Charles and Maria Sotelo of High Desert Monuments in Hesperia, the creators of the "Modern Times" memorial plaque, with film historian Leonard Maltin, at the 2011 SCV ChaplinFest in Newhall, California, on Saturday, February 5, 2011.
When I was 18 years old, I attended a lecture given by John Goddard, the “world’s greatest goal achiever.” I remember being enthralled that day by a film he made about navigating the entire length of the Congo River in Africa. Afterwards, he exhorted all of us in attendance to go home and write down the ten things we most wanted to accomplish in our lives.
I took him up on it, and soon found that ten things weren’t enough. Ten items became twenty, which became fifty, which eventually grew to encompass thousands of things.
Since that day over thirty years ago, I have maintained the list, adding and checking things off almost daily. Thanks to power of writing my goals down, as of today, I have listed 8,536 items on my accomplishment list.
The entry for accomplishment number 8,536 is only three words: Help create ChaplinFest.
That’s it. But I think of these three words as the title of a book, with the thousands of sights, sounds, and memories of the event representing the words inside.
Michael McNevin, Tippi Hedren, Kimi, E.J., and Patrick McClellan at ChaplinFest on Saturday, February 5.
Leonard Maltin and Tippi Hedren mimicking Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard in the final scene from Modern Times by walking arm-in-arm down the center of Sierra Highway near Agua Dulce … Seeing Chaplin’s overalls from Modern Times as well as his prop wrenches and oil can … Kimi and I hearing our names on Jack FM during our friend Tami Heidi’s “Jack-tivities,” in which she announced ChaplinFest … the beautiful monument created by the equally wonderful Maria and Charles Sotelo of High Desert Monuments of Hesperia … riding to the actual Modern Times site with Leonard and Alice Maltin … finally meeting author John Bengtson, who I have admired for years … spending time with David Totheroh, who is the grandson of Chaplin’s longtime cameraman, Rollie Totheroh … hanging out with our buddies Chris and Charlie Epting … all the great vendors … the hundreds of hours of hard work put in by volunteers like Ed, Ralph, Brenda, Paul and all the others too numerous to name … the graciousness of Tippi Hedren, and the love she has for her staff at the Shambala Preserve … the bus that serves as a mobile film studio Hugh Munro Neely brought from the Mary Pickford Institute … seeing the very first copies of Steve Bingen’s new book about the MGM backlots … watching Tippi clown for the cameras with our cardboard Charlie Chaplin cutout … the humor of Alice Maltin and the generosity of her husband Leonard … the beautiful proclamations presented to us by the state, county, and city … the amazing Q&A session between Leonard and Tippi on what it was like for her to work with Charlie Chaplin on A Countess From Hong Kong … the dynamic duo of Jim and Pam Elyea talking with David Totheroh about what it was like to work on Chaplin … Tippi’s story about how an elephant at Shambala once ate Sophia Loren’s address book … the donations we received to help pay for the monument … the performances of the great Michael McNevin and Tracy Newman … the laughter coming from members of all generations during our screenings of Modern Times and The Pilgrim … the crowd cracking up when Tippi asked Leonard during the Q&A if he would like to know what it was like for her to work with Chaplin, and Leonard jokingly responding, “No!” … and especially, the camaraderie shared between all of our organizers: Ayesha Saletore, Beth Werling, Rachel Barnes, and my beautiful wife Kimi …
I could go on and on.
If you were unable to attend this weekend, don’t sweat it. Because of the HUGE success of our first event, there WILL be a 2012 ChaplinFest that you can attend!
Put it on your list of things you want to accomplish.
The "Modern Times" monument which we plan to place at the site of the final scene.
To see more ChaplinFest images, click HERE
To make a contribution to help pay for the monument, click HERE
DEADWRITE's DAILIES 
February 7th, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Congratulation EJ! You dreamed it and made it happen! So sorry I couldn’t make it up there for the festivities. The photos look great. Thanks!
February 8th, 2011 at 3:27 am
Well done Eddie. Wish I could have been there. I vaguely remember your list but I never thought you really took it all that seriously. It’s good to be a Dreamer and you’ve made one of your dreams come true. The only problem I have is that red shirt you’re wearing in the picture. I’m sure I’ve seen it worn before back in the 1970’s by some rock band. By the way in case I haven’t already told you, I bought your book via Amazon. You owe me one genuine author’s signature.
February 8th, 2011 at 6:58 am
You know what’s funny, Paul, is that Kimi and I met Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees recently and I happened to be wearing the same shirt. Mickey said, “Hey, where did you get the Monkees shirt?” John Goddard has become a great friend to Kimi and me. He’s still accomplishing goals at the age of 86.
February 8th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
E.J., you and Kim, and all the folks who put this on, are so gracious and kind and on the ball. Just a wonderful event, so much good energy and karma. Every ‘first annual’ should be so lucky as to have that kind of excitement and promise for the future. Thank you for including me! Get up to Niles again soon so we can toast to the ‘sister towns’, I’ll arrange a pudde jam in your honor 🙂