Charlie poses with Paulette on the lawn of his Beverly Hills home, c. 1935.

Paulette Goddard & Mexican comedian Cantinflas, Mexico, 1940. Cantinflas was often referred to as the “Charlie Chaplin of Mexico”.

Charlie & Paulette at the New York premiere of The Great Dictator, October, 1940.

The couple did not travel together to the New York City premiere. Paulette flew in from Mexico, where she had been spending a great deal of time with artist Diego Rivera, and Charlie arrived from Los Angeles. After the premiere, Paulette flew back to L.A. and Charlie stayed on in New York for another four months. During this time, Paulette moved out Charlie’s house. “It was inevitable that Paulette and I should separate,” Charlie wrote in his autobiography. “We both knew it long before The Great Dictator was started…When I returned home to Beverly Hills she had gone to Mexico to get a divorce. It was a very sad house.”

In My Father, Charlie Chaplin, Charlie, Jr. describes spending Easter 1938 with his father, stepmother Paulette Goddard, & his brother, Sydney:

Up until this year, Syd and I had not participated in the coloring of the eggs. But that Easter Eve we were allowed to help Paulette, all three of us working away in the living room. Dad reserved himself the hiding of the eggs, a chore he loved because of its conspiratorial nature. I have never ceased to be amazed at the simplicity of the things in which my father found so much pleasure. I can remember him with that sly expression on his face, packing us off to bed so he would have freedom to work. He hid the eggs in the chairs and the sofa of the living room, in the dining room, out on the lawn.

Easter morning we had a late breakfast together on the porch, and the relaxed atmosphere was like a burst of sunshine after Dad’s tension of the last months. A little later Syd’s and my friends gathered for the hunt. Soon there were children all over the place, squealing and yelling and tearing everything apart in their exuberant search. And there was Dad following right behind us with his hands clasped behind his back, as though to keep from rooting out the eggs himself.

“Now you’re hot! Now you’re cold! Lukewarm now!” his steady monologue guided us like manikins on a string until we found them all.

Photo: Charlie, Paulette, Charlie, Jr. & Sydney at the Coconut Grove, late 1930s.

Charlie & Paulette at the Mocambo Club, July 1942.  This is one year after their “divorce” and around the time that a contract was drawn up between Charlie Chaplin, “Producer” and Paulette Goddard, “Artist”. This contract, which is still in existence, was only signed by Charlie.  Evidently, Charlie had plans to make another film with Paulette, but she was lured away by a contract with Paramount which gave her much more freedom—and money.

Outtake from Modern Times.

Charlie & Paulette, c. 1940.

Drawing of Charlie & Paulette in The Great Dictator (1940).

This illustration was one of several by Al Hirschfeld that was created for the original theatrical release of The Great Dictator and appeared in the film’s press book and souvenir program.

Charlie & Paulette not looking very happy, c. 1939.

Charlie’s own Ex Libris.

You can see another one of his bookplates here. And one he designed for Paulette Goddard here.

Charlie & Paulette on the set of Modern Times, 1935.

Charlie & Paulette, 1938.

The look on Paulette’s face speaks volumes about the state of their relationship at this point.