Charlie Chaplin & Walt Disney Hanging Out At The Santa Anita Race Track (Arcadia, California, 1939)

Two Entertainment Legends Enjoying Some Time On The Track

The original photo was taken at the Santa Anita Racetrack in 1939, the year before Seabiscuit won in a comeback handicap race at the track. The original Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California was opened in 1907. In 1934, it moved to a new location close by at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. Despite the fact that this reopening happened in the midst of the Great Depression, the horse racing track found financial success in the struggling economy.
Chaplin Inspired Disney Long Before They Met

Chaplin as a Mouse

Chaplin Helped Disney Navigate the Film Industry

Chaplin and the Blacklist

Unfortunately, Chaplin was blacklisted and moved with his family to Switzerland, vowing to never return to America. Disney told writer Pete Martin, “He’d start talking politics. He didn’t think anything about it. I think what happened to Charlie is that they got to him. To me, it’s a very sad thing.”