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Art a la Carte

One of the pressbooks in the Chaplin archives includes a 1925 press clipping headlined “Art a la Carte” featuring the artwork above by R.C. Springer and an amusing poem by Edith Bristol, transcribed below. The publication refers to the poem as “food” and the drawing as “trimmings”, specifying that they were “suggested by a scene from Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Gold Rush,’ at Grauman’s Egyptian Theater.”

A suggestion gastronomical,
As well as economical,
Which on the screen proves comical,
     Is “fricassee of shoe.”
For in that part of “The Gold Rush” on
The scenes where sourdoughs mush on,
Is Chaplin’s bit which scores a hit
     By footwear in a stew.
Where Charlie, in the ice and snow,
‘Way up among the Esquimaux,
Where Borealis’ flashes glow,
     Concocts a choice ragout.
The taste of this unusual dish
Proves rarer, far than meat or fish;
The diners eat it all and wish
     They had still more to chew.
Housewives may find a timely hint
In this idea – it’s worth a mint,
When food is high, no need to stint –
     Just boil up a shoe.


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