Saturday, April 12, 2014

Charlie Chaplin and the Egyptian cinemagoers

In the 1930s in Egypt, Charlie Chaplin was very popular with cinemagoers. My dad’s parents told him that when they went to see a Charlie Chaplin film at the cinema the excitement was great and while waiting for the film to start the gleeful audience would all shout repeatedly, ‘We want Charlie! We want Charlie!’ Of course, they were saying it in Arabic and in Arabic ‘we want’ is pronounced something like ‘ow-zine’.

So it would have sounded thus:  ‘Owzine Charlie! Owzine Charlie!’

4 comments:

  1. I often forget about your exotic mixture. What an interesting pal you are. Thanks for the little story, this blargh is just brimming with charm.

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    1. The blargh is not a solo effort. The contributions by 'd' also help to make it what it is.

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  2. Oh, PS, the drawing of Charlie is splendid. Chagall would approve.

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  3. Thanks for all the kind words! :D
    I like Chagall.

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