Chaplin's trimmed moustache was a key element of his famous Tramp costume. In an interview he said of his famous guise ...I wanted to create a satire on man. The cane stood for man's attempt at dignity, the moustache for his vanity, and the boots for the cares that hamper him....

Maurice Bessy co-wrote with Robert Florey Monsieur Chaplin, ou le rire dans la nuit, Jacques Damase, Paris: 1952, the book to which Chaplin possibly refers in his dedication.