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Blog Entry 66 of 78 Grave Concerns: Inside Grand View Memorial Park

News you can use regarding Grand View Memorial Park, Glendale, CA's oldest cemetery, which has been closed for regular business since June 13, 2006, due to legal and financial problems.

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Harry Langdon not silent about Grand View case

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Contributed by: Lisa Burks on 8/3/2007

Advocates of Grand View Memorial Park who are desperate to see the cemetery's increasingly dire decline halted as soon as possible may finally have some star power behind their cause.

Internationally known photographer, Harry Langdon, son and only child of equally famed silent screen star and Grand View resident, Harry P. Langdon, has recently become aware of the sad state that his father's final resting place is in. He tells me he's ready to show up and "make a fuss" when limited visitations begin again.

According to word coming out of Glendale's city hall this week, that can't occur until at least September due to the work needing to be done to hundreds of hazardous trees on the property.

Even then, Langdon won't be able to visit his father's cremation niche because it's located inside the West Mausoleum, which is in lock down due to the court's evidence preservation order. However, his paternal grandmother, Lavina Langdon, was buried in the back portion of the cemetery in 1929 and her grave is accessible.

"I'd read about it in the paper, but only until you contacted me did I start to become more aware of it. Now it's really starting to hit home," Langdon told me last week when we met in person at The Silent Movie Theatre in West Hollywood where he spoke to an audience attending a screening of his father's 1928 classic, "The Chaser."

"I'm concerned about my dad's ashes and about what's going on there," he added.

His wife, Lynn, echoed his concern. She told me that they were surprised by the lack of wide media coverage of the important Grand View story, and that they are interested in doing what they can to bring it more attention so that hopefully the situation might be resolved more quickly.

The senior Langdon died at the age of 60 from a cerebral thrombosis just weeks after becoming serious ill in late 1944. His cremated remains were interred at Grand View just after Christmas that year.

"My dad died when I was 10 years old, and that's just about the age when you're getting to know your parents, to finally understand who these adults are," Langdon told the 50-plus people in attendance.

"I'm just now sort of getting over the mourning period of my dad dying, and to begin going over stories, meeting people who know his history, his papers and files," he said.

Langdon, who told the audience of his fond memories of his father and of going to the studio to watch him work, also revealed that he has decided to use his father's long-stored materials to write a much-needed comprehensive book about the actor's life and career.

Film star Harry Langdon, who also wrote, directed and produced some projects, got his early start in show business at the age of 12 when he ran away from his Council Bluffs, Iowa, home to join the circus, and then a traveling medicine show.

It was then that he developed and honed his famous man-child persona, clown-like make-up and the pantomime skills that would serve him well later in silent films. He went on to become a very successful vaudeville comedian and caricature artist.

Due to his success on the stage, Langdon resisted Hollywood for many years. He finally began working in films at the relatively ripe age of 40 when he was hired by legendary comedy film producer Mack Sennett to replace Charlie Chaplin at the Sennett Studios when Chaplin struck out on his own. That portion of his career spanned20 years and nearly 100 films.

Often referred to today as "The Forgotten Clown" compared to peers such as Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy, Langdon gained international fame making audiences laugh during the later part of the 1920s with his baby-faced, eternally optimistic against all odds antics in such classic comedies as "Long Pants," "The Strong Man" and "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" with then-newcomer Joan Crawford.

One of Langdon's first partners in film-making was a director he discovered, future four-time Academy Award-winner Frank Capra. Capra also wrote many of Langdon's gags. When Capra decided to leave to make his own films, egos became involved and they had a falling out. Langdon began directing his own features, to mixed reviews.

The advent of motion picture sound posed a challenge for Langdon. "When talkies came out, pantomime became obsolete, it was all about the spoken word and he didn't really have a great voice, unfortunately, but he was cool," said Langdon, Jr.

Still, he continued to make films under the banner of his own production company and worked with personal friends such as Buster Keaton, Oliver Hardy (when Stan Laurel temporarily left the team in a contract dispute) and Al Jolson.

"Al Jolson(who Langdon worked with in the 1933 in "Hallelujah, I'm A Bum!") thought my father should be a dramatic actor, that he missed his calling by not going into more serious dramatic roles," Langdon told the audience.

"My father rebelled, and said 'I'm a comedian forever and ever and I'm not going to do that,'" he recalled.

Doubtless that Langdon would find anything comedic about the condition of his final resting place at Grand View today. Here's hoping his son can help get the ball rolling toward a timely solution.

On a related note, to see some interesting archival photos of Langdon's niche inside the mausoleum, I suggest visiting the Harry P. Langdon fan page on Myspace.com.

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