Harry Langdon

Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laural and Hardy.  All names from silent film and early talking pictures that are instantly recognizable.  But if one looks back at the entertainment news from that time, another name was even more prominent... Council Bluffs’ native Harry Langdon.

He has a star on Hollywood Boulevard, and any serious cinema buff would know his work, but Harry Langdon’s name doesn’t enjoy the recognition of his peers.

Langdon was paired with Oliver Hardy for a picture and rumors ran rampant that Laurel was out and Langdon was in.  He had seven features released within two years, more than twice the that of his contemporary stars.

Harry Langdon was born in Council Bluffs in 1884. His father, William, was a successful house painter. 

Motion picture history buffs continue to debate what caused his obscurity.  Some say it is a classic case of an actor putting his career into his own hands.  The onset of his box office downslide was coincident with his move to the director’s seat. Or could there be some Hollywood politics involved? The director he fired was Frank Capra, who went onto become a Hollywood legend.  Others attribute the decline to over exposure.

Perhaps the most compelling idea to explain his relative obscurity is one Mr. Langdon would have understood completely. He committed the worst mistake a vaudevillian could make— his timing was off. He died too early.  Buster Keaton lived long enough to be rediscovered by a new audience at the Cannes Film Festival.  Charlie Chaplan received a belated Oscar.  Laurel and Hardy found new fans via television.  But Harry Langdon died in 1944, too early to enjoy the rebirth of his style.

Langdon's time in Council Bluffs.

After he achieved fame in Hollywood, Harry Langdon like to tell the tales of his youth… a real rags to riches story.  Some of it was actually true, but he seems to have glossed over the jail time.

Harry was born July 15, 1884 in Council Bluffs, the fourth of five children.  His father had farmed, as had his father, but his health and small stature didn’t lend itself well to that laborious work, so he earned money as a sign painter, sometimes painting houses as well.  He was good at it, but it wasn’t terribly lucrative, particularly when some of the wages went to the saloons.  Women not being normally allowed in saloons, his wife Lavinia joined the Salvation Army which allowed her entry, and a chance to drag her husband out.  But the the Salvation Army role stuck, with Harry’s father joining as well and rising up the ranks.  He even formed mission, located on West Broadway’s 100 block next to the Ogden Hotel.'

The redemption of his father didn’t permeate down to Harry and siblings.  Harry was just eleven when he was arrested along with an accomplice for robbing a grocery store.  At 13 he was charged with assaulting a fellow newsboy and disturbing the peace at a wee hour, and it was off to the state penitentiary for fifteen months for relieving a farm of his watch and some cash when he was around sixteen.  The governor granted parole based on good behavior but Harry was no sooner back in town and he heisted five bucks and some jewelry from a man in Crescent.  It was back to the state pen..

Boyd Theater in Omaha is where Harry first experienced live productions, courtesy of free passes his father got while working as a scene painter there.  According to his stories, his first time in front of the footlights was in Council Bluffs at the New Dohany Opera House (later the Strand) on the northeast corner of Sixth Street and West Broadway.