April 1, 2008
April Fool’s Day is Lon Chaney’s birthday.
Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American film actor, nicknamed “The Man of a Thousand Faces,” whose macabre characterizations are classics of the silent screen. Both of Chaney’s parents were deaf, and as a child of deaf adults, Chaney became skilled in pantomime, which can be seen in his skilled acting for his many difficult roles. He is especially remembered as the Phantom of the Opera (above) and the Hunchback of Notre Dame (directly below).
Chaney had many bizarre, almost Fortean roles, including the clown Flik in Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928). The film is a strange one, about the clown adopting, raising, and falling in love with his “daughter” (played by Loretta Young, at 14, in her first role).
Chaney decided to have his Flik character in this film portrayed in the Grotesque Style of clown makeup. Chaney also arranged for the song from this film, “Laugh, Clown, Laugh,” which had become very popular after the movie’s release, to be played at his funeral (two years later).
As I have pointed out when discussing “Phantom Clowns,” the characterization of clowns in popular culture and reality is hardly all fun and games.
Of course, what many of us recall Lon Chaney, Sr., for is as the father of his son, Lon Chaney, Jr., (February 10, 1906 – July 12, 1973) who shall roam cinematic memory banks forever as the lead in The Wolf Man (1941).
Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright… ~ Curt Siodmak.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Cinema News, Cryptid Canids, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Folklore, Movie Monsters, Obituaries, Twilight Language