Bonhams & Butterfields hosted the record-breaking sale on Sunday, June
25, 2006 of film legend Charlie Chaplin’s trademark bowler hat and cane from his
iconic Tramp costume. A noted private collector acquired the lot – after
competitive bidding – for $139,250.

The auction also featured a
tremendous selection of animation. Offered by Bonhams were drawings, layouts,
cels and more from Disney , Warner Brothers, Walter Lantz and many others. They
also posters and much more from the world of entertainment. Still, it is the
Chaplin sale that has everyone talking.

Chaplin’s famous origins of
the “Tramp” persona were concocted almost spontaneously in the
communal male dressing room at Keystone Studios, Hollywood. As the legend goes
– one rainy afternoon, in early February 1914, Chaplin created an inspiring
ensemble of contrasts: he borrowed Fatty Arbuckle’s voluminous trousers, Charles
Avery’s tiny jacket, Ford Sterling’s size 14 shoes (which he was obliged to wear
on the wrong feet to keep them falling off), 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. According to Ted Tetrick, Chaplin’s Hollywood
producer and costumier at the time, the hat and cane were originally within the
studio’s costume department and were selected by Chaplin personally.

The bowler hat is stamped with manufacturer’s details inside the leather hatband
and original studio label stamped “The Chaplin Studios Inc.
California” and ink stamped “Charles Chaplin Film
Corporation.” The cane is 32-inches long and made of bamboo. Charlie
Chaplin, according to auction house specialists, was without doubt, the most
innovative and recognizable comic of the silent screen.

Additional
highlights from the two-day auction of Entertainment Memorabilia include: a
world auction record for a two-headed llama from the original Doctor
Dolittle (1967) starring Rex Harrison (fetched $4,780); a book inscribed
with a drawing by John Lennon – a gift to the Beatle’s gardener for Christmas –
brought $9,560; a 1937 Walt Disney celluloid from Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs depicting the Wicked Witch and her bubbling cauldron sold for $8,365
and a saxophone played and signed at his inauguration by former US President
Bill Clinton and other celebrities went for $7,768.

Details on this
world-wide sale can be found at http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=USA&screen=index.