CVR: My first encounter with Chaplin was when I saw the short film The Cure. Afterwards I got The Gold Rush and Modern Times. Then, when I watched Limelight, I became a Chaplin fan for life. When I discovered Chaplin, I was in a really bad period in my life and these films really helped me. I can’t emphasize this enough. When I watch a Chaplin film, I feel he understands me and shares my points of view. I identify with him. He is the poet of silence, the humanist, the pacifist, and the one who really cares about the poor. Chaplin is the romantic and the lover of beauty. He is the artist and the genius. All that is in his films and music.

LH: Very late one evening when flipping past Turner Classic Movies, I saw an older gentleman poised in a chair and, because he was delivering such an impassioned speech with that regal posture, I continued watching – eyes glued to the TV. The film, of course, was Limelight, and I was only 16. But even then I realized that, as far removed as I was from the pre-WWI setting of the film (and even farther from the music hall culture), the intensity and sincerity with which that gentleman reflected on life trapped my attention and has held it since. I guess I’m one of the few who has seen Charles the Gentleman before seeing Charlie the Tramp.

LJ: I recall seeing The Mutuals on television as a young child. Easy Street, The Pawnshop, The Cure, The Immigrant, and The Rink stick in my mind from those viewings. They were run at Christmas-time. I watched them with my father, with whom I often enjoyed watching classic comedies. I found the films very fast and very funny. I realized, at the time, that they must have been quite old, but that in no way affected my enjoyment of them. I liked the Tramp character – he was high energy, so lively.

As Chaplin’s films weren’t on television very often when I was growing up, I lost track of his work over the years. I focused more on comedians of the sound era whose output were TV staples (Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, and The Three Stooges, among others).

My more recent interest in Chaplin began about 7 years ago when AMC ran a raft of his feature films. As an adult, I was taken with his wit, his physical grace, and the richness and subtlety, amidst the slapstick, of the humor. I was also impressed by his direction of other actors, and the way his scores perfectly matched the emotional tone he established in each scene.

AG: What is my favorite film? This is the most difficult of all the questions. I like them all. Everyone has something special to be in competition for the first position. Maybe I like Limelight the least and also some of the very first shorts.

CVR: I'm more positive and for me it is now easier to deal with bad periods in my life. I discovered a lot of great music, thanks to him, like adagios, cello and so on and I have developed an interest in the circus. City Lights is maybe my favorite film. For me it is really hard to decide, but if I have to make a choice, let's say City Lights, because it is probably the film where the poetry, beauty and romanticism are most potent. Anyway, I also love The Kid, The Gold Rush, The Circus, and Modern Times.

LH: I’ve adopted as my mantra Chaplin’s quote, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” I try to see life now as that comedy. The tragedy will always be there, but if Chaplin, who led a life filled with despair, could find the humor and the relevance in it, then I feel I can attempt to see it that way also.

On the entertainment side of things, being interested in Chaplin’s career has motivated me to watch silent films, which I never would have done before watching City Lights or Modern Times – two of my Chaplin favorites. City Lights has that timeless love story quality, and the humor encased in that shell remains amusing. Do we not still make buffoons out of ourselves when falling in love? And wouldn’t we all love the chance to be our lover’s hero and provide them with a chance to see his or her life’s vision?

If City Lights appeals to my sense of romanticism, Modern Times appeals to the Victorian scholar in me. The mechanization Chaplin portrays in his cog factory was also seen as a serious threat to humanity by many Victorian intellectuals. Walter Benjamin -- who wrote The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, which was published the same year that MT was released – comments that mechanical reproduction of art changes the masses’ reaction toward art. “The reactionary attitude toward a Picasso painting changes into the progressive reaction toward a Chaplin movie.” I’m aware that Chaplin saw his film-making as an art form, but I wonder if he didn’t feel similarly to Benjamin. That is, could the intellectual aesthete in Chaplin have been commenting in MT on the inability of the masses to see his precious work as the masterpieces they were? Or did Chaplin occasionally feel like a cog lost in the machine of the film industry posing for photos, attending opening nights, keeping up with running a studio, etc.? And, of course, there’s the obvious critique that mechanization costs jobs and can destroy spirits. Plus, the musical score is just brilliant. MT is, in my opinion, a much more cerebral film than, say, Monsieur Verdoux or Limelight.

LJ: My interest in Chaplin has certainly changed the way I spend my leisure time. In addition to collecting his films, I enjoy researching his life and work, and posting this information online. It’s become a rather active hobby. I check through books, articles, news stories (new and archival), and search the Web. I am particularly fond of locating Chaplin information in unusual places, i.e. a mention in another celebrity’s diary from long ago, as well as newly published books not specifically about Chaplin. And, of course, I enjoy interacting with other Chaplin aficionados on the Net.

My favorite Chaplin film is Modern Times. I see the things he railed against still prevalent in the world – poverty, loss of human dignity, homelessness, inhumanity in the workplace, the misuse of technology. I find his work heartfelt and deeply moving, in addition to being very funny.

In terms of entertainment choices, my interest in Chaplin has led me to seek out other silent comedians. I’ve enjoyed Buster Keaton’s work for many years, and, more recently, have sought out the films of Roscoe Arbuckle, Harold Lloyd, and many others from that era.

AG: I think what motivates me is the curiosity to find something new I didn’t know about him. Even the smallest particularity would be a joy for me. For the future, I hope to see him more frequently on the television or, even better, on the big screen.

CVR: My identification with him and all of his work--above all the Little Tramp. Chaplin cannot be defined by place and time. I'd like to see and listen to a live orchestra playing all the Chaplin music. To have film festivals and conferences, exhibitions about his life and work...but I'd like them to be shown in all possible countries.

LJ: I am very touched and intrigued by his story – how he overcame all the negatives of his childhood, and used those experiences to express something so artistically positive. I’m fascinated by his genius – how it was expressed in his films, and how it impacted on his private life, positively and negatively. Chaplin’s massive fame and how he dealt with it also interests me. I think Chaplin, like certain other artists – Mozart, Gershwin, The Beatles - created works that are timeless. They may be “of” their era, but also transcend it. And that makes these creative efforts forever new and fresh for those fortunate enough to discover them.

I hope that, someday, Chaplin’s feature films are “downloadable,” so anyone can sample them. Having shown the films to friends who initially had no interest in them, I’m always amazed at how taken people are with Chaplin’s work, if they give him a chance. The online availability of the films would make that “taste testing” much more convenient. In the meantime, I am pleased that the films are frequently shown on TCM, so I can relay viewing times to friends who I think might enjoy them.

In terms of commemorating Chaplin, I hope there will be more official Chaplin events in the US, i.e. the touring photographic exhibit now in Europe. It would enable those interested in his films to learn more about him and further their appreciation of him.

Have you ever attended a Chaplin event—live performance, film festival, fan club event or conference? If so, what was your experience and what would motivate you to attend such an event in the future?

AG: I was present at the projection of A King in New York last July in Bologna. In addition to the fact that I like this film very much and I was pleased to see it on the big screen, I also appreciated the hundreds of people who were present that evening. I liked to hear them laugh and see them seated on the ground when all the seats were taken.

CVR: Unfortunately I've not attended any, because they are always very far from me. Madrid would be the best place for me to attend one.

LH: No, but if I ever dig myself out of the Southeast where nothing happens, I’d head straight for any of the above events!

LJ: Unfortunately, I haven’t attended any of those types of events, but would very much like to, especially if they took place at a venue relatively easy for me to reach. I did see a screening of Modern Times with an audience. I very much enjoyed seeing Chaplin on the big screen, and hearing the reaction of the crowd.