The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-08-30
BY A THOMAS
NEA Service Writer

HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 30.-What
scrt Of a human being hid behind
the masks of hends and phantoms
that Lon CLANCY wore in the mo-
ticn pictures and which made him
famous as the worlds greatest char
acter actor?
hollywood really knew little about
Clancy wren he was alive, and his
death has not added very much to
the sum total Of available informa~
ton about the personal side Of this
renowned star.
CLANCY would talk about almost
anything you wanted him to talk
about, except himself.
1T is silly for any man to talk
about himself" CLANCY told me dur
ing the course of an interview about
two years ago. In the first place,
no man is going to say things that
are detrimental to himself. And
if he says favorable things about
himself, people win say: Just an
other actor blowing off,"
DUT here + some facts that
ID are known about this man
whose ~reticence concealed his own
personality as much as his famous
makeups concealed his face:
He lived a quiet life in a Span
ish model house in Beverly Hills.
He owned three autos, but had
no chauffeur.
He built five houses in the last
few years and sold each at a profit.
He spent his vacations camping
and fishing, with his wife and a
few close friends.
CLANCY looked more like a
business man than an actor, but
they called him the star who lived
like a clerk. He never went to
Hollywood parties. After work, he
went home and he and his family
had a few close friends, not con-
nected with the movies.
He was stakeholder in several
businesses.
He liked mathematical puzzles
and undoubtedly read more than
any other Hollywood star. He was
a skilled musician.
He hated to travel.
IT'S hobby was amateur movie
IL photography, and he used to
take numerous reels of pictures on
these camping eXpeditions-and
also shoot" scenes in his own
movies, in which he did not. APP
pear.
He raised an awful row with
studio executives when they wanted
to hire a valet for him.
Among hs closest friends were
companions of his days as a vaude-
vile "hoofer;;" notably Clinton Lyle,
he and Lyle having married two
girls playing a SISTER act" when
all were in vaudeville in San Fran
cisco years ago.
He hated the tinseled brilliance
Of gaudy first nights" but he at
tended them occasionally-probably
because he felt he ought to.
He got a tremendous kick out of
that familiar gag about the bug:
Don't step on it; it may be Lon
CLANCY in disguise"
He liked prize fights and would
travel clear across the United States
to see a big one.
MY home" Lon once said. els
1V1 my own. The public. I am
sure, has no curiosity about my do
nestle life"
In line with this. he refused to
permit the movie press agents to
publiciZe his private affairs. In
deed, he was so reticent about his
own life that it was not known
until after his death that. as a
youth, he had been married for a
short time before his marriage to
his present wife twenty-three years
ago.
Even today, nobody in Hollywood
knows anything about that romance.
The first wife was the mother of
Ions only child, Creighton CLANCY,
a successful young attorney.
The second Mrs. CLANCY, however.
proved an ideal wife and foster
mother. Bravely, she stood by her
husband in the lean days when he
was a struggling extra" in Holly
wood, striving to get on; and sue
cess and riches neither turned the
head nor marred their happiness.
VXTHEN CLANCY died his personal
w fortune was estimated at
1,500, 900 and his salary was quoted
at S 5000 a week-quite a far cry