By Glen Berd1 Comment
When Albert Einstein came to Hollywood in 1931 he said that the one movie personality he wanted to meet was Charlie Chaplin.
Einstein: “What I most admire about your art, is your universality. You don’t say a word, yet the world understands you!”
Chaplin: “True. But your glory is even greater! The whole world admires you, even though they don’t understand a word of what you say.”
May be a black-and-white image of 5 people
The admiration, of course, was mutual. Their first meetings happened outside the press’s scrutiny, at Universal Studios, “where the pair took a tour and had lunch together. They hit it off straight away, sharing quick wits and curious minds.” In his autobiography, Chaplin writes that Einstein’s wife Elsa finagled an invitation to dinner at Chaplin’s house. And he “was only too happy to oblige,” Cock-Starkey writes, arranging an “intimate dinner, at which Elsa regaled him with the story of when Einstein came up with his world-changing theory, sometime around 1915.”

Einstein was a very frequent guest at Chaplin’s residence. The very thought of the two most brilliant sitting in one room does sound quite impressive, especially because of their unknown intriguing conversations at the time.

Chaplin once said that Einstein was a very calm and pleasant person with an extraordinary intellectual energy and a highly emotional temperament. He also commented on remembering how Einstein’s wife Elsa told him about the time when Albert grasped the theory of relativity.  Supposedly, he was acting very peculiar during breakfast one morning and seemed lost in thought. After eating, he went and sat at the piano, played for about half an hour and then disappeared upstairs to study. It was another two weeks before he re-emerged from his room and when he did, the theory of relativity was written down on two sheets of paper.

City Lights (1931), regarded as one of Chaplin’s finest works

City Lights (1931), regarded as one of Chaplin’s finest works

The two continued to correspond, and the big public unveiling of their friendship came when Chaplin invited Einstein to the premier of City Lights in 1931 where the mega-celebrities from very different worlds were greeted by reporters, photographers, and adoring crowds. There are several recorded versions of their conversation. In one account, Einstein expressed bemusement at the cheering, and Chaplin remarked, “the people applaud me because everyone understands me, and they applaud you because no one understands you.”

 

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *