Charlie Chaplin museum opens in actor's Swiss home

Описание: (14 Apr 2016) LEAD IN:
Charlie Chaplin's former home is being opened up as a museum dedicated to the great silent movie comic.
The museum has been created in the manor house just outside the Swiss town of Vevey, near Geneva where Chaplin spent the last 25 years of his life.

STORY-LINE:
Lake Leman near Geneva attracts millions of tourists every year, and it was here that screen legend Charlie Chaplin spent the last 25 years of his life.
A statue and a couple of souvenir shops are the only clues to indicate this is Chaplin town.
This pretty mansion house - now a museum - is where Chaplin spent a quarter of a century.
The actor was born in 1889 in the London slums and endured a childhood of poverty.
After a modest start in his native England as a music hall performer, Chaplin moved to the United States where he became one of the great stars of silent films.
He won his first film contract with the Keystone Film Company in September 1913.
Soon his Little Tramp character captured audiences throughout the world. By 1918, he was being paid more than $ 1 million for eight two-reel comedies.
In the 1950s - during the depths of the Cold War - the US was hunting famous people suspected of supporting communism.
Charlie Chaplin and his widely known socialist beliefs made him an easy target for the committee of conservatives who finally revoked his visa in September 1952.
The following January Chaplin and his fourth wife Oona O'Neill bought Manoir du Ban, a neoclassical mansion surrounded by 14 acres of woodland where they spent Chaplin's last 25 years surrounded by their numerous offspring.
Since 1991 members of the Chaplin clan have lived intermittently in the house until it was finally deserted in 2008.
Five years ago the family sold the manor to a private consortium who have turned it into this museum.
Philippe Meylan is a member of the committee behind this ambitious project.
He says: "Here we have the family manor and we can see his life from his family perspective. We also are truthful to the family story. But we will also build a studio by the park. Where we will approach the work of Charlie Chaplin. It will be a modern and highly interactive museum. That's why we will call the museum 'The Chaplin's World.'"
Before marrying Oona in 1943 Chaplin had been married three times and had had three sons.
Oona, 36 years his junior, was the true love of his life and with her Chaplin finally settled down and had eight children including the actress Geraldine.
Charlie and Oona spent the happiest days of their lives walking the gardens of the small estate where they received numerous world figures such as Sir Winston Churchill, Groucho Marx and Albert Einstein.
Chaplin was a brilliant actor, an impassioned mime artist as well as a prolific screenwriter, meticulous film director and virtuous composer.
Strong social criticism can be seen throughout all his extensive career where he merged drama with comedy in a unique, touching and amusing characteristic way.
The museum features the very latest technology as well as standard exhibition and interpretation.
The museum is hoping the faithful recreation of Chaplin's last home will be the best way to allow visitors to fully understand how Chaplin lived.
At this piano he composed the score of his last two movies The King in New York and A Countess from Hong Kong.
Chaplin was a proficient performer on the piano, violin and cello.
He was an observer, a severe critic and, above all, one of the most prolific and influential actors of the last century, commenting on society with a critical eye, at times irreverent, but always touching and amusing.

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