In the film’s opening scene, Chaplin's character, the "Swindler", dressed smartly and wearing a top hat, attempts to convince a passerby (Henry Lehrman) to give him money.

Later, while prowling for a news story, Lehrman's character witnesses and photographs an automobile accident, capturing on film a dramatic image of a car tumbling down a high, steep hill.

As he and a crowd of onlookers are trying to help the unfortunate motorist, who is pinned beneath his wrecked car, Chaplin passes by and steals the camera that contains the sensational photograph.

His famous "Little Tramp" screen persona did not appear until his next film, Kid Auto Races at Venice, which was released by Keystone only five days after the studio began distributing Making a Living.

[6][7] In recalling his work with Lehrman in Making a Living, Chaplin maintained that the director had "deliberately" removed the best parts of his performance from the short's final cut.

[8] Lehrman, according to Chaplin, was "a vain man", who years later actually "confessed" to misediting the footage because he felt the young Englishman was arrogant and "knew too much".

[11]Although Lehrman and Reed Heustis are often credited with co-writing the film's scenario, Chaplin in his autobiography offers his view on the screenplay's status when production began.

[13]In the months following the film's release, as it circulated across the United States, many city and small-town newspapers, like The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs, Arkansas, judged the short to be a "laugh", as yet another one of Keystone's "always good and boisterous comedies"; and they encouraged their readers to see it.

[14] The local paper in Chickasha, Oklahoma characterized Making a Living as "truly a scream from start to finish", while in Bemidji, Minnesota, the Majestic Theatre promoted it as a "peach", adding "If you never laughed before you will certainly do so if you see this comedy.

"[17] Little did that theatre’s management or moviegoers in general know that by the end of the following year, Mr. Chappel would be an established national and international film celebrity and a growing cultural phenomenon.