Chaplin briefly mentions a British press story about his supposed refusal to take part in a command performance in Part III, a story he claimed had been greatly blown out of proportion. He declares the story “untrue, I having received only a telegram from a ‘Mr. Black,’ who requested me to appear at a vaudeville benefit which was termed ‘a command performance’ because Their Majesties would be present. This was not a royal command. It was the ‘command’ of Mr. Black, who has no official position with the royal household whatsoever.”
The following news photo and reports are included to demonstrate the depth and breadth of this controversy as it was reported in the United States at the time. Representative articles have been chosen from a range of venues, illustrating a wide range of opinions on the subject. Just this small collection of articles shows as well the amount of press a figure such as Chaplin could garner over even a small misunderstanding such as this one.
“Chaplin Refuses Command Showing”
9 May 1931
AP
Charlie Chaplin will stick to the silver screen like the shoemaker to his last and not even the invitation or “command” of Britain’s King and Queen will lure him to the stage.
The Evening Standard, recording an interview with Chaplin at Juan les Pins, France, today said he had refused a royal command invitation to appear at a benefit vaudeville performance soon which their majesties will attend.
“I don’t appear in public that way,” the newspaper quoted Chaplin. “The last thing in the world I want to do is to make a stage appearance. It would be bad taste.”
The Evening Standard said Chaplin was sending a check to the benefit, which has been arranged by a royal committee for aged and disabled vaudeville artists.
Most actors regard the invitations to appear at command performances, which receive their name from the wording of the invitations, as feathers in their caps and there have been very few refusals. It is not certain that either King George or Queen Mary expressed a wish to see Chaplin in person at the performance, although this may have been the case.
Chaplin is a British citizen. He has been represented as regarding the life of the British country gentleman as his ideal. He was given a tumultuous reception recently when arriving here from the United States.
“Chaplin Brands British as World’s Greatest Hypocrites”
Springfield (MA) News
11 May 1931
Comedian Doubts that He Owes Anything to Native Land that Spurned Him in Days of Hardships
Charles Spencer Chaplin, comedian, in serious mood bitterly assailed the British as the “greatest hypocrites in the world” at times in an interview printed today in the London Express.
He was quoted as saying that Europe had bullied, misunderstood, and misinterpreted him. Chaplin, interviewed at Juan-les-Pins, France, struck sharply at his critics in England who flayed him for not appearing at a recent “command performance” in a London variety show charity affair.
“They say I have a duty to England,” the interviewer quoted Chaplin as saying. “I wonder just what that duty is. No one wanted me or cared for me in England 17 years ago. I had to go to America for my chance and I got it there.
“Only then did England take the slightest interest in me. I asked a few friends to a party after my first night of City Lights, yet society seemed staggered, shocked, and upset at such a social debacle. Then down here, I sat one night patiently waited for the Prince of Monaco and it appears that I was insulting to the Duke of Connaught.
“Why are people bothering their heads about me? I am only a movie comedian, and they made a politician out of me, a material sort of fellow, which I am not.”
Chaplin said that patriotism was “the greatest insanity the world has ever suffered.”
“I have been all over Europe in the past few months,” he said. “Patriotism is rampant everywhere, and the result is going to be another war. I hope they send the old men to the front the next time. For it is the old men who are criminals in Europe today.”
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Wichita (KS) Eagle
22 May 1931
Of course Charlie Chaplin has no regrets for refusing to perform before the King of England. He got so much more publicity the way it was.
“A Popular Act: Chaplin’s European Performance”
San Francisco Call-Bulletin
14 May 1931
Chaplin’s flare of temper in Europe has done him no harm in this country. He didn’t know he was being invited to a “command” vaudeville performance before the King of England and refused. Then a little storm broke over his head and Charlie said just what he thought about Europe and his birthland. He reminded England that nobody paid any attention to him when he was a poor and obscure music hall performer and that he had to go to America to be successful.
All these years, perhaps, Charlie Chaplin has thought of himself as an Englishman. Now suddenly, he discovers that he’s not an Englishman at all but an American. He thought London was his home; he went to London and found that home was where he’s just come from. Does that make him sad or happy?
“Chaplin’s Mistake”
New York Mirror
19 May 1931
Answering Michael Healy, who recently cheered Charles Spencer Chaplin’s attitude against his English critics: Mr. Chaplin made the mistake of classing all British as English. There are three other countries in Britain besides England. I think it was rather sporting of Chaplin to slight King George for the faults of the Englishmen, his own countrymen. Perhaps the financial returns did not suit him, since it was a charity affair. Long live the King!—Scotty
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“English Comedian Praises Chaplin for Not Playing in London Benefit Charlie Did Just Right in Declining Invitation and Giving $1000 Instead, He Says”
St. Paul Minnesota Pioneer Press
26 June 1931
By Grace Kingsley
Charlie Chaplin, I find, has the sympathy of most English actors when it comes to the matter of that much discussed so-called command performance in London, which Chaplin refused or neglected to attend. I met Herbert Mundin, one of London’s favorite comedians, recently and both he and his wife, known professionally as Kathleen Shaw, who have just come from the storm center, so to speak, say that Charlie did just right not to respond to the invitation of the stage producer who asked him to appear at the benefit performance involved.
“The man had said in the papers,” they told me, “that it would be a great feather in his cap if he could get Chaplin to appear. But Chaplin was on a holiday, there was really no royal command at all, and we think that his donation of a thousand dollars to the benefit was a generous act. In no case could Chaplin have brought more money to the theater by his appearance, since it had all been sold out weeks beforehand.
Mundin, who has appeared opposite Beatrice Lillie in tow of the Charlot Revues, I found to be a most modest little man, who prefers to talk about others rather than himself. This is his first trip to California, and he expects to remain and go into pictures.
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“Facts of the Case”
Charleston WV Gazette
21 June 1931
“I think you should know the facts,” writes Beatrice Lillie, “about Charles Chaplin’s alleged ‘snubbing’ of King George and Queen Mary.
“Chaplin was not summoned to a command performance, but to a benefit show at which the King and Queen would be present. When they desire a command performance they summon their favorite artists to Buckingham Palace.
“I have appeared at the command evenings, but when invited to perform at benefit shows I always sent a cheque with my regrets.
“Chaplin, who hasn’t been a stage performer for 15 years and who was in France when asked, sent the committee a cheque for $1,000. I call that extremely handsome. I generally sent ten pounds ($50 to you, Mr. Barron.).
“Chaplin did not snub their majesties. Something ought to be done about it. Chaplin is too great an artist and sweet a man to be so slandered.”
So there you are, Lady Peel.