Charlie Chaplin was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, but all his movies were banned in Memphis, Tennessee for a while. Chaplin moved from London to Los Angeles and started appearing in movies in 1914. Not long after that, he adopted his famous Tramp persona, and he started to hit his stride, making some of the best silent films of the 1920s and 1930s. Charlie Chaplin's greatest works include City LIghts, Modern Times, The Great Dictator and The Gold Rush, all of which were also written, produced and directed by Chaplin.

Although Chaplin was a beloved star, he also courted controversy over the course of his long career. Starting with The Great Dictator, Chaplin's work became intertwined with his political beliefs. He spent the rest of the 1940s in a series of legal trials relating to an affair he had with a young actor. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover manipulated the press throughout these trials to smear Chaplin's image, since he had long suspected the actor of being a communist. Chaplin was eventually exiled from the United States after he left the country for a film premiere and his re-entry permit was revoked by the Attorney General.

Why Charlie Chaplin's Movies Were Banned In Memphis, Tennessee

One Man Made It His Mission To Censor Chaplin's Work

Although Chaplin's popularity in the United States faded throughout the 1940s, he still had plenty of irers who appreciated his silent films. In 1951, Modern Times was re-released in some cities to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. Although Memphis was originally on this list, the head of the Memphis Censor Board, Lloyd Binford promptly banned it. He went on to ban any of Chaplin's films from being screened in Memphis, since he objected to Chaplin's marriage to 18-year-old actor Oona O'Neill on moral grounds.

Binford was a notoriously overzealous censor, often making national headlines with his banning of popular films. A virulent white supremacist, Binford banned dozens of films featuring Black heroes and protagonists, as well as any movies which showed people of different races living harmoniously. He made no attempt to hide his racism, stating that his ban on the 1947 comedy Curley was because "the South does not recognize social equality between the races, even in children". Despite his hateful actions, some film distributors used his negative comments to generate publicity for their banned films in other cities.

Binford's ban on Chaplin's movies shows a different side to his egregious censorship. He didn't object to the content of Modern Times or Chaplin's other silent films, but his judgment of Chaplin's moral character was enough reason for him to ban them. He also banned all Ingrid Bergman films after her affair with director Roberto Rossellini, claiming that he would prevent them all from being shown in Memphis without even watching them first. Binford died in 1956, but the Memphis Censor Board continued to operate until 1965, when a U.S. Circuit Judge declared their operations unconstitutional.

Charlie Chaplin's Movie Ban Shows His Huge Impact On American Culture

Chaplin Was Both Loved And Hated In His Second Home

Despite being born and raised in England, Charlie Chaplin is every bit an American icon. He had a huge impact on the early days of Hollywood, and he became one of the first film stars whose personal life was a matter of keen interest to the national press. Binford's bans underline just how ionately some people felt about Chaplin, both because of his love life and his supposed political beliefs. Chaplin's fading popularity and eventual exile are a reminder of the anti-communist paranoia that gripped the United States after the Second World War, even though Chaplin never even identified as a communist.

Fortunately, Chaplin's reputation did eventually recover. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 1972, accompanied by a heartfelt standing ovation. Once enough time had ed, the controversies around his personal life faded into the background, and the public found a new appreciation for his work. In the long run, Binford's bans were nothing but a blip in Chaplin's story. They may represent how some regressive people felt at the time, but Chaplin's legacy lives on. His best movies are still worth watching after 80, 90 or even 100 years.