Chaplin's first love was work, son says

Every Christmas, he would grow depressed. Every Christmas, as the pile of presents grew toward the ceiling and threatened to obliterate the tree in the manor house in Switzerland, the patriarch of the family would grow silent in the face of all that plenty, and the family would wait for The Speech.

"If I got an orange at Christmas, I was lucky," Charlie Chaplin would begin.

And his son Sydney, who was much braver than anybody else, would respond with, "Well, Pop, I live in California, I can bring you all the oranges you want."

And Charlie Chaplin would glare at his son, a clear indication that he was not amused. Eventually, though, he would come out of his depression and enjoy another Christmas with his 10 children, including eight from his successful fourth marriage to Oona O'Neill.

Despite the fact that Charlie Chaplin — The Little Tramp, the silent film comic who made millions laugh — was one of the premiere artists of the 20th century, he never got over the feelings of deprivation and humiliation wrought by the poverty of his childhood. He was born to an alcoholic father who drank himself to death and a mother who went mad. He spent time in workhouses and living on the streets.

He was a successful actor by the time he was 15, a millionaire by the time he was 27, but his Dickensian childhood was the grain of sand that formed the pearl of his art, so much of which revolves around a passionate sympathy for the dispossessed.

An opportunity to experience that art is once again at hand, as four Chaplin films are released by Warner Home Video this week in deluxe editions stuffed with extra features: "Limelight," "The Great Dictator," "Modern Times" and two versions of "The Gold Rush." (Four more DVD releases are set for the end of the year: "City Lights," "The Kid," "The Circus," "Monsieur Verdoux").

Chaplin's son Sydney, 78, didn't get to know his father well until after World War II. An acrimonious divorce from Sydney's mother, actress Lita Grey, meant that Sydney and Charles Jr. spent most of their time in boarding schools, although there were frequent weekends with their father, at his house in Beverly Hills or on his yacht.

Sydney Chaplin was named after Charlie's beloved elder brother, a delightful character remembered fondly by all.