Day Eight
Today’s a bit of an in-between day for me. I did all the article for pictures I uploaded, so now I need to go and take more pictures for future articles. In the meantime, let’s have ourselves a little horror history lesson, and take a look at a silent film actor whose roles continue to leave an impression to this day. Not only a great actor, but also a great make-up artist, some of his on-screen creations are still extremely iconic to this day, including one of Universal’s monsters. So, let’s talk Lon Chaney.
If you look at any of his films, you can immediately see he was a master at pantomime and facial expressions. What most people don’t know is that this skill is the result of his being a CODA (child of Deaf adults). Yes, his parents were both Deaf, and he used sign language to communicate with them. In sign language, facial expression plays a big role for context and grammatical markers, and telling stories through sign and movement is a big part of Deaf culture even to this day. In the world of silent films, where there was no use of vocals to provide context, Chaney’s movements and expressions made him stand out. He played mostly villains and con men, and was able to give added life to a number of macabre, wretched characters. He was such a versatile actor, he earned the title Man of 1000 Faces.
He got his start in movies in 1913, with a role in the short film Poor Jake’s Demise. Between then and his untimely death in 1930, he racked up more than 150 films to his name, and became a box office smash, second only to Charlie Chaplin. In fact, much like Chaplin, he was a hold-out, reluctant to embrace the new era of talkies. He felt that his main talents were in pantomime and his skill with make-up. Despite making only one talkie film, a 1930 remake of 1925’s The Unholy Three (he happened to star in both), he was able to showcase his extensive vocal talents by doing five voices in the film.
Though he wasn’t strictly a horror movie actor, he is probably best known for his chilling roles, some of which will be covered soon. He liked to play ‘lowly’ roles, outsiders. He was quoted as saying “I wanted to remind people that the lowest types of humanity may have within them the capacity for supreme self-sacrifice. The dwarfed, misshapen beggar of the streets may have the noblest ideals.” Basically, if you weren’t overcome with unending terror, he wanted you to feel for these guys.
Now that I’m done probably boring you half to death, here’s some of the more bizarre, iconic characters he’s been.
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
Chaney designed the Quasimodo make-up himself, and it’s been said that the make-up covering his right eye left him with vision problems for the rest of his life, and that the hump he wore to look suitably deformed weighed in the area of fifty pounds. Not really a horror story, but Jesus, look at that make-up job. The opening scene of him moving down the wall of the cathedral and taunting guards is a showcase of his great movement and pantomime skills as well. Basically, Quasimodo is creepy looking and misunderstood, he saves Esmerelda, the hot gypsy lady a few times, ends up dying to save her life, but nobody really cares, because the hot soldier she likes shows up to give her a little loving. Poor Quasi bleeds to death from a stab wound, and the Priest is like ‘Oh. Oh, damn.’
The Phantom of The Opera
Again, another showing of Chaney’s make-up expertise. And to get his nose to look so cadaverous, he tied piano wire around his face to temper his nose into that sort of snout-like upturn. The Phantom’s look still unnerves me to this day, and is the most faithful reproduction of the Phantom’s described appearance from the original novel, that of a ‘living skeleton’. And, unlike that mincing musical version of the Phantom, this guy had his whole face messed up. A quarter mask? Pfft. You can still probably bag a hot lady with ¾ good looks. Chaney’s Phantom had a full mask and for a reason. I still say that after Christine unmasks the Phantom, they needed a title card that just says Holy Shit. Because it’s what we all thought when we first saw him. Don’t even try to claim otherwise.
London After Midnight
Lon Chaney is like the original Eddie Murphy in this film, playing both the Scotland Yard inspector and the vampire. Again, he did his own make-up. The picture may not be large enough to show his teeth, but Christ, there’s like a million tiny Chiclet teeth crammed in there. With googly eyes. Which were achieved through wire fastenings worn like monocles. Viddy well, Lon. The film was lost in an MGM studio fire in 1967, though in 2002 an approximation of the film was attempted by cramming together parts of the script, production stills, and title cards to give us the dialogue. Since there’s no chance we’ll ever see the film, here’s a spoiler: The vampire was really just a disguise for his Scotland Yard detective. Back in the 20s, a lot of horror elements seem to be toned down, and given explanations like ‘Oh yeah, that vampire? Psh. Disguise.’
The Unknown
This one and the above were both directed by Tod Browning (probably best remembered for directing Freaks). In this film, Chaney plays circus knife-thrower Alonzo the Armless. Why does he have that name? Welp, he apparently has no arms and throws the knives with his feet. He actually worked with a real armless knife-thrower stand-in, Paul Desmuke (in the above picture, that’s Desmuke’s foot holding the coffee cup, since he was used to manipulate things with his legs while Chaney was in frame) . He strikes up a friendship with the owner’s daughter, Nanon, who is comfortable with him (and shuns the Strongman’s attentions) because she can’t stand to be touched by a man, and since Alonzo has no arms, there we go! But the truth is, Alonzo is a conman and imposter, and keeps his arms bound to his torso the whole time.
However, when his secret is revealed, he kills the circus owner, which Nanon witnesses. But she only sees the killer has two thumbs on his right hand, and since Alonzo is believed to be armless, he gets a free pass on being investigated. After the murder, he and Nanon grow closer, but he figures she won’t love him, since he still has arms (oh, and not to mention that ‘killed her dad’ thing). So, he does the rational thing and secretly gets them amputated. Now really armless and scot-free, he returns to Nanon… only to find out she’s suddenly over her fear of men touching her, and is in love with the Strongman. Alonzo flips the fuck out (understandably) since, had he just waited a little, he could have just hacked off that extra thumb. But now crazy and armless, he figures it’s time to get revenge, Chaney style.
The Penalty
Lon Chaney plays Blizzard, a gangster who much like Alonzo, was driven crazy-go-nuts over double limb amputation. Both legs were amputated when he was a boy, and to achieve this effect, Chaney wore extremely uncomfortable leg straps to bind his legs in place. As a crime lord, he has all sorts of means to gain his revenge, and tracks down the doctor who amputated his legs. His master plan? Kidnap the doctor’s daughter’s fiancé, amputate his legs, and take them for himself. Forget the near impossibility of such a feat, he’s gonna go for it. Knowing Chaney’s characters, he probably ends up dying, but only after he makes us feel for him. And anyway, crazy guy wanting to amputate your legs and take them for himself? Oh no, no, no. I never once thought of such a thing happening. But now I'm paranoid as Hell.
The Wolfman
Just testing you guys. This was Lon Chaney, Jr. But both Lon Chaney, and Lon Chaney Jr. got name dropped in Werewolves of London, so…
Unfortunately, Lon Chaney died of throat cancer in 1930, most likely caused by his heavy smoking habit. Godspeed, Lon. You taught us to never pull the mask off of somebody, and never trust double amputees.
And since apparently, a lot of people on the internet are afraid of clowns (It wasn’t scary people, get over it), be careful if you go image searching for Lon Chaney. He did a few roles as clowns. Black and white photos of clowns. Maybe I'll post some sometime.
If you look at any of his films, you can immediately see he was a master at pantomime and facial expressions. What most people don’t know is that this skill is the result of his being a CODA (child of Deaf adults). Yes, his parents were both Deaf, and he used sign language to communicate with them. In sign language, facial expression plays a big role for context and grammatical markers, and telling stories through sign and movement is a big part of Deaf culture even to this day. In the world of silent films, where there was no use of vocals to provide context, Chaney’s movements and expressions made him stand out. He played mostly villains and con men, and was able to give added life to a number of macabre, wretched characters. He was such a versatile actor, he earned the title Man of 1000 Faces.
He got his start in movies in 1913, with a role in the short film Poor Jake’s Demise. Between then and his untimely death in 1930, he racked up more than 150 films to his name, and became a box office smash, second only to Charlie Chaplin. In fact, much like Chaplin, he was a hold-out, reluctant to embrace the new era of talkies. He felt that his main talents were in pantomime and his skill with make-up. Despite making only one talkie film, a 1930 remake of 1925’s The Unholy Three (he happened to star in both), he was able to showcase his extensive vocal talents by doing five voices in the film.
Though he wasn’t strictly a horror movie actor, he is probably best known for his chilling roles, some of which will be covered soon. He liked to play ‘lowly’ roles, outsiders. He was quoted as saying “I wanted to remind people that the lowest types of humanity may have within them the capacity for supreme self-sacrifice. The dwarfed, misshapen beggar of the streets may have the noblest ideals.” Basically, if you weren’t overcome with unending terror, he wanted you to feel for these guys.
Now that I’m done probably boring you half to death, here’s some of the more bizarre, iconic characters he’s been.
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
Chaney designed the Quasimodo make-up himself, and it’s been said that the make-up covering his right eye left him with vision problems for the rest of his life, and that the hump he wore to look suitably deformed weighed in the area of fifty pounds. Not really a horror story, but Jesus, look at that make-up job. The opening scene of him moving down the wall of the cathedral and taunting guards is a showcase of his great movement and pantomime skills as well. Basically, Quasimodo is creepy looking and misunderstood, he saves Esmerelda, the hot gypsy lady a few times, ends up dying to save her life, but nobody really cares, because the hot soldier she likes shows up to give her a little loving. Poor Quasi bleeds to death from a stab wound, and the Priest is like ‘Oh. Oh, damn.’
The Phantom of The Opera
Again, another showing of Chaney’s make-up expertise. And to get his nose to look so cadaverous, he tied piano wire around his face to temper his nose into that sort of snout-like upturn. The Phantom’s look still unnerves me to this day, and is the most faithful reproduction of the Phantom’s described appearance from the original novel, that of a ‘living skeleton’. And, unlike that mincing musical version of the Phantom, this guy had his whole face messed up. A quarter mask? Pfft. You can still probably bag a hot lady with ¾ good looks. Chaney’s Phantom had a full mask and for a reason. I still say that after Christine unmasks the Phantom, they needed a title card that just says Holy Shit. Because it’s what we all thought when we first saw him. Don’t even try to claim otherwise.
London After Midnight
Lon Chaney is like the original Eddie Murphy in this film, playing both the Scotland Yard inspector and the vampire. Again, he did his own make-up. The picture may not be large enough to show his teeth, but Christ, there’s like a million tiny Chiclet teeth crammed in there. With googly eyes. Which were achieved through wire fastenings worn like monocles. Viddy well, Lon. The film was lost in an MGM studio fire in 1967, though in 2002 an approximation of the film was attempted by cramming together parts of the script, production stills, and title cards to give us the dialogue. Since there’s no chance we’ll ever see the film, here’s a spoiler: The vampire was really just a disguise for his Scotland Yard detective. Back in the 20s, a lot of horror elements seem to be toned down, and given explanations like ‘Oh yeah, that vampire? Psh. Disguise.’
The Unknown
This one and the above were both directed by Tod Browning (probably best remembered for directing Freaks). In this film, Chaney plays circus knife-thrower Alonzo the Armless. Why does he have that name? Welp, he apparently has no arms and throws the knives with his feet. He actually worked with a real armless knife-thrower stand-in, Paul Desmuke (in the above picture, that’s Desmuke’s foot holding the coffee cup, since he was used to manipulate things with his legs while Chaney was in frame) . He strikes up a friendship with the owner’s daughter, Nanon, who is comfortable with him (and shuns the Strongman’s attentions) because she can’t stand to be touched by a man, and since Alonzo has no arms, there we go! But the truth is, Alonzo is a conman and imposter, and keeps his arms bound to his torso the whole time.
However, when his secret is revealed, he kills the circus owner, which Nanon witnesses. But she only sees the killer has two thumbs on his right hand, and since Alonzo is believed to be armless, he gets a free pass on being investigated. After the murder, he and Nanon grow closer, but he figures she won’t love him, since he still has arms (oh, and not to mention that ‘killed her dad’ thing). So, he does the rational thing and secretly gets them amputated. Now really armless and scot-free, he returns to Nanon… only to find out she’s suddenly over her fear of men touching her, and is in love with the Strongman. Alonzo flips the fuck out (understandably) since, had he just waited a little, he could have just hacked off that extra thumb. But now crazy and armless, he figures it’s time to get revenge, Chaney style.
The Penalty
Lon Chaney plays Blizzard, a gangster who much like Alonzo, was driven crazy-go-nuts over double limb amputation. Both legs were amputated when he was a boy, and to achieve this effect, Chaney wore extremely uncomfortable leg straps to bind his legs in place. As a crime lord, he has all sorts of means to gain his revenge, and tracks down the doctor who amputated his legs. His master plan? Kidnap the doctor’s daughter’s fiancé, amputate his legs, and take them for himself. Forget the near impossibility of such a feat, he’s gonna go for it. Knowing Chaney’s characters, he probably ends up dying, but only after he makes us feel for him. And anyway, crazy guy wanting to amputate your legs and take them for himself? Oh no, no, no. I never once thought of such a thing happening. But now I'm paranoid as Hell.
The Wolfman
Just testing you guys. This was Lon Chaney, Jr. But both Lon Chaney, and Lon Chaney Jr. got name dropped in Werewolves of London, so…
Unfortunately, Lon Chaney died of throat cancer in 1930, most likely caused by his heavy smoking habit. Godspeed, Lon. You taught us to never pull the mask off of somebody, and never trust double amputees.
And since apparently, a lot of people on the internet are afraid of clowns (It wasn’t scary people, get over it), be careful if you go image searching for Lon Chaney. He did a few roles as clowns. Black and white photos of clowns. Maybe I'll post some sometime.
Labels: Halloween
posted by Lady at
11:18 PM
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