Despite their popularity, few comedians are sought after as signers.

I’ve always thought that strange.

For the most part, you can expect to pay considerably less than you would for a musician or an actor. Perhaps it’s that association with laughter that makes it so.

Charlie Chaplin, however, is one name that resolutely bucks that trend.

Good signed photographs have sold for well over $6,000.

Let’s explore why that might be.

Greatest star

When it comes to star power, Charlie Chaplin is in a league of his own.

His highly expressive brand of slapstick is the gold standard.

While contemporaries like Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd may have surpassed him in the scale and daring of their stunts, Chaplin’s skill lay in telling a compelling story with real heart.

You come away from The Kid moved by the relationship between father and son. Modern Times is a spectacular meditation on the trials of the machine age. And the Great Dictator is still one of the most biting satires ever made.

Chaplin put all of himself into his productions.

And that connection is why people are still drawn to his work.

It’s no coincidence that he always played the underdog...

Humble beginnings

Stories are what separate average autographs from great ones.

And Chaplin’s is as poignant as it gets.

Born into abject poverty in Victorian London, he interspersed time in the workhouse and the pauper’s school with performances on the west end stage.

In 1910, his hard work paid off and he got a place on a US vaudeville tour. In 1912, the New York Motion Picture Company poached him for Keystone Studios. Within a few short years he was both a millionaire and the biggest star on the planet.

No one could have called it.

It’s one of the best rags to riches stories of all time.

Iconic

If an icon is someone you can recognise from silhouette alone, then Chaplin may be the most instantly recognisable figure of all time.

He began sporting his instantly recognisable baggy coat, bowler hat and cane combo in 1914.

He came up with the costume quite by accident on the set of Mabel's Strange Predicament, his third movie. Chaplin later explained: “I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large...

“...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.”

Thanks for reading,

Paul.

PS. Do you have a Charlie Chaplin autograph you’re looking to sell? I may be able to help. Get in touch today at info@paulfrasercollectibles.com.