5 Feb 2014

Novel by Chaplin being issued

10:16 am on 5 February 2014

A virtually unknown novel by Charlie Chaplin is being made public for the first time.

Charlie Chaplin, his wife Oona (left) and ''Limelight'' actress Claire Bloom in London.

Charlie Chaplin, his wife Oona (left) and ''Limelight'' actress Claire Bloom in London. Photo: AFP (file)

Footlights, which will be unveiled in London on Tuesday, was written by the silent film comic in 1948 and later transformed into his 1952 film Limelight, in which a washed-out clown saves a dancer from suicide.

The book is being published in English by the Cineteca di Bologna, an Italian film restoration institute that has been working with Chaplin biographer David Robinson on reconstructing drafts found in the Chaplin archives.

The book is illustrated with previously unpublished documents and photographs from the Chaplin archives.

Chaplin was born in London in 1889 and made his film debut in 1914.