AFA 20th Anniversary

and that “plain, ordinary lip movements” would do. 4 Art critic Antony Anderson claimed a role in bringing the men together, stating that he provided Redmond with letters of introduction to motion-picture studios because he sympathized with the artist’s “incurable disease known as ‘the instinct for survival.’”  5 Chaplin gave Redmond roles in several of his movies, as well as a workspace in which to paint at Charlie Chaplin Studios. According to Alice Terry, Redmond was the first deaf person to appear in silent movies, an irony given that the action and emotion were communicated by gesture. 6 Deaf viewers were especially quick to observe Chaplin’s use of signs, which he learned from Redmond. Redmond even taught Chaplin’s employees basic finger spelling and sign language. When he left for several months in 1920 to paint at Santa Catalina Island, a postcard arrived from Chaplin Studios that read, “Please don’t forget to come back to Hollywood. We miss you, and we are fast forgetting how to speak on our fingers.”  7 Terry reported that when Chaplin needed quiet time away from the set, he went to Redmond’s studio, where he could enjoy the silence, even while they conversed. To Terry, the men had much in common, Chaplin “silently and dramatically…creating mirth and sunshine for millions of tired people; and Redmond, silently a nd none t he le s s ef fec t ively, brightening the lives of all, by his rad iant, appea ling picture s on canvas” (Fig. 8). 8 Redmond, at this point, was at the height of his powers, his paintings, for the most part Impressionist—and 20th Anniversary 128 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com Fig. 7: Granville Redmond and Charlie Chaplin, ca. 1918. Mildred Albronda Papers, BANC MSS 84/117 c, carton 5:6. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Photographer unknown. Fig. 8: Granville Redmond (1871–1935), Evening Glow, n.d. Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches. California School for the Deaf, Fremont, gift of Edith Redmond.