Charlie Chaplin Days in Niles, 2026

I went out to Niles yesterday afternoon for the second day of the three day ‘Chaplin Days’ Festival they have in the historic little town each year. I wanted to catch the 2:30 showing of his 1915 film, ‘The Champion’. It’s always a fun weekend to take pictures out there, or go on a walking tour. I took some recent shots, and re posted a few pictures from previous Niles visits. (Thumbnail images)

There was lots of Charlies running around, old vehicles, and other old things, (like me).

  

And even some Saguaros; it’s out west, you know. (Are they, Tony?)

  

Watched ‘The Champion’, along with a packed house, in the same building Chaplin premiered the film in in 1915, the Niles Museum Building.

  

I had a beer afterwards in one of the outdoor tables in Niles, although, not as big of a beer as Charlie’s celebration beer at the end of ‘The Champion’ and took a walk around.

 

Never miss a photo op. That’s the house, still there, that Edna Purviance stayed in when she was Chaplin’s leading lady in four of the five films he made while in Niles. Edna is on Charlie’s right.

In 1978, Margot Patterson Doss, a columnist who wrote articles for the San Francisco Chronicle under the title of ‘San Francisco at Your Feet’ and later in her career ‘The Bay Area at Your Feet’, wrote about the history of movies in Niles in her column entitled ‘The Movies’ One-Horse Town’. There wasn’t a lot of information available at that time about the history of Niles at the time, and I took her Niles walk and kept her article. Here is a copy of her article, and its accompanying map.

 

  

‘The Champion’ was filmed at the old Essanay Movie Studio on Niles Blvd. and G Street. Here, Charlie is working out while getting ready for his big fight. Look at the mountain to the upper left of Chaplin in the film shot that I circled, and in the lower photo.

  

I learned about that Niles mountain view in ‘The Champion’ from John Bengtson’s book about Charlie Chaplin film locations called ‘Silent Traces’. Today, out in Niles, there was a tribute to John Bengtson who just died a few months ago.