It only recently occurred to me that Charlie Chaplin was probably one of Golden Age Hollywood’s many secret trans people (Jean Harlow’s on the list, too). Although you think you can see him in your mind’s eye due to the vast collective consciousness seeping into your brain, it isn’t until you actually watch a movie starring him that you truly notice all of his effete features.
Those penciled on eyebrows and that smooth, fair-skinned face all contribute to a decidedly trans aesthetic. Even his mustache has the quality of being put on by a woman still trying to figure out how to look like a man. And the fact that he starred almost exclusively in silent films is telling of his/her desire to not showcase a voice that could reveal too much.
As a romantic interest in film, too, Chaplin displayed a decidedly asexual vibe. In movies such as City Lights and The Cure. Chaplin as a romantic prospect seems utterly incongruous. His trans qualities are so overt that it’s difficult to take him seriously as a leading man. Then again, it could just be his Englishness, mannerisms and fashion sense that made him so irreconcilable as a man in general.
“Martha Raye was a minor star in Hollywood. She played opposite Charlie Chaplin in Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and appeared in a number of other films over a forty-year career. In a Washington Post interview, Mark Harris, her seventh (and final) husband revealed that Raye had been bisexual. She told him, ‘I went both ways, like yourself.’”
-FromBisexual Characters in Film From Ana’s to Zee by Wayne M Bryant
Here’s 5 to watch on TCM for the week of Sept. 6, 2021:
1. The Rink (1916) at 9:45 pm ET/6:45 pm PT Thursday, Sept. 9: TCM’s spotlight for September features movies with roller-skating scenes (surprisingly, there are a lot of them). No one loved skates more than comedian Charlie Chaplin, who used them both in this sublime short film and in Modern Times (1936), which is airing at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.
2. The Seventh Victim (1943) at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT Friday, Sept. 10: Old Hollywood horror doesn’t get much more chilling than this “cult” classic from producer Val Lewton about the disappearance of a woman (Jean Brooks) that may be connected to a group of satanists.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT Saturday, Sept. 11: This beloved drama about Civil Rights and the joys and trials of childhood is the pick of retired NYC firefighter Thomas Prin, Jr., who was a first responder on 9/11.
4. Drive a Crooked Road (1954) at 1 am ET/10 pm PT Saturday night/Sunday morning: Mickey Rooney doesn’t usually come to mind when old Hollywood fans think of film noir, but he’s great in this taut little B thriller about a mechanic who is conned (by a dame, of course) into driving the getaway car for a bank heist. Drive a Crooked Road will have an encore presentation at 10 am ET/7 am PT Sunday.
5. Show Boat (1936) at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT Sunday, Sept. 12: This version of the oft-filmed Kern-Hammerstein musical has its problematic moments, but it also features star of the month Paul Robeson’s soaring rendition of “Ol’ Man River.” It is not only a marvelous vocal performance by Robeson, but also a cri de couer for the racism experienced by African-Americans.
RAVENCLAW: “I don’t care much about story—plot, as they call it. If you have the neatest tailored plot in the world and yet haven’t personalities, living characters, you’ve nothing.” –Charlie Chaplin
The Silent Film Lounge Cemetery Project: Los Angeles
Above is the Grave of Charlie Chaplin’s Mother. We planted English Lavender
On Facebook: This is a volunteer group to clean the area around silent film stars graves in the Los Angeles area, and to plant flowers and plants to beautify their plots. Above is some of the work we have done at Hollywood Forever.
(We are in need of people to water one time per month) if you are in the Los Angeles area…
Please message the Group Admin for details, or would just like to help us water the plants, please join.
The great “magician” himself! Dr. (though he wasn’t really!) Walford Bodie, a hypnotist inspired by the image of Charlie Chaplin and the wonders of Houdini, was a popular act in the Edwardian era. He hypnotized patients, and claimed he could cure any sickness doing so with his “bloodless surgery”.
