A CLOWN ISN'T FUNNY IN THE MOONLIGHT

"A clown is funny in the circus ring, but what would be the normal reaction to opening a door at midnight and finding the same clown standing there in the moonlight?"

- Attributed to Lon Chaney

And there you have it. This saying -- supposedly by Chaney himself -- has numerous variations, all without solid citations. One thing is for certain: the sentiment surely invokes an unsettling image.

In his 1968 book, “An Illustrated History of the Horror Film”, critic Carlos Clarens writes similarly:

As a boy, Lon Chaney used to watch the clowns on the stage of a theater in Colorado Springs and years later, at the peak of his career, he gave them credit not only for teaching him the basic rules of makeup but also for the inspiration of his more sinister roles.

Chaney contended that clowns are only funny when seen in context and that their painted faces and perennial smiles could project the same eerie quality of such characters as the Phantom of the Opera, for instance. There is nothing laughable about a clown in the moonlight, he used to say.

Chaney played a clown more than once in his film roles. The rare photographs below depict him "showing off" his makeup for HE WHO GETS SLAPPED (MGM, 1924). Also starring was Norma Shearer, one of the film's producers. Once Carl Laemmle's personal secretary, Thalberg became Universal's general manager, then jumped to MGM.