Local resident writing book on Charlie Chaplin’s movie ‘The Kid’

Carrie Pomeroy planning trip to Italy to research at the Chaplin Archive for her first book for young adults

by Tesha M. Christensen

Midway-Como resident Carrie Pomeroy has loved Charlie Chaplin and other classic movies since she was a kid. In November 2014, she will spend a week learning more about his life when she visits the Chaplin Archive at the Cineteca di Bologna in Bologna, Italy.

She’s able to take the trip thanks to a Literature Travel and Study grant from the Jerome Foundation.

The information Pomeroy gleans from the archives will be used in the nonfiction book for young adult readers that she’s writing about the making of Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 silent comedy “The Kid.”

The archive is the largest collection of Chaplin-related materials in the world, and in many cases, it’s the only place to access key documents related to her story.  “I’m especially looking forward to digging into the daily production sheets, where studio secretaries recorded the nitty-gritty details of every single day of the film’s production,” said Pomeroy. “I’ll also be able to look at telegrams, hand-written letters, historic photographs and movie stills, and scrapbooks.  

“I anticipate gasping and getting goosebumps on a daily basis while I’m over there.”

Pomeroy has been to Italy only once before. In 1994, she took a backpacking trip with her friend Katrina Vandenberg, a respected local poet who now teaches at Hamline University. This time around she’ll be traveling alone, leaving behind her husband, 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. “I’ll miss them terribly, but I think I’ll get more work done if I go by myself,” Pomeroy explained.

She is most looking forward to getting a clearer sense of the chronology of The Kid’s filming.

“At the archive, I’ll be able to see exactly what days certain key scenes were filmed and answer some questions that have really been bedeviling me,” Pomeroy observed. “I also look forward to being surprised and finding out things I never would have guessed about Chaplin. Many of the materials I’ll be looking at have only been made available to researchers very recently, so it’s incredibly exciting to be able to see them.”

WHY A BOOK ABOUT THE KID?

Two years ago, Pomeroy watched a documentary about the story behind The Kid. “I found out that Chaplin’s first child, a baby boy named Norman, died just a few weeks before Chaplin began work on The Kid. I was fascinated and wanted to know more,” said Pomeroy. “That sent me on a research journey that has lasted ever since.”

There have been many books written about Chaplin, but not very many for young people and none focusing primarily on The Kid, so she saw a gap on the bookshelf that she hoped she could fill.

“The film The Kid was very much inspired by Chaplin’s own childhood, so I think that’s part of what makes the story behind the film a great choice for young readers,” said Pomeroy.

The film co-starred a five-year-old boy named Jackie Coogan as Chaplin’s onscreen son, and Jackie and Chaplin developed a very close friendship during the filming that she explores in detail.  

“I think the idea of being a kid working and playing with one of the most famous clowns in the world is a really appealing one for young readers,” observed Pomeroy.

“Chaplin was a complex person who definitely had a dark side to his life and his personality, but I think ultimately the story I tell in this book is an inspiring one for young people. It shows Chaplin overcoming enormous obstacles and his own deep insecurities to make art that still inspires people and makes them laugh. My hope is that readers will recognize some of their own fears and aspirations in Chaplin.”

WRITING ASPIRATIONS SINCE AGE 8

Pomeroy has wanted to be a writer since she was eight years old, when her second-grade teacher noticed how much she loved to write and turned one of her stories into a book with a fabric-and-cardboard cover.

She studied writing as an undergrad at Southern Illinois University and earned an MFA in fiction at the University of Arkansas. Pomeroy currently writes a blog about local silent movie events for the Twin Cities Daily Planet online newspaper.

“I’ve published essays and short stories in literary magazines and anthologies and worked for several years on a more personal book about my family that I ended up shelving, so I really consider this my first book,” stated Pomeroy.

“For this book, I started out taking notes on index cards, just like I used to do in grade school,” observed Pomeroy. “I keep the cards organized by category in a couple of shoeboxes--it’s all very high-tech!”

Eventually, she realized that she could research endlessly and never find everything that’s out there, so she decided to get to work on writing a draft, which she began in January 2013. “I figured I knew the general outlines of the story and could fill in details and check facts later,” Pomeroy said.

She’s written several drafts since then, and is currently revising her fourth draft.

FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, VISITS & TOURS

Along the way she’s read books, old newspaper and magazine articles.

She’s also had the opportunity to interview David Totheroh, the grandson of Chaplin’s longtime cameraman Rollie Totheroh, and Diana Serra Cary, a child star in the 1920s who knew Jackie Coogan and his family. Pomeroy took a walking tour in Hollywood of filming locations for The Kid with silent-film location expert John Bengtson. One of the most moving experiences for her was visiting the grave of Chaplin’s son.

“My family also visited London last year, and I had a chance to see many of Chaplin’s childhood homes and other important sites in his formative years and talk to Chaplin experts in England,” said Pomeroy.

Throughout this whole process, Pomeroy has found it helpful to have other writers provide feedback on what she’s written.

“My critique partners are helping me bring the story to life with more sensory detail and closer attention to characterization, and they’re helping me make sure I have a clear central theme and purpose and don’t just ramble on about everything I’ve discovered about Chaplin--which I find all too easy to do!” Pomeroy said.

She isn’t yet sure when the book will be complete.

Pomeroy needs to hunt down photos to use for illustrations, and secure copyright permissions. She plans to send queries to agents within the next year, and then solicit a publisher.

BARGAIN-BASEMENT TRIP

Pomeroy was one of 117 who applied for a Literature and Travel Grant from the Jerome Foundation. Seventeen grants were awarded

In Italy, Pomeroy plans to rent a small apartment, which was cheaper than staying in a hotel, and to shop at local markets and cook in her rental apartment rather than eating out. There will be no need to rent a car, because she’ll take the train from the airport to central Bologna and then walk to the archive every day. 

In applying for the grant, Pomeroy said,  “I really pitched kind of a bargain-basement budget to make my application more attractive.” She received $2260 to pay for airfare, lodging, food, and other travel costs.

The Jerome Foundation is a non-profit founded by J. J. Hill’s grandson Jerome Hill, an accomplished artist and filmmaker in his own right. The Foundation has supported artists and arts organizations for 50 years in Minnesota and New York City.

Look in the Monitor later this year for a story on Pomeroy’s journey to Italy.

SIDEBARS

ABOUT THE STORY IN THE AUTHOR’S WORDS

In the summer of 1919, Charlie had hit a crossroads in his career and his personal life. At the age of 30, he was the most famous comedian in the world, but he felt very creatively stuck and worried that he might have forgotten how to be funny. He was also unhappily married to a 17-year-old actress named Mildred Harris who was expecting the couple’s first child. 

That summer, two life-changing events helped Chaplin break through his creative block. The first creative trigger was that Charlie met an amazing young vaudeville performer named Jackie Coogan. The second creative trigger was that Charlie’s son died only three days after he was born. That tragic loss helped inspire the story of Charlie’s Tramp adopting an abandoned baby boy and fighting fiercely to nurture and protect his son. He quickly got to work on a film that recreated many of the most formative moments of his own childhood.

My book recounts the childhood experiences that Charlie drew on as he made The Kid, and shows the many obstacles he and his cast and crew faced during the film’s production. Many so-called Hollywood experts thought the film could never work because it mixed dramatic, tear-jerking scenes with comedy; they figured audiences didn’t want to see Charlie’s Tramp in dramatic scenes and the film would flop. They were wrong--The Kid ended up being one of Chaplin’s biggest triumphs, and it made a huge star of Jackie Coogan.

What are 10 things you’ve discovered about Charlie Chaplin?

1. He was born not far from where the London Eye ferris wheel stands today.

2. From ages 9 to 12, he toured as a clog dancer with a troupe called the Eight Lancashire Lads.

3. He was left-handed.

4. He played the violin and piano and helped compose musical scores for many of his films but never learned to read music.

5. Many of the original buildings at his studio in Hollywood still stand today, and his studio is now the headquarters for the Muppets. A big statue of Kermit the Frog dressed up as the Tramp stands at the front gate.

6. His nephew Spencer Dryden was the drummer in the San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane.

7. His mother Hannah Chaplin is buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery along with Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, and Stan Laurel.

8. He once invited his cameraman Rollie Totheroh to kick him in the rear after Charlie had acted like a jerk to Rollie. Rollie took Charlie up on the offer.

9. His granddaughter Oona Chaplin appeared on the TV series Game of Thrones from 2012 to 2013. She is named after Chaplin’s fourth wife Oona.

10. With his fellow stars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and director D. W. Griffith, Charlie helped found United Artists, the first and still the only movie distribution company ever to be run by actor-directors.