DID YOU KNOW? Lon Chaney: The Man of a Thousand Faces LON CHANEY AND MARCELINE DAY IN THE MOTION PICTURE, THE BIG CITY, 1928 Famously, the Man of a Thousand Faces had very few words to say about his private life. He once told Screen Secrets magazine that he generated more publicity by being silent about his past than if he were more vocal. How appropriate, considering Lon Chaney was a world-famous silent film star renowned for his lead roles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Although he may not have talked much about it, Chaney’s roots in the Pikes Peak Region ran deep — his experiences growing up here influenced his choice of career and shaped his talent. Lon Chaney’s maternal grandparents, John and Mary Kennedy had three children: Emma (his mother), Mattie, and son Orange; all three of whom were born with hearing loss. John Kennedy established the Mute Asylum in Baldwin City, Kansas in 1864 and served as the Steward of the Olastic Asylum before arriving in Colorado in 1873. The next year, he established what would become The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB). With a $5,000 appropriation from the Colorado Territorial Legislature, the facility opened in a small house on Cucharras Street before a building site of 10 acres was donated by General William Jackson Palmer’s Colorado Springs Company. Three of the thirteen students enrolled for the 1874-1875 school term were the children of founder Jonathan Kennedy. Lon’s father Frank Chaney was born in on April 3, 1852 in Carroll, Ohio. He lost his hearing after contracting typhoid fever at the age of four. Lon’s mother, Emma Kennedy was born on October 13, 1855 in Lawrence, Kansas, and had hearing loss since birth. As author Michael Blake has stated, in addition to providing educational and vocational opportunities for students, the CSDB “served as a magnet for social activities for all of the city’s deaf community.” After meeting at the school, Frank and Emma were married in her parent’s home on December 5, 1877. MUSELETTER JANUARY 2020| PG 6
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