Chaplin: Good day, young lady.
It's nice to meet you.
Girl: Who are you?
Chaplin: Who am I? My name is Charlie Chaplin.
Chaplin: I was the most famous silent movie actor in the world.
Girl: What are silent movies?
Chaplin: Silent movies were the first kind of movie.
Chaplin: In silent movies, the actors do not talk.
Girl: No talking? That sounds boring.
Chaplin: Absolutely not! Silent movies are exciting and funny.
Chaplin: Millions of people saw my movies.
Everyone loved them.
Girl: Really?
Chaplin: Do you like to read storybooks?
Chaplin: Well, silent movies are like storybooks.
Chaplin: But they are much better because the pictures move.
Chaplin: That's why they are called movies—[n3@because they have moving pictures.
Girl: Movies have moving pictures. Ha-ha!
Girl: Why did you stop making silent movies?
Chaplin: These days, people don't want to see silent [n3@movies; everyone wants talkies.
Girl: Talkies?
Chaplin: That's the word people first used for talking movies.
Chaplin: Movies where the actors talked were called talkies.
Girl: Did you come from Hollywood?
Chaplin: No, I was born far away from Hollywood.
I came from England.
Chaplin: I was born on April 16, 1889, in London.
Chaplin: Like me, my father and mother were both entertainers.
Girl: Were they rich and famous?
Chaplin: No, we were very poor.
Chaplin: But my parents gave me something better than money.
Chaplin: They gave me the talent to entertain people.
Chaplin: When I was very young, they taught me how to sing and dance.
Chaplin: When I was five years old, I sang and [n3@danced in front of many people.
Girl: Did they like you?
Chaplin: Of course, they did.
They loved me and they threw money at me.
Girl: That must have been exciting.
Chaplin: It was. My mother said I would be the most [n3@famous person in the world.
Chaplin: But then, sadly, my father died when I was twelve years old.
Chaplin: When he died, my mother became very sick as well.
Chaplin: After that, my brother and I had to go to the workhouse.
Girl: What is a workhouse?
Chaplin: It was a terrible place where poor children had [n3@to go when their families had no money.
Chaplin: The children had to work very hard from morning until night.
Girl: How did you become a famous movie star?
Chaplin: First, I became a stage actor.
Chaplin: Then, I joined the Casey Circus as a mime.
Girl: Mime? What's that?
Chaplin: A mime is an actor who uses only his body and his face.
Chaplin: Watch! I'll show you!
Girl: Ha-ha! You're funny.
Chaplin: That's what everyone said.
They said I was a very funny mime.
Chaplin: So I decided to become a silent comedian.
I made everyone laugh.
Chaplin: Soon, I went to the United States and started making movies.
Chaplin: In 1914, I acted in my first full-length silent movie.
Chaplin: It was called Making a Living.
Chaplin: Then I created my most famous character, the Tramp.
Chaplin: With my funny little suit, mustache, and cane, [n3@I made the whole world laugh.
Girl: I guess everyone loved you.
Chaplin: No, not everyone liked me.
Chaplin: In the United States, some policemen [n3@thought that I was a troublemaker.
Chaplin: Some of my movies made them angry, so I had to go back to England.
Girl: Did you ever go back to America?
Chaplin: Yes, I went one more time.
Chaplin: In 1972, I was given a great honor at the Academy Awards.
Chaplin: That was one of the happiest moments of my life.