Beverly Hills. California. A day in the last week of July 2004. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater was packed with ‘Standing Room Only’ board hanging outside. The audience which included Hollywood comedians and funsters howled with non-stop laughter. On show was a silent film made in 1914 and folks in 2004 were still laughing ninety years later. The movie Tille’s Punctured Romance featured the greatest comedian of all time, Charlie Chaplin. It was his feature length movie after he relocated to America from his native London looking for greener pastures. The movie a hit in its day was directed by the ‘King of Comedy’ Mack Sennett. Besides Chaplin the movie had the lovely star of the day and comedienne Mabel Normand, and also one of the finest actresses of early Hollywood Cinema Marie Dressler.

Tillie’s Punctured Romance with its sight gags, frenetic chases, slapstick sketches and visual gags kept the audience laughing, feeding it with ‘boffos’ from the beginning to the end. (‘Boffo’ is defined as laughter that originates in the pit of the stomach and moves up gathering momentum until the face explodes!)

Indeed Chaplin had been in the United States only for a year and in 1914 his first film came out with the appropriate title Making A Living. It did not create any impact, and Mack Sennett who had hired him after watching him on stage in New York wondered whether he had committed a mistake in hiring Chaplin! In sheer despair he let Chaplin go and do whatever he wished in his next movie Kid Auto Races At Venice (1914). It was in this film that Chaplin put together the immortal iconic costume -of baggy pants, decrepit shoes on the wrong feet, carefully trimmed moustache, cane and dirty derby hat, and moving with a gait and manner contrary to his slovenly appearance which would bring him undying fame, name and fortune.

This film had folks in America and elsewhere rolling in the aisles with non- –stop laughter, much to the surprise of Sennett. Indeed he was more than surprised when his distributors and exhibitors all over America asked him for the next Chaplin film to be sent fast!

Chaplin felt that the comedies of Mack Sennett and his famous ‘Keystone, Kops’ were too fast and much of the humor was missed being understated. And not properly developed. His view was that the gags had to be slowed down giving the necessary time for the build-up. He realized that he could do so only if he directed his films himself. By now offers from other companies on terms unheard have in Hollywood history began to pour on Chaplin. Aware of them all Sennett allowed him to direct his films his own films. Chaplin's first the editorial venture, was Caught In The Rain (1914) and its success proved that Chaplin was right.

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889, in London. His childhood was steeped in grinding poverty, hunger, cruelty and loneliness, subjects which became the major themes in his history -making silent comedies. Abandoned by his father, and his mother, a music hall actress becoming mentally disturbed he and his stepbrother Sydney underwent what could be described as Charles Dickensian boyhood of deprivation. School held no fascination for him and only theater provided him the escape-hatch from his poverty and suffering. As a little lad he went on stage as the page boy for the William Gillette stage version of ‘Sherlock Holmes’. In spite of his poverty, malnutrition and more he looked cherubic and angelic and attracted attention.

This little bit of fame enabled him to join the famous Fred Karno’s Music Hall troupe. When Karno toured the United States he chose Chaplin as one of his performers. Accompanying him as his understudy was an unknown lad who would create history in his own way as top comedian. His name was Stan Laurel!

By 1915 Chaplin became a household word in almost all over the world. Cartoons, poems and comic strips under his name appeared in newspapers. Chaplin dolls, toys and books were ‘manufactured.’ The public simply lapped them up with glee. In many American towns ‘Chaplin-Look-alike’ contests were held. For the fun of it Chaplin entered one of them and came fourth!

The decade, 1915-25 was the period of his greatest popularity, and he became an independent filmmaker. His galloping salaries proved his fame and from $150 a week with Sennett, Chaplin signed with Essanay Studios at a salary of $1250 per week and fortune came seeking him. By 1918, Chaplin signed his first million-dollar contract, with First National, which also agreed to build a studio for him. At Essanay, Chaplin began to assemble his stock company and, with the emergence of End Purviance as his first lady love on and off the screen introduced an element of sentimentality and gentlemanly respect into his films.

Chaplin began his journey on the road to immortality when he created his most famous character in the movie '' The Tramp '' (1915). He is an anonymous human being who never knows where his next meal is coming from. He has no fixed abode and takes life as it comes. But he never gives up the struggle to live. This character is more than autobiographical drawing from his experiences of his early life of struggle and poverty in London. However the tramp has his own culture and code of conduct. His heart is filled with gold though his pocket is empty.

Working untiringly writing, directing and producing his films retaining complete control over his creative output, he came out with many films most of which are hailed as classics as Cinema. These early efforts are short films, and some of them are, “One A.M.”(1916)…”The Pawnshop” (1916)…. “Behind The Screen” (1916)… “The Rink” (1916)… “Easy Street” (1917)… “The Cure” (1917)… “The Immigrant” (1917) … “The Adventurer ” (1917)… “A Dog’s Life” (1918)… “Shoulder Arms” (1918) and “The Pilgrim”.

By now he was one of the most famous figures of the world and sailing along on the sea of success he moved to make feature length movies. The first feature film which came out in 1921 The Kid was a sensational success in which he mixed comedy with sentimentality, emotions and the milk of human kindness. This film was not only a box office bonanza but inspired many other filmmakers in the world including India, to make with their own versions.

Indeed he and his films were sources of immense inspiration to filmmakers and comedians around the world. One of them, was the celebrated Tamil film comedian and cult figure, N. S. Krishnan, hailed as ‘the Charlie Chaplin of India.’

His films were favorites of not only of the crowds and critics but also world famous personalities and leaders like Stalin, Lenin, Winston Churchill, Jawaharlal Nehru and Hitler. Some of them have private copies of Chaplin’s films, which they watched as relaxation from the pressures of the world of politics. Hitler loved Chaplin so much that the famous ‘Hitler Mustache’ was inspired by Chaplin's! Hitler stopped watching them only when he heard rumors that Chaplin might have Jewish blood in him!

After The Kid Chaplin basked in the sunshine of success and ever-increasing fame and he created more feature film classics like “The Gold Rush (1925)… “The Circus” (1928)…”City Lights”(1931).

His personal life landed him in scandals and even worse due to his relationship with young girls, and also his early sensational marriages, and paternity suits which resulted in falling out of favor with the American Government. It thought that he was an ‘undesirable alien’. Even though he found his incredible fame and fortune in America he never opted to become its citizen, a fact which was the cause of the US government's hateful attitude towards him. He was considered an immoral influence, and his glorification of the poor man led Washington to brand him as a communist! These aspects of his life did have an impact on his attitudes, which were reflected in his movies.

Even though movies began to talk in 1927 for several years Chaplin resisted making talking pictures and continued to make silent movies. He said that Cinema was a visual medium and comedy in particular did not require words. Only in 1940 he made his first talking picture “The Great Dictator” but his taking movies were however not so successful as his silent classics. Many critics felt that his talent began to slide down when movies began to talk like the other masters of silent film comedy, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, and the inimitable Buster Keaton who too shared the same fate..

He bade good bye to the tramp character and took a satirical look in his brilliant irony of the machine-bound man in his classic Modern Times (1936). He shocked the world wih his murderous “Monsieur Verdoux’ (1947) inspired by the sensational mass murderer of France, Henri Landru.

His other talking movies are “The Great Dictator” (1946, a satire attacking Hitler)… “ Limelight” (1952)…. “A King in New York”(1957), and his last film, “A Countess From Hong Kong” (1967), which proved to be a flop.

He passed away on December 25, 1977. The man might be gone but his movies; especially his silent movies shall live forever. About Chaplin the famed critic James Agee wrote, "the finest pantomime, the deepest emotion, the richest and most poignant poetry were in Chaplin's work." The noted film scholar, Andrew Sarris, said, "the single most important artist produced by the cinema, certainly it’s most extraordinary performer, and probably still its most universal icon." And the recent response to “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” amply proves them all true….