Update on the newly found photos

First of all, I want to thank Dominique Dugros for his great detective work. It's truly amazing (and I don't use that overused word often) what we can find out about 100 year old photos in the space of 24 hours.

According to Chaplin collector, Shunichi Ohkubo the photos I posted yesterday were evidently taken by Tom Bones, who was a photographer at the Keystone studios in those days. There was some speculation as to whether the photos were from the time of the filming of The Star Boarder but this might not be the case (Bones also took some photos of CC & Minta Durfee from that film). Dominique exhaustively compared Chaplin's outfit (right down to the white tip on his cane) to practically every Keystone film and the only one that matches every detail is Those Love Pangs. The only element that isn't clear is whether he is wearing a striped shirt. Chaplin also has the watch chain attached to the safety pin. This was something that was missing from Getting Acquainted, plus the fact that he was wearing a striped tie. TLP was filmed around mid-September 1914.

Dominique also discovered that the photo from the cover of Stephen Weissman's book, Chaplin: A Life, which is something that has always puzzled me because it didn't seem to belong to the Witzel or Hartsook collection, may have been taken at the same time as these newly found photos. Like the photos I posted yesterday, Chaplin is standing on a platform that is covered with a sheet, he is also holding a cigarette (behind his back). Another similar aspect is that the original is flipped the wrong direction (below I am showing the photo in its original (left) and flipped form for the sake of comparison). Three of the original photos from yesterday were flipped the wrong way (the jacket pocket should be on the right).

Photo copyright: Jeffrey Vance

There is still a mysterious aspect to these photos even with all of this new information. Nevertheless, it seems fitting that most of us are seeing these rare and beautiful photos for the first time during the Tramp's centennial year.