"All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl." – Charlie Chaplin, My Autobiography
(This sounds like the genesis of one of my favorite Chaplin films, City Lights, the silent romantic comedy he released, defiantly in the face of the new fad for sound, in 1931. I had the pleasure of seeing this classic once again a few weeks ago at the Lafayette Theatre in Suffern, N.Y., one of those big, old-time theaters that they don’t make anymore, complete with a Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. The theater continues to run first-run films, but on Saturday mornings this spring it screened classics such as Casablanca, The Jolson Story, and Chaplin’s hilarious and heartbreaking film featuring his immortal “Little Tramp” character. If the last scene of City Lights doesn’t break your heart, I’m convinced that you don’t have one.)
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