The day has passed, thank heaven, when a film historian can read five books and write the sixth. In the bad old days this was often the case, particularly when the subject was Charlie Chaplin. Some writers described the early films without even seeing them. But that is nothing compared to the people who pretended to have worked with Chaplin. I once interviewed a celebrated American comedian who claimed to have been a child actor with Chaplin in Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914). Half-way through, I realised that the man was making it all up. Not only was he lying about the part he played - he had not even taken the precaution of seeing the film he was talking about.

LRB 18 April 1985 | PDF Download