How,Charlie,Chaplin,Survived,His,Hungry,Childhood卓别林如何捱过饥饿童年

达利娅·阿尔贝热　胡文明/译

The extreme poverty endured by Charlie Chaplin while growing up in the slums1 of Victorian London reduced him to stealing and being scolded by the woman who took care of him， according to an interview with one of his childhood friends that has remained unheard in the British Film Institute for almost 40 years.

查理·卓别林童年时的一位朋友在接受采访时称，卓别林在维多利亚时代的伦敦贫民窟长大，极度的贫穷令他曾有过偷窃行为，也因此被照管他的妇女责骂。该采访被封存于英国电影学院将近40年之久。

Effie Wisdom， whose aunt gave him a home from home2 when he needed it most， lamented3 that Chaplin “had a terrible life” as a child， “always hungry”， dressed in “ragged”4， filthy5 clothes—no doubt later inspiring the comic genius who created the Tramp6， societys eternal victim and one of cinemas most memorable characters.

埃菲·威兹德姆的姑妈在卓别林最需要家的时候给了他第二个家，威兹德姆感叹卓别林在孩提时代“过着糟糕的生活”，“总是饿着肚子”，穿着“破破烂烂”的脏衣服——这段经历无疑是这位喜剧天才后来创作“流浪汉”的灵感源泉，而“流浪汉”这个社会永恒的受害者也成为电影史上最令人难忘的角色之一。

In 1983， aged 92， Wisdom gave an interview in which she recalled first meeting Chaplin when he was five and she was seven， with her aunt becoming his “foster mother”， as he used to tell her.

1983年，92岁高龄的威兹德姆在采访中回忆了7岁的她与5岁的卓别林初识的经历，就像卓别林曾经跟她提及的，她姑妈那时候相当于他的“养母”。

She recalled：
“My aunt used to feed him cos there was no social security in those days， no free milk， no childrens allowances， nothing. You never starved and yet you were on the breadline7.

她回忆道：“我的姑妈曾经抚养过他，因为当时没有社会保障，没有免费牛奶，没有儿童津贴，什么都没有。虽然人不会饿死，但始终徘徊在温饱线上。”

“He used to go up Lambeth Walk and pinch8. Hed come home with four eggs one day in his pocket. He came home with a pair of boots one day hed nicked.”

“他常常會沿着兰贝斯街道一路往前小偷小摸。有一次他顺了四个鸡蛋放口袋里带回了家，还有一次他偷了一双靴子带回家。”

Her aunt scolded him：
“Do you want me to get the police？ If you go on doing this， youll be locked up. You realise that， dont you？”

她的姑妈斥责他：“你想要我叫警察吗？你再这么干的话，要蹲监狱的。你知道的，对吧？”

Wisdom said：
“He said， ‘Well， I saw em and I was hungry， so I took em. He couldnt send the eggs back. When the boots come home， she made him take them back.”

威兹德姆说：“他说，‘嗯，我看见了鸡蛋，当时很饿，所以拿了。鸡蛋他没法归还了。他把靴子带回家那次，姑妈逼着他还了回去。”

The interview was conducted by Kevin Brownlow， one of Britains leading experts in silent films after researching Unknown Chaplin， the acclaimed9 three-part 1983 documentary series that he made with David Gill. It has been stored in the British Film Institutes archive ever since.

采访由英国无声电影顶级专家之一凯文·布朗洛主持，在此之前他刚为《卓别林秘史》做完调研。《卓别林秘史》是他与大卫·吉尔合作摄制的三集纪录片，1983年推出后广受好评。采访完成之后，片子就一直存放在英国电影学院的档案库中。

Brownlow told the Observer：
“We recorded it thinking that， even though we had heard about Mrs Wisdom too late [for the series]， we ought to record her childhood memories of Chaplin for the archive. We were certainly intrigued by her memories.”

布朗洛告诉《观察家报》：“我们录制它时的想法是，尽管（对于这部系列纪录片而言）关于威兹德姆太太我们听说得太晚了，我们还是要将她对卓别林的童年记忆记录存档。我们对她的回忆确实很感兴趣。”

Some of the recollections from the recording are aired for the first time in a new documentary， The Real Charlie Chaplin， directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney， which traces the comic actors rags-to-riches10 story. Actor Anne Rosenfeld appears as Effie， lip-syncing11 to the original audio.

錄音中的某些回忆片段在彼得·米德尔顿和詹姆斯·斯宾尼执导的新纪录片《真实的查理·卓别林》中首次播出，该纪录片追溯了这位喜剧演员白手起家的故事。演员安妮·罗森菲尔德在片中通过与原始音频对口型的方式出演了埃菲。

Chaplins parents were music-hall performers and his mother was abandoned by her husband. Wisdom recalls how “he ran away and went off with a chorus girl”. His mother was then committed to an asylum12. After Chaplins death in 1977， Wisdom had written to his widow， with memories of his mothers desperate concern for her sons， Charlie and Sydney：
“I told Lady Chaplin I knew Charlie when he was a little boy. I used to play with him out in the street. When his mother had a nervous breakdown， she said to my aunt， ‘If I had to go away， you wont let my lovely sons go in an orphanage. My aunt said， ‘No， Ill look after them， dont you worry. My aunt looked after them， fed em and clothed em.”

卓别林的父母都是音乐厅演员，他的母亲被丈夫所遗弃。威兹德姆回忆了“卓别林的父亲与一个合唱团女孩私奔”的往事。他的母亲随后被送进了精神病院。1977 年卓别林去世后，威兹德姆写信给他的遗孀，追忆了他母亲对两个儿子查理和悉尼的极度担忧：“我告诉卓别林夫人，我跟查理是童年旧识。我常和他一起在街上玩耍。当他的母亲精神崩溃时，她对我的姑妈说，‘如果我不得不离开，不要让我心爱的儿子们去孤儿院。我姑妈说，‘不会的，我会照顾他们的，你不用担心。

此后我姑妈便供他们吃穿。”

Chaplin never forgot that. Wisdom paid tribute to his generosity towards her after finding success in America：
“He used to send my aunt so much money because she used to look after him.” He also wrote to her.

卓别林从未忘记这一点。在美国取得成功之后，他给了她姑妈慷慨的回馈，威兹德姆对此称赞道：“他曾经寄给我姑妈非常多的钱，因为她照顾过他。”他还给她写信。

Although he never forgot his roots， Wisdom recalled that he had lost his cockney13 accent in America：
“He used to talk like me， common14.”

虽然卓别林从未忘记自己的根，但据威兹德姆回忆，他去美国后没有伦敦东区口音了：“他以前说话和我一样的口音，很俗气。”

She added：
“I said to him， youre talking posh. What made you？ He said ‘I had to， I went to elocution classes， they made me.”

她补充说：“我对他说，你说话的腔调很时髦。是什么让你变这样了？他说，‘我不得不时髦，我上了演讲课，他们让我学的。”

Wisdom， who left school at 13 and worked in a London pub into her 80s， recalled his natural comedic talent， always entertaining “all the kids”. “He was always falling about15 being funny.”

威兹德姆13岁离开学校，在伦敦一家酒吧工作到80多岁。她记得卓别林有喜剧天赋，总是能逗乐“所有的孩子”。“他总是禁不住搞笑。”

She added：
“Hed get an old table， out in the yard next to my aunts， and hed get all the kids in there， and get up there， put an old pair of trousers on， an old coat and a stick when he was 12. The kids loved that， he used to fall off the table， then hed get up.”

她补充道：“12岁时，他会在我姑妈家旁边的院子里放一张旧桌子，把所有的孩子都带到那里，然后他站到桌子上，穿着旧裤子旧外套，拿着一根棍子。他会从桌子上摔下来，然后又站上去，孩子们喜欢看。”

But she joked：
“I never thought hed get where he got.”

但她開玩笑说：“我从未想过他会如此成功。”

She remembered him writing to her aunt from America， telling her that he would visit on his return to England：
“He said， Im not like when I left England with nothing. Im going on to be a rich man.”

她记得，他从美国写信给她的姑妈，告诉她他将在返回英国时拜访她：“他说，我不像我离开英国时那样一无所有。我要成为一个有钱人了。”

She added that Chaplin stayed at the Ritz and turned up at her aunts home in a chauffeur-driven16 Rolls-Royce：
“He invited my aunt and my uncle and me to the Ritz. My aunt says to me， ‘course Id never been in a place like that.”

她补充说，卓别林住在丽兹酒店，坐着一辆专人司机驾驶的劳斯莱斯出现在她姑妈家：“他邀请我姑妈、姑父和我去丽兹酒店。姑妈对我说，‘我当然从来没去过那样的地方。”

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

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