Charlie Chaplin "Little Tramp" suit up for auction.

[Justin B]

Even though it's a live auction, I don't think that many (any) of us will be bidding.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Charlie-C...itu=UCC&otn=5&ps=63&clkid=4671309255291719397

 

[rue]

Wow! If I could I would. It really should be in a museum though.

 

[Mr Vim]

That's a good point, why isn't it going to a museum? Doesn't the Smithsonian have Archie Bunker's chair for goodness sake?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

That's a good point, why isn't it going to a museum? Doesn't the Smithsonian have Archie Bunker's chair for goodness sake?

Chaplin used a number of 'Little Tramp' suits over his screen career. Some of them are already in museums. Nothing wrong with one going into a private collection.

 

[jamespowers]

Chaplin used a number of 'Little Tramp' suits over his screen career. Some of them are already in museums. Nothing wrong with one going into a private collection.

I agree. Buy it Marc!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I agree. Buy it Marc!

You buy it first, then I'll buy it from you!

 

[rue]

Why don't you both split the cost and give it to me

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

$197,000 :eeek:

Edit
Might be a bit more tricky to find enough people to chip in a buck each for James and Marc than it would for that Omega watch I want! lol

 

[jamespowers]

You buy it first, then I'll buy it from you!

Uh, no. You buy it first.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Chaplin used a number of 'Little Tramp' suits over his screen career. Some of them are already in museums. Nothing wrong with one going into a private collection.

Ahhhh, but this one is supposedly Chaplin's very first tramp suit.

 

[jamespowers]

Why don't you both split the cost and give it to me

Or you could buy it and give it to me.

 

[jamespowers]

Ahhhh, but this one is supposedly Chaplin's very first tramp suit.

Supposedly is the operative word here.

 

[rue]

Or you could buy it and give it to me.

Bring me the typewriter and the grapefruit first and I'll think about it

Supposedly is the operative word here.

I wonder how they would know.... do you think they're numbered?

 

[jamespowers]

Bring me the typewriter and the grapefruit first and I'll think about it

Sounds like a good deal.

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I'd end up a real tramp if I bought this suit. In the Chaplin sense of the word, of course. Not the Kardashian sense.

I did notice the winner gets free Economy shipping, so y'all may want to rethink.

 

[jamespowers]

I wonder how they would know.... do you think they're numbered?

Not likely. You would have to match it up to screen shots of his early movies to be sure and even that is sketchy with black and white films of that age.:eusa_doh:[huh]

 

[Justin B]

The story of it's history is in the listing. Willing to bet it has documentation as well.

This is the original tramp suit that Charlie Chaplin first wore in the part of "The Little Tramp". It was lent to him by Billie Ritchie whilst they were filming for the Alfred Karno Company. Chaplin was supposed to be playing the part of the gentleman cad and Ritchie the tramp, but due to this not working for Chaplin, Ritchie offered to exchange roles. Chaplin, put on the suit, the shoes were too large, so he put them on opposite feet and Charlie Chaplin's iconic creation was born.

Chaplin returned the suit after filming, but became famous as he reprised the character. Ritchie, who had originated the "drunk" role was galled that the directors asked him to make his characters more Chaplin-esque. He was to die in a filming accident involving an ostrich in 1921. His widow Winifred came back to Britain with the suit that was placed in the museum of Harry Brown, a stage doorman of many London Theatres 1930-60. The outfit and cane were believed to have been given to Harry Brown after Billie Ritchie's family read an article pertaining to the collection of memorabilia owned by Harry Brown in their local paper. The cane was later signed by Charlie Chaplin in 1952 at the Odeon Leicester Square where he met Brown. When Harry Brown died the suit was exhibited at the Museum of Moving Images in London, the Museum of Entertainment, Truro, Cornwall and at Exeter University. Unfortunately the corn flower blue overcoat and trunk was lost in one of the moves.

The items came up, remarkably, in Plymouth (at the Plymouth Auction Rooms, 18/5/2005) as three lots, namely the suit, the signed cane and a collection of walking sticks from the museum that included Charlie Chaplin, Billie Ritchie, Winston Churchill and other notables. The signed cane was sold to a collector in Texas, USA. We were able to buy the suit and the collection of canes and have re-united the Charlie Chaplin cane with the suit. The shoes are drilled through the soles to allow them to be bolted to the floor, for the nearly falling down scenes.

The book "Chaplin: His Life and Art" (Collins, 1985 by David Robinson) which covers the Charlie Chaplin/Billie Ritchie suit saga is also included , as well as newspaper cuttings, a Bonhams cataloge 1996 where the suit was previously sold and the relevant newspaper cuttings from 2005 when we bought the suit. A chance to own a significant part of Chaplin and film history. Open to sensible offers.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Ahhhh, but this one is supposedly Chaplin's very first tramp suit.

The hell it is. Chaplin's tramp suit first showed up in one scene from "Mabel's Strange Predicament "(1914) and in the entire film of "Kids' Auto Races in Venice" (1914). Surprise! Entirely different jacket (it's a 3-button, short swallowtail coat) and vest (it's single-breasted and plaid, with taped piping along its edges.)


"Mabel's Strange Predicament":

"Kids' Auto Races in Venice":

Comic actor Billie Ritchie wore a 'bum' costume onscreen before Chaplin did, although Ritchie's characters weren't tramps. The truth, I reckon, is that this outfit on eBay was Billie Ritchie's, period. There no way to prove or verify if Chaplin tried on Richie's getup for a moment (Chaplin himself never mentioned it); all we do know is that Chaplin never wore Ritchie's own outfit onscreen.


Comic actor Chester Conklin was in the dressing room at Keystone the day Chaplin put together his own costume for the first time. Conklin recalled, "And one time I was making a picture with Mabel Normand called 'Mabel's Strange Predicament'. We were in a hotel. We had the hotel set up on the stage, and the diffusers were drawn over the set, to keep the rain off. We weren't working that morning. Charlie came in our dressing-room, where Ford Sterling and Roscoe Arbuckle and myself were sitting playing pinochle, and he put on my cutaway coat and Roscoe's hat and Ford's big shoes, and picked up a piece of hair off the make-up bench and held it under his upper lip, and he liked it and he stuck it on, which is his present moustache, the moustache you see today."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-j2K3A1S5ak#!

 

[jamespowers]

The hell it is. Chaplin's tramp suit first showed up in one scene from "Mabel's Strange Predicament "(1914) and in the entire film of "Kids' Auto Races in Venice" (1914). Surprise! Entirely different jacket (it's a 3-button, short swallowtail coat) and vest (it's single-breasted and plaid, with taped piping along its edges.)


"Mabel's Strange Predicament":

"Kids' Auto Races in Venice":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-j2K3A1S5ak#!

Well, we are done with that then.

 

[Steve]