‘The Little Tramp’ falls victim to UCLA students’ prank
Oct. 14, 1927: Charlie Chaplin and a large crew waited idly in Glendale, unable to film scenes of Chaplin’s new movie, “The Circus,” because two circus wagons were missing.
They “had disappeared mysteriously during the previous night,” The Times reported.
“The actors sat around patiently waiting at Charlie’s expense while deputy sheriffs and police searched for the missing props,” the newspaper said.
“These finally were located on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles, where students apparently had taken them for fuel for their annual bonfire.”
The bonfire “marked the end of the traditional Occidental pajamarino,” held each year at UCLA before the football game against Occidental College, The Times explained.
In the pajamarino, fraternity men in pajamas “paraded up and down streets near the campus” with the university band.
They then arrived at the athletic field, where the bonfire was lighted.
After that, “the pajama-clad men serpentined about the fire and then marched off to parade around Hollywood.”
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