As I’m sure all Chaplin fans know, he was ‘discovered’ and nurtured in his early years (1908-1910) by Music Hall Impressario Fred Karno who was already Syd Chaplin’s employer. It was whilst on tour with Karno in America that Chaplin was recruited by Mack Sennett and the rest is history. Chaplin gave Karno a lot of credit for his style of comedy, being a master of visual and slapstick humour. You may be interested to know that a new musical based on the life of Fred Karno is to be performed in Birmingham, England in October 2010. Entitled Khaotic – The Fred Karno Story, it recounts the seventy or so years of Karno’s life including his relationship with Chaplin and also Stan Laurel, another Karno discovery. For more information you can log on to www.khaotic.com or www.from-the-top.co.uk, these websites are currently under construction so it may take a little while for information to be available. I’ll certainly be there!!