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Wife of the Life of the Party (Hardcover)

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Product Description

Wife of the Life of the Party is the memoir of the late Lita Grey Chaplin (1908-1995), the only one of Chaplin's wives to have written an account of life with Chaplin. Her memoir is an extraordinary Hollywood story of someone who was there from the very beginning. Born Lillita Louise MacMurray in Hollywood, she began her career at twelve with the Charlie Chaplin Film Company, when Chaplin selected her to appear with him as the flirting angel in "The Kid". When she was fifteen, Chaplin signed her as the leading lady in " The Gold Rush" and changed her name to Lita Grey. She was forced to leave the production when, at the age of sixteen, she became pregnant with Chaplin's child. She married Chaplin in Empalme, Mexico in November 1924. The Chaplins stayed together for two years. Lita bore Chaplin two sons: Charles Chaplin, Jr. and Sydney Chaplin. In November 1926, after Lita discovered that Chaplin was having an affair with Merna Kennedy (Lita's best friend, whom she had persuaded Chaplin to hire as the leading lady in "The Circus"), Lita left Chaplin and filed for divorce. It was one of the first divorce cases to receive a public airing. The divorce complaint ran a staggering 42 pages and fed scandal with its revelations about the private life of Charles Chaplin. Lita's divorce settlement of $825,000 was the largest in American history at the time. Lita authorized the publication of another biography, "My Life with Chaplin", in 1966. The book was mainly the creation of her co-author, Morton Cooper, who re-wrote her manuscript. Lita was never happy with the many inaccuracies and distortions of that book. " Wife of the Life of the Party" is not to be seen as a supplement to her early book, but rather Lita's own version of her life, told for the first time.


About the Author

Lita Grey Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's second wife, was a film actress, singer, and author of two memoirs concerning her life with Charlie Chaplin. Jeffrey Vance (M.A., Boston University) assisted Lita Grey Chaplin in compiling her memoir.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 360 pages
  • Publisher: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. (March 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0810834324
  • ISBN-13: 978-0810834323
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,298,511 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Lita Grey Chaplin
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Her ghostwritten first book was better, September 21, 2004
By Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
...and that's saying plenty. Lita Grey Chaplin had at least a hand in producing two books on her brief two-year marriage to Charlie Chaplin. The first book, published in 1966, was ghostwritten, but was much more interesting than this boring, plodding effort. If you're looking for lurid sexual escapades and revelations, opt for the 1966 offering, for there is nothing interesting contained in this book. In fact, the majority of the book is taken up with the complete divorce complaint of the Chaplins from 1927, which makes for stilted, uninspired reading. The photographic section is similarly flat and uninspired. The only thing worth reading in the entire book is the introduction written by Sydney Chaplin, Lita and Charlie's second born son.

One other reason for investigating the book is that it shows the unflattering side of Charlie, one which Chaplin addicts (like me) try to avoid confronting. Chaplin was a man of extreme moods and he could be enormously seductive, charming and adorable one minute, and a crude, insensitive cad the next moment. In fairness, Lita trapped Charlie into marriage when she got pregnant at the age of 16. Chaplin was interested in a torrid affair and not a permanent relationship; he demanded she get an abortion, she refused, and he was stuck in a loveless marriage. The whole arrangement was screwy from the get go, but Charlie's notorious aversion to contraceptives again did him in. Chaplin comes off very badly throughout the narrative and Lita even claims she never even loved him. Again, ths is in direct contrast to her 1966 book which shows her to have been a nymphmaniac/besotted Chaplin chick all the way.

I'd recommend this only to people who have a mania to read everything ever printed on Charlie; for casual fans, there's no necessity to bother over this tepid trifle.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Sad story, but..., February 8, 2006
A few years before her passing, Lita Grey, ex-wife of master comedian Charles Chaplin, wrote a second "autobiography," WIFE OF LIFE OF THE PARTY, in cooperation with silent film enthusiast Jeffrey Vance. According to her son Sydney's foreword, the book was intended as a correction of her 1966-memoir MY LIFE WITH CHAPLIN, which, she confesses, was filled with exaggerations.

It is a sad story. I must clarify that my admiration for Chaplin goes beyond that of a "fan." I love him, adore him, he has had an impact on me incomparable to any other person, both artistically and personally. It may be a task for me, then, to stay neutral to him in several aspects, no less so with his shortcomings. Yet, I have to admit that I felt sorry for Lita as I read this book. It is not hard to recognize that the work of Chaplin is the results of a very complex mind, and this complexity was not always to the advantage of neither himself nor his surroundings. Few women would be capable of living with a creative genius as husband; and Lita, obviously, was not one of them.

Chaplin first got aqcuainted his future-wife in 1920, while working on his first feature-length film THE KID. She was 12 at the time, and got a role in the film after the recommendation from Chaplin's co-director. The book starts off with some interesting recollections of Chaplin's working habits. The two met again three years later, when Lita visited Chaplin's studio in order to impress a friend. Chaplin was captivated by the beuaty of the 15-year old, and signed her once again, this time to play leading lady in his current production THE GOLD RUSH (for which she was later replaced). The two soon began an affair, and eventually, Lita became pregnant. Chaplin became frustrated, and offered her a large sum of money if she would marry another man; however, Lita's parents forced them to marry. In late 1924, the 16-year old Lita became the wife of 35-year old Charles Chaplin, and the nightmare had begun.

The rest of the book pretty much singlehandedly consists of details about the unhappy marriage, always favoring the author. Chaplin accuses his young wife of trying to ruin his career. Whenever her parents are not present, she is adressed as a "whore" or "gold-digging bitch." Although Lita admits that she believed to be in love with Chaplin, she presents herself as astonishingly naive and inexperienced throughout. Perhaps she was; there is at least no doubt that Chaplin was the adult of the two and should have foreseen that going to bed with a minor would have devastating consequences. They were divorced less than three years later, which resulted in worldwide headlines for over a year. Lita's divorce complaint (a tiresome read included in the book) became a best-seller, and her lawyers worked with one thing in mind: to ruin Chaplin's career. They did not succeed, but were close at times. Chaplin got a nervous breakdown and was forced to close the studio for months.

There are parts of this story that remain uncovered in the book, things that Lita seems to have consciously ignored in order to deliver a most thorougly one-dimensional account as possible. At one point, she states that "Chaplin had a tendency to blame all other people for his own troubles and believe that he himself was faultless." This is curious, because that description suits herself very well. It seems obvious to me that her ultimate goal with this book is to emphasize a contrast between Chaplin, the sex-addicted monster, and herself, the poor, crying and innocent girl. Not once does she confess that she could and should have done some things differently herself. She has also chosen to completely ignore the difficulties she caused their two sons; she was an alcoholic for some time, and periodically acted aggressively towards her children as a result. Also, according to Charles Chaplin Jr.'s book MY FATHER CHARLIE CHAPLIN, at one point, while Lita was very ill (doctors feared she would die), Chaplin told her that "if it is of any comfort to you, there are only two women I have ever loved: my current wife, and you." This is not granted a mention in the book, either. I also wonder how the reader can feel convinced that there do not appear any exaggerations in this book identical to those of her first. Clearly, in their attempts to ruin Chaplin and receive a trust amount as large as possible, Lita's lawyers must have exaggerated somewhat, and during seventy years she may have begun to recall things that did not occur as facts. I say this not to defend Chaplin's irresponsibility and mean behavior towards her, but to make the reader understand that some of these things should be read with a skeptical eye.

Chaplin, on his part, described the unhappy circumstances with the following words in his memoirs: "While I was making THE GOLD RUSH I married a second time. Because we have two grown sons of whom I am very fond, I will not go into details. For two years we were married and tried to make a go for it, but it was hopeless and ended in a great deal of bitterness." What Lita accuses Chaplin of in her book may be true and in that case, they are most unfortunate, but one must also keep in mind that Chaplin's version of the incidents was never really heard.

Ironically, I found Lita's book to be quite interesting when she did not discuss the relationship between herself and Chaplin. In addition to the descriptions of THE KID, her recollections of Chaplin's charming but mentally ill mother (and Chaplin's difficulties in being confronted with her) are quite telling. But in the end, WIFE OF THE LIFE OF THE PARTY is not really worth to get except if you have to read all the information that is ever written about master comedian and craftsman Charlie Chaplin. It is a sad story, and it may also be true, but it is certainly not complete. And let's be really honest and say that it's not that interesting either: Chaplin loved sex, but not to the point that he let it disturb his work; when it did, he could act mean. That's pretty much the story.
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10 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Life, October 7, 2000
By A Customer
Here is a marvelous book detailing the fascinating and interesting life of LITA GREY CHAPLIN. She of course was the child bride of CHARLES CHAPLIN that mangaged to sue and win a substanial sum when divorcing him in 1927, causing one of the great Hollywood scandals of the 1920's. I enjoyed this book because it clears up all the distortions and inaccuracies of her first ghost-written memoir, "MY LIFE WITH CHAPLIN". In his introduction, author Jeffrey Vance clearly places LITA GREY'S importance in the history of CHARLIE CHAPLIN : She influenced three of CHAPLIN'S greatest films : THE KID, THE GOLD RUSH, and THE CIRCUS. Also included are the divorce documents and helpful notes and afterword. A must for CHAPLIN aficionados.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Thanks to the warning reviewers
First, my rating should not be considered since I did not read this book. I would just like to take a minute to say something. Read more
Published on August 31, 2004 by danielle1414

2.0 out of 5 stars The dirt, m'am, nothing but the dirt
Lita Grey as hardly an important figure in the career of the great Chaplin. She was, of course, a scandalous footnote, one of the many far-too-young women in his life. Read more
Published on July 17, 2001 by GBS

2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly not worth the effort
Lita Grey Chaplin, the screen legend's second, teenaged, bride, published her memoirs of life with Chaplin back in 1966. Read more
Published on June 1, 2000 by Hans J. Wollstein

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