"I had no idea what makeup to put on. I did not like my get-up as the press reporter [in Making a Living]. However on the way to the wardrobe I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering Sennett had expected me to be a much older man, I added a small mustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression.
I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born." (Chaplin, My Autobiography, 1964)
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| Tramp costume, c.1918 |
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| Chaplin's bowler hat, cane, and shoes from a 1987 Christie's auction. |
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| Prop mustache worn by Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940), attached to a piece of paper signed and inscribed to Chaplin’s friend, Maurice Bessy: To Maurice - thank you for your book - merci! Charlie Chaplin, Sept. 1946. |
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| Rollie Totheroh, Charlie’s cameraman for over 35 years, looks pensively at the costume Chaplin wore in The Kid (1921). Photo from 1954. |
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| 82-year-old Chaplin holding a cane he used in Modern Times (1936). |