[DiogenesLamp]

Great story, thanks for pointing it out. My recollection is that Charlie Chaplain never admitted or denied that he was Jewish. In the movie "the Great Dictator" Charlie explicitly played the role of a barber in a Jewish Ghetto. A lot of people regarded it as a sort of tacit admission, and of course the Nazis saw it that way.

Whatever was his true origin story, Charlie was a wonderful entertainer and a great comedian. If he was Jewish, then he is one more among many of the Great Jewish comedians of America. The Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, Don Rickles, Ed Wynn, George Burns, Milton Berle and others.

Interesting that he felt the need to hide it though. I guess the times were more difficult during that era.

[miss marmelstein]

Charles Chaplin was neither a Jew, a Frenchman or a member of the Communist party. He was born to two lower-class English music hall entertainers, Charles and Hannah Chaplin and had an older brother, Sydney. He was in and out of London poorhouses as a child. He has a distinct Cockney accent in all of his talkies.

When he was quite young, he and his brother were members of the famous Karno Group, which included Stan Laurel. When they toured America, Chaplin, Laurel and Sydney Chaplin chose to remain in America.

Charlie was way too cheap to pay the dues necessary to be a member of the Communist party.