A New Book About Chaplin v. Barry

We love to share the lives of remarkable people here on Travalanche — on rare occasion they’re still alive! So it is with Diane Kiesel, a New York Supreme Court Justice for almost 20 years, and a judge in New York City Criminal Court starting previous to that. A high profile recent trial she presided over was that of the notorious fraudster Anna Delvey, a case we have been obsessed with, and will undoubtedly write about at some point. Before she was a judge, Kiesel was a Manhattan A.D.A. under Robert Morgenthau, literally living Law and Order for ten years. (Steven Hill’s character on the show Adam Schiff was loosely based on Morganthau, and the characters played by Jill Hennessey, Carey Lowell, Angie Harmon, Elizabeth Rohm, etc. seem for all the world the embodiment of Kiesel.) Prior to this, Kiesel was a journalist covering crime and politics beats for Copley newspapers.

Kiesel’s new book, just released by the University of Michigan Press seems like a major pivot, but it really isn’t. The title is When Charlie Met Joan: The Tragedy of the Chaplin Trials and the Failings of American Law.

Long time Charlie Chaplin aficionados know the story of Chaplin’s affair with Joan Barry (1941-43); it was essentially the beginning of the end of the public’s love affair with the Little Tramp. Barry was the umpteenth (very) young lady the comedian had been involved with over the decades. When he sought to end it she made BIG legal trouble, climaxing with a paternity suit. That’s a very simplified telling, but that’s the crux of it. The interesting piece of it is, in spite of the fact that Chaplin failed the blood test (i.e., he was NOT the father), he lost the paternity suit and had to pay child support until the child reached majority. The law was changed afterwards so that loophole could never be exploited by opportunistic prosecutors again.

Obviously, the legal aspect of the story is what initially attracted Kiesel, but having been a writer even longer than she’s been a lawyer, she is also a storyteller with a knack for drawing characters and weaving yarns. For many years she presided in domestic violence court; it was the topic of her first book. In addition to the legal story, she was attracted to the idea of telling Barry’s side in the dispute, which is almost invariably told from Chaplin’s P.O.V. Was Barry mentally ill or merely understandably upset at being discarded like a Kleenex? It’s a valid question. In the end, both parties suffered as a result of their volatile encounter.

At the same time, you can’t ignore the fact of who Chaplin WAS, the most popular comedian in the world. And, it so happens, he was (like your correspondent) a member of the Lambs Club. The Lambs happens to have some rare photos of Chaplin and company during a movie shoot for Essanay in 1915. Kiesel used some of these in her new book, and that is how she came to give a talk at the Lambs last night. (Hence, the photo atop this post). Diane had attended my talk on the Marx Brothers and Surrealism at the Lambs last Fall, but I would have attended her talk even if she hadn’t)!

I haven’t read the book yet (I’ll review it here when I do) but Diane’s presentation last night signals strongly that it should be a racy, entertaining read, not without irreverent humor and a sense for the melodrama at the heart of it, with a cast of characters that includes the likes of J. Paul Getty and Louella Parsons. Unavoidably, sex and violence are at the heart of this story. There are certainly writers who could make a boring book out of that in order to delve exclusively into the niceties of the law, but I sincerely doubt that will be the case here (though it’s a given that the legal aspect is a major focus). Plus! It’s full of detective work. Among other things, Kiesel tracked down the child who was at the center of the case (she’s very much alive, though she has changed her name). And she reports what she’s learned about Barry’s life subsequent to the trial, heretofore a mystery. Can’t wait to read this!

More about this pathbreaking book, and how to get it, is here.