in, as I did most of my rich friends, on various schemes of social reform. Charlie likes radical ideas; he likes to talk about transforming the world; but he doesn't like to pay for the talk, much less the transformation." Chaplin was all praises for Eastman's radical speech, yet the following day, according to Eastman, he heard the actor "express a glowing belief in slavery as an immortal institution, backing it up with arguments and illustrating it with a pantomime that left his hearers breathless if not convinced." If this were true Chaplin was probably not referring to Negro slavery. At another time, speaking of Negroes, Chaplin said, "I never laugh at their humor. They have suffered too much ever to be funny to me." He never used Negroes as comic relief in his films, though in the 1914 Keystone comedy "The Rounders," there is a white man, in blackface, playing a bit part as a doorman and others appear in the background of some Essanays. This cannot be taken as an example of race prejudice any more than Griffith's use of blackface for some of the leads in "The Birth of a Nation." It was simply the custom of the time. There were few Negro actors available for regular dramatic roles. Strangely enough, along with other stock national types, there are several examples of Jewish stereotypes in the Mutual comedies, with long beards, hooked noses, and low-fitting derbies. This again can be attributed to then-current conventions. Chaplin's friendship with Eastman was a lasting one. In "My Trip Abroad," the actor calls Eastman "a charming and sympathetic fellow who thinks. All of his doctrines I do not subscribe to, but that makes no difference in our friendship. We get together, argue a bit, and then