Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1930)

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Another Lon Chancy He Is The Friend Of The Crook And Down-And-Outer By J. EUGENE CHRISMAN 'EEZ!" whispered the man in the front row, who was doing a turn for "paper-hanging" (passing worthless checks), "the way that guy plays the part of a con man, you'd Itliink he'd been one hisself!" "Aw, dummy up!" hissed a I voice from the darkness. "This ain't a sassiety drammer!" The prison picture room, usually a bedlam during the showing of a picture, was now quiet except for the voices from the screen. The hundreds of inmates of a great state penitentiary, the most critical audience before which a "crook" picture could be shown, watched in silence the unfolding of Lon Chaney's first talkie, "The Unholy Three." "Chaney's pictures are the ones that don t get the raspberry, says an ex-convict now working in Hollywood, "because he knows how a real crook thinks, acts and talks. Another thing: he makes human beings out of his crook characters. Which they are, even if people on the outside don't think so." You have seen Lon Chaney in many "crook" pictures — among them, "The Miracle Man,'^"The Blackbird," "The Penalty," "The Monster," "Outside the Law" and "The Unholy Three." The characters he portrays in these pictures are each vastly different from the others; yet all of them possess one thing in common— a complete understanding of crook psychology. Thousands of people fa Fortraita by Hurrmll miliar with the underworld, police officials and the criminals themselves, have long wondered why it was that Chaney — who, of course, has never been a crook, except for screen purposes — could portray these characters with such astounding realism, while other players who attempt crook roles give but grotesque imitations of the real thing. The answer, never before given to the public, reveals a new and nitherto unsuspected side of the complex character of the man who is acknowledged the screen's finest character actor. Lon Chaney understands the underworld and its people because he has studied crime and criminals. He has studied them so long and so deeply as to be recognized by leading authorities as one of the finest amateur criminologists and penologists in the world. Such men as MajorGeneral Smedley Butler, the marine who attempted to clean up Philadelphia; Dr. T. Wendell Kilmer of the New York State prison board ; Lieut. Roy Harlacher, identification authority; the famous Chief Volmer of Berkeley, California; and exPolice Commissioner Enright of New York City, testify to Chaney's deep understanding and comprehensive grasp of their profession. He Speaks For Themselves EVEN more interesting is the fact that not only does he hold the respect and admiration of law-enforcement officials, but that the convicts themselves seek him out as both speaker and writer on subjects pertaining to their own problems. (Continued on page Q4) 41