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.
