The Second Kyoto Chaplin Conference

After the success of the first Kyoto Chaplin Conference in 2006, the
energetic young Chaplin scholar Hiroyuki Ono decided to organize a
second one, also sponsored by the Chaplin Society of Japan. The
conference was held on March 24th and 25th at the same site, the
former Rissei Elementary
School. This time space heaters were used to make the auditorium more
comfortable.

Altogether there were fifteen presentations of various kinds, about
half of them related to the topic of
"Chaplin and War." These included Hooman Mehran's, Cecilia
Cenciarelli's, mine, Kurt Kuriyama's,
Aner Preminger's, Ono's, and David Robinson's. Cecilia discussed some
of the materials available
in the Chaplin archive related to war and peace, Aner analyzed the use
of sound in _Dictator_ to
comment on totalitarianism. Kurt suggested a possible connection
between the critique of imperial war in _Shoulder Arms_ and Chaplin's
association with the pacifist Rob Wagner, which began in1916. I
drew some connections between Chaplin's description of himself as a
"peacemonger" and his
portrayal of war in _The Bond_, _Shoulder Arms_,and _Dictator_.. David
Robinson provided an overivew
of the many wars that were fought during Chaplin's lifetime, which
put the two we know most about, the
two World Wars, into a broader perspective.

Two Japanese scholars, Kawata Takashi and Nakagaki Kotaro, gave talks
on the use of sets in _A Dog's Life_ and satire in _A King in New
York_, respectively.

The other presentations were of more general interest. Davide Pozzi
outlined the basic steps involved
in restoring the Keystone films. His presentation, which was first on
the program, was preceded by
a screening of three restored Keystones. The second of these was _The
Face on the Barroom
Floor_, which was so much better than any version I've seen before
that it was startling. All the titles were restored, and a great deal
of action, which entirely changed the effect. The parody was so
broad and unrestrained that I found it hilarious. The film does not,
by the way, end with Charlie
seeing his beloved with husband and kids in tow, as do many of the
truncrated prints, but with the artist passing out in the barroom.

Timothy Brock gave a variation of his presentation on how he is using
Chaplin's own recorded composition sessions to compose a new score for
_A Woman of Paris_. He made a number of points,
among them that Chaplin always hummed or sang along with his piano
playing, that while he worked on the piano he often played like a
violinist, and that in one case he worked out a piece of music and
pronounced it "for violin solo." He also commented on Chaplin's
fondness for waltzes, saying that
he had counted over two hundred of them in Chaplin's work.

Kate Guyonvarch provided a sampling of materials available in the
Chaplin archive, using them to illustrate Chaplin's life from his
childhood to his success as "worldwhde icon."

Ono interviewed an elderly man who had known Chaplin's long-time
secretary Toraichi Kono.
Unfortunately, Mr. Kimura didn't hav much to say that was new, except
that he knew Kono
in the 1950s, after Kono had won his battle with INS. At that time
Kono was working in Los Angeles with a lawyer who defended the civil
rights of Japanese Americans, and was highly respected in the Japanese-
American community.

Ono also interviewed one of Chaplin's grandsons, Charles Sistovaris,
and Ichikawa Somegoro the Fifth, the grandson of a Kabuki actor who
had performed a Kabuki version of _City Lights_. Ichikawa amused
the Japanese audience greatly with his uninhibited complaints about
his father's egocentric behavior.

One of the attendees, again this year, was Shunichi Ohkubo, one of the
world's most dedicated and successful Chaplin collectors. Shunichi
gave each of the presenters a bag of goodies, which included a CD of
some of the rare records of Chaplin and Chaplin-related songs he has
in his collection, beginning in the 1910s, and a DVD of pictures of
Chaplin with famous people--many of whom I don't recognize.
Shunichi left with the signed manuscript of David Robinson's paper,
whcih David gave him as a token of appreciation.

The conference also included lavish meals, a reception, and a tour of
Chaplin-related sites in Kyoto on the 26th. Kurt and I did those last
year, but opted out this year, since we like choosing our own menu
and couldn't stay on Monday. It also included the screening of a 35mm
mint print of _Dictator_.

Conferences like this are rich experiences which can't be summarized
adequately, but at least this partial account will give those who
weren't there a sense of how rewarding it was to participate or
attend.

Connie K.

On Apr 1, 3:06 pm, "constance.kuriy...@ttu.edu"
<constance.kuriy... DeleteThis @ttu.edu> wrote:
> After the success of the first Kyoto Chaplin Conference in 2006, the
> energetic young Chaplin scholar Hiroyuki Ono decided to organize a
> second one, also sponsored by the Chaplin Society of Japan. The
> conference was held on March 24th and 25th at the same site, the
> former Rissei Elementary
> School. This time space heaters were used to make the auditorium more
> comfortable.
>
> Altogether there were fifteen presentations of various kinds, about
> half of them related to the topic of
> "Chaplin and War." These included Hooman Mehran's, Cecilia
> Cenciarelli's, mine, Kurt Kuriyama's,
> Aner Preminger's, Ono's, and David Robinson's. Cecilia discussed some
> of the materials available
> in the Chaplin archive related to war and peace, Aner analyzed the use
> of sound in _Dictator_ to
> comment on totalitarianism. Kurt suggested a possible connection
> between the critique of imperial war in _Shoulder Arms_ and Chaplin's
> association with the pacifist Rob Wagner, which began in1916. I
> drew some connections between Chaplin's description of himself as a
> "peacemonger" and his
> portrayal of war in _The Bond_, _Shoulder Arms_,and _Dictator_.. David
> Robinson provided an overivew
> of the many wars that were fought during Chaplin's lifetime, which
> put the two we know most about, the
> two World Wars, into a broader perspective.
>
> Two Japanese scholars, Kawata Takashi and Nakagaki Kotaro, gave talks
> on the use of sets in _A Dog's Life_ and satire in _A King in New
> York_, respectively.
>
> The other presentations were of more general interest. Davide Pozzi
> outlined the basic steps involved
> in restoring the Keystone films. His presentation, which was first on
> the program, was preceded by
> a screening of three restored Keystones. The second of these was _The
> Face on the Barroom
> Floor_, which was so much better than any version I've seen before
> that it was startling. All the titles were restored, and a great deal
> of action, which entirely changed the effect. The parody was so
> broad and unrestrained that I found it hilarious. The film does not,
> by the way, end with Charlie
> seeing his beloved with husband and kids in tow, as do many of the
> truncrated prints, but with the artist passing out in the barroom.
>
> Timothy Brock gave a variation of his presentation on how he is using
> Chaplin's own recorded composition sessions to compose a new score for
> _A Woman of Paris_. He made a number of points,
> among them that Chaplin always hummed or sang along with his piano
> playing, that while he worked on the piano he often played like a
> violinist, and that in one case he worked out a piece of music and
> pronounced it "for violin solo." He also commented on Chaplin's
> fondness for waltzes, saying that
> he had counted over two hundred of them in Chaplin's work.
>
> Kate Guyonvarch provided a sampling of materials available in the
> Chaplin archive, using them to illustrate Chaplin's life from his
> childhood to his success as "worldwhde icon."
>
> Ono interviewed an elderly man who had known Chaplin's long-time
> secretary Toraichi Kono.
> Unfortunately, Mr. Kimura didn't hav much to say that was new, except
> that he knew Kono
> in the 1950s, after Kono had won his battle with INS. At that time
> Kono was working in Los Angeles with a lawyer who defended the civil
> rights of Japanese Americans, and was highly respected in the Japanese-
> American community.
>
> Ono also interviewed one of Chaplin's grandsons, Charles Sistovaris,
> and Ichikawa Somegoro the Fifth, the grandson of a Kabuki actor who
> had performed a Kabuki version of _City Lights_. Ichikawa amused
> the Japanese audience greatly with his uninhibited complaints about
> his father's egocentric behavior.
>
> One of the attendees, again this year, was Shunichi Ohkubo, one of the
> world's most dedicated and successful Chaplin collectors. Shunichi
> gave each of the presenters a bag of goodies, which included a CD of
> some of the rare records of Chaplin and Chaplin-related songs he has
> in his collection, beginning in the 1910s, and a DVD of pictures of
> Chaplin with famous people--many of whom I don't recognize.
> Shunichi left with the signed manuscript of David Robinson's paper,
> whcih David gave him as a token of appreciation.
>
> The conference also included lavish meals, a reception, and a tour of
> Chaplin-related sites in Kyoto on the 26th. Kurt and I did those last
> year, but opted out this year, since we like choosing our own menu
> and couldn't stay on Monday. It also included the screening of a 35mm
> mint print of _Dictator_.
>
> Conferences like this are rich experiences which can't be summarized
> adequately, but at least this partial account will give those who
> weren't there a sense of how rewarding it was to participate or
> attend.
>
> Connie K.
>

I've always thought that some smart Japanese author could make an
interesting book out of the assassination plot against Chaplin by
Japanese nationalists in the 30s.

It's a good story, and too many of the original sources are in
Japanese for an American author to do it unless he was either fluent
in the language or had a lot of help.

Tom Moran