It is believed that once the great actor took part in a competition of doubles of himself and could not win. We checked to see if this was the case.

Stories from the life of Charlie Chaplin are sometimes no less funny than his heroes. In particular, information about how Chaplin, already a famous actor, decided to take part in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike competition became widespread. Oddly enough, he took only third place in it.

This case is reported in the media (“Gazeta.Ru», Newsweek, Culture Trip, historical and biographical chronicle "ZhZL") and various books. The story regularly appears in collections 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 1975, somewhere - about a competition in the USA, and, for example, in a collection of facts called Know It All it is said that the matter was generally in Monte Carlo. And even the final place of a great comedian varies from very low to second.

The popularity of Charlie Chaplin in the image of the Tramp he created reached its peak by 1915, especially in the USA. His photograph or name appeared on the labels of all kinds of products, and millions of people tried to dress just like his hero. At the same time comes the appearance first competitions doubles of the famous artist. The matter was simple: regardless of the appearance given by nature, getting a bowler hat, a cane and imitating a mustache was not a big problem.

Chaplin look-alike competition. November 5, 1921, Bellingham, USA

And then, on August 10, 1920, the first note about Chaplin's participation in such a competition. This happened in the Singapore edition of The Straits Times. The text of the article read:

“Lord Desborough, who presided over a dinner at the Anglo-Saxon Club, told a story that will long be remembered. It came from Miss Mary Pickford (famous silent film actress, Chaplin's friend - author's note), who told Lady Desborough that Charlie Chaplin once went to a fair in the USA, where the main entertainment was a competition for the best imitation of Charlie Chaplin's gait. The real Charlie Chaplin thought he might have a chance and took part without his famous mustache or boots. He performed terribly and finished 20th.”

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

Singapore, New Zealand and Australia are the three countries in which articles about Chaplin's curious participation in a look-alike competition in the USA were born. How can this be, 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, the story is given in Joyce Milton's book "Tramp. The Life of Charlie Chaplin"(1996) - a scandalous and, as film experts insist, unreliable biography of the actor. It says:

“Charlie himself was not so lucky. When he took part in a competition organized by a theater in San Francisco, he could not even make it to the finals. “I can’t wait to give lessons on the Chaplin gait. Out of pity, and also out of a desire to see that everything is done correctly,” he told the reporter.”

The quote given in the book contains a reference to the Chicago Herald newspaper of July 15, 1915. Based on this link, the well-known fact-checking portal Snopes at one time conducted an analysis of the legend (with an affirmative verdict), which today deleted. And there is most likely a reason for this. In 2012, enthusiasts, desperate to find the mentioned number in the online archives, contacted to the Chicago Public Library. And we received the answer:

“The article you requested from the July 15, 1915 Chicago Herald could not be found. The librarians conducted a thorough search of the article and were unable to find anything matching your description.”

Thus, unless there was any typo, the author of the biography referred to a non-existent source. Nevertheless, the lack of a denial from Chaplin or his official representatives does not allow us to clearly consider the news a “duck”. In particular, another researcher of the issue sent a letter to the organization The Chaplin Office, which unites both the actor’s heirs and all kinds of archives associated with him. That's what it said answer office:

“The only real mention of this incident I saw was in a 1918 English newspaper clipping that Mary Pickford was in London at an Anglo-Saxon Club dinner and told the story to Lord Desborough, who repeated it for the press: Charlie Chaplin allegedly entered a competition to imitate Chaplin’s gait at a fair in the USA and came in 20th place.

This anecdote, told by a certain Lord Desborough, whoever it was, was widely circulated in the British press at one time. I have not seen any other mention of this competition in the newspaper clipping albums that I have come across, so I can only assume that this is the source of this urban legend.

However, this may be true. I made a note a long time ago that Charlie Chaplin Jr. mentioned the competition in his book My Father... but now I couldn't find that reference in the book."

Thus, Chaplin's representatives could neither confirm nor deny this story, although they strongly doubted its veracity. Lord Desborough, mentioned in the first publications, was a real and respected politician and athlete. Nevertheless, references like “the lord told a story at dinner that his wife told him, to whom Mary Pickford told it (and not even Chaplin himself),” and even those not published in central newspapers, do not inspire confidence. As for the second version of the story (1975, France / Monte Carlo, 3rd place), this case should have been well documented. And since there are not even newspaper reports about it, it is apparently based on the first, semi-mythical story.