Lucille Ball was said to be an enormous fan of Charlie Chaplin and would apparently impersonate him often, though this would be the first time she’d do so on camera. According to LIFE, she was “an expert imitator of the great Charlie.”
Ball portrayed Chaplin’s iconic ‘Little Tramp’ character in a sketch on The Lucy Show episode titled “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party,” which aired on December 31, 1962. In this episode, Lucy entertains her daughter Chris’s friends at a New Year’s Eve party by impersonating Chaplin.
LIFE photographer Ralph Crane was there to capture these behind the scenes photos of Lucille Ball getting made up as Charlie Chaplin:
