MAN WITH A THOUSAND FACES #SweetheartsoftheWest #history #theater

I'm taking a short break from writing about early women performers to focus on a man who was born in my adopted town. He started in theater here and went on to be known as the 'man with a thousand faces'. It seemed appropriate with the coming of Halloween. For those who are wondering the man is Lon Chaney. That is Lon Chaney Sr. not his son who was also an actor.

So who was Lon Chaney and why do I love his story and work?

From Wikipedia - Lon Chaney during production of
The Miracle Man - 1919

Lon (Leonidas Frank) Chaney was born April 1, 1883 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His maternal Grandfather founded the Colorado School for the Education of Mutes (now the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind) in 1874. His daughter Emma Alice Kennedy, was was deaf. She met Frank H Chaney, also deaf, at the school. The couple had four children, John, Lon, George and Carolin.

The story is Chaney went through fourth grade,then due to family hardship, Lon quit school to find a job and help out. News articles after his death claim he worked as a guide on Pikes Peak. He got a taste of the theater when he worked as a stage hand at the Colorado Springs Opera House in the 1890s after his brother John helped him land the job. The review for his first appearance in front of the curtain read "As a comedian he is irresistible and it would be hard to find his equal in the dancing among many first class vaudeville performers."

Lon Chaney - date unknown

It was after moving to California that Chaney started working in film. He was an actor, writer and director, but it is an an actor we know him.

Elza Schallert, magazine writer and radio host, in her article "Behind Lon Chaney's Mask" had this to say:

Lon Chaney, [as an actor] I believe, is writing his signature on the page whose ink is not yet dry. And I believe it will be in years to come a bold, vigorous impression, easy to read and remember.

Chaney is an actor who, once seen, is never forgotten. He may not win your unqualified approval, with his extreme characterizations. He may annoy you more than inspire, with his hideous makeups of clouded eyes, twisted limbs or dangling teeth and a formless head. But you remember him!

His mask may be to some a nightmare but the force of his acting is strong enough to make itself felt through a disguise of putty and false hair and iron clamps that would annihilate the most potent of actors.

And in the end, no matter how repulsive the characters he plays, no matter how implacably villainous, he always becomes a hero — a tragic one, perhaps — who gains your sympathy and touches the heart.

.Lon himself had this to say, according to the article "My Darkest Hour":

"When I saw my first picture on the screen, a comedy, I wept!" And Lon Chaney grinned cheerfully, now that it was all safely in the past. "I had been playing a musical comedy and naturally supposed I could get over in pictures. In fact, I recall thinking how I would knock Ford Sterling — cold. As I considered Sterling a great artist, you see, I was aiming high.

"Instead of dealing him a blow, I gave it to myself, I was crushed, motor mortified, discouraged — oh, desperately discourage. I thought if this is screen comedy I'll go back to cold and dill, for at least my humor was welcomed on the stage.

"Positively, I did the most unfunny things imaginable before the camera, and for the life of me I couldn't get the idea. Well, I made three attempts, each worse than the last. Then one day, disgusted with my failure, I gritted my teeth and determined I'd win or die in the attempt.

"That very afternoon I ran into Jack O'Brian out on the lot: he was directing Jeannie MacPherson who wrote this scenarios and was being featured. Harry Van Meter was the lead. O'Brian told me he was looking for a heavy. I felt so discouraged with my comedy, however, that I thought I might as well take a chance, so went at it.

"Well, I made good, and Jeannie then wrote two stories expressly for me, one had a weird hunchback role — great! This was when I began the study of makeup. In musical comedies you can paste green whiskers on your chin, do a funny little dance along with your song and get away with it, so I knew nothing about makeup, but having embarked as a heavy in motion pictures I went at it heart and soul.

That story with the weird hunchback is what launched Chaney into the stratosphere. As part of his method, Chaney wore a pack of steel on his back, a steel vice which distorted his legs and of course the heavy on his face to portray the doomed man.

Lon Chaney died August 26, 1930.

For those who only know Chaney from his drama roles, you miss so much of what made him a great silent film star. If your ever in the mood, or one of the movie stations play some of his work, go yourself a favor and watch the master at work. For those who can't wait, here's the link to Phantom:
 Phantom of the Opera (silent film 1925)

For more intense reading, I recomment the books, both by Michael F. Blake. "The Man Behind the Thousand Faces" and "A Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney's Unique Artistry in Motion Pictures"

Until next time, enjoy the remains of fall, don't eat too much Halloween candy and keep those eyes reading and those fingers writing.

For those who like the supernatural, you might enjoy the novella, "Angel of Salvation Valley". Below is an excerpt of the story of Drew and Lizzie:

Drew tried to remember the quote he used to say to get him through the days in solitary. He wanted to stop the noise, but every time he tried to recite it in his mind, his head began to sear with pain. It was an effort to hold the thought, but hold it he would. "You have power over your mind, not outside events. The choice you make defines you. Gra....". He did it, he held the thought, but the rest of the quote wouldn't come. Trying as much as he could, the rest was just out of reach. The pain was so overpowering he let it go.

Still, the conversation looped through Drew's brain over and over growing louder with each telling. Drew tried to close out the sound, but some part of his brain told him that would be useless. Between the moments of clarity, where the smell of dust and pine intruded on his memories, Drew's world twisted around the arrest, the trial, Harold, the prison break, on and on. Then his dead mother's words interrupted his thoughts.

"Andrew, what have you done?" she asked.

Drew saw her, felt he could reach out and touch her, looking just like he remembered her before she was killed in an accident..

"I didn't kill that man," Drew cried, reaching a hand toward her. After three years in prison, all in solitary, he stopped trying to make people believe. Now, he had to make sure his mother knew, but the pain in his head throbbed harder. He reached up, grabbing his head. He almost missed her words.

"I know you didn't, I'm sorry you had to suffer," she said reaching out to touch his face, abating the throbbing in his head for just a moment.

ebook- Amazon- purchase here

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Member of National League of American Pen Women,

Women Writing the West,

Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

MAUDE GRANGER & THE COLORADO SPRINGS OPERA HOUSE #theaterhistory #sweetheartsofthewest

Ever heard of Maude (Maud) Granger? Maude was one of the actresses who traveled across the country in the later part of the 1800’s. In the book “New National Theater, Washington DC: A record of Fifty Years” by Alexander Hunter, published in 1885, they had this to say about Maude:

The statuesque Maude made by far the most beautiful Mlle. Gautier that the audience had ever seen, for she had a figure that Rubens would have loved to paint — a Byron describe — large, full, sensuous. On a pose in a tableau Miss Granger was a success, but as an actress in such a character as “Camille" she was an insolvent in the dramatic bank, and more people went to see her out of curiosity than with a desire to be entertained.

Cabinet Card of Maude Granger found on EBay

Yet, as critics go, this from the book “Performing the American Frontier, 1870-1906” by Roger A. Hall,

A review of the play “My Partner” by the Mirror of Sept 20, 1879, they say of Maude, in the part of Mary

We do not know of any actress who could bring more intelligence, labor, and the good looks to the depiction of the poignant woes and heartsore grief of this woman.

Maude, like some of the actors today, had parts of her personal life show up in the papers. From the Sunday October 21, 1877 issue of the Denver, Colorado Rocky Mountain News, the following was found:

Maude Granger, the actress, found a long lost brother the other day at Springfield, Ohio, whom she had not seen for 17 years. He had been a circus clown and various other things in his time, and at present is a whitewasher and a politician of the working man's party.

And in the December 31, 1878 issue of the Chicago, Illinois Inter Ocean they speak of her near death experience.

Miss Maude Granger, the actress who came near dying from the effects of a dose of laughing – gas on Monday last, was found Wednesday by a New York ‘Sun’ reporter. This is the story she told:

"I had a narrow escape, indeed," she said, "although it was not so much the poor dentist fault. He has given me laughing – gas frequently before; but last Monday I was out of sorts, and very nervous, and I suppose I should not have gone to him at all. I had a wisdom tooth which had troubled me greatly, and the doctor told me that I must have it out, so I went. Dr. – (you must excuse my not mentioning his name) gave the usual amount of the gas, but it had the most remarkable effect. They told me afterward that I lay for 15 minutes as though I were dead. I lost all sensation for a time, could see and hear nothing. They told me that I stopped breathing, and that my heart did not beat. When I recovered I lay as one in a dream for more than two hours, while five doctors did everything they could for me. I could see them working around me, and hear every word they uttered, but I couldn't no more move hand or foot that if I were dead. I don't know how I dressed for my part that evening, or how I looked, for that matter. I remember saying a few lines of my part, and coming on and going off the stage, and that is all. I was so weak that they had to carry me into the green – room after the last act, but the audience was very kind, though some of them must have suspected that I was intoxicated."

I do love how dramatic an actor can be.

Overview of Colorado Springs 1882 

On April 18, 1881, Colorado Springs opened its Opera House with Maude Granger as the star of the show. Her traveling company had been performing in Denver, when she was contacted to play Colorado Springs. (For a more complete description of the Opera House, the book “High Drama: Colorado’s Historic Theatres” by Daniel & Beth R, Barrett).

Suffice it so say, it was a momentous occasion. The town that was billed as ‘Little London’, that advertised the many natural wonders and the clear air for those suffering from consumption, was out to show the world what they could do. Theater patrons received a white satin souvenir program recording the cast and management in gold lettering.

Everything was set, except Miss Granger chose for the performance, “Camille”. The papers made a bit of a to-do about the choice of a consumptive dying in front of an audience of consumptives, but they did applaud the performances. There was only one minor mishap, when the settee, that Maude was to rise into the heavens, was not properly attached and she came crashing down to the stage floor. Reports say she heaped abuse on the stage manager, while the curtain had been raised for her curtain call.

Hope you enjoyed this bit of theater history. There are more stories where that came from. Until next time.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Member of National League of American Pen Women,

Women Writing the West,

Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here 

Photo and Poem: Click Here 

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

Review for The Gift of the Inn—A WWII Christmas Story—ebook give-a-way

Golden Keys Parsons was my critique partner, a dear friend, and teacher. She was taken from her family and friends in February 2017 in a car accident on I-35 in Waco, Texas. The Gift of the Inn was her last book, and I'd like to share it with the readers of Sweethearts of the West.

Despite her best efforts to go through the motions and the good fortune to have a husband stationed stateside rather than in the midst of the brutal combat unfolding in Europe and the Pacific, Christmas Eve is a less than festive time for innkeeper Naomi Lockhart. It's been especially hard since she, her husband, Quenton, and their daughters restored her parents' Colorado boarding house and turned it into a charming inn. Residing in the setting of the tragedy and haunted by a heartbreaking and terrible loss, Naomi can't help but relive the Christmas Eve so many years ago when her infant child disappeared without a trace. 

Gracie brushed aside comments about how little she resembled her parents for most of her life without really understanding why they made her feel so odd. A slip of the tongue by her grandmother brings the discovery that the people who raised her are not her birth parents and acts as a catalyst for the start of a search for her real identity. After a whirlwind romance with a young, Europe-bound GI and subsequent elopement in defiance of her affluent, traditional parents, Gracie flees Texas for Colorado, following one of the few clues that she has about her real identity. She finds herself alone and working as a waitress in blizzard-prone Colorado Springs, Colorado at the end of her pregnancy. Snow bound, she struggles to bring her child into the world as she becomes ever more confident that the innkeeper from across the road, who acts as a midwife of necessity, may hold the answers she seeks. 

Meanwhile, her wounded husband desperately tries to reach her side. Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, this final novel from beloved writer Golden Keyes Parsons is an engaging story of love, loss and reunion.

My thoughts on this book. I love this book! Yes,  Golden was my good friend, but The Gift of the Inn also endeared me to a different time in life and our history. Like myself, Golden lived in the post WWII years and grew up with many of the same experiences as those detailed in the book. Golden's characters and descriptions drew me in, and I was in my childhood again trying to walk against the deep and blowing snow while we were in Stephenville, Newfoundland. Being a Texan, I recognized the San Antonio streets and landmarks where Gracie and her friends gathered. 

Golden's research for this book is top notch. I learned so much about bombardiers, the conditions during flight, and how the French resistance helped American soldiers trapped behind enemy lines. I highly recommend this book.

Drawing:  Friday evening I will pick a winner from the comments to receive an e-copy of The Gift of the Inn. To be eligible leave a comment with your email address or just your email address.

Happy Reading and Writing.

Linda LaRoque
www.lindalaroque.com

Ramona: A 19th Century Romance

by Lyn Horner




Helen Hunt, c. 1850-1860

Helen Hunt Jackson (October 15, 1830 – August 12, 1885), was an American writer who became an activist on behalf of Native Americans, calling for reform in U.S. Indian policies. Born Helen Maria Fiske in Amherst, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of a minister who also served as a professor of Latin, Greek, and philosophy at Amherst College. She had two brothers, both of whom died soon after birth, and one sister, Anne.

The girls’ mother died in 1844, when Helen was fifteen, and their father died three years later. Financially provided for, Helen attended Ipswich Female Seminary and the Abbott Institute, a boarding school in New York City. She was a classmate of Emily Dickinson and the two corresponded throughout their lives.

In 1852, Helen married U.S. Army Captain Edward Bissell Hunt. They had two sons, both of whom died as young children. In 1863, her husband also died in a military accident. After her tragic losses, Helen Hunt began writing. She published her early work anonymously, usually under the name "H.H." Ralph Waldo Emerson admired her poetry and used several of her poems in his public readings.

Hunt traveled extensively. While in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1873-74, she met William Sharpless Jackson, a wealthy banker and railroad executive. They married in 1875 and she was best known under the name Jackson in her later writings.



Ponca Chief Standing Bear; Public domain

In 1879, Jackson attended a lecture in Boston given by Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca Tribe. The chief described the forcible removal of the Ponca from Nebraska to a reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), and their terrible living conditions there. Disturbed by these revelations, Jackson began investigating and publicizing government misconduct in Indian affairs. She circulated petitions, raised money and wrote letters, carrying on heated exchanges with federal officials over the injustices committed against Native Americans.

Hunt exposed government treaty violations and documented the corruption of Indian agents, military officers, and settlers who encroached on and stole Indian lands. She won support from several newspaper editors who published her reports. One of her favorite targets was U.S. Secretary of Interior Carl Schurz, who she once called "the most adroit liar I ever knew.”



Carl Schurz,1870-1880; Public domain

In 1881, Helen Hunt Jackson published A Century of Dishonor, in which she condemned state and federal Indian policies. She recounted a shameful history of broken treaties and called for sweeping governmental reforms toward Native Americans. The author sent a copy to every member of Congress with a quote from Benjamin Franklin printed in red on the cover: "Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations."

The New York Times later wrote that Hunt "soon made enemies at Washington by her often unmeasured attacks, and while on general lines she did some good, her case was weakened by her inability, in some cases, to substantiate the charges she had made; hence many who were at first sympathetic fell away."

Helen went to southern California to rest. Interested in the area's missions and Mission Indians, she began another investigation. In Los Angeles, she met Don Antonio Coronel, former mayor of the city and an authority on early Californio life. He had served as inspector of missions for the Mexican government. Coronel told her about the plight of the Mission Indians under Mexican rule and later the U.S., leading to their removal from mission lands. Under its original land grants, the Mexican government allowed resident Indians to occupy such lands. After taking control of the territory in 1848, the U.S. dismissed most Mission Indian occupancy claims. In 1852, an estimated 15,000 Mission Indians lived in Southern California. By the time of Jackson's visit, they numbered fewer than 4,000.

Jackson approached the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hiram Price, who recommended her appointment as an Interior Department agent. Her task was to visit the Mission Indians, ascertain their location and living conditions, and determine if lands should be purchased for their use. Jackson traveled throughout Southern California and documented her findings. She submitted her 56-page report in 1883. It recommended broad government relief for the Mission Indians, including the purchase of lands for reservations and the establishment of more Indian schools. A bill embodying her recommendations passed the U.S. Senate but died in the House of Representatives.

Jackson decided to write a novel to reach a wider audience. To Don Antonio Coronel, she wrote, “I am going to write a novel, in which will be set forth some Indian experiences in a way to move people's hearts. People will read a novel when they will not read serious books. She was inspired by her friend Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). "If I could write a story that would do for the Indian one-hundredth part what Uncle Tom's Cabin did for the Negro, I would be thankful the rest of my life."

First Edition cover; Public domain

Jackson’s novel, Ramona, was published in 1884. The main character, Ramona, was an orphan girl, half Indian and half Scots, raised in Spanish California. The story relates her and her Indian husband Alessandro’s struggle for land of their own. The characters were based on people Jackson knew and the story on incidents she had encountered. A great success among a wide reading public, the book was popular for generations, with an estimated 300 reprints. Its romantic story brought many tourists to Southern California, wanting to see places described in the novel.

Encouraged by her book's popularity, Jackson planned to write a children's story about Indian issues, but did not live to complete it. Her last letter was written to President Grover Cleveland. In it she said:

Helen Hunt Jackson; before 1885

"From my death bed I send you message of heartfelt thanks for what you have already done for the Indians. I ask you to read my Century of Dishonor. I am dying happier for the belief I have that it is your hand that is destined to strike the first steady blow toward lifting this burden of infamy from our country and righting the wrongs of the Indian race."

Jackson died of stomach cancer in 1885 in San Francisco, California. Her husband arranged for her burial near Seven Falls at Inspiration Point overlooking Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her remains were later moved to Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.

One year after Jackson's death the North American Review described Ramona as "unquestionably the best novel yet produced by an American woman" and named it, along with Uncle Tom's Cabin, as the two most ethical novels of the 19th century. The book has never been out of print and has been adapted for four films as well as stage and television productions.