Oona loves Charlie

I look at the photo above and what do I see? True love.

Sometimes I feel that that kind of sacrifice, devotion and surrender only live in the movies, is packaged up by some great PR unit just to get us to buy tickets. Sometimes I feel that most of us sit in the audience and watch that fabled happiness happen up there on the silver screen not because we want it or have it or had it, but because we are believers in the mythos of "true love". I sometimes feel that instead of soda water the theaters pump an elixer of "Hope Springs Eternal" out of their concession stand spigots, just another way for us to swim out deeper into the myth.

Sometimes I, too, gaze upon those celluoid lovers and know, just know in my heart of hearts, that true love is some sort of fantasmagorical beast for us to dream about, not something we mere mortals could ever hope to attain, ride or master in this lifetime. I feel that most us wander out into the sunshine or moonlight after our latest does of celluloid love wistful, wistful in the way that only an afternoon tryst can can make you feel. Sometimes, if we're willing and strong enough to pull back the curtain and watch the illusionist at work, we'll find once again that we've been had, yet, the sucker in us, the good person in us, the believer in us still walks away feeling that sense of awe and purpose behind the lie and continue to seek out true love anyway. Hope springs eternal, indeed.

You must understand one thing: I am a believer. I'm the kind of a man who loves to watch those kinds of flicks not only for the illusion but also because I know that we all have the potential to find and live a life with someone who cares and is willing to damn near lay down their life for us.

Movies can breed cynics. Or maybe life does. But then again, as I said I am a believer in this true love business, and so was Oona O'Neill.

I don't believe that either one of them was looking for it. It just happens. True love is timeless, there is no past or future tense to it. The pairing of Oona O'Neill and Charlie Chaplin certainly lives up to that ideal. The headstrong, willful daughter of one of America's great playwrights meets and falls in love with one of the silent era's most storied if not greatest film comedians. It was a chance opportunity that turned into a life long love affair. Love on the run, love that bore many children, love that cast off citizenship and country. Oona and Charlie, a real life love story for the ages, the kind that the faithful are happy to pay good money to see up on the screen time and time again.

Action!

NY Times book review: Oona bio:
http://www.times.com/books/98/11/29/reviews/981129.29spadat.html

Chaplin film review:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/chaplin-8916

Charlie Chaplin's wives:
http://www.ednapurviance.org/chaplininfo/chaplinwives.html

Articles on Charlie, one specific to Oona:
http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php/site/articles/oona_oneil_chaplin_biography_dedicated_wife_to_charlie_chaplin/