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CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S OWN STORY
   
BEING THE FAITHFUL RECITAL OF A ROMANTIC CAREER, BEGINNING WITH EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF BOYHOOD
 IN LONDON AND CLOSING WITH THE SIGNING OF HIS LATEST MOTION‑PICTURE CONTRACT
   
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
  
INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT 1916
   

Charlie Chaplin as camera-man

The subject of this biography takes great pleasure in expressing his obligations and his thanks to
Mrs. Rose Wilder Lane for invaluable editorial assistance.
 
CONTENTS
 
I — In which I relate my experiences up to the age of five; and describe the occasion of my first public appearance on any stage
II — In which I make my first public appearance on the stage and my first success; and meet the red-faced man
 
III — In which I join the clog dancers; fail to get the cream tarts; and incur the wrath of Mr. Hawkins
 
IV — In which I feel very small and desolate; en­counter once more the terrible wrath of Mr. Hawkins; and flee from it into the unknown perils of
           a great and fearful world 
 
V — In which I have an adventure with a cow; become a lawless filcher of brandysnaps; and confound an honest farmer
 
VI — In which I come home again; accustom myself to going to bed hungry; and have an unexpected encounter with my father
 
VII — In which I see my father for the last time; learn that real tragedy is silent; and go out into the world to make my own way
 
VIII — In which I take lodgings in a barrel and find that I have invaded a home; learn some­thing about crime; and forget that I was to
           share in nefarious profits
 
IX — In which I trick a Covent Garden coster; get glorious news from Sidney; and make a sad trip to the hospital
 
X — In which Sidney comes home to find father dead, mother too ill to recognise him and me half starved and in rags
 
XI — In which I vainly make the rounds of the theatrical agents; almost go to sea; and at last get the chance for which I have long been yearning
 
XII — In which I rehearse the part of the boy hero of the thrilling melodrama, From Rags to Riches; and start off on a tour of the provinces 
 
XIII — In which I encounter the difficulties of a make-up box; make my first appearance in drama; and learn the emptiness of success
          with no one to share it
 
XIV — In which I taste the favor of success; get unexpected word from my mother; and face new responsibilities
 
XV — In which I understand why other people fall; burn my bridges behind me; and re­ceive a momentous telegram
 
XVI — In which I journey. to London; meet and speak with a wax-works figure; and make my first appearance in a great theater
 
XVII — In which I play with a celebrated actor; dare to look at the royal box; pay a pen­alty for my awful crime; gain favor with the public;
           and receive a summons from another famous star
 
XVIII — In which I refuse an offer to play in the provinces; make my final appearance as Billy at the Duke of York's Theater; and suffer a bitter
          disappointment
 
XIX — In which my fondest hopes are shattered by cold reality; I learn the part played by luck on the Strand; and receive an unex­pected
          appeal for help
 
XX — In which I try to drown my troubles in liquor and find them worse than before; try to make a living by hard work and meet small success;
          and find myself at last in a hospital bed, saying a surprising thing
 
XXI — In which I encounter the inexorable rules of a London hospital, causing much conster­nation; fight a battle with pride; and un­expectedly
          enter an upsetting situation
 
XXII — In which I attempt to be serious and am funny instead; seize the opportunity to get a raise in pay; and again consider coming to America
 
XXIII — In which I startle a promoter; dream a great triumph in the land of skyscrapers and buffalo; and wait long for a message
 
XXIV — In which I discover many strange things in that strange land, America; visit San Francisco for the first time; and meet an astounding
          reception in the dikes of a cinematograph company
 
XXV — In which I find that the incredible has hap­pened; burn my bridges behind me and penetrate for the first time the myste­rious regions
         behind the moving-picture film
 
XXVI — In which I see a near-tragedy which is a comedy on the films; meet my fellow actors, the red and blue rats; and prepare to fall through
          a trap-door with a pie
 
XXVII — In which, much against my will, I eat three cherry pies; see myself for the first time on a moving-picture screen and discover that I am a
           hopeless failure on the films
 
XXVIII — In which I introduce an innovation in mo­tion-picture production; appropriate an amusing mustache; and wager eighty dollars
           'on three hours' work 
 
XXIX — In which I taste success in the movies; de­velop a new aim in life; and form an am­bitious project
 
XXX — In which I see myself as others see me; learn many surprising things about my­self from divers sources; and see a bright future ahead 
 
XXXI — In which the moving-picture work palls on me; I make other plans, am persuaded to abandon them and am brought to the brink of a
          deal in high finance
 
XXXII — In which I see success in my grasp; proudly consider the heights to which I have climbed; and receive an unexpected shock
 
XXXIII — In which I realize my wildest dreams of for­tune; ponder on the comedy tricks of life and conclude without reaching any conclusion