Colorado Springs: Did you know? — The Kennedy-Chaney Legacy: From a frontier classroom to Hollywood’s “Man of a Thousand Faces”

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In 1893, a 10 ~ Colorado Springs, CO - In 1893, a young boy named Leonidas "Lon" Chaney left fourth grade at Lincoln Elementary to take care of his bedridden mother and younger siblings. Both of Lon's parents, Frank and Emma Chaney, were deaf, and as Emma struggled with inflammatory rheumatism, her son spent hours at her bedside creating wordless performances. These pantomimes mimicked their neighbors, relayed the news of the day, and showcased Lon's ability to tell a story without sound. Little did he know that these homegrown shows would become his training ground for one of the silent era's greatest actors.

According to biographer Michael F. Blake, Chaney's daily ritual honed his graceful movement and expressive hands that would later define his acting career. But Lon's story in Colorado began a generation earlier with his maternal grandfather, Jonathan Ralston Kennedy. Born in Brown County, Ohio in 1824, Jonathan was the grandson of Jonathan "John" Ralston Kennedy and Elizabeth "Betsy" Pitzer Kennedy. Tragically, he lost his father to the cholera epidemic of 1845.

Ten years later, Jonathan's widowed mother Margaret Jane Ralston Kennedy led their family west to Douglas County, Kansas. They settled along the Wakarusa River in a place known as Kennedy Valley. Margaret lived to be eighty-seven years old and saw her large family (Jonathan was one of thirteen children) push the frontier forward.

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Jonathan and his wife Mary had three deaf children which led him to become an educational pioneer. In Kansas, he befriended Philip A. Emery from Indiana who was a deaf teacher and convinced him to open a small private school with $250 borrowed from Kennedy relatives. In 1861, they rented a modest house in Baldwin City for five dollars a month where tuition was paid partly in produce and barter. This humble beginning eventually became the Kansas School for the Deaf, the state's oldest educational institution.

In 1873, the Kennedys moved to Colorado Springs where Jonathan once again set out to create opportunities for the deaf community. With territorial support and advocacy from community leaders, he opened the Colorado Institute for the Education of Mutes on April 8, 1874. The school started in a rented house downtown with seven students, three of whom were his own children. Later, land was donated on Knob Hill which gave the school a permanent campus. In 1877, it began serving blind students as well and is now known as the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind (CSDB).

It was at this school that Jonathan's daughter Emma Alice Kennedy met Frank H. Chaney, a local barber who was known to never leave his shop after 1884. Despite their deep roots (Frank's great-grandfather was Ohio congressman John Chaney and Emma's father had founded CSDB), the young family struggled financially and moved frequently around working-class neighborhoods near Walnut, Spruce, and Shooks Run.

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Lon quickly learned to pitch in at a young age by leading Pikes Peak tours at fourteen and helping with various odd jobs such as hanging wallpaper and assisting with reconstruction after a hotel fire. He also absorbed stagecraft from his older brother who worked as a stage manager at the Colorado Springs Opera House. Together they formed a troupe and wrote their own play called "The Little Tycoon" which they took on vaudeville circuits. By 1910, Lon had made his way to Hollywood where he would eventually become a star.

Although it took some time for Lon to achieve stardom, it came all at once after dozens of supporting roles. His breakthrough came in 1919 with "The Miracle Man" followed by iconic performances in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923) and "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925). He was known as the "Man of a Thousand Faces" for his ability to transform himself with his own make-up designs, often painfully restrictive, to portray society's outsiders with compassion. Despite being associated with horror, Lon also played many straight roles and was admired for his versatility and craft. In 1930, he made his only talkie film, a sound remake of "The Unholy Three" where he famously performed multiple distinct voices himself. Sadly, he passed away later that year at the age of forty-seven from throat cancer.

Although Lon never returned to Colorado Springs, he never forgot where his silent voice began. In 1925, he hosted a special screening of "The Phantom of the Opera" for students at CSDB to honor the school founded by his grandfather and attended by his parents. His mother Emma passed away in 1914 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery where the intertwined stories of the Kennedys, CSDB, and the Chaneys continue to speak without words about grit, ingenuity, and the enduring power of empathy.

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