It was the roaring twenties when Charlie Chaplin's first serious drama, A Woman of Paris, had its premiere in Los Angeles. The women wore pearls and flapper dresses, the men crisp suits and Panama hats as they strolled along the bustling pavements of Hollywood in its golden age. Chaplin had a string of comedy triumphs behind him, including Easy Street (1917), The Immigrant (1917) and The Kid (1921), and the stage was set for his ambitious next project.
But things did not go quite to plan. Though it was a hit with the critics, A Woman of Paris left audiences in Los Angeles feeling somewhat bemused on its 1923 debut. They had expected another comedy, a film with Chaplin as the star, and instead they got a rather dark drama where he appears only in a cameo role. Chaplin had, to some extent, anticipated this response and arranged for flyers to be distributed at the premiere to warn the audience that this work diverged somewhat from his previous films. But he was still stung by the cool reception. Although the film eventually made a decent profit, it was not nearly as popular as his comedies.
Chaplin put the setback behind him and went on to make comedy greats such as City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940), but he never gave up on A Woman of Paris. In 1976, just a year before his death, he reissued an edited version of the film with a new musical score that turned out to be the last work he would ever complete.
Bu hikaye BBC Music Magazine dergisinin Christmas 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye BBC Music Magazine dergisinin Christmas 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
FESTIVAL GUIDE 2024
It's that time of year again... Spring has finally sprung, and along with the promised sunshine we welcome a brand-new season of glorious summer music.
The mighty Sampson
As soprano Carolyn Sampson turns 50, she tells Ashutosh Khandekar about the development of her voice through a remarkable catalogue of recordings
Music to die for
From wrathful Verdi to ethereal Fauré, there are many different ways to compose a Requiem, as Jeremy Pound discovers
Avian anthems
From Vivaldi to Messiaen, composers have often been inspired by birdsong. But accurately mimicking chirrups and tweets in music is far more difficult than it sounds, finds Tom Stewart
THE BIG 400!
BBC Music Magazine has reached its 400th issue! To celebrate, we look back over eight milestone issues since the very firstin 1992
Northern light
From her first piano lesson, composer Errollyn Wallen has lived and breathed music; and though inspired by a range of styles, her composing is a deeply personal expression, as she tells Kate Wakeling
Felix Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor
Jo Talbot celebrates the Mozart of the 19th century’ as she searches out the finest recordings of this masterful work for piano, violin and cello
Antonio Salieri
Forget the hate-filled murderer of Mozart, says Alexandra Wilson; the real Salieri was an opera composer of considerable standing
Aix-en-Provence France
Rebecca Franks breathes in the spring air in the popular southern city, where the music making sparkles and the sun always shines
Composing is like breathing. It's just something I do, like a hobby, really...or an addiction
The world's most performed classical composer, a small, black-suited figure with a mop of white hair and mutton-chop whiskers, stands on the huge Brucknerhaus stage, almost invisible among the sea of musicians.