While I'm Working On My Essay About Director F.W. Murnau, Pass The Time With This

Silent Star Smackdown: Lon Chaney versus Douglas Fairbanks

While I've been busy working on essays about F.W. Murnau, Jean Hersholt and Clara Bow, as well as researching the Katie awards for 1928-29, two of my most famous readers, Lon Chaney and Douglas Fairbanks, have been engaged in a bit of verbal smackdown in the comments section. Fairbanks claims Chaney "couldn't carry my saddlebags," while Chaney says Fairbanks "couldn't act [his] way out of a paper bag."

I invite all my faithful readers to weigh in on this most vital debate.

The Tale Of The Tape:

Lon Chaney
Birth Name: Leonidas Frank Chaney
Nickname: Man Of A Thousand Faces
Trademark: Master of early makeup techniques
Born: April 1, 1883
Height: 5'9"
Films: 161, including The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923), The Phantom Of The Opera (1925) and Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
Katie Awards: 1 win for Best Actor of 1927-28, 1 nomination for Best Actor Of The Silent Era
Other Awards: twice commemorated on U.S. stamps; first actor to be made honorary member of U.S. Marine Corps for his portrayal of a drill instructor in Tell It To The Marines (1926)
Other Achievements: directed 6 movies, wrote 6
Marriages: 2
Famous Children: Lon Chaney, Jr.
Salary: $3,750 per week The Unholy Three (1930)

Douglas Fairbanks
Birth Name: Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman
Born: May 23, 1883
Trademark: Stunt work
Height: 5'9"
Films: 49, including The Mark Of Zorro (1920), The Thief Of Bagdad (1924) and The Gaucho (1927)
Katie Awards: 1 nomination for Best Actor Of The Silent Era
Other Awards: Honorary Oscar (1940); Photoplay's Medal of Honor for Robin Hood (1922)
Other Achievements: co-founded United Artists, first president of AMPAS, produced 24 movies, wrote 18, directed 2.
Marriages: 3, including to Katie Award winner Mary Pickford
Famous Children: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Salary: $300,000 for Reaching For The Moon (1930)

Analysis: The film record indicates Chaney had tremendous upper body strength and likely could have carried anybody's saddlebags, let alone Fairbanks's. On the other hand, I have yet to see any movie where Fairbanks began a scene in a bag, so I can't say definitively whether he ever acted his way out of one. He did make one movie with Mary Pickford, though, 1929's The Taming Of The Shrew, so draw your own conclusions.

My personal opinion? A well-rounded film collection contains the work of both.

Keep it clean, gents.

Late Programming Note: A Mary Pickford And Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature On TCM Tonight

Straight from the Turner Classic Movies website:

8:00 PM Ramona (1910) In this silent short, a rancher's daughter runs off with a Native. Cast: Mary Pickford, Henry B. Walthall, Francis J. Grandon. Dir: D.W. Griffith. C-17 mins,

8:30 PM Mark of Zorro, The (1920) In this silent film, a Mexican Robin Hood harasses corrupt Spanish invaders. Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite de la Motte, Noah Beery. Dir: Fred Niblo. BW-107 mins, TV-G

I confess I know nothing about Ramona other than to say it is very early Mary Pickford and only 17 minutes long. The Mark Of Zorro is classic Douglas Fairbanks.

I think this is part of TCM's on-going series "Race and Hollywood." This month the network is highlighting Latino Images In Film.