# Was it a big deal to audiences when Chaplin finally spoke on film?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-big-deal-to-audiences-when-chaplin-finally-spoke-on-film/493669>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 19, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-big-deal-to-audiences-when-chaplin-finally-spoke-on-film/493669 "2009-04-19T23:56:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-big-deal-to-audiences-when-chaplin-finally-spoke-on-film/493669/1 "2009-04-19T23:56:38Z")

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I’ve been watching a lot of Chaplin films recorded off of TCM and I became curious about something (sorry if you’re getting annoyed with my questions silent film buffs but I haven’t watched City Lights yet so I’ll probably think of another question while I’m watching that). Was it a big deal when Chaplin finally had lines of onscreen dialog in _The Great Dictator_? Was it a shocking thing that someone with a twenty year history on the screen without saying a word would finally say something? Or was Chaplin so marginalized (as an actor at least) by that point that no one cared?

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-big-deal-to-audiences-when-chaplin-finally-spoke-on-film/493669/2 "2009-04-20T01:10:52Z")

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He actually did sing a song in _Modern Times,_ but it was complete gibberish.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-big-deal-to-audiences-when-chaplin-finally-spoke-on-film/493669/3 "2009-04-20T01:32:11Z")

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Chaplin was still a major star when he first spoke; both **Modern Times** and **City Lights** were big hits.

I don’t think they made any big deal about Chaplin’s speaking in **The Great Dictator** , though. Actors were expected to speak by then. This isn’t like “Garbo Speaks!”