At the peak of Charlie Chaplin's success, his 'Tramp' comedies were such solid money-makers that several other film companies churned out counterfeit Chaplin films, featuring actors (including at least one woman) who copied Chaplin's costume, makeup, and acting technique as closely as possible. One counterfeit, a Mexican who billed himself as Charlie Aplin(!
Because Charlie Chaplin was such a huge star in the 1914-1920 time period, there were many shameless imitators that simply stole his "Little Tramp" character and tried to fool audiences. Some of them were obviously not the original--they looked only superficially like him and the films just weren't all that funny.
This is one of a series of films made by comedian Billy West in which he imitated as closely as possible the makeup, costume, and mannerisms of the much more popular Charlie Chaplin. West was very technically skilled, and he managed a good reproduction of everything about Chaplin's performance except its soulfulness, subtlety, and humor.
