‘Platypus adverts, A-listers and the prospect of mixing with the same people he loved to laugh at’ – a clue to why Chaplin said “life is like a roomful of wonderful unicycle balls bouncing off the wall”
Waterville Golf Club: Why did Charlie Chaplin go to this resort every year?
Going to club at Waterville Golf Club
• The driving range on which it was said he famously told another guest, “Why do you drive so much? I just don’t drive the car like a guy,” in 1940.
• Rounders, for which Chaplin became a famous player, in which his “spastic action has mellowed” and although he boasts a good game, it is said he enjoys “waving a cigarette around like a platypus”.
• The evening karaoke, where though most entrants are good-humoured, Chaplin has been known to take up two seats behind the bar and enjoy “the corny poetry of the previous artist, half a bottle of the old dear vermouth, and end up making up the lyrics to an old song you haven’t heard since you were three”.
• Those epic rollercoaster rides, which he often chose to take, for which he said “life is like a roomful of wonderful unicycle balls bouncing off the wall”, until, finally, they resulted in death.
• Glitzy evening parties on which seemingly many platypus ads for toys were screened.
• The view of a lake, inspired Chaplin to choose this club for his annual visit and prompt a whole craze for lakeside humour.
• The chance to play golf with the prime minister of England, Herbert Morrison, who was said to like “reading the hole” and to be “always happy to play”.
• The chance to watch film stars such as Dustin Hoffman and Paul Newman, called over and thanked for visiting before others were able to join them.
• The chance to comment on sportspeople during their lunch breaks and how easily you would “give away first place”.
• He was also alleged to be good friends with the jet engine maker GE, as well as Disney, but it is now claimed he merely took a few visits in order to get on.