While visiting Paris one day, Charlie Chaplin suddenly found himself in dire need of a toilet. First, he approached a porter, who spoke no English. Because Chaplin spoke no French, he simply began grunting, squatting and rolling his eyes -- whereupon the porter, mistaking him for a madman, ran away.

Growing desperate, Chaplin hailed a cab and repeated the performance, prompting the driver to break into fits of laughter.

Finally, an English-speaking cheese vendor, drawn by the crowd gathering around the groaning comedian, appeared in the door of his shop. "Do you want a job?" he called out. "You could draw in the customers." "Not a job!" Chaplin cried. "A toilet!"

The cheese vendor then unwisely invited Chaplin in...

As the actor entered the shop, the crowd, recognizing his famous tramp walk, began to chant "Charlot! Charlot!" As the mob pushed forward, Chaplin raced into the bathroom and bolted the door. The mob then proceeded to literally knock down the walls of the building. Chaplin barely escaped as his adoring fans fought for souvenir sections of the demolished bathroom.

[In 1978, grave robbers in Vevey Switzerland made off with Chaplin's body and demanded a large ransom for its return. Three months passed before the corpse was recovered near Lake Geneva.]