Evening star., 1939-04-30
.Chaney's Son
May Inherit
His Mantle
Lon, Jr., Looms as
Possibility for
'Hunchback'
By Harold Hefernan.
HOLLYWOOD.

Although Hollywood right along
accomplishes many an amazing
feat in wandwaving, it has Topped
at every attempt to perform the
miracle of reincarnation.
After the death of any great box
Office personality, studios invariably
set out with great gusto to accom-
plish that superhuman task-but
, they have yet to chalk up the initial
success.
Yet the colony buzzed with fresh
hope of miracle making this week
when word was passed along that
the late Lon Chaney's memorable
4 mantle of grim silent-day specialties
1 might soon be worn by successor
and by none other than the son
1 OF the great box office star of pre-
/ talkie days!
An unexpectedly fine performance
\ given by Lon CLANCY, jr.. in one of
! the important roles in "Of Mice and
Il Men" currently revived on a Holly
sSMood stage. and the remarkable
facial resemblance this stalwart
@syoung man bears Of his father al
ssTeady have a number of studio
yheads agog with excitement. Again
Athey see the prospect of upsetting
Nradition.
4 One producer who saw the 33-
%Sear-old Chaney stealing the show
I'm the role of the hulking, dull
MWitted Lennie the other night, was
Pandro Berman. general manager
hDf the R-K-O Studio.
MI Berman'S lot recently acquired
sGights to The Hunchback of Notre
Dame." a great silent picture which
nnade the original CLANCY famous as
d purveyor of strange and oddly
Smade up characters-a movie still
hooked upon as Ions foremost ef-
gfort in a long succession of horror
.triumphs.
The Hunchhack" is to be re-
smade by Bermans studio on big
p Escale, as the most important pro-
psiuction of its 1939-40 program. It's
budget will eclipse that of "Gunga
pin."
Il For weeks R-K-O has been pom
dering candidates for the title role.
None seemed to fit. More than once
Berman and his associates have
exclaimed: IF CLANCY were only
alive!'
But to many the old Chaney
seems to have been reborn in that
stage presentation. Lon, jr., whose
real name is Creighton, has been
kicked around the lots of Holly
wood as misfit for the past four
or five years. Serials and westerns
swere about the only assignments
1e could get.
But when he turned up on the
stage of Ell CAPTAIN Theater in the
fele of Lennie, he quickly estab-
aished himself as a brilliantly ac-
Complished actor, one whose talents
obviously have not been treated by
the movie lots to the attention
deserved
Film workers in the audience
gaSped at the sons amazing re-
semblance to his father. The son
Is taller by two inches than the
great Lon of The Hunchback,"
Phantom of the Opera" and other
grimly hideous characterizations,
and is many pounds heavier, but in
all other respects he's the "spittin
image" Particularly around the
eyes is the similarity striking.
Anyway, Berman, who attended
that performance only for an eve
ming of enjoying relaxation, left
the theater debating startling
Idea.
. : Why not Lon CLANCY, jr., as the
star of his fathers greatest pic
ture?
Secretly the machinery went into
motion, and from reliable sources
At was learned last week that Lon
Chaney, jr., is to be thoroughly
rested for the part his father per-
formed for Universal in 1923.
In testing for The Hunchback," :"
lChaney will find Orson Welles as
his most serious rival. In fact,
Welles name was the only one
mentioned in that connection until
Chaneys unexpected possibilities
came to light.
( Adding weight to Chaney's chance
of making a successful bid for his
Fathers old throne is an inherited
enthusiasm for strange makeups
and disguises. His father had no
peer in that respect and no charac-
Ter actor to this day has ever ap-
preached his many and ingenious
crippled getups, most of which he
Invented and perfected himself.
(See HEFFERNAN, Page F-2D