Chaney

BUILDING A CHARACTER

The target! Lon Chaney as he appeared
originally in "London After Midnight!"

Being the fervent "Chaniac" he is, Wally decided to faithfully recreate one of the most disturbingvisages ever put on film...Lon Chaney's 'Man In The Beaver Hat' character from the long-lost silent film "London After Midnight." When the film was released in the 20's, the face disturbed movie-goers everywhere. So much in fact, that a murderer in England blamed his crime on the assertion that he was driven mad by haunting visions of Lon Chaney's character. Luckily, the jury didn't buy the story and he went up the river.

For added effect, Wally intends to recreate the character entirely in monochromatic colors, ie; black and white. You will find no color on his characterization anywhere. The idea is to make it look as if he jumped right from the black and white photos! Unfortunately, no prints of the film exist anymore. All that remained for research purposes were copies of the original script, the photoplay novel, and plenty of stills.

Over the last few months, we have been posting new updates as they happen of Wally's on-going process to resurrect the 'Man In The Beaver Hat' character. Knowing that Hugh Hefner is an enormous Chaney fan, Wally's goal was to attend this year's Playboy Mansion Halloween Party in full regalia.