"I am thrilled to see the stars of Classic Hollywood discussed with such keen insight and erudition at The Midnight Palace." - John O'Dowd
Author, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story
Stepin Fetchit: The First Black Superstar
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.
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!
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