CHAPLIN, CHARLES SPENCER ), cinema actor, was born April 16, 1889, of English parentage, and passed his childhood in London. At an early age he appeared on the music-hall stage with his father and his brother Sydney, taking small parts in vaudeville. Af ter a short experience on the legiti mate stage, he re-entered vaudeville in London as a member of the Fred Karno company. In 1910 he went to the United States as leading comedian in a Karno production, A Night in an English Music Hall. He attracted the attention of Joseph M. Schenck, and on the latter's suggestion he was engaged by Mack Sennett to make films with the Keystone Comedy Company at Holly wood, California. In his first picture, made in 1913, he adopted the eccentric costume which has ever since been associated with his name. His success was immediate, continuous and universal. In 1918 he formed his own company, and he produced a series of films which placed him in the front rank of artists and in a category of his own in the field of screen comedy. Among the more successful of his later releases were: A Dog's Life (1918), Shoulder Arms (1918), The Kid 0921), The Idle Class 0921), The Gold Rush (1925), and The Circus (1926). In all of these he was the central figure. In 1931, he produced and acted in City Lights, which tells the story of the life of a blind girl, and in 1936 Modern Times.