Chaplin’s trademark, the derby cocked on his head, thick swatch of a moustache, and gargantuan shoes, was the result of Mack Sennett’s request that he “get into a comedy make-up” for Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914).
With a little ingenuity, he concocted the outfit in a dressing room while Fatty Arbuckle and Chester Conklin played pinochle.
Fatty kindly contributed his father-in-law’s derby and his own pants, of generous proportions. Cocklin provided the little cutaway and Ford Sterling the size-14 shoes, which were so big Chaplin had to wear each on the wrong foot to keep them on.
He devised the moustache from a bit of crepe hair belonging to Mack Swain. The only thing the tramp himself owned was the whangee cane.
Related Posts
-
How are Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Charlie Chaplin Connected to Adolf Hitler Through Astrology?
Charlie Chaplin and Hitler were associated astrologically from birth. This is because both men were born within the same hour in the same week of the same year. The date connecting Winston Churchill…
-
What is the Difference Between a Bum, a Hobo, and a Tramp and What Do the Words Mean?
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Godfrey Irwin published American Tramp and Underworld Slang, within which he explained the difference. Bums loaf and sit; tramps loaf and walk; but a hobo moves…
-
What Kind of Ship Is a “Tramp Steamer”, What Were They Used For, and Where Did They Come From?
Today a "tramp steamer" is more accurately described as a "tramp freighter," since steam engines have long been replaced by diesels. In either case, just like human "tramps" who wander the streets, these…
-
How Did Dr. Seuss Get the Idea of Putting an Elephant in a Tree for His Book Horton Hatches the Egg?
Dr. Seuss came up with the idea of putting an elephant in a tree for his book, Horton Hatches the Egg, more haphazardly than you might think. Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, was…
-
How did the skeptics get the idea that Shakespeare did not write his own plays?
The shadowy actor of whom we know so little, with whom we credit the pinnacles of English literature, has been the object of veneration, gentle skepticism, and the most bitter abuse. The camps…
-
What Are Black Holes and When Did Roger Penrose Come Up With the Idea of Singularity?
In the 1960s, English mathematician Roger Penrose came up with the idea of singularity. A singularity occurs when an object becomes smaller and smaller from being crushed but does not lose any matter.…
