Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a 1928 American silent drama film starring Lon Chaney and Loretta Young (her film debut). The movie was directed by Herbert Brenon and produced by Irving G. Thalberg for MGM Pictures. The film was written by Elizabeth Meehan, based on the 1923 Broadway stage production Laugh, Clown, Laugh by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, which in turn was based on a 1919 play Ridi, Pagliaccio by Fausto Maria Martini. The theme song "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" was composed by Ted Fiorito (music) and Lewis and Young (lyrics).
Stills exist that show Chaney in his clown make-up. The sets were designed by Cedric Gibbons. The film was in production from December 19, 1927, to February 2, 1928, and cost $293,000 to make. The worldwide box office gross was $1,102,000.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh is readily available today on DVD. The existing print, however, is not 100% complete; it is missing reel #4, but the missing footage does not severely impact the story.
An alternate happy ending—wherein Tito survives his fall, Simonetta marries Luigi, and they all remain close friends—was shot at the studio's insistence in case some studios preferred that ending, but the footage no longer exists.
Plot
Tito (Lon Chaney), a traveling circus clown, finds an abandoned child. He adopts her and raises her as his daughter, naming her Simonetta after his brother Simon (Bernard Siegel). One day the now-teenaged Simonetta (Loretta Young) encounters Count Luigi Ravelli (Nils Asther), a wealthy man who falls madly in love with her, but upon seeing that he already has a girlfriend, she rejects him. She returns home to the circus and Tito suddenly realizes she is no longer a child. Tito further realizes he has sexual feelings for Simonetta, but also knows his feelings are improper because he raised her as his daughter.
Luigi begins having fits of uncontrollable laughter because Simonetta has rejected him. Tito falls into melancholia because of his conflicted interests about Simonetta. They both see the same doctor about their conditions and meet each other there for the first time. They share their respective troubles and believe maybe they can help each other, not knowing they are both in love with the same woman. Nonetheless, the three eventually develop a strong friendship until Luigi asks Simonetta to marry him. Simonetta eventually accepts Luigi's proposal, which throws Tito into an even deeper melancholy. Simonetta learns of Tito's affections for her before she marries Luigi. She tells Tito that she loved him before she loved Luigi, then goes to break her engagement with Luigi.
While Simonetta is breaking her engagement, Tito and Simon begin rehearsing some new material for their "Flik and Flok" act. Tito does not believe Simonetta's love is genuine, but that it is just pity she feels for him and at the same time, he knows that, as her adopted father, it would be immoral to have her become his wife. Driven insane by his internal conflict, he decides to practice his new routine from the act without protection. Despite his brother Simon's protests, he continues with the stunt and falls from the highwire. Tito dies from his fall, freeing Simonetta to marry Luigi.
Cast
Lon Chaney as Tito / Flik
Loretta Young as Simonetta
Nils Asther as Count Luigi Ravelli
Bernard Siegel as Simon
Cissy Fitzgerald as Giacinta
Gwen Lee as Lucretia
Leo Feodoroff
Emmett King as the Doctor
Julie DeValora as the Nurse
Helena Dime as Woman at Party
Frankie Genardi as Little Boy at Tito's Death
Mickey McBan as 2nd Little Boy
Lilliana Genardi as Little Girl
Carl M. Leviness as Party Guest
Production
The film is based on the 1923 Broadway stage production Laugh, Clown, Laugh that starred Lionel Barrymore as Tito, and his second wife Irene Fenwick in the role of Simonetta. The play by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, which in turn was based on a 1919 Italian stage play Ridi, Pagliaccio by Fausto Maria Martini, ran at the Belasco Theatre from November 28, 1923, to March 1924, for a total of 133 performances. The production also featured Lucille Kahn in a supporting role. These plays were all based on the 1891 opera I Pagliacci (The Clowns), by Ruggero Leoncavallo, the principal aria of which has the lyrics, "Ridi, Pagliaccio!" (Laugh, Clown!).
MGM was thinking of offering Chaney this film in 1925 but delayed production for several years, because Chaney had already appeared as a clown in the 1924 film He Who Gets Slapped and due to speculation that Lionel Barrymore might wish to reprise his role from the stage production. Instead, MGM would pair Barrymore with Chaney in West of Zanzibar.