Day in History 25 December – Charlie Chaplin – Joan Miró – Billy Martin – Dean Martin – Birgit Nilsson – James Brown – Eartha Kitt – George Michael

by Strauss-Peyton Studio, bromide print, circa 1920

On this day in 1977, actor, filmmaker, and composer Charlie Chaplin died at his home Manoir de Ban, or Champ de Ban Estate Manor, located at Corsier-sur-Vevey on the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland after suffering a stroke in his sleep at the age of 88. Born Charles Spencer Chaplin on 16 April 1889 possibly at East Street, Walworth, in South London. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, “the Tramp”, and in my opinion, is one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Chaplin’s childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship, as his father was absent and his mother struggled financially, and he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19, he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona. By 1918, he was one of the best-known figures in the world.

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists which gave him complete control over his films. His first feature-length film was The Kid(1921), followed by A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), and The Circus (1928). He refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead producing City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) without dialogue. He became increasingly political, and his next film The Great Dictator (1940) satirized Adolf Hitler. The 1940s were a decade marked with controversy for Chaplin, and his popularity declined. He was accused of communist sympathies, while he created scandal through his involvement in a paternity suit and his marriages to much younger women. An FBI investigation was opened, and Chaplin was forced to leave the United States and settle in Switzerland. He abandoned the Tramp in his later films, which include Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Limelight (1952), A King in New York (1957), and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967).

Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. His films are characterized by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the Tramp’s struggles against adversity. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. He received an Honorary Academy Award for “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century” in 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work. He continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked on lists of the greatest films of all time.

Before the creation of United Artists, Chaplin married for the first time. The 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris had revealed that she was pregnant with his child, and in September 1918, he married her quietly in Los Angeles to avoid controversy. Soon after, the pregnancy was found to be false. Chaplin was unhappy with the union and, feeling that marriage stunted his creativity, struggled over the production of his film Sunnyside. Harris was by then legitimately pregnant, and on 7 July 1919, gave birth to a son. Norman Spencer Chaplin was born malformed and died three days later. The marriage ended in April 1920, with Chaplin explaining in his autobiography that they were “irreconcilably mismated”.

While making The Gold Rush, Chaplin married for the second time. Mirroring the circumstances of his first union, Lita Grey was a teenage actress, originally set to star in the film, whose surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Chaplin into marriage. She was 16 and he was 35, meaning Chaplin could have been charged with statutory rape under California law. He therefore arranged a discreet marriage in Mexico on 25 November 1924. Their first son, Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr., was born on 5 May 1925, followed by Sydney Earl Chaplin on 30 March 1926.

It was an unhappy marriage, and Chaplin spent long hours at the studio to avoid seeing his wife. In November 1926, Grey took the children and left the family home. A bitter divorce followed, in which Grey’s application – accusing Chaplin of infidelity, abuse, and of harbouring “perverted sexual desires” – was leaked to the press. Chaplin was reported to be in a state of nervous breakdown, as the story became headline news and groups formed across America calling for his films to be banned. Eager to end the case without further scandal, Chaplin’s lawyers agreed to a cash settlement of $600,000 – the largest awarded by American courts at that time. His fan base was strong enough to survive the incident, and it was soon forgotten, but Chaplin was deeply affected by it.

In his autobiography, Chaplin recalled that on his return to Los Angeles, “I was confused and without plan, restless and conscious of an extreme loneliness”. He briefly considered retiring and moving to China. Chaplin’s loneliness was relieved when he met 21-year-old actress Paulette Goddard in July 1932, and the pair began a relationship. 

Modern Times was announced by Chaplin as “a satire on certain phases of our industrial life.” Featuring the Tramp and Goddard as they endure the Great Depression, it took ten and a half months to film. Chaplin intended to use spoken dialogue but changed his mind during rehearsals. Like its predecessor, Modern Times employed sound effects but almost no speaking. Following the release of Modern Times, Chaplin left with Goddard for a trip to the Far East. The couple had refused to comment on the nature of their relationship, and it was not known whether they were married or not. Some time later, Chaplin revealed that they married in Canton during this trip. By 1938, the couple had drifted apart, as both focused heavily on their work, although Goddard was again his leading lady in his next feature film, The Great Dictator. She eventually divorced Chaplin in Mexico in 1942, citing incompatibility and separation for more than a year.

The Final Footprint

The funeral, on 27 December, was a small and private Anglican ceremony, according to his wishes. Chaplin was interred in the cemetery of Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. 

On 1 March 1978, Chaplin’s coffin was dug up and stolen from its grave by two unemployed immigrants, Roman Wardas, from Poland, and Gantcho Ganev, from Bulgaria. The body was held for ransom in an attempt to extort money from his daughter Oona Chaplin. The pair were caught in a large police operation in May, and Chaplin’s coffin was found buried in a field in the nearby village of Noville. It was re-interred in the Corsier cemetery surrounded by reinforced concrete.

On this day in 1983, painter, sculptor, and ceramicist, Joan Miró died from heart disease in his home in Palma, Majorca at the age of 90.  Born Joan Miró i Ferrà on 20 April 1893 in Barcelona.  Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride.  In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and famously declared an “assassination of painting” in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.  A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona in 1975, and another, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, was established in his adoptive city of Palma de Mallorca in 1981.  Miró married Pilar Juncosa in Palma (Majorca) on 12 October 1929. 

The Final Footprint – Miró is entombed in Cementiri de Montjuïc, Barcelona. 

Gallery

April 1917, Portrait of Vincent Nubiola (Portrait de Vincenç Nubiola), oil on canvas, 104 x 113 cm, Folkwang Museum

1918, La casa de la palmera (House with Palm Tree), oil on canvas, 65 x 73 cm, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

1918, Portrait of Heriberto Casany (Le chauffeur), oil on canvas, 70.2 x 62 cm, Kimbell Art Museum

1919, Nu au miroir (Nude with a Mirror, Naakt met mirror), oil on canvas, 113 x 102 cm, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

1920, Les cartes espagnoles (The Spanish Playing Cards), oil on canvas, 63.5 x 69.5 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

1920, Horse, Pipe and Red Flower, oil on canvas, 82.6 × 74.9 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

On this day in 1989, baseball player, All-Star second baseman, manager, 5× World Series champion (1951–1953, 1956, 1977), New York Yankees #1 retired, Billy Martin died in a low speed, single vehicle collision during an ice storm at the end of the driveway to his farm in Port Crane, north of Binghamton, New York, at the age of 61.  Born Alfred Manuel Martin, Jr. on 16 May 1928 in Berkeley, California.  Perhaps best known as the manager of the New York Yankees, a position he held five different times.  As Yankees manager, he led the team to consecutive American League pennants in 1976 and 1977; the Yankees were swept in the 1976 World Series by the Cincinnati Reds but triumphed over the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the 1977 World Series.  As a manager, Martin was known for turning losing teams into winners, and for arguing animatedly with umpires, including a widely parodied routine in which he kicked dust on their feet.  On 10 August  1986, the Yankees retired Martin’s uniform number 1 and dedicated a plaque in his honor for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.  The plaque contains the words, There has never been a greater competitor than Billy.  Martin told the crowd, “I may not have been the greatest Yankee to put on the uniform, but I am the proudest.”  On 24 May 1986, on the season finale of Saturday Night Live, co-host Martin was “fired” by executive producer Lorne Michaels for being “drunk” in a skit, slurring his lines.  During the goodnights, Martin “sets fire” to the dressing room in retaliation.  In 1988, on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update,” comedian Dennis Miller opened the sports segment with, “In Calgary tonight, Katarina Witt won the gold medal in figure skating, prompting Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to fire manager Billy Martin.”  Steinbrenner and Martin appeared together in a series of funny commercials for Miller Lite beer.  Martin was married four times Lois Berndt, Gretchen Winkler, Heather Ervolino, and Jillian Guiver. 

The Final Footprint – Martin was eulogized by Cardinal John O’Connor at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, before his funeral at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.  His grave is located about 150 feet (46 m) from the grave of Babe Ruth in Section 25.  The following epitaph appears on the headstone: I may not have been the greatest Yankee to put on the uniform, but I was the proudest.  Former United States President Richard Nixon and Steinbrenner, along with many former New York Yankees greats attended Martin’s funeral service.  Other notable Yankees whose final footprints include memorialization in Monument Park; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, George Steinbrenner, Thurman Munson, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, and Casey Stengel.  Other notable final footprints at Gate of Heaven include; James Cagney, Babe Ruth, Sal Mineo, and Dutch Schultz.

On this day in 1995, legendary singer and actor, American icon, member of the Rat Pack, The King of Cool, Dean Martin, died from emphysema at his Beverly Hills home at the age 78.  Born Dino Paul Crocetti on 7 June 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio to Italian parents.  Martin was a major star in four areas of show business: concert stage/night clubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television.  Martin was on the nightclub circuit when he met the comic Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in New York.  They formed a friendship and soon began participating in each other’s acts combining their musical and comedic talents.  Martin and Lewis made their offical debut at Atlantic City’s 500 Club on 24 July 1946.  From then until 1956 they were one of the hottest acts in America appearing in clubs, on television and in movies.  By the mid ’60s, Martin was a top movie, recording, and nightclub star.  He first starred alongside Frank Sinatra in the Vincente Minnelli drama, Some Came Running (1958).  Martin was acclaimed for his performance as Dude in Rio Bravo (1959), directed by Howard Hawks and also starring John Wayne and singer Ricky Nelson.  He teamed up again with Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), although perhaps unconvincingly cast as brothers.  As a singer, Martin was influenced by Harry Mills, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como until he developed his own style and could hold his own in duets with Sinatra and Crosby.  Like Sinatra, he could not read music, but he recorded more than 100 albums and 600 songs.  His signature tune, “Everybody Loves Somebody”, improbably knocked The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” out of the number-one spot in the United States in 1964.  Elvis was said to have been influenced by Martin’s style.  In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Martin and Sinatra, along with friends Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr. formed the legendary Rat Pack, so called by the public after an earlier group of social friends, the Holmby Hills Rat Pack centered on Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, of which Sinatra had been a member.  The Martin-Sinatra-Davis-Lawford-Bishop group referred to themselves as “The Summit” or “The Clan”.  Martin launched his weekly NBC comedy-variety series, The Dean Martin Show in 1965 which ran until 1974.  After the show’s cancellation, NBC continued to air the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast format in a series of TV specials through 1984.  Martin was married three times; Betty McDonald (1941 – 1949 divorce) Jeanne Biegger (1949 – 1972 divorce), Catherine Hawn (1973 – 1976 divorce).  Perhaps my all-time favorite entertainer: Rio Bravo is one of my favorite movies; the Martin and Lewis movies are great; I remember wathcing his show on television; the roast specials were some of the funniest shows I ever saw; and of course he is one of my favorite singers.  The holiday season does not officially start for me until I hear him sing, Baby it’s cold Outside. 

The Final Footprint – Martin is entombed in the Sanctuary of Love Mausoleum at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary (a Dignity Memorial® provider) in Los Angeles, California.  The bronze plaque on his crypt has his name and birth and death dates and this inscription; EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY SOMETIME.  The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor.  Martin has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: One at 6519 Hollywood Blvd. (for movies), one at 1817 Vine (for recordings) and one at 6651 Hollywood Boulevard (for television).  His footprints were immortalized at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 1964.  Other notable final footprints at Westwood include; Ray Bradbury,  Sammy Cahn, Truman Capote, James Coburn, Rodney Dangerfield, Janet Leigh, Farrah Fawcett, Hugh Hefner, Brian Keith, Don Knotts, Burt Lancaster, Peter Lawford, Peggy Lee, Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden, Dean Martin, Walter Mathau, Marilyn Monroe, Carroll O’Connor, Roy Orbison, Donna Reed, George C. Scott, Dorothy Stratten, Natalie Wood, and Frank Zappa.

#RIP #OTD in 2005 Wagnerian dramatic soprano Birgit Nilsson died at her home at Bjärlöv, a small village near Kristianstad in Skåne, Sweden, aged 87. Västra Karups kyrkogård, Bastad, Båstads kommun, Skåne län, Sweden

On this day in 2006, recording artist, musician, songwriter, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown died from congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia, at age 73 with his personal manager and longtime friend Charles Bobbit at his bedside in the Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.  Born James Joseph Brown, Jr. on 3 May 1933, in Barnwell, South Carolina in a small wooden shack.  One of the founding fathers of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century popular music and dance.  In a career that spanned six decades, Brown influenced the development of several music genres.  He began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia.  Joining an R&B vocal group called the Avons that later evolved to become The Famous Flames, Brown served as the group’s lead singer.  First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of The Flames with the ballads “Please, Please, Please” and “Try Me”, Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the The Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra.  His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “I Got You” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”.  During the late 1960s, Brown moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly “Africanized” approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music.  By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of The J.B.’s with records such as “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” and “The Payback”.  Brown also became notable for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”.  He continued to perform and record for the duration of his life until his death.  Brown recorded 16 number-one singles on the Billboard R&B charts.  Brown was honored by many institutions including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Brown is included in most rankings of greatest artists of all time.  Brown was married three times; Velma Warren (1953 – 1969 divorce), Deidre “Deedee” Jenkins (1970 – 1981 divorce) and Adrienne Lois Rodriguez (1984 – 1996 her death).  A fourth marriage to Tomi Rae Hynie in 2002 was later ruled invalid. 

The Final Footprint –

Public memorial at the Apollo Theater in Harlem

 

Public funeral in Augusta, Georgia, with Michael Jackson attending

 

After Brown’s death, Brown’s relatives and friends, a host of celebrities and thousands of fans attended public memorial services at the Apollo Theater in New York on 28 December 2006 and at the James Brown Arena on 30 December 2006 in Augusta, Georgia.  A separate, private memorial service was also held in North Augusta, South Carolina on 29 December 2006, which was attended by Brown’s family and close friends.  Celebrities who attended Brown’s public and/or private memorial services included among others; Michael Jackson, Jimmy Cliff, Joe Frazier, Buddy Guy, Ice Cube, Ludacris, Dr. Dre, Little Richard, Dick Gregory, MC Hammer, Prince, Jesse Jackson, Ice-T, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bootsy Collins, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent, Stevie Wonder, Todd Williams and Don King.  All of the public and private memorial services were officiated by Rev. Al Sharpton.  Brown’s public and private memorial ceremonies were elaborate, complete with costume changes for Brown and videos featuring him in concert performances.  Brown’s body, which was placed in a Promethean casket, which is bronze polished to a golden shine, was driven through the streets of New York to the Apollo Theater in a white, glass-encased horse-drawn carriage.  In Augusta, Georgia, the procession for Brown’s public memorial visited Brown’s statue as the procession made its way to the James Brown Arena.  During the public memorial at the James Brown Arena, nachos and pretzels were served to mourners, as a video showed Brown’s last performance in Augusta, Georgia and the Ray Charles version of “Georgia on My Mind” played soulfully in the background.  Brown’s last backup band, The Soul Generals, also played the music of Brown’s hits during the memorial service at the James Brown Arena.  The group was joined by Bootsy Collins on bass, with MC Hammer performing a dance in James Brown style.  Former Temptations lead singer Ali-Ollie Woodson performed “Walk Around Heaven All Day” at the memorial services.  Brown is entombed in the Thomas Family Home Crypt, Beech Island, Aiken County, South Carolina.

On this day in 2008, Tony nominated actress, singer, cabaret star, dancer, stand-up comedienne, activist and voice artist, Eartha Kitt died from colon cancer at her home in Weston, Connecticut at the age of 81, with her daughter by her side.  Born Eartha Mae Keith on a cotton plantation in North, a small town in Orangeburg County near Columbia, South Carolina, on 17 January 1927.  Known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of “C’est Si Bon” and the enduring Christmas novelty smash “Santa Baby”, which were both US Top 10 hits.  Orson Welles once called her the “most exciting woman in the world”.  Kitt began her career in 1943 with the Katherine Dunham Company and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway production of the musical Carib Song.  In the early 1950s, she had six US Top 30 hits, including “Uska Dara” and “I Want to be Evil”.  Her other notable recordings include the UK Top 10 hit “Under the Bridges of Paris” (1954), “Just an Old Fashioned Girl” (1963) and “Where Is My Man” (1983).  She took over the role of Catwoman in 1967 for the third and final season of the Batman television series, replacing Julie Newmar.  In 1968, her career in America suffered after she made anti-war statements at a White House luncheon. Ten years later, she made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musical Timbuktu!, for which she received the first of her two Tony Award nominations.  Her second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Partfy.  After romances with the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and banking heir John Barry Ryan III, she married John William McDonald, an associate of a real estate investment company, on 6 June 1960.  They divorced in 1965.

The Final Footprint – Kitt was cremated.

On this day in 2016, singer, songwriter George Michael died from heart failure in his Oxfordshire home at the age of 53. Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on 25 June 1963 in East Finchley, London. Herose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. He was widely known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including hit Wham! singles such as “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Last Christmas” and solo albums such as Faith (1987) and Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990).

Michael achieved seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, including “Careless Whisper” and “Praying for Time”. Michael won various music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six Ivor Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations. Michael, who came out as gay in 1998, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser.

The Final Footprint

Tributes are seen surrounding Michael’s home in Goring-on-Thames, South

 

Unofficial memorial garden outside Michael’s home in Highgate, 29 July 2017

In a private ceremony, Michael was buried at Highgate Cemetery in north London, near his mother’s grave. Other notable final footprints as Highgate include; George Eliot, George Henry Lewes, Karl Marx, and Christina Rossetti. 

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