It is believed that once the great actor took part in the competition of the doubles of himself and could not win. We checked if it was so.

Stories from the life of Charlie Chaplin are sometimes no less funny than his heroes. In particular, information on how Chaplin, being an already famous actor, decided to participate in the competition of doubles of Charlie Chaplin was widespread. Oddly enough, he took only third place in it.

This case is written in the media ("Gazeta.ru", Newsweek, Culture Trip, historical and biographical chronicle "ZhZL") And different books. History regularly falls into the selection of facts about Chaplin on YouTube. At the same time, its place and time of action vary: somewhere it is said about 1915-1921, somewhere-oh 1975somewhere-about the competition in the USA, and, for example, in a collection of facts called Know It All It is said that it was generally in Monte Carlo. And even the final place of the great comedian varies from very low to the second.

Charlie Chaplin’s popularity in the form of tramps created by him by 1915 reached the climax, especially in the United States. On the labels of all kinds of products, his photograph or name flaunted, millions of people tried to dress in the same way as his hero. In addition, the appearance of time first competitions doubles of the famous artist. The matter was simple: regardless of this nature of appearance, to get a pot, a cane and imitate the antennae did not represent a big problem.

Chaplin double competition. November 5, 1921, Bellingham, USA

And on August 10, 1920, the first appeared note About the participation of Chaplin in such a competition. This happened in the Singapore publication The Straits Times. The text of the article read:

“Lord Desboro, who was presiding at dinner at the Anglo -Saxon club, told a story that will be remembered for a long time. She came from Miss Mary Pickford (the famous actress of silent cinema, friend of Chaplin. - Approx. Aut.), Who told Lady Desboro that Charlie Chaplin once in the United States hit the fair, where the main entertainment was a competition for a better imitation of Charlie Chaplin's gait. Real Charlie Chaplin thought that he might have a chance, and took part without his famous mustache and boots. He performed terribly and took 20th place. "

On August 25, a note of almost the same content was already in the New Zealand Poverty Bay Herald. But on March 23, 1921 in the Australian newspaper The Albany Advertiser New details appeared. In particular, it was argued that the competition was held “recently in California”, 40 people participated, and Chaplin, under a fictional name, took 27th place.

Singapore, New Zealand and Australia - these are the three countries in which articles were born about the curious participation of Chaplin in the competition in the United States. How is it, and where are the American primary sources, you ask? Alas, reports of such a competition in biographical books about Chaplin begin to appear mainly in the 1990s. In particular, history is given in Joyce Milton's book "Tramp. The life of Charlie Chaplin"(1996) - scandalous and, as the film experts insist, the inaccurate biography of the actor. It says:

“Charlie himself was less fortunate. When he took part in the competition organized by the theater in San Francisco, he could not even get to the finals. "I can’t wait to give lessons on the Chaplinsky gait. Out of pity, as well as out of the desire to see that everything is done correctly," he told the reporter. "

The quote in the book contains a link to the Chicago Held newspaper on July 15, 1915. On the basis of this link, the well -known factory portal Snopes at one time analyzed the legend (with an affirmative verdict), which today Remote. And for this, most likely, there is a reason. In 2012, enthusiasts, desperate to find the mentioned number in online archives, Turned To the Chicago Public Library. And they received the answer:

“The article you requested from Chicago Held on July 15, 1915 cannot be found. The librarians conducted a thorough search for the article and could not find anything appropriate to your description. ”

Thus, if there was no typo, then the author of the biography referred to a non -existent source. Nevertheless, it is unambiguous to consider the news “duck” does not allow the lack of a refutation by Chaplin or his official representatives. In particular, another researcher of the question sent a letter to the organization The Chaplin Officeuniting both the heirs of the actor and all kinds of archives related to him. This is what read answer office:

“The only real mention of this case I saw (-a) in the notch from the English newspaper 1918 that Mary Pickford was in London at the dinner of the Anglo-Saxon club and told the story of Lord Desboro, who repeated her for the press: supposedly Charlie Chaplin participated in the competition of Chaplin’s gait at the USA and took 20th place.

This joke, told by a certain Lord Desboro, whoever it was, had a broad walk in the British press at one time. I have not met other mentions of this competition in those albums with newspaper clippings that caught my eye, so I can only assume that this is the source of this city legend.

However, this may be true. Somehow I have made a note for myself that Charlie Chaplin Jr. mentions the competition in my book "My Father" ... But now I could not find this reference in the book. "

Thus, representatives of Chaplin could neither confirm nor refute this story, although they strongly doubted its truthfulness. Lord DesboroMentioned in the first publications, was a real and respected politician and athlete. Nevertheless, the reference of the genus “The Lord told at dinner the story that the wife told him, to whom Mary Pickford (and not even Chaplin himself) told him, and even not published in the central newspapers, they do not inspire confidence. As for the second version of history (1975, France / Monte Carlo, 3rd place), this case was to be well documented. And since there are not even newspaper reports about him, apparently, it is based on the first, semi-mythical story.