February 10, 2025
When Charlie Chaplin Entered a Chaplin Look-Alike Contest & Came in 20th Place

Char­lie Chap­lin get started­ed seem­ing in his first motion pictures in 1914—40 motion pictures, to be exact—and, by way of 1915, the Unit­ed States had a significant case of “Chap­lini­tis.” Chap­lin mus­tach­es had been sud­den­ly pop­ping up each and every­the place–as had been Chap­lin imi­ta­tors and Chap­lin look-alike con­assessments. A tender Bob Hope appar­ent­ly received one such con­take a look at in Cleve­land. Chap­lin Fever con­tin­ued burn­ing sizzling via 1921, the 12 months when the Chap­lin look-alike con­take a look at, proven above, used to be held out­aspect the Lib­er­ty The­atre in Belling­ham, Wash­ing­ton.

Accord­ing to leg­finish, some­the place between 1915 and 1921, Chap­lin decid­ed to go into a Chap­lin look-alike con­take a look at, and misplaced, dangerous­ly.

A brief arti­cle referred to as “How Char­lie Chap­lin Failed,” seem­ing in The Straits Occasions of Sin­ga­pore in August of 1920, learn like this:

Lord Des­bor­ough, pre­sid­ing at a din­ner of the Anglo-Sax­on membership advised a sto­ry which may have an endur­ing existence. It comes from Omit Mary Select­ford who advised it to Girl Des­bor­ough, “Char­lie Chap­lin used to be someday at a good within the Unit­ed States, the place a prin­ci­good friend attrac­tion used to be a com­pe­ti­tion as to who may just absolute best imi­tate the Char­lie Chap­lin stroll. The true Char­lie Chap­lin idea there may well be a possibility for him so he entered for the consistent with­for­mance, minus his cel­e­brat­ed mous­tache and his boots. He used to be a fright­ful fail­ure and got here in twen­ti­eth.

A vari­a­tion at the similar sto­ry gave the impression in a New Zealand information­pa­consistent with, the Pover­ty Bay Her­ald, once more in 1920. As did anoth­er sto­ry within the Aus­tralian information­pa­consistent with, the Albany Adver­tis­er, in March, 1921.

A com­pe­ti­tion in Char­lie Chap­lin imper­son­ations used to be held in Cal­i­for­nia contemporary­ly. There used to be some­factor like 40 com­peti­tors, and Char­lie Chap­lin, as a comic story, entered the con­take a look at beneath an assumed title. He imper­son­at­ed his widely recognized movie self. However he didn’t win; he used to be twenty seventh within the com­pe­ti­tion.

Did Chap­lin are available in twentieth position? twenty seventh position? Did he input a con­take a look at in any respect? It’s a laugh to imag­ine that he did. However, a cen­tu­ry lat­er, many con­sid­er the sto­ry the stuff of city leg­finish. When one researcher requested the Asso­ci­a­tion Chap­lin to weigh in, they appar­ent­ly had this to mention: “This anec­dote advised by way of Lord Des­bor­ough, who­ev­er he can have been, used to be fairly extensive­ly document­ed within the British press on the time. There are not any oth­er ref­er­ences to this kind of com­pe­ti­tion in any oth­er press clip­ping albums that I’ve noticed so I will be able to best suppose that that is the supply of that hearsay, city fantasy, what­ev­er it’s. How­ev­er, it can be true.”

I’d love to consider it’s.

Observe: An ear­li­er ver­sion of this put up gave the impression on our website in ear­ly 2016.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

6o+ Loose Char­lie Chap­lin Movies On-line

What Would the International of Char­lie Chap­lin Glance Like in Col­or?: Watch a Col­or­ful­ly Restored Ver­sion of A Evening on the Display (1915)

The Char­lie Chap­lin Archive Opens, Hanging On-line 30,000 Pho­tos & Document­u­ments from the Lifetime of the Icon­ic Movie Big name

Char­lie Chap­lin Will get Strapped right into a Dystopi­an “Rube Gold­berg Gadget,” a Fright­ful Com­males­tary on Mod­ern Cap­i­tal­ism

Char­lie Chap­lin Movies a Scene Within a Lion’s Cage in 200 Takes

 


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