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Does anybody agree that whenever you see Lon Chaney play a clown, the clown is very scary, i dontr know if its me but his clowns are really frightening'

Clowns are fine....

It's Chaney that was frightening you.

(Careful of that spider...)

Are there any Lon Chaney researchers out there? According to author E.J.Fleming, Lon Chaney debuted as an actor in the American Film Manufacturing Company's "The Ways of Fate" (1912) but he doesn't cite his source. Thoughts?

WAYS OF FATE was copyrighted on April 4, 1913, and probably shot in March, at which time Chaney was in San Francisco working for the Kolb & Dill company and didn't leave for LA until April, according to Michael F. Blake's book (his wife Cleva, attempted suicide in LA on April 30). So it seems unlikely that Chaney was in this production.

This was Vivian Rich's first effort for American and was shot in late February. Was Chaney in Frisco in February?
I tend to agree that it's not him and that George Field was misidentified as Chaney.

Mr. Blake can probably pinpoint what show he was doing at the time, but the impression i get from "A Thousand Faces" is that he was in San Francisco for the better part of February through April as a stage manager for the five Kolb & Dill shows that were being put on at the time.

Chaney was with Kolb & Dill from Feb thru April of 1913, most likely since January for rehearsing the show(s).

I have little faith that Chaney was in that film, based on the evidence I have.

While we're discussing this, what of HONOR OF THE FAMILY (1912)? Chaney was in LA in 1912, but the only evidence that points to him being in this film is a still from the film, but to my eye, the man does not look like him to me. The early date also seems suspiciously out of place.

The man is slightly like Chaney but I don't think it is him. Chaney was never that conventionally handsome.

It looks more like Herbert Rawlinson to me.