TCM Schedule for Thursday, August 3, 2017 -- Summer Under The Stars - Lon Chaney

From the TCM website:
REAL NAME: Leonidas Frank Chaney
LIFE SPAN: Born April 1, 1883, Colorado Springs, CO; died August 26, 1930, Los Angeles, CA.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Talent for playing grotesque characters, makeup artistry.
NOTABLE ROLES: Echo, The Unholy Three (1925); The Phantom, The Phantom of the Opera (1925) Tito, Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
HOLLYWOOD BEST FRIENDS: Boris Karloff, William S. Hart

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- THE PENALTY (1920)
In this silent film, a criminal mastermind plots revenge against the doctor who amputated his legs.
Dir: Wallace Worsley
Cast: Lon Chaney, Ethel Grey Terry, Charles Clary
BW-90 mins,

Lon Chaney had both of his lower legs tied back and had to walk on his kneecaps for his role as an amputee. It was so painful he could only have his legs tied back for a few minutes at a time, and his leg muscles sustained permanent damage.


7:45 AM -- THE MONSTER (1925)
In this silent film, a mad scientist engineers car wrecks so he can experiment on the survivors.
Dir: Roland West
Cast: Lon Chaney, Gertrude Olmsted, Hallam Cooley
BW-87 mins,

The original play opened in New York on 9 August 1922 and had 101 performances. Walter James originated his movie role as Calaban in the play. In the 1933 revival, DeWolf Hopper Sr. played Dr. Ziska.


9:15 AM -- OLIVER TWIST (1922)
A young orphan falls in with a man training children to be thieves.
Dir: Frank Lloyd
Cast: Jackie Coogan, Lon Chaney, Gladys Brockwell
BW-74 mins,

When it was found without intertitles in the 1970s, the film was restored with the help of Jackie Coogan and Sol Lesser. The intertitles were created by Blackhawk Films.


10:45 AM -- THE BLACKBIRD (1926)
A benevolent bishop helps the needy during the day, but runs a crime syndicate at night.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lon Chaney, Renée Adorée, Doris Lloyd
BW-86 mins,

The end credits have a dedication to "Hugh M. Hefner". Hugh Marston Hefner of Playboy fame was born in 1926- the same year as The Blackbird's release.


12:30 PM -- THE ACE OF HEARTS (1921)
In this silent film, a revolutionary is ordered to kill his romantic rival.
Dir: Wallace Worsley
Cast: Leatrice Joy, John Bowers, Lon Chaney
BW-75 mins,

The original ending to the film picked up after the bomb explodes at the meeting headquarters. Forrest and Lillith are living in a cabin in the woods, and believe that they are safe thanks to Farralone. Rushing back to the cabin to warn Lillith, he sees Morgridge, who tells him that they have nothing to fear - Farralone's sacrifice has taught him that love is the solution, not destruction. This ending was cut on the request of Samuel Goldwyn, who felt that it was too contrived and that the lovers reading about it in the newspaper was a much more satisfying ending.


2:00 PM -- THE UNKNOWN (1927)
In this silent film, an escaped killer pretends to be a sideshow's armless wonder.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford
BW-50 mins,

Joan Crawford always considered The Unknown (1927) a big turning point for her. She said it wasn't until working with Lon Chaney in this film that she learned the difference between standing in front of a camera and acting in front of a camera. She said that was all due to Lon Chaney and his intense concentration, and after that experience she said she worked much harder to become a better actress.


3:00 PM -- MR. WU (1927)
In this silent film, a Chinese patriarch goes mad when his daughter falls for an Englishman.
Dir: William Nigh
Cast: Lon Chaney, Louise Dresser, Renée Adorée
BW-91 mins,

For the hundred-year-old look, Wu Chaney build up his cheekbones and lips with cotton and collodion. Into his nostrils were inserted the ends of cigar holders and the long fingernails were constructed from strips of painted film stock. He used fish skin to fashion an epicanthic fold for his eyes and grey crepe hair was used for the mustache and goatee. The make-up procedures took from four to six hours to apply.


4:45 PM -- THE UNHOLY THREE (1925)
In this silent film, a ventriloquist masquerades as an old lady to front a crime ring.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lon Chaney, Mae Busch, Matt Moore
BW-86 mins,

During the scene where Echo and company are fleeing the pet store, Echo decides to take his pet ape with them. The "Ape" was actually a three-foot-tall chimp who was made to appear gigantic with camera trickery, an especially built smaller scale set to make it look bigger, and perspective shots. When Echo removes the ape from his cage, the shot shows Echo (with his back turned to the camera) unlocking the cage and walking the ape to the truck. The ape appears to be roughly the same size as Echo. This effect was achieved by having dwarf actor Harry Earles (who played "Tweedledee" in the film) play Echo for these brief shots, and then cutting to the normal sized Lon Chaney, making it seems as though the Ape is gigantic.


6:30 PM -- HE WHO GETS SLAPPED (1924)
In this silent film, a scientist flees his tragic past to become a circus clown.
Dir: Victor Seastrom
Cast: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert
BW-72 mins,

The first film to feature Leo the Lion roaring as MGM's logo. Designed by Howard Dietz, the logo was first used for the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation film Polly of the Circus (1917) and passed to MGM when Goldwyn merged with two other companies to form MGM. Fittingly and somewhat ironically, a real lion plays a key plot point in the film's story.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: LON CHANEY



8:00 PM -- THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)
In this silent film, a hideously deformed man haunts the sewers beneath the Paris Opera.
Dir: Rupert Julian
Cast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry
C-90 mins,

According to Charles Van Enger, the film's cameraman, he himself had a very strong reaction as Lon Chaney's unsuspecting "guinea pig". Chaney had summoned Van Enger to his dressing room, but without telling him why. When he got there and was standing about a foot behind the actor, Chaney suddenly spun around in full Phantom makeup! "I almost wet my pants. I fell back over a stool and landed flat on my back!" Chaney laughed so hard and Van Enger, who by then was "mad as hell" yelled, "Are you NUTS?" Unable to clearly talk with his fake teeth in, he spit them out: "Never mind Charlie, you already told me what I wanted to know."


9:45 PM -- LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH (1928)
In this silent film, a circus clown falls for a young innocent in love with another.
Dir: Herbert Brenon
Cast: Lon Chaney, Bernard Siegel, Loretta Young
BW-74 mins,

Herbert Brenon reportedly loved to pick on and ridicule a 14-year-old Loretta Young in her first big role, but was civil with her whenever Lon Chaney was present on the set. Chaney noticed this and never left her side, even if his character wasn't needed for shooting that day. He directed her throughout the shoot and became her surrogate father on the project. "I shall be beholden to that sensitive, sweet man until I die," said Young of Chaney.


11:15 PM -- TELL IT TO THE MARINES (1926)
In this silent film, a tough drill sergeant and a spoiled recruit become romantic rivals.
Dir: George Hill
Cast: Lon Chaney, William Haines, Eleanor Boardman
BW-103 mins,

Because his performance was considered to be so realistic, Lon Chaney became the first actor to be granted an honorary membership in the U.S. Marine Corps. When Chaney died in 1930, Gen. Smedley Butler arranged for a military chaplain and honor guard at Chaney's funeral. Sgt. H.H. Hopple, who had been a technical advisor on this film, served as the honor guard.


1:15 AM -- WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928)
In this silent film, a mad African dictator plots revenge on the trader who stole his wife.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan
BW-65 mins,

In the ceremonial tribal dances the local extras had difficulty dancing to the drums.To remedy the situation a radio was brought to the set and played Jazz tunes by a local station.


2:45 AM -- WHERE EAST IS EAST (1929)
An animal trapper in Indochina fights to keep his former mistress from destroying their daughter's life.
Dir: Tod Browning
Cast: Lon Chaney, Lupe Velez, Estelle Taylor
BW-67 mins, CC,

Ironically Estelle Taylor was reportedly the last person to see Lupe Velez alive before her suicide.


4:15 AM -- THE UNHOLY THREE (1930)
A ventriloquist, a strong man and a midget form a criminal alliance.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent
BW-72 mins, CC,

Known as "The Man of 1000 Faces", Chaney signed a legal affidavit declaring all the voices he performed in this, his only talking film, were actually his own. Thus, in addition to multiple characters, he performed multiple voices.