Books with author Charles Parlin,

A silent comedy star whose legendary slapstick routines are recognisable to this day, Charles 'Charlie' Chaplin's My Autobiography is an incomparably vivid account of the life of one of the greatest filmmakers and comedians, with an introduction by David Robinson As a child, Charlie Chaplin was awed and inspired by the sight of glamorous vaudeville stars passing his home, and from then on he never lost his ambition to become an actor. Chaplin's film career as the Little Tramp adored by the whole world is the stuff of legend, but this frank autobiography shows another side. Born into a theatrical family, Chaplin's father died of drink while his mother, unable to bear the poverty, suffered from bouts of insanity. From a childhood of grinding poverty in the south London slums, Chaplin found an escape in his early debut on the music hall stage, followed by his lucky break in America, the founding of United Artists with D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks, the struggle to maintain artistic control over his work, the string of failed marriages, and his eventual exile from Hollywood after personal scandals and persecution for his left-wing politics during the McCarthy Era. Sir Charles 'Charlie' Chaplin (1895-1976) was born in Walworth, London. Best known for his work in silent film, his most famous role was The Little Tramp, a universally recognisable and iconic character who appeared in films such as The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931). His other films include Modern Times (1936), a commentary on the Great Depression, and The Great Dictator (1940), a satirical attack on Hitler and the Nazis. If you enjoyed My Autobiography, you might like Andy Warhol's The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Tells so much about this curious, difficult man ... a wonderfully vivid imagination' The New York Times 'The only genius to come out of the movie industry' George Bernard Shaw

He was born in 1889, in London--the son of struggling variety artists--his father, a vaudevillian who died young; his mother, a spirited music-hall soubrette who lost her voice and, eventually, her reason. His childhood was pure Dickens--in and out of the workhouse, then a hand-to-mouth existence as a juvenile actor.At 21, member of a traveling music-hall company, he came to America. And the infant movie industry stumbled upon the greatest star it was ever to find.Everything in his autobiography makes fascinating reading: his boyhood; the London theatre of Dion Boucicault and William Gillette; the early free-wheeling days of the movies; how he evolved his style, his plots; how he chose his leading ladies; his sudden, dazzling success; his encounters with great stars and world figures from Mary Pickford to Gandhi to Bernard Shaw to Gertrude Stein to Anna Pavlova to FDR; his emotional involvements and his four marriages. He sets it all down and in a manner intensely personal. The great Hollywood days are recreated as never before. He speaks with candor of the stormy postwar years--the humiliations of the paternity suit brought against him on the eve of his marriage to Oona O'Neill, and the political accusations that made him decide to leave the United States.And in the finale he writes with evocative warmth of the happy ending--his serene, idyllic life in Switzerland with Oona and their eight children.Charlie Chaplin's autobiography--the outspoken memoir of a great artist--is sure to be one of the most wanted, enjoyed and widely discussed books of the decade.

The five plush toys of PHORF (PE-horf) learn from experience what it takes to grow a heart. When their training is over will each be ready to become a Best Plushy Friend? What must a plushy know and do to make a child love them forever? Will the platypus be too different? Will the hen be too emotional? Will the opossum go to sleep on the job? Will the ram want to talk all the time? Will the fox run away? Like every lonely child, the plushies are faced with big questions.