Harry Wimmer harryblog@wimmercello.com

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CHARLIE CHAPLIN - LEFT-HANDED CELLIST AND COMPOSER As my March 24, 2007 New York Symphony Space -Thalia concert draws nearer, it may be time to let my latest invention come to light, the interview with Charlie Chaplin, the left-handed cellist and composer. This multi-faceted genius formed his own Charlie Chaplin Music Publishing Co. in 1916 with his friend Bert Clark, an English vaudeville comedian. Together, in a mad scheme, they rented a third-floor office in downtown Los Angeles and printed a thousand copies each of two Chaplin songs but never sold more than a few. One of the songs from 1916 was "Oh! That Cello", that will see the light of day next March in my brand-new concert version. Chaplin was notorious for dragging both violin and cello on tour in his earlier days with the Karno troupe, and for practicing long hours on both instruments during his lengthy hotel stays. Stan Laurel (later of Laurel and Hardy fame), Charlie's early New York hotel room-mate, is quoted in the book, "Stan & Ollie" as still seeing Chaplin practicing the violin or cello to cover the noise of his own vigorous cooking. In the marvelous photo biography of Chaplin by Jeffrey Vance there is a rare, touching picture of Charlie serenading fellow actor Jackie Coogan with his violin during a break in the filming of "The Kid." Chaplin was and played left-handed, and he had both his violin and cello restrung and rebuilt. Of course many fine players, whether right- or left- handed, play a sringed instrument the "conventional" way. The reality is that a string player has to master and coordinate two different techniques, both equally challenging, left hand AND bow technique! Also not well known is Chaplin's intense involvement with the background music to most of his films. Although he could not read music, he spent months dictating and supervising the creation of the scores for his later films, and even composed new material in his later years for his early silent movies. The list of his musical neighbors and acquaintances is vast and included composers Arnold Schönberg, Igor Stravinsky, composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, pianists Vladimir Horowitz, Ignacy Paderewski, Arthur Rubinstein, and violinists Jascha Heifetz and cellist Pablo Casals (their photos are shown in Charles Chaplin, My Autobiography). POSTED: NOVEMBER 9, 2006 COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK This blog created, written and maintained by Harry Wimmer (hwimmer@wimmercello.com). Thanks to Shirley Givens sgivens@juilliard.edu for her imaginative illustrations. Design and content ©2006-2016 by Harry Wimmer, Incidental Artwork ©2006-2016 by Shirley Givens. All materials on this blog are limited to personal, non-commercial use. CelloBlogTM Trade Mark by Harry Wimmer

OTHER POSTS Django in Cajun Country Sir Michael Tippett in Carnegie Hall Confessions of a Would-be Page Turner BUXTE - Who? The Concert As A Meal The N.Y. Times Misses Out Again! Quack! ARTICLES, CARTOONS The Virtuoso by Wilhelm Busch The Cello Concerto (anon.) Young Itzhak Perlman in Aspen Leonard Rose in Colo.Springs String Portraits by Shirley Givens Bach's C Minor Suite Was Written This Morning. Pablo Casals From Afar Michael Tippett Arrives inShorts Casals Lives On in Puerto Rico The Golden Treasure of San Juan Bach on the Bayou HARRY WIMMER ON BRAHMS: Sonata in E Flat Op.120 No.2 (Live) MENDELSSOHN: Sonata No. 1 in B Flat (Live) CHAPLIN-WIMMER: "Oh, That Cello! (Live) MENDELSSOHN-CASALS: Spring Song (Live) PAGANINI Cantabile (Live) JESUSITA EN CHIHUAUA w/Kevin (Live) ABOUT HARRY WIMMER Bio from the"Joy of Cello Playing" site

Charlie