После фильма поспорили, и как обычно, на бутылку. Зашел разговор о еврейском происхождении Чаплина. У меня в этом не было сомнений еще со времен песни Высоцкого, но К. показал мне интернетовскую распечатку, где это опровергалось.
Сомнения появились. Придя домой, порылся в гугле, сомнения лишь усилились.
"According to all his biographies (some of which trace his lineage back to the Huguenots - French Protestants), Chaplin was not Jewish. His older half-brother Sydney probably had a Jewish father. No-one is absolutely sure, since the man never married Chaplin's mother. (No doubt he did not believe in intermarriage...) That seems to be the sum total of Chaplin's Jewish family connection. Charlie's father was Charles Chaplin Sr. Many people mistakenly thought Chaplin was Jewish, especially after "The Great Dictator" and his other public defenses of the Jews. It is well known that Chaplin identified strongly with the Jewish people. During World War II he stopped denying he was Jewish, since he felt that to do that was "playing into the hands of anti-semites". Presumably he meant that denial implied shame."
Это - не выдержка из исследовательской работы, лишь цитаты из интернетовской дискуссии, но она находит многочисленные подтверждения при дальнейших поисках. Вот из аннотации программы на сайте BBC: "The Nazis mistakenly believed Chaplin to be Jewish. In a 1934 anti-Semitic propaganda leaflet Chaplin is described as a "disgusting Jewish acrobat". Chaplin knew about the pamphlet and it is believed that it prompted him to make The Great Dictator, an incredibly daring film that laughed in the face of the totalitarian regimes and the hardship they inflicted." Вот еще: "Before the release of The Great Dictator, rumours circulated that Chaplin was Jewish. Chaplin considered these rumours “an honor,” because they placed him in the company of his Jewish half-siblings. The ambiguity of his ethnicity continues to the present day. Laurie Stone’s Laughing in the Dark (Hopewell, New Jersey: Ecco Press, 1997), a social history of comedy, posits Chaplin as a self-loathing “Jewish comedian” who, in the fashion on the day, both changed his name and refused to play Jewish character. Both assertions are false."
Похоже, я спор проиграл. Кстати, помню, что в свое время такое предположение высказывал
oboguev. Тогда я не обратил внимания на его слова, поскольку счел, что, будучи помешан на еврейском вопросе, он желаемое выдает за действительное.UPDATE. Приятель предположил, что я Чаплина перепутал с Петросяном.