Alternative content

Testimonials

"It was a real pleasure to speak with Gary Sweeney from The Midnight Palace. I enjoyed strolling down Hollywood's memory lane when Hollywood was the queen of entertainment the world over, and made movies without the necessity of foul language and excessive violence and graphic sex. It is always such a pleasure to talk to some one such as Gary who is so knowledgeable of the past glory of the movie industry. It was indeed an honor to reminisce with him."
-James Best
Classic Hollywood Actor

image

image

Stepin Fetchit:
The First Black Superstar

Stepin Fetchit

Lon Chaney - Star of the Month (November 2007)
Written by Gary Sweeney & Tammy Baldwin   

Every month we throw the spotlight on an actor or actress who exemplifies what it means to be a class act. As always, we welcome your emails if you have a suggestion for a future Star of the Month. The Midnight Palace is pleased to present the Star of the Month for November 2007: Lon Chaney.

Date of Birth
April 1, 1883, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Date of Death
August 26, 1930, Hollywood, California

Birth Name
Leonidas Frank Chaney

Nickname(s)
Man of a Thousand Faces

Height
5' 10" 

Overview:

It could be said that Lon Chaney was a quiet genius. That speechlessness was not so much the result of his silent film masterpieces, but the way in which he allowed his talent to affirm itself. He will always be identified with his familiar characters: Blizzard in The Penalty, The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and the terrifying vampire in London After Midnight, among countless others. But underneath the makeup was a man whose abilities were so skillfully crafted that verbal rambling was just not necessary. He was the predecessor to a swarm of studio-created monsters that descended on the industry in the 1930s. The only difference is: Chaney didn't need a makeup assistant.

Lon Chaney's weathered face could have been the basis for a character in its own right. He looked like someone with the world on his mind. Perhaps it was the continuous flow of grotesque images and the methods by which to achieve them running through his mind. One thing is certain - whatever ideas he had, he would make them work. Using only a modest box to hold his various mediums and a small mirror, he constructed the most memorable and timeless faces that Hollywood has ever seen. For instance, while creating his London After Midnight vampire, he not only wired the corners of his mouth open to perpetuate a menacing grin, but wired his eyes open as well. One would assume that a man of such ability would never divulge any information, but Chaney was different. Below are some techniques that he personally wrote out:

METHODS OF MAKE-UP

Materials Used?The necessities for make-up are: cold cream; grease-paint or liquid "ground" colours, graded from No. 1, a very light pink, to No. 13, a very dark brown, with No. 14, lavender, and No. 15, white; lining pencils, in black, brown, grey, blue, green and red; powder, ranging from white to olive, rouge and lipsticks, in four shades of red; starch or aluminum powder for whitening hair, also liquid colourings or brilliantine; nose putty; plasto, or undertaker's wax, for building up the face, and collodion or "new skin" for scars, gutta-percha, black wax and white enamel for teeth; spirit gum and crepe hair.

Straight or Foundation Make-up?Apply cold cream, then wipe it off, to fill pores. Put on the "ground" colour, grease-paint or liquid and spread evenly, fading to nothing at the nape of the neck. After make-up for eyes, nose, etc., suggested below, powder thoroughly with lighter shade than "ground" paint, as it darkens when dry. To remove the entire make-up, apply plenty of cold cream and wipe off with towel.

The Eyes?Shading is done with blue or violet lining pencils for soft shadows. Some use reds or grey-greens to shade blue or grey eyes. Black can be used, but with extreme caution, shading gradually to the eyebrows. For the eyelashes, women especially use mascara or sometimes a heavy black grease-paint.

The Nose?a broad nose may be narrowed by drawing a high-light down the ridge of the nose with light paint, shading with red at the sides to determine the contour. Small nostrils are widened by inserting red around the edges, and large ones can be narrowed by high-lighting the same way.

The Lips?work the "ground" colour well into the edges and reshape with lip rouge, making corners come to a point. A small mouth can be enlarged by extending the red beyond the corners, and vice versa.

Hints on Character Make-up?shaping the nose, building up the cheek-bones, blotting out the eyebrows and making the eyelids heavy can best be accomplished by the use of putty or plasto wax. To puff out the face, cotton wool is often inserted between the teeth and cheeks. This material is also used for making bags under the eyes. Cut into a crescent shape, affix with spirit gum and paint over, mixing a little olive oil with the paint. To broaden the nose, negro style, cut three-eighth inch ends of two rubber cigar holders and insert into nostrils. For scars, brush on collodion, which draws the skin; apply a second coat for deeper scars. To remove, add more collodion to soften the scar, then peel it off. For very old age, a thin coat of putty can be applied to the face and lines graved into it with a sharp point for criss-crossing deep wrinkles. Trace the lines with red water-colours. Do not line the eyes. Make shadows with colour a little darker than the foundation, ands where the face would sink the most make the shadow darkest, always keeping the anatomy of the face in mind.

For Chinese make-up use bits of library mending tissue to draw back the corners of the eyes, thus giving a slant to them. Cover with the "ground" colour, and then paint the eyebrows with an upward tilt. A number of light black lines downward from the inner corners of the eyes and upward from the outer corners accentuate the slant.

False teeth can be made by fitting dental rubber over the natural teeth, carving the sort of teeth wanted on this and painting with tooth enamel. False beards should be made with crepe hair a little lighter than natural hair. Comb out well, press in a book, cut off a straight edge, and after applying spirit gum on the face attach the straight edge to the face, and trim with scissors to the required shape. To grey the hair, apply starch or aluminum powder. The latter is better but much harder to wash out. "Polished brass" bronze powder, sold by paint stores, will "blonde" a brunette. - Lon Chaney

Chaney's collaborations with director Tod Browning made for some of the most memorable films. Together, they crafted 10 silents, including 1925's The Unholy Three. Interestingly enough, The Unholy Three was remade in 1930 with director Jack Conway and has the distinction of being Chaney's only talking picture. Many films that came after Chaney's death in 1930, notably 1931's Dracula and 1932's Freaks, were originally intended for him. Take a moment to watch this short clip from 1927's The Unknown, with Chaney playing "Alonzo the Armless": 

The Midnight Palace is pleased to have Lon Chaney superfan, Tammy Baldwin, share her thoughts: 

Tammy Baldwin: ?But to wear your real face and make it look presentable, now that?s a job and a half!?

Lon Chaney was a man of ordinary appearance, standing only 5?10? weighing in at 160 lbs. He had the ?face of the deaf?, meaning that he could literally communicate his emotions using his facial expressions.

We?ve heard of his famous movies Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, Laugh Clown Laugh and Tell it to the Marines. However there may be more to the ?Man of a Thousand Faces? than you know!

Lon Chaney was also a man of a thousand words. He had quite the gift of penmanship. On one occasion in April 1928, he wrote an article for the Academy Digest of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences describing the ?Effects of Make-up Under Incandescent Lights.? His developments in this field have been ground-breaking.

Chaney also wrote an article for the 1929 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica addressing different makeup applications (see above). He?s written other articles concerning the incarcerated and their treatment: Wanted: New Medicine (The Island Lantern, U.S. Penitentiary, McNeil Island, Washington 1930).

During the filming of 1927's Tell it to the Marines, Mr. Chaney won the friendship of the film's advisor, General Smedley Butler. Lon was the first person to become an honorary Marine from the motion picture industry. The Marines provided a guard and an honor guard to accompany at Mr. Chaney?s funeral.

As previously mentioned, Lon's only talkie, 1930's The Unholy Three, allowed him to show that he was able to use his voice in more ways than just one. He became a ventriloquist, parrot, an elderly lady and a twisted faced thug! That?s our Lon.

Interesting trivia: The only fan mail Chaney ever answered was from prisoners, and he even went so far as to help some of them find work after their release.

Our Lon Chaney Film Reviews:
Film Review: London After Midnight (1927)
Film Review: Triumph (1917)

Special Links of Interest:
The Official Lon Chaney Website
Lon Chaney on IMDB
The Lon Chaney Home Page

Downloads:
Lon Chaney SOTM Wallpaper (1024x768)
Lon Chaney SOTM Wallpaper (800x600)
5 High Quality Lon Chaney Photos from Doctor Macro

 


 

 

Add comment



Refresh

 Harlow in Hollywood...

Jean Harlow. The name resonates. Platinum Blonde. Blonde Bombshell. The labels applied by press agents during Harlow's seven-year career carry a charge 70 years later. An actress who died in 1937 has currency in 21st-Century culture. Harlow's films make new fans, whether in revival theaters, on cable television, or on DVD. Vintage Harlow photographs sell for as much as $14,000, and camera negatives for as much as $50,000. Chat room fans debate the cause of her husband's suicide and that of her own death. The movies' first blonde sex symbol has become a legend. In fact, Harlow is the very prototype of all the blonde icons who have followed, from Marilyn Monroe to Jayne Mansfield, an original blueprint for glamour and tragedy. In this, the centennial year of Jean Harlow's birth, Harlow expert Darrell Rooney and Hollywood historian Mark Vieira team to present the most beautiful -- and accurate -- book on Harlow ever produced. With more than 280 images, Harlow in Hollywood makes a case for Harlow as an Art Deco artifact in an iconic setting. Harlow in Hollywood is the first book devoted to both the Harlow image and the city that spawned it. Click HERE to order!