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

Kate Claxton and the Tabor Opera House

Part two of a sporadic history of women actors who traveled the West, specifically Colorado.

Kate Claxton was an actor, theater company owner, and another of those the public loved to read about. She toured the West for the first time in the early 1880s. They also say the town of Claxton, Georgia was named for her.

Kate Claxton from Wikipedia

Kate was born August 24, 1848 in Summerville, New Jersey. Her grandfather, a  minister, had as a young man also made a living on the stage. Her maiden name was either Cone or Cohen. She was married twice. Her first marriage was to Isadore Lyon, which ended in 1878. Her second marriage was to fellow actor Charles A. Stevenson. That marriage also ended in divorce in 1911. There is some question as to how many children Kate had, but it is known her son, Harold Stevenson committed suicide in 1904.

Kate came to fame with her performance as a blind young woman in the play "Two Orphans", but gained her notoriety when the Brooklyn Theater, where she was performing in the above mentioned play, caught fire. One account recalls it this way:

"On the evening of Tuesday December 6th 1876 when The Two Orphans was in course of performance at the Brooklyn Theater and was rapidly nearing its close, the scenery took fire. The audience began to be alarmed and Miss Kate Claxton fearing the fatal effect of a panic stricken rush the door came down to the foot lights and cried, "Be quiet. We are between you and the fire the front door is open and the passages are clear." She said this while the stage was a burning mass and it was not until the spectators were seized with fear and it began to be from the building that Miss Claxton and the other actors with her on the stage at the time thought of flight themselves and then it was only by means of a private passage under the auditorium that they were able to escape."  

All totalled almost 300 people perished in the fire and numerous others were injured. All nine hundred seats of the theater had been sold. The fire was made worse because there were no fire escapes and only a small staircase from the balcony to the ground floor.

Kate continued to be plague with fire or fire related incidents during the early part of her career. It was so bad that Harper's Weekly even ran a cartoon. Many news reports were in poor taste, as evidenced by the following:

A hotel in St. Paul Minnesota, was burned on Monday morning. What is remarkable about this affair is that Kate Claxton and Troupe had engaged rooms in it for Tuesday. In ensuring hotels the insurance company should insert a proviso in the policies to the effect that Kate should not be allowed to lodge therein.

Colorado Weekly Chieftain May 10, 1877

Kate had started her own theater company in 1876. The news report of that event is well worth reading, if only for the language.

Feminine management.

Kate Claxton has leased the Lyceum Theatre in New York and will open it in September with the full company a first class artistes. No woman has undertaken the management of a theater in New York since the death of Laura Keene, although her success in her best days might have justified others in trying. With the exception of Mrs. John Drew, miss Claxton will now, since the death of Mrs. Conway, the only woman manager in the country. Miss Claxton is said to be a woman of business parts, and she certainly demonstrated her tact in the responses she made to the questions of the lawyers during the proceedings in her bankruptcy case before recorder Fitch on Monday. Even that venerable gentlemen and Willem Trohan was compelled to smile at her dexterous replies, and ejaculate now and then with a nod of the head — "good, very good."

Daily Denver Tribune, July 16, 1878

Tabor Opera House, Leadville, CO 1881- Western History

During the first season of the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Kate Claxton's shows were some of the only ones to have an enthusiastic response. Her 1881 performance of "Two Orphans" was a hit. Kate also played Colorado Springs, Pueblo and other Colorado towns. The following appeared in the Leadville Daily Herald at the time of her performance in 1881:

Kate Claxton.

Standing room only was announced at the early hour last evening, at the Tabor opera house, every seat in the house having been filled before the rise of the curtain — an unusual thing in Leadville. A lack of space precludes any extended notice of Miss Claxton's rendition of "froufrou," but suffice it to say that the lady demonstrated the fact that she is talented, and Louise in the "two orphans" is not the only character in which she excels. Her conception of "froufrou" is admirable and, last evening, elicited much favorable comment. She was ably supported come, Miss Dolly Pike and Miss Ewers are not and Gilbert were especially distinguishing themselves.

This evening "the snow flower" will be given for the first time in Leadville. The piece admits an excellent scenic effects, which effects are done by the mechanical portion of the company. Nearly the entire house is already sold, cause probably by the character of the peace and the first appearance of Mr. Stephenson. Leadville Daily Herald, April 21, 1881

Kate had bought the rights to "Two Orphans" and performed in it until the early 1900s. She sold the rights to D.W. Griffith,  who made the 1921 silent film "Orphans of the Storm" with the Gish sisters, based on the play. After the death of her son, she discontinued acting. 

Kate died on May 5, 1924 in New York City, New York. She had a long a prosperous career and delighted audiences throughout the West and the rest of the country. A woman worth remembering.

Harper's Weekly cartoon

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