“And look at people’s lives, the lives of those street dancers in the final quarters to play hungry and shiver and beggary. I was like them, Zheraldin! In those nights, those Charming nights sleep in my talk, I stay awake. I saw your face, hit felt your heart and ask: “Charlie! Really this kitten will ever know?” You do not know me, Zheraldin… It more than forty years I laugh people on earth. But I cried more than they are brave, Zheraldin! In the world in which you live, there is only dance and music! At midnight, when leaving the great hall you forget richest fans, but do not forget to ask a taxi driver who takes home to his wife … if no money to buy a coat child, you put money in his hand….”
Have you heard of Charlie Chaplin? How do you imagine the life of a comic actor who makes people laugh for forty years? Perhaps, you think of him a high-spirited figure who enjoys the life the most. Charlie Chaplin was a British comedy actor, who is highly famous in the history of Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin’s name is eternally synonymous with comedy and humor. He was easily one of the greatest stars in the silent film era .Chaplin once lived in a small shelter the poor, work for reward food and shelter in the area of Lambeth, London. Together with his sister Sydney Chaplin, Chaplin fought shoulder to shoulder in order to survive. At a very early age Chaplin had started acting from stage to stage in a comedy Music Hall.
Chaplin’s father died when he was a toddler and his mother had a nervous breakdown. He passed a deprived childhood - dancing and collecting pennies on the streets.
Chaplin writes a letter to his daughter Zheraldin and gives her a piece of fatherly advice. The above aphorism is mentioned in his letter. He urges his daughter to consider the lives of those who dance with hungry stomach on the streets for a morsel of bread. He, then, remembers his own bitter memories and likens himself to them. He mentions that he stayed awake in charming nights and stared at her daughter’s face. He further says that he made people laugh with painful hearts. Since her daughter was an actress and lived in the world filled with music and dance, Chaplin moralizes her to ask about the life of the taxi driver – who takes her home at midnight – and gives him money.
He writes to Zheraldin, “I will die, but you will live … I want you never to live in poverty! Along with this letter you send a white check. As you write to it. But when spending two francs, do not forget to say that the third coin is not yours. It must belong to nepoznatiya man who needs one franc. And it you can easily find. I want to see these strangers pauperism; you can find them everywhere….”
Chapin’s words reveal his great humanity. Indeed, one is supposed to live a comfortable life, but must not turn back to their neighbors. In other words, abundance is not to dehumanize a person - as it does in our world. For instance, those who live in skyscrapers and eat sumptuous meals, show no empathy to the hungry occupants of mud-built cottages.
Charlie Chaplin, that great man, writes about the job of his actress daughter, “Your job is very difficult. I know that. Your body is covered only with a piece of silk. Because art can and will appear naked on stage, but to come back from there in wearing and cleaner … But nothing and no one else in this world deserves to see even the nails of the feet of a girl. Nakedness is a disease of our time. I am old and my words might sound funny. But me, your naked body must belong to one who loves Face your soul.”
To ponder over such valuable advices, one may think that they are written by a philosopher rather than a comic actor. He emphasizes on the chastity and dignity of girls and women asking her daughter not to appear naked on the stage when saying that “Nothing and no one else in this world deserves to see even the nails of the feet of a girl.” Undeniably, an honorable life is a virtuous life for both men and women. Women have to cover their charming bodies from the licentious looks of evil eyes. “Nakedness is a disease of our time.” I add that nakedness is an incurable disease in our age, which has infected the girls and women badly. Just walk on the streets or watch TV – especially the advertising gimmicks – you will see a large number of girls flaunting through revealing parts of their bodies. Zheraldin’s father advises her that her naked body must belong to one who loves her naked soul. Since soul contains one’s thoughts, feelings, character, etc. Chaplin might mean that a girl’s naked body must belong to the one who loves her mentality, morality, virtue and character – that will be no one other than her faithful life-partner.
Chaplin’s letter carries great moral messages – to be practiced upon chiefly by the girls of our era. Our actresses should know that they can keep their morality safe not only on the streets but also on theatrical stages. Those who live in the world of music and dances must not forget the pains and sufferings of the actors and actresses who dance or sing with hungry stomachs. Neither do the occupants of luxury apartments forget their poor neighbors who sleep with empty stomachs in mud-built houses. Let’s live in the world of humanity and do not forget moral practices.