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Silent Comedy

Too funny for words

Paul Merton
Random House, 322pp, £25,

Kevin Brownlow

Wednesday, 5th December 2007

Kevin Brownlow

In 1989, when David Gill and I celebrated the Chaplin centenary with a week-long run of City Lights at the Dominion Theatre, several critics declared than no one under 40 found Chaplin funny. That ruined our advance box office and not even the presence of Princess Diana on the opening night revived it. Yet those that came were thrilled. We had a live orchestra conducted by Carl Davis, and there were times when you couldn’t hear the music above the laughter. We recorded all those people under 40 not finding Chaplin funny and sent the tapes to the critics. That was as satisfying as the ‘House Full’ notices that went up halfway through the week.

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G. Gururaj

December 17th, 2007 2:13pm

I read with interest Kevin Brownlow's review of Paul Merton's Book on Silent Comedy. Chaplin's Kid, which was made in 1921, was screened in 1972 for the benefit of the residents of Radio Colony in Port Blair (Andamans). Majority of the audience that had assembled to watch the movie was under 40 and more interestingly kids outnumbered adults. It came as a pleasant surprise to the elders to see the kids enjoy every moment of the film, especially the scenes featuring Chaplin and Jackie Coogan. This clearly proves that a classic of one age will remain a classic in any age. A classic is like Cleopatra. Age cannot wither nor custom stale its infinite variety.

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