When Albert Einstein & Charlie Chaplin Met and Became Fast Friends (1930)

From Open Culture:

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Albert Einstein became one of the world’s great science communicators by choice, not necessity, and found ways to explain his complex theories to children and the elderly alike. But perhaps, if he'd had his way, he would rather have avoided words altogether, and preferred acrobatic feats of silent daring to get his message across. We might at least conclude so from his reverence for the work of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was the only person Einstein wanted to meet in California during his second (1930–31) visit to the U.S., when he was at the height of his fame, with newspapers tracking his every move and academics clamoring for explanations of his theories.

The admiration was mutual. Their first meetings happened outside press scrutiny at Universal Studios, where the pair took a tour and had lunch together. They hit it off straight away, sharing quick wits and curious minds. In his autobiography, Chaplin writes that Einstein's wife Elsa finagled an invitation to dinner at Chaplin's house. He was only too happy to oblige, arranging an intimate dinner at which Elsa regaled him with the story of when Einstein came up with his world-changing theory around 1915.

The two continued to correspond, and the big public unveiling of their friendship came when Chaplin invited Einstein to the premiere of City Lights in 1931 (see photo up top) where the mega-celebrities from very different worlds were greeted by reporters, photographers, and adoring crowds.

It's clear Einstein saw something in Charlie Chaplin worth emulating. Chaplin left his mark on Existentialist philosophy, lending the name of his film Modern Times to Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir's influential journal, Les Temps Modernes. He also left a legacy on Beat poetry, lending the name City Lights to Lawrence Ferlinghetti's infamous San Francisco bookstore and publisher.