Posted on 02/17/2012 2:13:51 PM PST by Focault's Pendulum
MI5 investigated whether Charlie Chaplin was actually a Frenchman called Israel Thornstein, previously secret files on the Hollywood film star have revealed.
Intelligence officers could find no trace of the actor's birth in Britain despite Chaplin always claiming he was born in London in 1889.
The mystery surrounding his origins emerged when the US authorities asked MI5 to look into the comic actor's background after he left America in 1952 under a cloud of suspicion over his communist links.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Never mind Chaplin, maybe MI5 can fill us in on who the usurper in the whitey hut is.
No, actually, Israel Thornstein was Elvis Presley’s manager “Colonel” Tom Parker.
Harpo speaks
That is the very video I watched. (Listened to. :) )
Go to Amazon and put in for “Harpo Speaks.” They are selling used copies for as low as $5 (and maybe even lower, I didn’t search that hard). It’s a really fun book and considered the best of all the Marx Brother histories.
Yeah, I always thought Harpo would talk just like Groucho. New Yorkese. I know that growing up they spoke Platt Deutche - their parents were immigrants from Alsace Lorraine, I believe. It may have belonged to Germany in those days...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.