A Very Interesting History: The Chaplin Studios

In 1919, construction was completed on the land bought in 1917 by silent screen icon Charlie Chaplin, including his personal residence on the site. Many of Chaplin’s classic films were shot at the studios, including The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and Limelight (1952).

In 1953, a New York real estate investor bought the studio from Chaplin, who had left America permanently in October 1952, for $650,000. The new owner had planned to tear down the studio, but it was leased to a television production company and became known as Kling Studios. Starting in 1953, the property went through a succession of owners who used the studios to shoot television series. In 1953, ‘The Adventures of Superman’ television series starring George Reeves was shot there.

Beginning in 1959, Red Skelton shot his television series at the facility, and in April 1960 Skelton purchased the studio. Skelton also purchased three large mobile units for taping color television shows, making a total investment estimated at $3.5 million. Skelton had a large “Skelton Studios” sign erected over the main gate on La Brea Avenue.

Skelton sold the studio to CBS in 1962, and CBS shot the Perry Mason television series there from 1962–1966.

In 1966, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss purchased the studio from CBS to serve as a headquarters for A&M Records.

In 1985, the hit single and video “We Are the World” was recorded in A&M’s Studio A.

From 1981 to 1985, Soul Train taped at The Chaplin Stage.

In February 2000, Jim Henson’s children purchased the studio for $12.5 million to serve as the new home of The Jim Henson Company. The lot was used in November of 2010, as the set for the abandoned Muppet Studios in ‘The Muppets’ film.

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