In his biography of Chaplin, Bessy wrote about the famous Tramp figure: The character of Charlie is not a comic character. His shabby clothes are those of a man who is down on his luck. The cane is a mark of snobbishness. It is the sole remaining personal possession of this unfortunate fellow, and that is why he flourishes it with such pride..

As David Robinson recounts ..The legend is that [the tramp costume] was concocted one rainy afternooon in the communal male dressing room at Keystone [in early February 1914] ...where Chaplin borrowed Fatty Arbuckle's voluminous trousers, tiny Charles Avery's jacket, Ford Sterling's size fourteen shoes...a too-small derby belonging to Arbuckle's father-in-law, and a moustache intended for Mack Swain's use, which he trimmed to toothbrush size... Chaplin apparently never endorsed this version of the costume's origins, however he did recall that ..the costume induced the character.. It is Robinson's belief that the symbolic interpretation Chaplin gave to each individual element of the costume came about with the benefit of hindsight some time later...

In a film by Simon Dargolls in which Maurice Bessy talks about his Chaplin souvenirs, he mentions that Chaplin gave him this cane in 1938, five years after Modern Times was made. Chaplin was apparently very bitter about the reception this film had received and told Bessy that he could have the cane as Charlot was now dead.

Although Chaplin undoubtedly used a number of canes in each of his films which featured his famous Tramp costume, quite a few would be broken during filming, i.e. snapping when he put too much pressure on them causing them to curve, getting trapped in swinging doors etc. and it is unusual to be able to allocate specific film use with a particular cane as in this instance.


See: Souvenirs Chaplinesques - Un film de Simon Dargolls recontés par Maurice Bessy.