Chaplin statue back on the mend

FOR the past 14 years, it has drawn thousands of visitors to the seaside town of Waterville in Co Kerry.

Unfortunately, it has also attracted drunken revellers, vandals and souvenir hunters.

The life-sized likeness of Charlie Chaplin, sculpted by Valentia Island-based Alan Ryan Hall, has become almost as famous as the man himself and since 1996 it has helped put on the map the town where the silent movie star spent his retirement holidays.

Last week, however, locals discovered vandals had used a hacksaw to sever Chaplin’s famous walking cane, leaving hundreds of visitors perplexed and puzzled. But within hours, local gardaí uncovered the whereabouts of the culprits and retrieved the cane.

“This is very good news,” said Alan Ryan Hall yesterday. “The guards got a tip-off, found the cane and gave those responsible a good lecture. We hope to rebuild it tomorrow so that it will look exactly the same, although we will make it more secure so this can’t happen again.”

Gardaí brought the cane to the offices of Integrated Rural Development to be returned to the sculptor.

This is not the first time the famous statue has come to grief. Five years ago, three revellers dislodged the sculpture from its foundation and bent one of Chaplin’s fingers.

“On that occasion it was damaged by three hefty lads who swung off it. Since then it has been moved off the side of the road to a council plot with a very attractive pagoda which the council built,” said Mr Hall.

“This time around, it could have proven very expensive to fix it if we hadn’t got the piece of cane back so I am absolutely delighted that it was retrieved. This means that it can be put to rights much more quickly and much more cheaply. I hope we can have it back together by the weekend,” he said.

The sculpture attracts up to 50 coach-loads of tourists a day with hundreds of tourists stopping off to be photographed with it. It is also often decked with the Kerry colours during the GAA championship season and wears a black mourning cloak whenever Kerry loses the All-Ireland football final.

Charlie Chaplin and his family were regular visitors to Waterville, staying in the Butler Arms Hotel. He had a house nearby and it was said that Waterville was one of his favourite places. He died at the age of 88 in Switzerland in 1977.