When Charlie Chaplin allegedly entered a Chaplin lookalike contest
Throughout film history, almost nobody has had the same impact as Charlie Chaplin. Probably the greatest movie star to have ever lived, Chaplin’s output during the silent film era established him as a truly universal icon. Due to the immense legacy of masterpieces such as Modern Times and City Lights, younger generations of audiences continue to find beauty and humour in his illustrious filmography.
Due to his towering stature in popular culture, there are many myths associated with Chaplin. In fact, multiple sources have even reported that Adolf Hitler was familiar with Chaplin’s work and had watched The Great Dictator twice! However, the craziest anecdote about the film star has to be the story about his participation in a Chaplin lookalike contest.
At the height of his fame, Chaplinitis was an overwhelmingly powerful cultural phenomenon. While there were songs and dances based on Chaplin’s routine, the world of comedy was overflowing with performances by Chaplin impersonators. According to a newspaper article published in The Straits Times of Singapore (via eResources) in 1920, Chaplin once competed with these impersonators.
The article claimed: “Lord Desborough, presiding at a dinner of the Anglo-Saxon club, told a story which will have an enduring life. It comes from Miss Mary Pickford, who told it to Lady Desborough, ‘Charlie Chaplin was one day at a fair in the United States, where a principal attraction was a competition as to who could best imitate the Charlie Chaplin walk.'”
It continued. “The real Charlie Chaplin thought there might be a chance for him, so he entered for the performance, minus his celebrated moustache and his boots. He was a frightful failure and came in twentieth.” Eventually, other outlets, such as the Poverty Bay Herald, picked up the story too, but there was no evidence.
Apart from the original press clipping and the coverage of the anecdote in the press, there was no other reference to the event. Even a representative from the Association Chaplin dismissed the story, insisting that the lone anecdote was responsible for the whacky story about Chaplin’s defeat in the lookalike contest.
Jeffrey Vance, the writer of Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema, also clarified that he had found an interview where the icon denied all such claims: “Chaplin stated emphatically in the 1966 interview that the legend was not true and had no basis in fact. ‘In the first place,’ Chaplin explained. ‘I’m working hard all day. I certainly don’t want to do that.'”
