Silent star set for Deco days

Charlie (Max Patmoy) Chaplin will again deliver the silent treatment for this weekend's big mid-winter event in Napier. Photo / File

On the eve of the Hawke's Bay Toyota Winter Art Deco Weekend, which kicks off tomorrow, there was a spot of moustache trimming going on.

Charlie Chaplin was in preparation mode, although as Napier man Max Patmoy (who has become well known for his rendition of the silent-screen star) said, he hoped people would not confuse him with another moustached face.

"You'd be surprised how many people have come up to me during an Art Deco weekend and asked if I was Adolf Hitler," he said. "It's the under-30s you see ... they just don't know who Charlie Chaplin was."

For Mr Patmoy, it will be a return this weekend to the bowler hat and scruffy old suit, and silent "conversations" with people who want to have their photo taken with him, after having taken a break from the character during the summer Tremains Art Deco Weekend.

"I'll be popping up at a few events and just be out and about," he said.

He took on the guise after arriving in the Bay about 15 years ago and decided he wanted to be part of the event based around Art Deco.

"I wanted to do a character and, with Charlie, I was able to do that as I suited him and got to be able to play the fool."

Through the years, he has had his photo taken "a few times" (thousands) as visitors insist on getting snapped with a star from the Art Deco film era. And despite playing a silent role, he still manages to chat with folk.

"I have a small card which says 'hello' on one side and 'goodbye' on the other."

He also pops up as a "schmoozer" outside the Art Deco Trust when the cruise liners are in port - welcoming and entertaining the passengers as they arrive.

With a laugh, he said the only downside was when he was out with his wife, Elizabeth, and people would call out, "hello Charlie ... and Mrs Charlie".

"I enjoy the Art Deco weekends and they are so important for Hawke's Bay. We have to do everything we can for it."

This year's mid-winter event opens with the Grand Anniversary Ball at the War Memorial Conference Centre tomorrow night, which not only kicks off the weekend but celebrates the Art Deco Trust's 30th birthday.

Trust events manager Jonathan Smith says more than 20 new events will be included over three days and he believes it will be the biggest and best winter Deco event yet. There will be dances, vintage railcar rides, high teas, a casino evening, costumes and cars and a silver-screen star dinner.

Ticket sales have been strong, although some are still available for a few events.

The only minor dampener could be the prospect of rain on Saturday and a few showers on Sunday via a southwesterly air flow. Tomorrow is forecast to be 16C and mainly sunny, while Saturday is set to be 15C with rain. It will be clearing Sunday, although the temperature will drop to 13C.

But Mr Smith said: "While the temperature outside seems to be getting cooler Napier's Art Deco city is heating up".

-For the programme and ticket inquiries, call into the Art Deco Trust, on the corner of Tennyson and Herschell streets, or visit the website: artdeconapier.com