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companion. On their first meeting, he suddenly began to dance with her, then by himself — a pas seul as exquisite as anything she had ever seen. His immense zest attracted her, but, like his young wives, she feared and dreaded his sudden descent into abysmal gloom, his silence,, his complete withdrawal from his friends and colleagues into a world of his own, to which she had no key.
As they enjoyed that extended holiday together with a nucleus of faithful souls who stayed always, and others who were suddenly dismissed, or fell by the way for reasons of their own, she had frequent cause to wonder at his astounding powers of entertainment.
On one occasion, following a luncheon party in the South of France,, he acted a French divertissement, in which he played the three roles — wife, husband, lover — apparently speaking a fluent and colloquial French, so that all save French-speaking people present were amazed at his command of the language. He followed this with scenes from Japanese plays — a form of theatre he seriously admired, insisting that the Japanese trained in the traditional forms were the finest actors in the world. He introduced this sketch in what appeared to be Japanese; and it was only later that his guests realized he had no knowledge either of French or Japanese. It is interesting, in view of this spontaneous clowning in his private life, to remember that in the film he was to make on his return — Modern Times — there is the amusing sequence of Charlie the waiter, who is forced to take the place of an absent cabaret turn. Charlie gives a patter song in gibberish that sounds extremely gallic.
Much to the relief of his closest friends, May Reeves left the party at St. Moritz; or perhaps it would be truer to say that Chaplin left her there, and set out on the world tour he had suddenly decided to make. He travelled to Japan, where he intended to absorb all that he could of the traditional Japanese theatre, so near in technique to his own work. News of him came from Tokio, Singapore, Egypt : and he did not return to Hollywood until May, 1932, having been away for over a year.
Soon after his return, gossip began to couple his name with that of Paulette Goddard, a beautiful girl of nineteen, described by the columnists as "belonging to the most exclusive set in American society". Chaplin had first met her in California while she was staying in the country house of friends of her family; and very soon they were making frequent visits to Palm Beach and along the coast together.
There is no doubt that Paulette Goddard, more than a little bored with the pleasure round of her normal life, welcomed the distraction provided by Chaplin's total difference from any man she had previously met: and her young vanity was fed by the ardent pursuit of