Charles Chaplin remembered precisely the moment when, as he said “music first entered my soul”. As a small boy, living in poverty in Kennington, he heard a pair of street musicians playing the Honeysuckle and the Bee on clarinet and harmonica at Kennington Cross. “It was here that I first discovered music, or where I first learned its rare beauty, a beauty that has gladdened and haunted me from that moment”.
His powerful response to music was closely linked to his comic pantomime, which was from the start marked by a strong rhythmical, balletic character. Music played an important part in the presentation of the Karno comedy sketch company with whom young Chaplin toured the vaudeville circuits before going into pictures. He recalled that Karno would achieve comic contrast by accompanying the grossest slapstick with delicate 18th century airs.
As soon as he was able to afford instruments, Chaplin taught himself to play the violin and cello, and spent hours improvising on piano and organ.