My Autobiography (76 page)

Olympic
, s.s., C.’s voyages in,
134
,
260
–61,
329

O’Neill, Eugene,
245

O’Neill, Oona (‘a luminous beauty’),
413
–14; C.’s marriage to,
415
–16,
425
–6,
452
; gives up American citizenship,
466

opera’s emotional effect on C,
136
–7

Oppenheimer, Dr Robert,
460
orientation, importance of, in acting

technique,
256

Orpen, Sir William,
277

Our America
(Waldo Frank),
245
outside location: ‘I loathe working on’,
219

Oxford Music Hall (London), C. plays at the,
114
–15

Paderewski, Ignacy,
191

pain as source of humour,
210

Painful Predicament of-Sherlock

Holmes, The(Wm Gillette’s curtain-raiser),

C.’s part hi,
88
–90

painters, C. on,
389

palaces: ‘all are preposterous’,
353

panache type of acting, C.’s dislike

of,
253

Pantages Theatre Circuits (U.S.A.),

121

Paris,

C.’s first impressions of,
108
; adventures

in,
109
–14; C.’s welcome in,

119
–120,
272

Parker, Sir Gilbert,
200

Parsons, Louella,
165
,
312
,
415

paternity suit, Joan Barry’s,
415
ff.;

the trials,
419
–24

patriotism, C. and,
349
–50

Pavlova, Anna,
184
,
185
,
191
,
193
–4

Pebble Beach (California),
382
–5

personality,

‘nothing transcended’,
143
;

indefinable… shines through’,

255

Philadelphia, C.’s spending spree in

135
–7

philosophizing: ‘1 often indulged

in’,
199

philosophy, C. and,
244
,
287

Picasso, Pablo,
464

Pickfair (home of D. Fairbanks and

Mary Pickford),
288

Pickford, Mary,
156
; and Douglas

Fairbanks,
198
,
199
,
288
–90,
372
; and Elinor Glyn,
201
; and Liberty Bond Drives,
213
–17
passim;
and film companies’ mergers,
221
; her legal and business acumen,
222
; and United Artists,
221
–3,
292
; at
Monsieur Verdoux
première,
443

Pierce, Peggy (‘xwe ignited’),
156
–7

Pilgrim, The
(C’s film),
291

Pinnie (C.’s children’s nurse),
466

Poe, Edgar Allan, C. and works of,
135

poetó end poetry, C. on,
245
,
389

’pom-pom’ dance,
113

Post Office, The
(Karno sketch),
122

Postance, Mr (Wm Gillette’s stage manager),
89
–90

poverty, C. on,
50
,
267

‘Poverty Row’ films,
183

Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune
(Debussy),
114
,
192
–3

press, C. and the,
353
; antagonism of,
400
–401,
415
ff.,
440
ff.

Priestley, J. B.,
467

Provincetown Players,
244

psychic phenomena, C’s experiment in,
344
–6

psychology as ingredient of silent films,
294
–5

Purviance, Edna, ‘she was beautiful’,
169
; ‘we were inseparable’,
203
–5; and Thomas Meighan,
204
–5; on

C.’s wedding,
228
; C. considers parts for,
293
;

in 0
A Woman of Paris
,
294
–5; her last letters,

476
; death,
477

Rachmaninov, Sergei,
390

Rain
(W. Somerset Maugham),
127
;

‘a model play’,
200

récitations, C.’s childhood,
41

‘red-light’ districts of America,
127

Reeve, Ada,
257

Reeves, Alf (C.’s manager),
117
,
138
,
259
,
327
–8,
372

Reeves, Mrs Alf,
282
–3

Reeves, Billie (comedian),
92

Reinhardt, Max (publisher),
467
Reinhardt, Max (theatrical impresario),
180
; his school of acting,
409

Relativity, Einstein’s reactions to the emergence of his theory of,
317
religion, C’s first introduction to,
19
,
21
–2; his views on,
134
,
287
,
449

Reshevsky, Samuel (boy champion chess-player),
234
–5

Reynolds, Dr Cecil,
247
–9,
297
–8

Rhetoric
(Kellogg), C. and,
123

Ringling Brothers’ Circus,
46

Ritz Hotel (London),
264
; treacle pudding at the,
268

Roach, Hal,
171

Robbins, Jess (of Essanay Co.),
160

Robin Hood
(Fairbanks’ film),
198

Robinson, Carlisle (‘Carl’),
231
,
259

Rock, Charles (Eng. actor),
81

Rockefeller, John D.,
306

Rocksavage, Lady,
273
,
276

Rocksavage, Lord,
276

Roget’s
Thesaurus
, Negro truck-driver introduces C. to,
244

‘Roman Senator’, the:
see
Elliott, Maxine

romance and adventure, C.’s longing for,
93
,
102

Roosevelt, Franklin D.,
214
,
373
,

399

Rossier, Emile,
472

Rossier, Michel,
472

Royal Aquarium (London),
14

Royal Command Performance, C. declines request to appear at,
349

Russell, Jimmy,
279

Russia, C. and,
271
,
314
, speeches in support of ‘second front’,
401
ff.

Sage, Russell,
304

Saintsbury, H. A. C.’s stage engagement with,
77
–9; ‘the best Sherlock Holmes’,
81
–2

Salt Lake City, C. in,
130
,
237

San Francisco, C. in,
128
–9,
161
,
169

San Simeon, W. R. Hearst’s ranch

at,
307
–9

Sanders, George and Benita,
473

Santa Barbara, C. and Oona at,
416

Santa Monica,
156
; C.’s house at,
174
; Marion Davies’ beach-house at,
306
,
311

Sartre, Jean-Paul,
464

Sassoon, Sir Philip,
268
,
273
–4,
315
,
330
,
346
–7; his hospitality

‘something out of the
Arabian Nights’
,
276
–7

Schenck, Joe,
291
–2,
322
–3,
326
,
350
,
375

Schoenberg, Arnold,
391
–2,
428

schools and schooldays,
27
–33,
40
–42

Schopenhauer, Arthur, C. and writings of,
134
–5

Schwartz, Charles, C.’s lawyer,
452

scientists, C. on
389

Scottie, Death Valley,
185
–6 ‘scratch crowd’ (vaudeville term),
116

sea, C.’s first sight of the,
24

sea-voyages, C.’s views on,
379

Second World War, C. and the,
386
ff

Seers, Grad,
445

self-analysis, C.’s,
267

Sennett, Mack,
129
,
138
; engages C. for Keystone Co.,
139
,
141
–5; ‘enthusiasm his secret of success’,
146
; working with C,
147
,
148
–53,
154
,
155
,
157
–9

sex,

‘I do not believe it is the most

important element’,
206
; C.’s sex-life,
206
–8; ‘I can add

nothing new’,
354
; H. G.

Wells on,
354
;
see also
love

affairs

Shadow and Substance, C
.considers as film project,
408
–9; abandoned,
426

Shakespeare, William,
253
; ‘I hardly think’ he wrote the works,
358
–9

Shamus O’Brien
(Irish melodrama),

C.’s parents in,
17

Shaw, George Bernard,
93
,
269
,
331
–2,
337

Shaw, Mrs G. B.,
332

Sheridan, Clare,
285
–6; Sheridan, Mark, (comedian),
46

Sherlock Holmes
(Wm Gillette’s

play), C.’s part in,
77

ff.,
90
–92
Shoulder Arms
,
218
–19

Shubert, Lee,
121

shyness, C.’s,
91
,
196
,
303
,
399
,
452

silent films, C.’s determination to

continue making,
322

Silverman, Sime (of
Variety)
,
124
,
304
–5

Simenon, Georges,
384

sin, C.’s views on,
437

Sinclair, Upton,
343

Singapore, C.’s recollections of,
362
–3

Sing-Sing prison, C. visits,
280
–81

Skating

as Karno sketch,
117
,
122
; C.’s

film,
152

slapstick comedy, C. on,
208
;

its transition to sentiment,
233
–4

Smith, Gerald K. (America Firster),
411

Smith, Kate (C.’s aunt),
16

Smith, W. H. and Son (stationers),

C.’s job at,
61

Social Credit, C.’s interest in,
324
,
350

socialism, C. and,
342
,
343

Sorel, Cécile,
275

South London Music Hall, C. sees

Karno sketch at,
73
,
74

Southend-on-Sea, C.’s childhood

memories of, and return to,
24

Spender, Stephen,
428

Spies, Walter,
364
–5

spiritualism in Hollywood,
318

Spoor, George K. (Essanay Co.),
160
–73

stage décor, C. on,
253
–4

stage fright, C. and,
44
,
99
,
122

Stage Hand, The
, C. directs for

Keystone,
157

Stanislavski, Constantin, and ‘inner

truth’,
157

Stein, Gertrude,
302
–3

Steinbeck, John,
383
–4

Steinbeck, Mrs John,
384

Sterling, Ford (Keystone comedian).

C. replaces,
142
; ‘his style did not

suit me’,
143
,
146
; his decline

after leaving Keystone,
159
;

and Sam Bernard,
257

Stevens, Emily (Amer. actress),
257

Stewart, Donald Ogden,
467
–544

‘stewed eels and treacle pudding’,
268

Straker (W.), Ltd (stationers and

printers), C.’s job at,
61
–2

Stratford-on-Avon, C. visits
358
–9

Strauss, Carl (cowboy film-actor),
169

Stravinsky, Igor,
390
–91

Submarine Pilot, The
(Sydney Chaplin’s

film),
159

subtlety and restraint (in acting), C.

and,
256

suicide, comedians and,
46
–7

Sullivan and Considine (Amer.

theatre owners),
121
; C. on

circuit: ‘we passed muster’,
124

Sulzberger, Arthur,
395
–8

Sunday dinner as respectability

symbol,
50

Sunnyside
: (‘like pulling teeth’),
230

Sutter’s
CoW(Eisenstein’s ‘very fine film’),
320

Swaffer, Hannen,
384

Swanson, Gloria,
165
; in Elinor

Glyn film,
202
; and Pola Negri,
295

Sweet, Blanche,
155

Swope, Bayard,
285
,
444

Tagg’s Island (river Thames),

Karno’s houseboat at,
133

talking films, C.’s attitude to,
321
–3,
360
,
374
,
382

Talleyrand-Périgord, Marquis de,
276

Talmadge, Norma,
291

Tankard, the (public house,

Kennington Road),
9
,
265

Tannhâuser
(Wagner), C. and,
136

Tate’s Café (San Francisco),
169

Taylor, Frank, and Dylan Thomas
428
‘tears as well as laughter’ (in C.’s films),
155

Teddy boys, C.’s defence of,
93

Tellegen, Lou,
155

Terry, Dame Ellen,
257

Thalberg, Irving,
294
theatre, the,

C’s early interest in,
21
,
41
,
48
, 93; his views on,
250
ff