Google Outdoodles Itself With Chaplin Nod

Google has been getting more ambitious with its homepage logo tweaks — dubbed Google Doodles — this week. Tuesday saw an animated logo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first space flight, by Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin.

Today, its homepage features its first video logo, with an embedded version of the 2-minute YouTube video above, an original ode to Charlie Chaplin on the eve of what would have been his 122nd birthday tomorrow.

The official Google blog reveals that the video was shot in Niles, California, the location of several of the British cinema icon's silent films, including The Tramp. It also features the entire Google Doodle team, including the talented Mike Dutton, who plays Chaplin.

In a Chaplinesque wink, Dutton's Little Tramp attempts to sell his own doodle before tricking a nasty police officer into buying him breakfast. In another twist from its normal doodle practice, the video will remain on Google's page through tomorrow.