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_NRFPT_01_small.jpg)  At
Universal Studios on August 27, 1930, mogul Irving Thalberg speaks to a
packed house as part of a tribute to recently deceased actor Lon Chaney.
Thalberg describes how Chaney’s unique background as the child of two deaf
parents helped him achieve his great sensitivity.
In Colorado Springs, Colorado, a young Lon
regularly fights with the children who mock his loving parents. Years
later, Lon is still feisty and is a great success as a vaudeville clown.
However, when his wife, singer Cleva Creighton, is fired from the show, Lon
also quits. After revealing that she is pregnant, Cleva asks finally
to be introduced to his family, and Lon agrees.
In Colorado, however, Cleva discovers that the
Chaneys are deaf and, fearing for her unborn child, turns away from Lon,
declaring that she no longer wants the baby. They travel to San
Francisco where Lon starts work with the famous vaudeville comedy team of
Clarence Kolb and Max Dill, and becomes friendly with their press agent,
Clarence Locan. Although Lon is a hit at work, at home relations are
strained with Cleva, who resents living in a house far from the city.
Months later, Creighton is born and, when Cleva
learns that she will need to wait a few weeks to know if he can hear, she
spurns the baby. In response, Lon pulls away from her, but soon they
both exult upon learning that Creighton can hear.
Four years later, Lon is a doting father,
performing skits for Creighton and welcoming him to the theater.
There, dancer Hazel Bennet, who secretly loves Lon, cares for Creighton when
Cleva is busy. One day, Cleva reveals that she is singing at a nearby
club and, after Lon objects, insists that she can no longer stand to be
alone all day, with a husband who cannot forgive her for turning away from
her newborn son. Lon concedes but, after Creighton suffers a stomach
ache at the theater one day, Lon insists that Cleva quit singing and take
care of their son. In her dressing room, Lon sees William R. Darrow,
Jr. present Cleva with a bouquet of flowers, and then informs the manager
that she is off the program.
Upon returning to his theater, he witnesses
Hazel’s ex-husband, Carl Hastings, hit her and accuse her of having an
affair with Lon. Lon punches him, but then discovers that he has no
legs. As Lon comforts her, Cleva appears and, assuming the worst,
races out.
Three days later, after being rejected by Darrow,
she reappears during Lon’s show, rushing onto the stage to drink a vial of
poison in front of the audience. Cleva lives, but will no longer be
able to sing, and Lon’s stage career is ruined by the scandal. He
visits her in the hospital and, when he discovers she has fled, vows that
she will never again run out on Creighton. Lon files for divorce, but
the judge declares that Creighton must remain a ward of the court until Lon
can furnish a stable home environment for him.
Crushed, Lon moves to Hollywood and tries to
break into the movies. Eager to earn enough money to get Creighton
back, Lon brings his makeup kit to the set each day and, after reading what
type of actor is needed for the day’s shooting, transforms himself into that
character. His disguises are so skillful that they fool even the
visiting Clarence, who then invites Lon to try out for his new boss,
producer George Loane Tucker. In the role of a deformed man who is
healed in the movie The Miracle Man, Lon stuns the whole company but,
after a reporter questions him about his family, Lon laments that he will
never be able to work in peace.
Inspired, Clarence decides to bill Lon as "the
man of mystery," and he is an instant hit. Three years later, Lon has
steady work and a beautiful home, but the judge still will not grant him
custody of Creighton. Clarence invites Hazel to visit, and gently
points out that perhaps Lon needs a wife to provide a complete home.
They marry and soon Creighton, who believes his real mother is dead, comes
to live with them.
Over the years, Lon’s fame grows, his best role
presenting itself when Thalberg invites him to Universal to develop the
character of Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The
mogul, who knows Lon’s past, urges the actor to help the audience understand
the heartbreaking story of a man who is different.
While Lon is creating Quasimodo’s uncomfortable
costume and makeup, he learns from a teenaged Creighton that a woman has
been watching him at school, and realizes it must be Cleva. He finds
and excoriates her, despite Hazel’s warning that Creighton will hate him if
he later learns that his mother wanted to see him.
Soon after, Creighton excitedly reveals that an
agent has promised to represent him as an actor, under the name Lon Chaney,
Jr., but Lon refuses to allow him to act.
Four years later, Hazel spots Cleva outside
their house and invites her in. Cleva insists on leaving before Creighton
returns but, when Hazel tells Creighton of her visit, he leaves in a fury to
live with his mother. Lon is despondent over Creighton’s departure,
but refuses to apologize or visit him and throws all of his energy into his
work, despite a persistent cough.
Soon after, The Jazz Singer ushers in the
era of the talking picture, and Lon works even harder to keep up with the
new demands. One day, unknown to Lon, he is diagnosed with terminal
bronchial cancer. Clarence informs Creighton, who meets his father at
their fishing cabin and reconciles with him. After Lon finally
collapses, he is brought to his deathbed, where he gives Creighton his
makeup kit, with "Jr." added to the name painted on the box. With
Clarence and Hazel looking on, Creighton translates his father’s last wish,
rendered in sign language, to gain their forgiveness. |
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