Jean Cocteau and Charlie Chaplin spend time on the Riviera, in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, late 1950s

Cocteau and Chaplin met in 1936, when they were returning from Japan on the same ship. Cocteau spoke no English, and Chaplin no French. Nevertheless they fell into conversation and on the very first day chattered until four in the morning, helped along by Cocteau's secretary, who knew a little English. By morning they felt that they had already become friends, and, embracing, promised to meet for breakfast. Naturally, both overslept, and, as Cocteau recalls, feeling that they had had an excess of each other's company, they took a break of several days.

In Tokyo Cocteau had bought a tame cricket, which began to sing every time one spoke to it, and he was delighted by this, taking the tiny cage with the insect everywhere and listening to its melodies. When they arrived in San Francisco, Chaplin offered his limousine to get to Los Angeles. The cricket sang incessantly, and Cocteau said: "You see how much he likes America", opened the car window and set the insect free. When Chaplin said: but he is in a foreign country and does not know the language, Cocteau replied: never mind, he is clever, he will soon understand.

In 1957 Chaplin was holidaying with his family in the South of France, and Cocteau invited him to visit. There was, moreover, a good occasion: the chapel in Villefranche-sur-Mer, which Cocteau had restored, was being opened. Wonderful photographs survive from that holiday, and, judging by the pictures, Jean Cocteau and Charlie Chaplin spent the summer unforgettably.