I've been tagged!!!

My friends @grrlysquirrel and @Kolo_Martin tagged me for a photo game!!! I was really excited about it, but it took me some time, to post the photo here. The first reason is, that I'm a little behind with my bloggy, due to all the great adventures of my mate Lippe, on his trip around the world. There is sooooo much to tell about his journey, that there ain't much time left for other blog posts - and you all know, I'm a very busy pig!!! The second reason this entry took me so long is about my photo for the game...

But let me tell you the game's instructions first:

1. Open your first photo folder
2. Scroll down to the 10th photo
3. Post the photo and tell a little bit about it
4. Pass it on to 5 others

Okay, here is my photo:

My mom painted this Charlie Chaplin a few years ago. For me, that's all I have to tell about it, but you don't know my mom and how crazy she is about Charlie Chaplin... She says, she's in love with him - and I'm afraid, she's serious...

So, she won't let me get out of this, without telling the whole story of Charlie Chaplin's life. I was like "mom, don't bore anybody!!!" and told her, a brief Charlie story is enough!!! She would like me to type a 10 page post, but I will only give you the bare fact. But, if anybody wants to chat about Charlie Chaplin with my mom, PLEASE contact her, and free me from discussing his films and life again and again!!! Thank you!!!

For you mom and happy birthday Charlie!!!:

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16th April 1889, in Walworth, London. His parents Hannah and Charles senior both were music hall artists. They separated when he was very young and little Charlie and his elder half-brother Sydney continued to live with their mother. Their life included extreme poverty, being put into workhouses and seeing their mother's mental decline moving on and on.

At age 9, Charlie joined the Eight Lancashire Lads, a dancing troupe, which toured through England. Back in London, he took over parts in Jim, a Romance of Cockayne and Sherlock Holmes. By that time, his brother Sydney had joined the Karno Company and managed, to get Charlie involved, too.

In 1910, Charlie first toured the United States with the Karno Company and returned for a second tour in 1912. During this time, he met Mack Sennett, owner of the Keystone Film Company and was hired by him. In 1914, Charlie was starring in his first film, called Making A Living. He was first seen as the mustachioed little tramp in Keystone's Kid Auto Races at Venice, which was released February 7th 1914.

In 1915, just one year after the Tramp's birth and 50 films later, his success was overwhelming and he moved to Essanay Company. Noteable films of the Essanay period include A Night Out, The Champion, The Tramp, Work, The Bank and Charlie Chaplin's Burlesque on Carmen.

In 1916, Chaplin moved on to Mutual, with greater control over his films and bigger financial rewards. He made his short comedies One A.M., The Pawnshop, The Rink, Easy Street, The Cure and The Immigrant for Mutual.

First National Company were next and Charlie constructed his first full-lenght masterpiece The Kid (1921) for them.

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded United Artists and made his first film for them in 1923 - A Woman of Paris, which maybe is the least known of his films, as he only had a guest appereance as a porter. A Woman of Paris was followed by his classics The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1928), City Lights ( 1931, my mom's all time favorite) and Modern Times (1936). Chaplin was not a supporter of talking films, which is not surprising, as the Tramp got his magic from being a pantomime. So, it wasn't until 1940, that he made his first talking film, the Great Dictator, followed by Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and Limelight (1952), Chaplin's look back at the world of music halls.

He made two more films, A King in New York (1957) and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967, with Marlon Brando and Sofia Loren). Charlie spent his final years in Switzerland, writing new music for his films and enjoying his family, before he died on Christmas Day 1977.

Is there anybody still reading??? I hope so, because now, I have to pass the game on to 5 others!!! As I'm very late with my post, most of my pals, who run a bloggy themselves, have been already tagged, too. So, I decided, to pass it also on to 5 Twitter pals, who might put their pics in TwitPic, or TweetPhoto, or even finally start their own blogs...

Here they are:

@bijntje 
@i_am_fuzzy 
http://dogstoyevsky.blogspot.com/ 
@MacandFuzCat 
@tweetypie54 

Happy posting!!!