Charlot: Charlie Chaplin, France, and Transnational Stardom

The first films made by British comedian Charlie Chaplin in California reached France in March 1915. They had an instant appeal for wartime French audiences— "Charlot," the name under which Chaplin became known in France, quickly became a screen celebrity and a focal point for France's burgeoning film culture. His supporters ranged from members of the working-class through film writers such as Louis Delluc, who wrote the first book on Chaplin as an artist in any language, to members of the ...