So what was Lon Chaney doing on his 29th birthday in April 1912?
He was performing with Fischer’s Follies in downtown Los Angeles. E. A. “Pop” Fischer was a well-known musical comedy producer on the California coast at the time, starting first in San Francisco, before setting up shop in Los Angeles in 1906.
(Lon with Mlle. Vanity; ad for “The Yankee Prince” July 1912)
At the Lycem Theatre, Fischer’s company offered numerous popular plays of the period, including those by George M. Cohan. The company changed productions every two weeks, which meant the upcoming production was in rehearsals during the day. Each show offered three matinees and an evening performance during the week.
Lon pulled triple duty in this company, serving as stage manager, choreographer and performing in various roles (including blackface in “Summer Flirts”), while Cleva (his first wife) was part of the chorus.
Julian Johnson, the theatre critic for the LA Times, was very vocal in his praise of Chaney’s performances. Commenting on his performance in “An American Idea” (a George M. Cohan play), Jonhson stated, “Lon Chaney, as the bogus Count, does an adroit piece of work–rapid, sketchy and varied. Considering the enormous amount of toll Chaney has in getting out the choral numbers in these weekly pieces, the fact that he found time to get up such a bright, clean-studied characterization of his own speaks loudly for his superior talent. DeSouchet is not as thorough-going as Chaney would have had him, doubtless with more time, but it is so good that I repeat what I said awhile ago–that Lon Chaney as a character actor of original sort is something worth a large managerial grab–and a quick one.”