Salt Lake Telegram | 1940-03-27 | Page 18 | Chaplin Asks premiere in Germany

Chaplin Asks Premiere In Germany By FREDERICK C OTTOMAN HOLLYWOOD UP) Charlie Chaplin Is reported seeking a world permiere In Berlin for his forthcoming movie travesty on dictators, dic-tators, with a ene-men audience consisting of Adolf Hitler. Chaplin, who now Is giving his picture its finishing touches, maintained main-tained his customary reticence, but his friends Insisted he was serious In his international string-pulling to give der fuehrer first look at Hitler. Mussolini, Goering and Goebbels In Hollywood's never-never never-never land. "And If Hitler has a sense of humor as big as the head of a pin." Jack Oakie said, "he'll take one look at the picture and wonder what all the shootings about. If he gets Charlie's point, he'll call his war off and retire to his moun-tola moun-tola top, giggling to himself." Oakie Plays n Does Oakie plays Straight Man Mussolini Mus-solini te Chaplin's comio Hitler. The rotund Billy Gilbert Is Goering, Goer-ing, with a new uniform for every scene, while the villain in the piece la Henry Daniels, who, as Goebbels, spends his time whispering whis-pering sinister secrets In Hitler's ear. "We've all got trick names," Oakie said. "Charlie originally lanned to call me 'Benzino Caeo-lno,' Caeo-lno,' but decided maybe that sounded a little too much like 'Benito Mussolini.' So now I'm known as 'Benzine Napoleoni.' " Interviewed at 20th Century-Fox, Century-Fox, where he was rehearsing danee numbers for "Young People," Peo-ple," his next picture, II Duce Oakie could hardly keep himself from repeating some of the gsgs la the ChspUn opus. fl edged to geleaee 1 promised to keep quiet about the plot," he said, "but I can aay that Hitler and Mussolini literally wrote the story for Chaplin as they went along. Now, after playing play-ing the picture, every morning I pick up the paper and read about conferences between the two dictators dic-tators In Europe and I laugh my head off. They're doing Just exactly ex-actly what Charlie and I did In front of the cameras. "Whst we all hope Is that the whole world will laugh at the headlines from Berlin and Rome, after the picture Is relessed. We even hope that Hitler and Mussolini Musso-lini themselves will laugh. "They'll be poor sports If they don't. There Isn't a vicious line In the picture; not a sign of anti-nazi anti-nazi propaganda. All Charlie has 'done Is show how absurd a dictatorship dicta-torship can be when it la carried to Its logical conclusion." . . M l .