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Two months later, Photoplay Magazine published this story as short news:
Charley Chaplin is now a real hero. He swam out into the Pacific Ocean near Santa Monica, Cal., several weeks ago and saved from drowning little Mildred Morrison, the seven-year-old daughter of a broker living at New Rochelle, N. Y.
Charley was on location at the time and was hampered in his rescue act by his moustache, baggy trousers and over-size shoes. The child had fallen from a rock.24
According to Photoplay Magazine’s news, this little girl whom Chaplin saved, is the daughter of a broker. The report also praised Chaplin as a “real hero.” It is hard to make sure that all detail in this story is correct, or some parts had been exaggerated. However, the press reported this story about Chaplin’s heroic behavior; it would help Chaplin build his heroic image, an image that was different from his films.
Marriage Rumor
Before Chaplin married, some magazine readers would ask whether Chaplin was married or not.
Charles Chaplin is not married.25
Charlie Chaplin has his own company and he is not married.26
When a rumor about Chaplin would marry Mildred Harris, Motion Picture Magazine printed news about Chaplin denied that he would marry Harris:
Charles Chaplin, an actor engaged in the making of comedy, denies he is engaged to Mildred Harris, an actress engaged in the making of dramas mostly dealing with love. Says Mr. Chaplin, “We are merely good friends. I know nothing about the diamond ring Miss Harris is wearing except that it is a very pretty ring.”27
After Chaplin married Mildred Harris in 1918, fan magazines respond to reader’s questions about Chaplin’s marriage.
24 Photoplay Magazine, November, 1917, p108.
25 Motion Picture Magazine, January, 1917, p132.
26 Photoplay Magazine, March, 1918, 100.
27 Motion Picture Magazine, October, 1918, p106.
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Oh. Yes, Charlie Chaplin is married.28
Why, Charlie Chaplin is 30 years old and Mrs. Charles Chaplin is 18 years. Not so bad.29
Charles Chaplin did marry Mildred Harris, hence the latter is now billed as “Mrs.
Charlie Chaplin,” and therefore worth a bigger salary.30
On November issue of Motion Picture Magazine in 1920, it printed news about Chaplin’s divorce:
And Mildred Harris Chaplin, the young wife of that very real genius, Charlie Chaplin, sued him for divorce, with a long list of all the things he did do and didn't do, which she classified as mental cruelty.
Mr. Chaplin to date has refused to make any personal statement. It is said out here that he suffers, as do all geniuses at times, from tremendous fits of depression.
Just what effect this divorce will have on him none can say.31
On February issue in 1921, Motion Picture Magazine published a new about Chaplin would pay Harris $200,000 as a settlement:
Mildred Harris Chaplin has been granted a divorce from Charlie Chaplin,
whereby she receives a settlement of $200,000 and agrees not to use the name of Chaplin professionally. For every evil under the sun there is a remedy.32
After Chaplin divorced, very soon, media had started reporting a rumor about Chaplin would marry again. Since 1921, Chaplin’s new romantic relationship began a popular subject in Motion
Picture Magazine. The first woman who was reported that would become Chaplin’s second wife
was May Collins. In 1921, the July issue of Motion Picture Magazine reported that:Charlie Chaplin is said to be engaged to May Collins, the seventeen-year-old actress who came to California from New York to win success in the films.
Neither of the two will affirm nor deny the rumor.33
Even when the magazine reported the news about May Collins signed a new contract with Universal Film Company, it also made fun of her gossip with Chaplin:
28 Motion Picture Magazine, May, 1919, p76.
29 Motion Picture Magazine, May, 1919, p96.
30 Motion Picture Magazine, July, 1919, p111.
31 Motion Picture Magazine, November, 1920, p78.
32 Motion Picture Magazine, February, 1921, p82.
33 Motion Picture Magazine, July, 1921, p92.
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The lovely May Collins may spend her evenings dancing with Charlie Chaplin, but her days now belong to the Universal Film Company. She has signed to appear in a role cryptically announced as the Flame Flower in "The Shark Master."34
In 1922, the January issue of Motion Picture Magazine thought Richard Dix, an actor who appeared in the same film (All’s Fair in Love) with May Collins, would become Chaplin’ rival:
And then May Collins stepped into the limelight as the rumored fiancée of Charlie Chaplin. It wasn't long afterward that Richard stepped in as the rumored rival for her hand.
.……
It was common knowledge that Richard had proclaimed his desire to get married if he could ever find the right girl. Everyone was whispering that May was she.
She had been Richard’s leading lady in “All’s Fair in Love,” and she was astonishingly pretty, and he would insist upon having lunch with her every day.
So one cant exactly blame the gossips. But May, the minx, only continued to smile wisely and say nothing, as she smiled and said nothing to those who
flaunted Chaplin's name at her. She is still smiling and Richard is still single, so—
you, gentle reader, must do your own Sherlock Holmsing.35
According to this article, Richard Dix had proclaimed his desire to get married, and the author thought May Collins would be a “right girl” for Dix. Collins refused to respond to her gossip with Richard Dix and Charles Chaplin. So, the author wanted readers to be a detective and figure out who is the one would marry Collins.
In 1922, the December issue of Motion Picture Magazine, a Polish actress, Pola Negri, became the new Chaplin gossip object. According to this following news, Chaplin meet Negri when he traveled to Europe:
The unspoken question at every Hollywood soiree concerns the effect that Madam Negri's arrival will have upon the somewhat mercurial Charlie Chaplin.
Charlie met the lovely Negri in Europe on the occasion of his recent tour and they were both interested— much.
Madam Negri's arrival, however, finds the talented Charles very much interested in someone else—Peggy Joyce.36
34 Motion Picture Magazine, August, 1921, p99.
35 Motion Picture Magazine, January, 1922, pp86-87.
36 Motion Picture Magazine, December, 1922, p74.
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In this article, the author mentioned that Chaplin also had interesting in Peggy Joyce. In another article which also published in December issue, called ‘Pola Negri's Arnval in Hollywood Finds
Charlie Chaplin Interested in Peggy Joyce’ said that Chaplin accompanied with Joyce
everywhere:
Since the first two or three weeks of her arrival, Peggy and Charlie Chaplin have been inseparable. They go to prize-fights and theaters and swimming parties —oh, just everywhere. The first night that Peggy attended one of the fights at the
Hollywood arena, she almost stopped the show.
Her fascinations have failed thus far to make themselves felt in one quarter, however. The gossip is that Charlie took his little playmate over to call on Mary Pickford; and that Mary was most emphatically not at home. Hence a coolness in the chummiest group in Hollywood.37
However, the author mentioned that Joyce may have a problem to join Chaplin’s social circle, because Chaplin’s friend, Mary Pickford was always not at home when Chaplin brought Joyce to visit Pickford. Motion Picture Magazine had not reported any news about Chaplin and Joyce after this article.
On December 23, 1922, Motion Picture News printed a rumor about Chaplin and Negri had already wedded:
New York newspapers are said to have received reports from the coast to the effect that Pola Negri and Charley Chaplin are already wedded, though the same rumor knew nothing of when the ceremony had taken place.
Previous word from the coast was to the effect that the couple would be married next month. Miss Negri and Chaplin are said to have discussed their plans last week, but were not ready to issue any statement.38
On January 29, 1923, The
Evening Star printed a news about Chaplin engaged with Negri:
DEL MONTE, Calif., January 29. — Charles Chaplin and Pola Negri, motion picture stars, announced their engagement at Pebble Beach Lodge, near here, yesterday. They refused to say when they would be married.39
37 Motion Picture Magazine, December, 1922, p75.
38 ‘Rumor Has Pola Negri and Chaplin Wedded,’ Motion Picture News, Vol. 26, December 23, 1922, p3183.
39 ' "Yes, We are engaged," Chaplin Announces,' The Evening Star, January 29, 1923, p15.
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On February 10, 1923, when Motion Picture News printed a news about Chaplin and Negri was engagement; it mentioned that the rumor of Chaplin and Negri, was discussed for a long time in the press. This article narrated how this marry rumor had been spread.
Confirming many rumors that have appeared in the public press, Charlie Chaplin and Pola Negri have announced their engagement.
Last September, when it was first rumored that Chaplin was to marry the Polish actress, it was said that there was a clause in her contract with the Famous Players-Lasky which prevented her from marrying for at least three months. This was later denied by her company. In December, however, it was said that after an interview the two stars had with Jesse L. Lasky they had been able to convince him that the contemplated marriage would in nowise interfere with Miss Negri’s screen career.40
After Chaplin engaged with Negri, people had been interested in their wedding date. In 1923, the April issue of Motion Picture Magazine, the author complained that if Chaplin could publish a statement to confirm his wedding date, it would be a big help for everyone who was interesting in his gossip:
It would save a lot of brain fag for the curious-minded if Charlie Chaplin would come out with an engraved statement answering such questions as: Are Pola Negri and he married, if they haven't been married secretly, when are they going to be married in the presence of their enemies and friends?41
However, when everyone still waited for the wedding date, on March 1, 1923, The
Evening Star printed a news about Chaplin would not marry Negri:
LOS ANGELES, Calif., March 1— Charles Chaplin, film comedian, is “too poor”
to marry Pola Negri, film tragadienne "Just now," the Los Angeles Examiner quoted him today.
……
“I am too poor to get married just now,” said Chaplin. “This is a working world and we’ve all got to stay busy and co-operate and keep away from climaxes of sentiment.”42
40 ‘Charlie Chaplin and Pola Negri to Marry,’ Motion Picture News, Vol. 27, February 10, 1923, p673.
41 Motion Picture Magazine, April, 1923, p77.
42 ‘Chaplin Too Poor to Marry Pola Now, He's Quoted,’ The Evening Star, March 1, 1923, p1.
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According to this news, it said that Chaplin did not marry Negri because Chaplin thought he was too poor to get married. Next day, The
Evening Star reported that Chaplin denied that he said he
was too poor to marry Negri:Mr. Chaplin also denied to her that he had told a newspaper he was “too poor to marry just now; tills Is a workaday world and we’ve all got to stay busy and keep away from climaxes of sentiment.”
It was that which precipitated the breaking of the engagement.
Miss Negri read the accredited statement. Without reference to Mr. Chaplin the agreement to wed was terminated abruptly.
A typewritten statement said the newest star in America’s movie capital considered herself “too poor to marry Charles Chaplin; he needs a wealthy woman.”
……
Over the telephone they told him. Mr. Chaplin replied: “Oh,” and “Is that so?”
and abruptly the receiver in the Chaplin home clicked to its resting place. Even his best friends thereafter were barred from his doors.
……
The lips of the little tragedienne trembled and her eyes filled with tears as she added to the typed statement: “There were a thousand things. It is another experience. I have learned. Now I will live only for my work. All the rest, the happy days, are dead to me. It is all over.”43
Chaplin did not explain why he terminated the engagement abruptly; he refused to give any explanation. However, according to this report, this word, “too poor to marry” came from a typewritten statement from Negri. In this statement, Negri said she was too poor to marry Chaplin and, she said that Chaplin needed a wealthy woman.
However, even Negri claimed that her engagement with Chaplin was broken, it was not a matter for fan magazine’s authors made them as a couple. On June issue of Motion Picture
Magazine in 1923, published a comic about Chaplin affair with Negri. (see Figure 1)
In an article, ‘Behind Scenes With Pola,’ written by Harry Carr, he said that:
43 ‘Pola and "Sharilie" Coo After Tears: Broken Engagement Refuses to Stay Broken and Cupid Kicks Up Heels Again,’
The Evening Star, March 2, 1923, p1.
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There was something gorgeous about her affair with Charley Chaplin. She gave her time exclusively to him. She had no explanations to make. For a long time the public was at liberty to draw any conclusions they saw fit. She insulted the
reporters who came to inquire if wedding bells were in contemplation: and went on with the romance.44
In this article, Harry Carr believed that “Negri give her time exclusively to Chaplin.” Carr also mentioned that Negri was not happy about reporters to ask her gossip with Chaplin. Carr’s article also included a vacation photo of Chaplin and Negri from International Newsreel (see figure 2), and wrote a description of this photo:
she is seen on a vacation trip with Charley Chaplin.45
According to this photo’s description, Negri had a vacation trip with Chaplin. This photo could not prove that Chaplin and Negri still had a romantic relationship, but it still could show that their relationship was still close.
(Figure 1)
46(Figure 2)
4744 Harry Carr, ‘Behind Scenes With Pola,’ Motion Picture Magazine, June, 1923, p34, 86.
45 Harry Carr, ‘Behind Scenes With Pola,’ Motion Picture Magazine, June, 1923, p34.
46 Motion Picture Magazine, June, 1923, p32.
47 Harry Carr, ‘Behind Scenes With Pola,’ Motion Picture Magazine, June, 1923, p34.
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However, according to the news from The