Monday morning again and I am staying with the theme of smiling. As everyone needs a reason to smile on a Monday I am going to turn to a song written by Charlie Chaplin for his 1936 film Modern Times, Smile. However, so I don't get caught out by musical historians, Charlie Chaplin is only responsible for the tune and the lyrics (and title) were added to the music in 1954 by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. After adding lyrics, the legendary Nat King Cole released the song and it reached number 2 in the UK chart in the same year.
Where can I possible start with Charlie Chaplin? He is one of my heroes of stage and screen. When the 1992 film of his autobiography was released, I don't think I even appreciated the Chaplin was British, but the brilliant Robert Downey Jr in the lead part, under Richard Attenborough's direction soon meant that I would fall in love with Chaplin. Smile is just one example of the music that Chaplin produced and if you have ever watched one of his films, you will know how important musical scores are throughout his pictures. Chaplin wasn't a trained musician and he couldn't read music so everything he composed would come straight from his head through his fingers to the piano. Does this method of composing work? Yes because in 1973, Chaplin would win his only competitive Oscar for the best original score of the re-release of Limelight.
The premise for composing the tune for Smile was to accompany the plot of Modern Times, which tackles issues about the Great Depression and was a satire on industrial life. Still unconvinced about sound in his film, the tramp remains silent throughout the film apart from singing a song. It is only The Great Dictator do we hear the voice of the tramp, which happens to be the last film the tramp appears in.
My favourite version of Smile is sung by Robert Downey Jr., as he brought Chaplin to life for me:
Smile by Robert Downey Jr.
To watch and hear the instrumental in the original film
Smile, instrumental in Modern Times
Tune written by Charles Chaplin, 1936
Words written by John Turner & Geoffrey Parsons, 1954
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