Literature
All of us can read. While reading we not only learn new information but also we learn language! So... read the following texts and pay attention to word usage, punctuation, style, etc.
The articles here are selected with the purpose to let you know of some celebrities, like Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein , Shakira , Jennifer Lopez, and to get you acquainted with some works of famous writers, like Edgar Allan Poe, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Jack London and others.
As authors of the articles and writers are English native speakers, you can easily use all what you find useful in the texts in your everyday speech and writing.
Charlie Chaplin
The Idol of Silent Pictures
Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin was born April 16, 1889 to Charles and Hannah Chaplin. His father was a singer and actor, and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an actress and singer, who gained a reputation for her work in the light opera field. His parents separated when he was only a year old.
He was the second of 3 children: Sydney (born Aug. 6, 1885) was his older half brother and his younger half brother was Wheeler. At 5, Hannah had to go on Public Assistance as things were progressively worse. At the age of 10, his father died and for about a year, Sydney and Charlie had to live in the orphanage called Hanwell.
When he was 14, Charlie got his first chance to act in a legitimate stage show, and appeared as "Billy the page boy", in support of William Gillette in “Sherlock Holmes”.
At the close of this engagement, Charlie signed on with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company where he honed his skills until finally in 1910 the troupe went to the United States.
He scored an immediate hit with American audiences, and when the Fred Karno troupe returned to the United States in the fall of 1912 for a repeat tour, Chaplin was offered a motion picture contract with Mack Sennett when his contract was over in November 1913.
On the shooting of “Kid Auto Races” at Venice in 1914, Mack Sennett told Chaplin to go "get into comedy make-up".
Creation of the Tramp
The most accurate accounting that we can find goes like this... Chaplin went into the dressing room where ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Chester Conklin were playing pinochle. The moustache was a scrap of crepe hair borrowed from Mack Swain; the trousers were ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle’s (that is why they’
e so baggy); the derby came from ‘Fatty’s’ father-in-law; the coat belonged to Chester Conklin; the size 14 shoes were Ford Sterling’s (which Charlie had to wear on the wrong feet to keep them on) and the only thing that was his...... was the cane.
His initial salary was $150 a week, but his overnight success on the screen spurred other producers to start negotiations for him. After 35 comedies and the completion of his contract with Mack Sennett, Chaplin moved on to the Essanay Company in 1915 at a large increase in salary.
Chaplin wrote, directed and acted in all of his fims with Essanay except one (“The Redemption”).
The following year Charlie signed with the Mutual Film Corporation for a much larger sum to make 12 two-reel comedies.
When his contract with Mutual expired in 1917, Chaplin decided to become an independent producer and start his own studio. His studio was situated in the heart of the residential section of Hollywood at La Brea Avenue.
Early in 1918, Chaplin entered into an agreement with First National Exhibitors’ Circuit, a new organization specially formed to distribute his pictures. His first film under this new deal was “A Dog’s Life”. After this production, he turned his attention to a national tour on behalf of the war effort, following which he made a film the US government used to popularize the “Liberty Loan drive: The Bond”.
October 23, 1918, Chaplin married Mildred Harris, a young child star. Marriage seemed to be a distraction for Chaplin causing more delays than normal in the filming of his next film “Sunnyside”.
Charlie and Mildred had one son, Norman Spencer Chaplin. Norman was born July 7, 1919, but the child died three days later. The marriage died soon afterwards.
In April 1919, Chaplin joined with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to form The United Artists as a distributor. This special arrangement allowed each of the artists to retain entire control of his or her respective producing activities, delivering to The United Artists the completed pictures for distribution.
The stock of The United Artists was divided equally among the founders. This arrangement introduced a new method into the industry. During the filming of “The Kid” a young actress playing the flirtatious angel in the film named Lillita McMurray was introduced to him. She was the neighbour of his assistant director Charles Riesner. They worked together again in the Idle Class.
During the filming of the “Gold Rush”, Chaplin was looking for someone to replace Edna Purviance. Lillita fit what he was looking for and signed her immediately. He changed her name to Lita Grey and started filming. Soon an affair developed. Lita became pregnant and they went to Mexico for a hasty marriage on November 26, 1924 (Chaplin was 36 and Lita was 16).
Charlie and Lita had two children during the marriage, Charles Chaplin Jr. on May 5, 1925 and Sydney Chaplin on March 30, 1926. The marriage ended in a nasty divorce late 1926.
As Chaplin was looking for a leading lady in his film “Modern Times”, he found Pauline Levy. He billed her as Paulette Goddard, launching her career. Immediately after the shooting of “Modern Times”, Goddard and Chaplin left for an Orient Cruise where they "supposedly" were married (no papers have ever been seen).
They had a good marriage until trouble became apparent during the shooting of the “Great Dictator”. Their marriage seemed to fall apart and they were divorced on June 4, 1942 in Mexico.
In the fall of 1942, Chaplin met 17 year old Oona O’Neill while looking for a leading lady for a film he was working on called “Shadow and Substance”. Instead of acting, a romance soon developed. On June 16, 1943, the couple married in Santa Barbara, California with Oona the age of 18 and Chaplin the age of 54.
In 1952, Chaplin attended the New York premiere of his film “Limelight” which had become more of a family film.
Immediately afterward the Chaplins departed to attend the European debut. Once his ship was at sea, however, U.S. Immigration officials notified the actor/director that his reentry permit had been revoked. He remained banished from the United States for twenty years because he had openly supported Communists during World War II.
Chaplin bought a house in Switzerland in January of 1953. Shortly afterwards, Oona gave birth to their 4th child. Later in 1953, Oona made a solo trip back to the US to sell their Hollywood house. With the help of Chaplin employees, Chaplins lifetime of work was packed up and shipped to Switzerland and the Chaplin Studio was closed.
In 1957, he released his comedy “A King in New York”. Chaplin formed a distribution company called Attica Film Company just to keep the distribution of the film from coming to the United States.
In 1967, he produced his last picture “A Countess from Hong Kong” for Universal Pictures, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando. This film was released in England.
Chaplin returned to the US in 1972 to receive his special Academy Award Oscar with Oona at his side.
In 1975 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and became Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin.
Chaplin was the author of at least four books: “My Trip Abroad”, “A Comedian Sees the World”, “My Autobiography”, “My Life in Pictures” as well as all of his scripts. An accomplished musician, though self-taught, he played a variety of instruments (playing violin and cello left-handed). He was also a composer, having written and published many songs as well as the soundtracks for all his films.
He died on Christmas day 1977, survived by eight children from his last marriage with Oona O’Neill, and one son from his marriage to Lita Grey.
orphanage ñèðîòñêèé ïðèþò
to hone îòòà÷èâàòü
pinochle âèä êàðòî÷íîé èãðû ( íàïîìèíàåò áåçèê )
scrap êëî÷îê, êóñî÷åê, îáðûâîê, îáðåçîê
derby êîòåëîê ( ìóæñêàÿ øëÿïà )
cane òðîñòü
to spur ïîáóæäàòü
redemption èñêóïëåíèå ( ãðåõà, âèíû )
distraction ðàçâëå÷åíèå
flirtatious êîêåòëèâûé
hasty áûñòðûé, ñêîðûé
| Previous |
Next |
|
Date of posting : 3.03.2006
Complexity: Medium
DESTINY’S CHILD : destiny fulfilled
Destiny’s Child is an American pop group whose members are...
|
|
|
Date of posting: 3.03.2006
Complexity: Medium
The Singing Queen of Soap Operas
Actress, singer, dancer, model, host, author of ideas original and lyrics, composer, Natalia Marisa Oreiro...
|
|
Send link on this page to your friend |
