Hotel California Radio Show: Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, And Buster Crabbe

TERRI
Yes, certainly Mr. Chaney. It is said that due to the Chaney “heart-on-your-sleeve” mentality, as well as the fact that both of your parents were deaf-mute-freaks, you were able to channel a great spirit of showmanship into your work.

Laugh Clown Laugh, 1928
Photo © MPTV.net

In Man of a Thousand Faces you posed as an extra while you forged a career as a reliable character on the Hollywood sets of silent film in the early 1900s. In Laugh Clown Laugh and He Who Gets Slapped you had some of the most poignant commentaries of any films of the era as a side-show-freakish-lovesick-crippled-clown.

It was, however, London after Midnight and The Phantom of the Opera which actually had the most impact on the movie industry and caused your greatest fame. They were some of the first horror films ever seen. Both of these films featured the most horrific and amazing movie make-up that cinema had ever created.

Unfortunately, many of your films were destroyed by the Great MGM Vault #7 Fire in the sixties, more than thirty years after your death. How do you feel about that, Sir?

LON CHANEY
That is the saddest thing of all. Not good at all. I guess they say “Rain must fall” and tragic events are doomed to occur to any life. Memories last forever. No one can take that away. No one! I will always be here to make films, new ideas, new projects, just call me.

TERRI
Thank you Mr. Chaney. Great, and next we will chat with that wonderful and cheeky character, Mr. Buster Crabbe.

Hi Buster.

Buster Crabbe

BUSTER CRABBE
Hi Terri.

TERRI
Joan?

JOAN CRAWFORD
Yes?

TERRI
Have you met Mr. Chaney yet?

JOAN CRAWFORD
Oh hello. . .

TERRI
What is it about you, Buster Crabbe, that you think makes you so special to Cult Cinema?

BUSTER CRABBE
Honestly, I think that I personally work on a fine, silk line of thread that few other actors in history have the consistency to reveal to the audience. My style is unique. A heartthrob, a swimming champion, the body of Charles Atlas himself. I simply have the attitude of champion and the talent and fame of a Jackson.

As others around me sold their own mothers to attain acting accolades, I was working to portray the common man with all the beauty of a stage queen. Movies like Swamp Fire, Nabonga, Flash, Tarzan the Fearless, and others were indicative of society’s wants. Simply put: they wanted to see my body and to see me act. I was there to put out that fire, an entire nation of lust, searching for a real hero, a sexy hero, I was there. . .

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