How Charlie Chaplin Survived His Hungry Childhood卓別林如何捱過饑餓童年

達利婭·阿爾貝熱　胡文明/譯

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·卓別林童年時的一位朋友在接受采訪時稱，卓別林在維多利亞時代的倫敦貧民窟長大，極度的貧窮令他曾有過偷竊行為，也因此被照管他的婦女責罵。該采訪被封存于英國電影學院將近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·威茲德姆的姑媽在卓別林最需要家的時候給了他第二個家，威茲德姆感嘆卓別林在孩提時代“過著糟糕的生活”，“總是餓著肚子”，穿著“破破爛爛”的臟衣服——這段經歷無疑是這位喜劇天才后來創作“流浪漢”的靈感源泉，而“流浪漢”這個社會永恒的受害者也成為電影史上最令人難忘的角色之一。

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歲高齡的威茲德姆在采訪中回憶了7歲的她與5歲的卓別林初識的經歷，就像卓別林曾經跟她提及的，她姑媽那時候相當于他的“養母”。

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.

她回憶道：“我的姑媽曾經撫養過他，因為當時沒有社會保障，沒有免費牛奶，沒有兒童津貼，什么都沒有。雖然人不會餓死，但始終徘徊在溫飽線上。”

“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.”

“他常常會沿著蘭貝斯街道一路往前小偷小摸。有一次他順了四個雞蛋放口袋里帶回了家，還有一次他偷了一雙靴子帶回家。”

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？”

她的姑媽斥責他：“你想要我叫警察嗎？你再這么干的話，要蹲監獄的。你知道的，對吧？”

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.”

威茲德姆說：“他說，‘嗯，我看見了雞蛋，當時很餓，所以拿了。雞蛋他沒法歸還了。他把靴子帶回家那次，姑媽逼著他還了回去。”

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.

采訪由英國無聲電影頂級專家之一凱文·布朗洛主持，在此之前他剛為《卓別林秘史》做完調研。《卓別林秘史》是他與大衛·吉爾合作攝制的三集紀錄片，1983年推出后廣受好評。采訪完成之后，片子就一直存放在英國電影學院的檔案庫中。

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.”

布朗洛告訴《觀察家報》：“我們錄制它時的想法是，盡管（對于這部系列紀錄片而言）關于威茲德姆太太我們聽說得太晚了，我們還是要將她對卓別林的童年記憶記錄存檔。我們對她的回憶確實很感興趣。”

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.

錄音中的某些回憶片段在彼得·米德爾頓和詹姆斯·斯賓尼執導的新紀錄片《真實的查理·卓別林》中首次播出，該紀錄片追溯了這位喜劇演員白手起家的故事。演員安妮·羅森菲爾德在片中通過與原始音頻對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.”

卓別林的父母都是音樂廳演員，他的母親被丈夫所遺棄。威茲德姆回憶了“卓別林的父親與一個合唱團女孩私奔”的往事。他的母親隨后被送進了精神病院。1977 年卓別林去世后，威茲德姆寫信給他的遺孀，追憶了他母親對兩個兒子查理和悉尼的極度擔憂：“我告訴卓別林夫人，我跟查理是童年舊識。我常和他一起在街上玩耍。當他的母親精神崩潰時，她對我的姑媽說，‘如果我不得不離開，不要讓我心愛的兒子們去孤兒院。我姑媽說，‘不會的，我會照顧他們的，你不用擔心。 此后我姑媽便供他們吃穿。”

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.

卓別林從未忘記這一點。在美國取得成功之后，他給了她姑媽慷慨的回饋，威茲德姆對此稱贊道：“他曾經寄給我姑媽非常多的錢，因為她照顧過他。”他還給她寫信。

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

雖然卓別林從未忘記自己的根，但據威茲德姆回憶，他去美國后沒有倫敦東區口音了：“他以前說話和我一樣的口音，很俗氣。”

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.”

她補充說：“我對他說，你說話的腔調很時髦。是什么讓你變這樣了？他說，‘我不得不時髦，我上了演講課，他們讓我學的。”

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.”

威茲德姆13歲離開學校，在倫敦一家酒吧工作到80多歲。她記得卓別林有喜劇天賦，總是能逗樂“所有的孩子”。“他總是禁不住搞笑。”

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.”

她補充道：“12歲時，他會在我姑媽家旁邊的院子里放一張舊桌子，把所有的孩子都帶到那里，然后他站到桌子上，穿著舊褲子舊外套，拿著一根棍子。他會從桌子上摔下來，然后又站上去，孩子們喜歡看。”

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

但她開玩笑說：“我從未想過他會如此成功。”

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.”

她記得，他從美國寫信給她的姑媽，告訴她他將在返回英國時拜訪她：“他說，我不像我離開英國時那樣一無所有。我要成為一個有錢人了。”

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.”

她補充說，卓別林住在麗茲酒店，坐著一輛專人司機駕駛的勞斯萊斯出現在她姑媽家：“他邀請我姑媽、姑父和我去麗茲酒店。姑媽對我說，‘我當然從來沒去過那樣的地方。”

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）