Author Scott Eyman explains how silent film actor Charlie Chaplin was smeared in the press, scandalized for his affairs with young women, condemned for his alleged communist ties and banned from returning to the U.S. "At one time or another he was the target of the entire security apparatus of the United States of America," Eyman says. His book is Charlie Chaplin vs. America. Also, Justin Chang reviews two highly-anticipated blockbusters, Wicked and Gladiator II.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Charlie Chaplin is a legendary figure of American cinema, remembered for silent films such as Modern Times about the alienation of factory work and The Great Dictator, a talking picture in which Chaplin satirized and imitated Adolf Hitler. But Chaplin also led a colorful and controversial life beyond his film career.
Today we're going to listen to Terry's interview with writer Scott Iman about his book, Charlie Chaplin vs. America, When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided. It's now out in paperback. Eyman writes about Chaplin's affairs with younger women, a paternity suit in which he was falsely accused, and the FBI's investigation into his alleged communist ties, among other things.
When Chaplin went to England in 1952 to promote a film, his reentry papers were revoked, forcing him to spend the last 25 years of his life in exile. Scott Iman is also the author of books about John Wayne, Cary Grant, John Ford, and Cecil B. DeMille. Cary spoke to him last fall when his book Charlie Chaplin vs. America was published in hardback.
Scott Iman, welcome to Fresh Air. I found this book really interesting. I didn't realize how controversial Chaplin was and how many different agencies had investigated him. The FBI, the CIA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Post Office, the House Un-American Activities Committee. So his most controversial film was the 1940 film The Great Dictator. This was a satire of Hitler.
It was made a year before the U.S. entered World War II. What was controversial about ridiculing Hitler?
Well, he started shooting the film in September 1939. It came out in October 1940. At this point in history, America is an isolationist country, as is Congress. Hitler was not our problem. The Jews of Europe were not our problem. If Hitler took England, we would just have to make a separate piece. And that would be the end of our problem. Chaplin believed otherwise, as did Franklin Roosevelt.
As a matter of fact, Franklin Roosevelt was one of the few people in America that wanted the film made. Nobody in Hollywood wanted the film made. Because in the latter part of 1939, anti-fascist films were very, very few on the ground. But he was basically bound and determined. There's a letter in the book from Jack Warner to Chaplin.
Jack Warner had just had a meeting with Roosevelt in the Oval Office.
And Roosevelt had brought up Chaplin's... Jack Warner is in the Warner Brothers Company.
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