Chaplin Pa (Rev)

'¬SChaplin is arguably the single most important artist produced by the cinema,'¬ wrote film critic Andrew Sarris. Born in London in 1889, Charlie Chaplin grew up in dire poverty. Severe alcoholism cut short his father'¬"s flourishing career, and his beloved mother first lost her voice, then her mind, to syphilis. How did this poor, lonely child, committed to the Hanwell School for the Orphaned and Destitute, become such an extraordinary comedian, known and celebrated worldwide? Dr. Stephen M. Weissman brilliantly illuminates both the screen legend himself and the turbulent era that shaped him.

Born in London in 1889, Charlie Chaplin grew up in dire poverty. Both his parents were in show business, but severe alcoholism cut short his father's flourishing career, and his beloved mother lost first her voice, then her mind, to syphilis. How then did this poor, lonely child, committed to the Hanwell School for the Orphaned and Destitute, become such an extraordinary comedian, known and celebrated worldwide? Chaplin cut his teeth in British music halls, but it was America that made him. Weissman traces Chaplin's life and the sources of his genius in fascinating detail, demonstrating how his tragic childhood shaped his personality and his art. Infamous for his politics and his scandalous sex life, Chaplin was a much more complex and contradictory figure than his famous roles imply. Weissman brilliantly illuminates both the screen legend himself and the turbulent era that shaped him. Stephen Weissman, M.D., is a practicing psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at George Washington University. He is also the author of His Brothers Keeper: A Psychobiography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.