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The scene where The Lone Prospector and Big Jim have a boot for supper took three days and 63 takes to suit director Sir Charles Chaplin. The boot was made of licorice, and Chaplin was later rushed to a hospital suffering insulin shock. The boot was made by the firm of Hillaby's in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England; Pontefract is famous for growing licorice and making it into "Pomfret [Pontefract] Cakes".
Originally a stagehand wore the chicken suit from Jim's hallucination. But when he couldn't mime Sir Charles Chaplin's walk and manners, Chaplin himself donned the suit.
The 600 men playing prospectors were real vagrants from Sacramento, California who were brought in by train and hired for one day's pay.
An actual American Black Bear was used for the scene where "The Lone Prospector" encounters the beast. This was unusual for the time, when it was normal for very phony-looking costumed men to play large animals.
The "dancing rolls" sequence was so popular with audiences that, in some cases (such as the film's Berlin premiere), projectionists stopped the film and replayed the scene.