What went on in Bologna? Well, my friend Michael Vogelle has provided some day-by-day in-person reports. You can see his enthusiasm shine through, as he tells about the incredible line-up of presenters and subjects. Fortunately Mike is letting me post his comments here. So, here we go with Charlot 100: Day 1. Two weeks ago tonight the Charlot 100 Conference started with a screening of Charlie Chaplin films in the Piazza Maggiore. Kid Auto Races, A Night in the Show, The Immigrant, and Shoulder Arms, all accompanied by The Orchestra del Teatro Communale di Bologna conducted by Timothy Brock. Wow! What a magical night! I met Michael and Victoria Chaplin and Claire Bloom at The Piazza, before hand I attended a dinner where I was re- acquainted with Chaplin scholars Hoomen Mehren and Frank Scheide. At the dinner I met Glenn Mitchell, author of The Chaplin Encyclopedia and John Bengston, author of Silent Traces Scholars, authors, and fans from the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, During the conference I spoke at length with David Robinson, and when he began with well I have an interesting story... I would hang on every word. One amazing anecdote from David is that he sat next to Charlie after his being knighted in 1975. How cool is that? In another post, Ill describe the presentations I attended, which were fascinating, especially from our very own Lisa Stein Haven, who spoke about The Beat poets love of Charlie, many facts I had never known, really great stuff. During the course of the three days, I got to chat a lot with Michael and Victoria, they could not have been nicer! I told them about seeing their parents at Lincoln Center in 1972...it felt somewhat surreal. I told Victoria about seeing her and her husbands amazing Le Cirque Imaginaire twice, she was so sweet. Was it all a dream? If so I dont want to wake up. I told someone Im just a fan, they replied, we all are... Thanks, Mike. Day 2 will follow shortly.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 15:51:15 +0000
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