CHARLES CHAPLIN.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20278, 21 August 1937, Page 17 (Supplement)

CHARLES CHAPLIN.

FILM TALK FOR FIRST TIME. REMARKS AT TENNIS MATCH. For the first time on any screen, at not particularly enormous expense, Charlie Chaplin talks In a recent Gau-mont-British newsreel. If his speech was measured In terms of time it would probably be found to last not more than twenty seconds. He actually utters eighteen words that can be clearly distinguished. But those twenty seconds provide a completely new angle on a star who has kept silent throughout his film career. This is what happens. There is a tennis match to mark the opening of the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. Charlie plays with Fred Perry against Groucho Marx and Ellsworth Vines. He strolls on the court as if he has never been quite able to forget his famous film gait. There are four large towels round his head and neck, and he takes them off, solemnly, one by one. A High Pltohed Voice. Then the conversation begins. It's all between Groucho and Charlie, and when Charlie speaks you’ll be startled at its high pitch and rather thin tones. Says Groucho, “Come on, Charlie, can you play the game?” "You betcha,” says Charlie. “But I could play better without the other three.”

“Could you play without a racket?” says Groucho. “Sure," says Charlie, taking a smack at mystery-golfer John Montague, “I could play with a shovel.” That s all—except that Charlie and Fred Perry won the match G—l 9—7.