page_title: La Violetera
section_title: Plagiarism and adaptations
hierarchical_section_title: La Violetera / Plagiarism and adaptations
caption_attribution_description: English: Publicity still for Charlie Chaplin's 1931 film City Lights. The source code in the bottom right corner confirms that this was a publicity still. Such images were taken on set during filming, or as part of an organized photo-shoot, by a studio photographer. They were then disseminated to the media and the public to promote the film (see Film still). Čeština: Záběr z americké romantické komedie Světla velkoměsta z roku 1931. Public domain explanation It is unlikely that this image was secured with copyright protection, as stated by film industry expert Gerald Mast in Film Study and the Copyright Law (1989) p. 87: "According to the old copyright act, such production stills were not automatically copyrighted as part of the film and required separate copyrights as photographic stills ... Most studios have never bothered to copyright these stills because they were happy to see them pass into the public domain, to be used by as many people in as many publications as possible." If there is any chance that the photograph was copyrighted, under the terms of the 1909 Copyright Act (which was law until 1978) it would have had to be renewed 28 years after publication. Copyright renewal records for artwork in 1958 find no trace of any images from City Lights: [1]
context_page_description: "La Violetera" is a 1914 cuplé song, with the rhythm of a habanera, composed by José Padilla and with lyrics by Eduardo Montesinos, originally performed by Carmen Flores and popularized by Raquel Meller first and by Sara Montiel later. The instrumental version is also popular as a tango. In Spanish, a Violetera is a woman who sells violets.
context_section_description: In 1926 Anselmo Aieta wrote a tango to lyrics by Francisco García Jiménez, where the refrain is a straight borrowing of "La Violetera"'s theme.
  Among the most famous adaptations is the one by Charles Chaplin in his 1931 film City Lights. The main theme used as a leitmotif for the blind flower-seller is the song "La Violetera" ("Who’ll Buy my Violets"). Chaplin was unable to secure the song performer, Raquel Meller, in the lead role, but used the song melody anyway as a major theme. In 1934, Chaplin lost a lawsuit to Padilla (which took place in Paris, where Padilla then lived) for not crediting him. Some modern editions released for video include a new recording by Carl Davis.
caption: City Lights (1931), in which Chaplin used "La Violetera"
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