travsd

Tonight: The Real Charlie Chaplin

Well, I don’t get Showtime, and I don’t know anyone who does, but periodically they show something that makes me wish I did. Tonight they premiere a program called The Real Charlie Chaplin. I was skeptical at first, thinking, “What more can be said?” But it turns out that this one is likely to be significant, as it contains lots of previously unreleased documentary material. Until now Chaplin and his heirs kept a tight lid on audio-visual material having to do with Chaplin’s private life. Clips of Chaplin NOT performing are as rare as hen’s teeth. But this doc promises lots of home movies, interviews, news footage, and so forth (and the Chaplin family seems involved) so in its way, to many of us, this one is as exciting as Get Back in terms of juicy unreleased stuff that will illuminate an unseen side of its famous subject. I know I’ll be watching it as soon as I can. And when I do I’ll let you know the upshot. The show’s official page is here.

ADDENDUM: saw it and loved it. Review is here.

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.