A Comedian Sees the World Hardcover – November 28, 2014

Chaplin always beautifully describes his surrounding bringing right by his side. You get to experience his since of humor away from the camera.

Just when you think everything that could be possibly written about Chaplin has already been published and re-hashed a million times, Sir Charles himself emerges to share his writing that had been lost to time. Fast on the heels of David Robinson's "Footlights" which publishes Chaplin's novella version of "Limelight" for the first time, Dr. Lisa Stein Haven has rescued Chaplin's 1931 world tour travelogue originally published in series in A Woman's Home Companion. Here in its first English edition (originally published in Italian) is Chaplin's "A Comedian Sees the World." Chaplin had previously published "My Trip Abroad" in 1922, but there was always a certain level of suspicion amongst Chaplin scholars that he had employed a ghost writer for that endeavor. In Stein's forward to this publication, she does uncover that it was most likely ghost written by Monta Bell. There is clearly a difference with writing style and cadence in "My Trip Abroad" and if this is the case, then "A Comedian Sees the World" is truly Chaplin's first serious foray into writing. This 1931 world tour deeply affected Chaplin, and he felt compelled to write this on his own, and spent over a year doing it. In the forward, Dr. Lisa Stein Haven has also uncovered the painstaking and lengthy writing process that Chaplin went though to get it right. It is yet another example of the boiling-down process that Chaplin went through when making his films. Every idea or thought was explored, then kept or discarded depending on it's relevance to the narrative. Certainly, anyone familiar with Chaplin's later "My Autobiography" can see the same writing style, pacing and prose that became the hallmark of his writing in "Footlights" and "My Autobiography." One of the chief complaints of "My Autobiography" is that the first half reads like a wonderful Dickensian novel, replete with the sights, sounds and smells of his impoverished youth, and is followed by the second half that seems only to be a who's-who of all the famous people he wined and dined. In "A Comedian Sees the World" we get a lot more of that who's-who, but that was who Chaplin was spending his time with on this ever extending holiday. It was his life as he saw it, and that is what he wanted to share. After all, he was the most celebrated man in the world, and the famous, powerful and privileged all wanted an audience with him. He obliged and we end up with an inside peek at these people's lives and their thinking in the Pre-World War II era, where patriotism was rife and the gap between rich and poor was palpable. Chaplin, an ever self-educated man shows that not only is he now book smart, but also extrapolates his knowledge into economic plans and political ideas that he is more than willing to challenge his contemporaries on. The contradiction between Chaplin's own wealth and also being the universal every-man is something many critics had a hard time wrapping their minds around, but they forgot that he was truly both. His keen observance was what allowed him to say to the press in 1932, "Patriotism is the greatest insanity the world has ever suffered...Patriotism [in Europe] is rampant everywhere and the result is going to be another war." The culmination of these thoughts and ideas find their home in Chaplin's "A Comedian Sees the World" and later, in Charlie's celebrated film on the machine age, "Modern Times." There are also amusing passages in this work and two that come to mind are his self-deprecating humor about his misadventures on a fox hunt and his almost prepubescent observances on the bare-chested women of Bali. The best source for getting inside someone's head is the writings they have left behind and the significance of "A Comedian Sees the World" in the Chaplin canon cannot be ignored or passed off. This newly discovered work, richly illustrated and thoroughly researched is a must-have, along with "Footlights" in completing the Chaplin section of your library. It is truly, a missing addendum to "My Autobiography." Click "add to cart," now.

Just when you think everything that could be possibly written about Chaplin has already been published and re-hashed a million times, Sir Charles himself emerges to share his writing that had been lost to time. Fast on the heels of David Robinson's "Footlights" which publishes Chaplin's novella version of "Limelight" for the first time, Dr. Lisa Stein Haven has rescued Chaplin's 1931 world tour travelogue originally published in series in A Woman's Home Companion. Here in its first English edition (originally published in Italian) is Chaplin's "A Comedian Sees the World." Chaplin had previously published "My Trip Abroad" in 1922, but there was always a certain level of suspicion amongst Chaplin scholars that he had employed a ghost writer for that endeavor. In Stein's forward to this publication, she does uncover that it was most likely ghost written by Monta Bell. There is clearly a difference with writing style and cadence in "My Trip Abroad" and if this is the case, then "A Comedian Sees the World" is truly Chaplin's first serious foray into writing. This 1931 world tour deeply affected Chaplin, and he felt compelled to write this on his own, and spent over a year doing it. In the forward, Dr. Lisa Stein Haven has also uncovered the painstaking and lengthy writing process that Chaplin went though to get it right. It is yet another example of the boiling-down process that Chaplin went through when making his films. Every idea or thought was explored, then kept or discarded depending on it's relevance to the narrative. Certainly, anyone familiar with Chaplin's later "My Autobiography" can see the same writing style, pacing and prose that became the hallmark of his writing in "Footlights" and "My Autobiography." One of the chief complaints of "My Autobiography" is that the first half reads like a wonderful Dickensian novel, replete with the sights, sounds and smells of his impoverished youth, and is followed by the second half that seems only to be a who's-who of all the famous people he wined and dined. In "A Comedian Sees the World" we get a lot more of that who's-who, but that was who Chaplin was spending his time with on this ever extending holiday. It was his life as he saw it, and that is what he wanted to share. After all, he was the most celebrated man in the world, and the famous, powerful and privileged all wanted an audience with him. He obliged and we end up with an inside peek at these people's lives and their thinking in the Pre-World War II era, where patriotism was rife and the gap between rich and poor was palpable. Chaplin, an ever self-educated man shows that not only is he now book smart, but also extrapolates his knowledge into economic plans and political ideas that he is more than willing to challenge his contemporaries on. The contradiction between Chaplin's own wealth and also being the universal every-man is something many critics had a hard time wrapping their minds around, but they forgot that he was truly both. His keen observance was what allowed him to say to the press in 1932, "Patriotism is the greatest insanity the world has ever suffered...Patriotism [in Europe] is rampant everywhere and the result is going to be another war." The culmination of these thoughts and ideas find their home in Chaplin's "A Comedian Sees the World" and later, in Charlie's celebrated film on the machine age, "Modern Times." There are also amusing passages in this work and two that come to mind are his self-deprecating humor about his misadventures on a fox hunt and his almost prepubescent observances on the bare-chested women of Bali. The best source for getting inside someone's head is the writings they have left behind and the significance of "A Comedian Sees the World" in the Chaplin canon cannot be ignored or passed off. This newly discovered work, richly illustrated and thoroughly researched is a must-have, along with "Footlights" in completing the Chaplin section of your library. It is truly, a missing addendum to "My Autobiography." Click "add to cart," now.

It seems strange to give 5 stars for a book about a series of articles written by Chaplin in the early 1930's. His journal is just part of the reason, however, to buy this valuable addition to the Chaplin legacy. Prof. Lisa Stein has made observations about Chaplin, about how his travels changed him and his films, and added a new dimension to this great film artist. This is a double-barrelled book: a look inside Chaplin's mind as he travelled the world, and the effect it had on him - from a respected Chaplin enthusiast and expert. It's a fine companion piece to Dr. Stein's biography of Syd Chaplin, Charlie's brother, and Charles Maland's "Chaplin and American Culture."

Another very captivating study of Lisa Haven Stein. The author is actually an expert of both Syd and Charles Chaplin. A testimony of their journey around the world at times of Great Depression.