Editing Charlie Chaplin (section)

====Lita Grey and ''The Circus''====
[[File:Lita Grey.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lita Grey]], whose bitter divorce from Chaplin caused a scandal]]

While making ''The Gold Rush'', Chaplin married for the second time. Mirroring the circumstances of his first union, [[Lita Grey]] was a teenage actress, originally set to star in the film, whose surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Chaplin into marriage. She was 16 and he was 35, meaning Chaplin could have been charged with [[statutory rape]] under California law.{{sfn|Robinson|p=346}} He therefore arranged a discreet marriage in Mexico on 25 November 1924.{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin and Vance|1p=53|2a1=Vance|2y=2003|2p=170}} They originally met during her childhood and she had previously appeared in his works ''The Kid'' and ''The Idle Class''.{{sfn|Chaplin and Vance|pp=xvi, xviii, 4, 26, 30}} Their first son, [[Charles Chaplin Jr.|Charles Spencer Chaplin III]], was born on 5{{spaces}}May 1925, followed by [[Sydney Chaplin (American actor)|Sydney Earl Chaplin]] on 30 March 1926.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=355, 368}} On 6 July 1925, Chaplin became the first movie star to be featured on a ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' [[List of covers of Time magazine (1920s)|cover]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Charlie Chaplin: The First Actor in the world to be on the cover of Times magazine|first=Kumar|last=Ujjal|url=https://infotonline.com/charlie-chaplin-on-the-cover-of-times-magazine/|date=16 April 2020|access-date=1 April 2021|website=Infotoline|archive-date=25 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625015109/https://infotonline.com/charlie-chaplin-on-the-cover-of-times-magazine/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It was an unhappy marriage, and Chaplin spent long hours at the studio to avoid seeing his wife.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=350, 368}} In November 1926, Grey took the children and left the family home.{{sfn|Robinson|p=371}} A bitter divorce followed, in which Grey's application{{snd}}accusing Chaplin of infidelity, abuse and of harbouring "perverted sexual desires"{{snd}}was leaked to the press.{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1p=220|2a1=Robinson|2pp=372–374}}{{efn|In her memoirs, Lita Grey later claimed that many of her complaints were "cleverly, shockingly enlarged upon or distorted" by her lawyers.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=96}}}} Chaplin was reported to be in a state of nervous breakdown, as the story became headline news and groups formed across America calling for his films to be banned.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1pp=372–374|2a1=Louvish|2pp=220–221}} Eager to end the case without further scandal, Chaplin's lawyers agreed to a cash settlement of $600,000{{efn|{{Inflation|US|600000|1927|fmt=eq|r=-4}}}}{{snd}}the largest awarded by American courts at that time.{{sfn|Robinson|p=378}} His fan base was strong enough to survive the incident, and it was soon forgotten, but Chaplin was deeply affected by it.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1pp=99–105|2a1=Robinson|2p=383}} Less than five months after the divorce, Grey's former butler [[Murder of Don Solovich|Don Solovich]] was murdered in Utah, and articles speculated about connections between Chaplin and the murder.<ref name=Strange>{{cite news |newspaper=[[New York Daily News]] |location=New York City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-charlie-chaplin-murder/112404948/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |title=What Was Justice: The Strange Killing of Don Solovich, Known as Hollywood's Mystery Man |date=21 October 1928 |pages=46–47}}</ref><ref name=Sensational>{{cite news |date=7 May 1928 |title=Sensational Evidence Promised in Solovich Murder Trial: Attorney Hints at Revelations |pages=18 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-sensational-eviden/125115092/ |access-date=26 May 2023 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name=Completed>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-manti-messenger-testimony-completed/125113276/ |title= Testimony Completed, Jury To Get Clark Case Tomorrow |newspaper=Manti Messenger |location=Manti, UT |date=8 June 1928 |pages=1, 4| via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Before the divorce suit was filed, Chaplin had begun work on a new film, ''[[The Circus (1928 film)|The Circus]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|p=360}} He built a story around the idea of walking a tightrope while besieged by monkeys, and turned the Tramp into the accidental star of a circus.{{sfn|Robinson|p=361}} Filming was suspended for ten months while he dealt with the divorce scandal,{{sfn|Robinson|pp=371, 381}} and it was generally a trouble-ridden production.{{sfn|Louvish|p=215}} Finally completed in October 1927, ''The Circus'' was released in January 1928 to a positive reception.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=382}} At the [[1st Academy Awards]], Chaplin was given a special trophy "For versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing ''The Circus''".<ref name="circus">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Pfeiffer |first=Lee |title=The Circus – Film by Chaplin [1928] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Circus |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=9 August 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905164503/https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Circus |archive-date= 5 September 2015}}</ref> Despite its success, he permanently associated the film with the stress of its production; Chaplin omitted ''The Circus'' from his autobiography, and struggled to work on it when he recorded the score in his later years.{{sfnm|1a1=Brownlow|1p=73|2a1=Louvish|2p=224}}