The off-screen chemistry between Charles Chaplin and Jackie Coogan was just as strong as their onscreen relationship. Every Sunday, during the first few weeks of filming, Chaplin would take Jackie to amusement parks and pony rides and other activities. Some have seen Chaplin's relationship with Coogan as an attempt for Chaplin to reclaim his own unhappy childhood, while others have interpreted Chaplin's attention toward the boy as recasting Coogan into the child he had just lost.
Charles Chaplin and Jackie Coogan met for the last time in 1972, during Chaplin's brief return to America for an Honorary Academy Award.
Due to the fact that Jackie Coogan's mother and stepfather had spent all the youngster's money before he reached adulthood, the "Coogan Bill" was enacted to ensure that child actors' funds would never again be able to be squandered by their parents or guardians.
A dedicated perfectionist,Charles Chaplin took five and a half months to shoot the film, a huge amount of time for a film production in 1921.