Charlie Chaplin he later wrote, "for Hitler must be laughed at." Chaplin replaced the Tramp (while wearing similar attire) with "A Jewish Barber", a reference to the Nazi party's belief that he was Jewish. In a dual performance, he also played the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel", who parodied Hitler. "The Great Dictator" spent a year in production and was released in October 1940. The film generated a vast amount of publicity, with a critic for "The New York Times" calling it "the most eagerly awaited picture of the year", and it was one of the biggest money-makers of the era. The ending was
Charlie Chaplin with Chaplin describing to the composer(s) exactly what he wanted and singing or playing tunes he had improvised on the piano. These tunes were then developed further in a close collaboration among the composer(s) and Chaplin. According to film historian Jeffrey Vance, "although he relied upon associates to arrange varied and complex instrumentation, the musical imperative is his, and not a note in a Chaplin musical score was placed there without his assent." Chaplin's compositions produced three popular songs. "Smile", composed originally for "Modern Times" (1936) and later set to lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, was a hit