In 1972, Charlie Chaplin received one of the longest applauses in Oscar history
@historyinmemes The man, The myth, The Legend - Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was a fatherless English communist, born in 1889, raised in poverty, and though he hated America, he moved there anyway, to make money. A London child-laborer by nine, his syphilitic mother became psychotic and was committed to an asylum before Charlie found stage work. At nineteen he was touring 1908’s USA in a music hall company. Soon after, he rocketed to fame using the Tramp persona and was making his own movies through United Artists, which he co-founded. Chaplin became a worldwide star and very rich. Although capitalist America had provided Charlie Chaplin the means to make millions and set him up for life, he despised free enterprise and all it stood for, including the United States. A committed communist, his films reflected his ideology, highlighting his belief in the immorality of industry, corporations, the rich, and the helplessness of poor, penniless tramps. Many Americans saw it as pure indoctrination, helping the Soviet Union in their own propaganda against America and the West. Chaplin’s critics pointed out that the English communist refused to become an American citizen; such was his hatred of the U.S. Soon, the FBI was investigating Chaplin, and in 1952, while out of the country, his re-entry permit was revoked. Banned from America, he went to live in Switzerland. He wrote: Whether I re-entered that unhappy country or not was of little consequence to me. I would like to have told them that the sooner I was rid of that hate-beleaguered atmosphere the better, that I was fed up of America’s insults and moral pomposity… The next year his American wife renounced her US citizenship and became a British citizen. Charlie Chaplin helped build a tidal wave of communism to surf atop as it swept the world, encouraging it for all he was worth as it killed hundreds of millions, injured billions, bankrupted nations, and stifled the dreams of countless masses.
@historyinmemes Back when thr Oscars meant something.