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Hamilton Cleek (The Man of the Forty Faces)

kevinburtonsmith

Created by Thomas W. Hanshew
Pseudonyms include Charlotte May Kingsley
(1857 – 1914)

Is it a defect or a feature?

Caught somewhere between Sherlock Holmes and the rise of the hard-boiled dick in the 1920s is HAMILTON CLEEK, also known as “The Man of the Forty Faces,” a “consulting detective” who prefigures the weird menace and defective detective pulps of the thirties.

Not that’s Cleek’s blind or a hemophiliac or an amputee or anything, but he’s got one hell of a gimmick: he was born with the “nature-bestowed power” to twist and contort his face to resemble anyone he desires, sort of like Batman‘s Clayface, but without the clay. A sea captain! An “old Hebrew”! A woman!  None of them are any problem for Cleek.

And just to goose up the eeeeewww! factor, Cleek’s face sort of writhes as it morphs, which must be real fun to watch.

The story goes that Cleek (not his real name, by the way, but what he occasionally calls himself) was something of a criminal prodigy (“the biggest and boldest criminal the police had ever had to cope with”). An orphan at an early age, he grew  up in Paris with a rough band of street kids, run by Margot, the “Queen of the Apaches” (“Apaches” being a French slang term of the era for, well, street kids), with whom Cleek becomes involved. Together, the two head off to London to target the city’s fat cats, and thanks to his God-given gift for disguise and her “French” charms, they have a good run at it — until the fateful night that Cleek spots Ailsa Lorne, a comely young orphan. He instantly renounces his life of crime, in order to be worthy of her love.

Or something.

Cleek (alternately known as “Forty Faces,” the “Vanishing Cracksman,” and of course “The Man Who Calls Himself Hamilton Cleek”) and his superhuman disguise skills appeared in dozens of short stories, collections, and novels. After ditching Margot, he turns himself in to Superintendant Maverick Narkom of Scotland Yard, begging his forgiveness for a life of crime (which he almost immediately receives), promising to make amends. Whereupon Cleek sets himself up as a detective with an office on Clarges Street in London, where he is frequently visited by Narkom, requesting his assistance in some puzzling matter or another.

It’s all delightfully over the top, and most modern readers will roll their eyes at Cleek’s Plasticman-like abilities, his peculiarities (he often disguises himself as an elderly Captain Burbage), the impossible crimes, his endless “secret identities,” the absurd characters, the groan-inducing dialects, the scenery-chomping adventures and Cleek’s frequent and inevitable run-ins with Margot. But the books were wildly successful in their day, even inspiring “The Chronicles of Cleek,” a series of popular one-reelers from the Edison Company.

And what of Ailsa, who inspired Cleek’s life-changing about-face?

Initially, at least, despite all of Cleek’s good deeds, she would have nothing to do with the poor sap. And so he follows her at night — from a distance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas W. Hanshew was an American actor and writer, born in Brooklyn, appearing on stage in his teens, and moving on to larger parts, before becoming associated with a publishing house in London, where he resided at the close of his life. He wrote more than 150 novels, often under the pen name “Charlotte May Kingsley.” Many of his books were co-authored with his wife, Mary E. Hanshew, although some of them, which were credited to him and his wife, were actually written by their daughter, Hazel Phillips Hanshew, after dear old Dad kicked the bucket in 1914. Using her own name Hazel also wrote two final story collections featuring Hamilton Cleek ending a long saga that spanned over three decades.

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Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith, from a lead from ace operative Ron Miller.

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