About the year 1900, a small, dark-haired boy named Charles Chaplin was often seen waiting outside the back entrances of London theatres. He looked thin and hungry but his blue eyes were determined. He was hoping to get work in show business. He could sing and dance. Although his own boyhood was painfully hard, he knew how to make people laugh.

　　His own father had died from drinking too much. And his mother wasn t really able to look after Charles and his older half-brother, Sid. She was often sick in mind and had to be sent into hospital.

　　When Charles couldn t get work he wandered about the city streets. He found food and shelter wherever he could. Sometimes he was sent away to a home for children who had no parents. He was cold and miserable there and the children were scolded and punished for the slightest fault. He hated it.

　　Thirty years later this same Charles Chaplin was accepting the hospitality of kings. Everyone wanted to meet him. Pictures show him in the company of men like Churchill, Einstein and Gandhi. He had become almost a royal figure in the bright new world of the cinema- Charlie Chaplin, the king of comedy.

　　He once wrote, "You have to believe in yourself. That s the secret. Even when I was in the children s home, when I was wandering the streets trying to find enough to eat to keep alive, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world."

　　Any regular visitor to the cinema must have seen some of Charlie Chaplin s films. People everywhere have sat and laughed at them until the tears streamed down their faces. From his very first appearance they know what to expect from the mild little man with the stiff black moustache, wide-open eyes, round black hat and shoes too large for his feet.

　　The character of the "little tramp", which Chaplin played in hundreds of films, is one everyone can understand. The poor man makes all kinds of stupid mistakes. He is always in trouble. Yet he dreams of greatness. He makes us laugh with his crazy attempts to escape his cruel fate. He finds surprising ways out of every difficulty. And life never quite destroys him. The little tramp is not very different from the cold, homeless, poorly dressed child who refused to despair. Like the child he is weak, frightened and foolish, but he never gives up.

　　Even people who don t understand English can enjoy Chaplin s films because they are mostly silent. It isn t what he says that makes us laugh. His comedy depends upon little actions which mean the same thing to people all over the world.

　　Chaplin raises his thick black eyebrows or rolls his eyes. He straightens his coat or swings his walking-stick in the air. He hides behind a fat lady or under a table to escape from his enemies. Trying to be brave, he faints away on the floor. He shakes the dust off his rags to make a proud appearance at some grand social occasion. He pretends to be what he is not and never could be-a rich, successful, important man. It is all the secret of Chaplin s huge success.

　　He discovered the character of the little tramp almost by accident. As young men, he and his brother traveled to America in a small company of actors and acted in various cities. One day Charles was invited to join a new company that was making film comedies. He accepted the offer and soon became popular.

　　Very soon he had made dozens of short films for this company. But it was in his second film that he wore the clothes which made his fame-black hat, tight coat, baggy trousers, huge shoes, moustache and walking-stick.

　　His appearance was a popular success, right from the beginning. But his first pictures hadn t much story. They were full of action. His manner is terribly funny and makes one roar with laughter.

　　By the time he was thirty Chaplin was the greatest, best known, and best loved comedy actor in the world. He received thousands of dollars for each film he made. He had formed his own film-making company and was writing and producing his own films. He was welcomed by excited crowds wherever he went. But he worked very hard and had few close friends.

　　Perhaps that s why the sad side of the little tramp began to show more clearly in the films he made. The little man began to want more than food and a roof over his head. He began to want love.

　　In one of his most famous films, "The Gold Rush", a girl plays tricks on the little man. Then she begins to feel sorry for him and treats him kindly. He mistakes her pity for love. The girl in "City Lights" is blind. While she cannot see what he looks like she thinks he is the most wonderful man she has ever met. But then she recovers her sight and sees what a foolish figure he is. This sadness gives Chaplin s films a depth of human experience which few comedy actors can equal.

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