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Joan Blondell

August 31, 2021 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Prepared by Daniel B Miller

Rose Joan Blondell (August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for half a century.

After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career. Establishing herself as a sexy, wisecracking blonde, she was a Pre-Code staple of Warner Bros. pictures and appeared in more than 100 movies and television productions. She was most active in films during the 1930s, and during this time, she co-starred with Glenda Farrell in nine films, in which the duo portrayed gold-diggers. Blondell continued acting in major film roles for the rest of her life, often in small character roles or supporting television roles. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Blue Veil (1951).

Blondell was seen in featured roles in two films — Grease (1978) and The Champ (1979) — released shortly before her death from leukemia.

Early life

Rose Joan Blondell was born in New York to a vaudeville family; she gave her birthdate as August 30, 1909. Her father, Levi Bluestein, a vaudeville comedian known as Ed Blondell, was born in Poland to a Jewish family in 1866.

He toured for many years starring in Blondell and Fennessy’s stage version of The Katzenjammer Kids. Blondell’s mother was Catherine (known as “Kathryn” or “Katie”) Caine, born in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York (later Brooklyn, New York City) on April 13, 1884, to Irish-American parents. Joan’s younger sister, Gloria Blondell, also an actress, was briefly married to film producer Albert R. Broccoli. The Blondell sisters had a brother, Ed Blondell, Jr.

Joan’s cradle was a property trunk as her parents moved from place to place and she made her first appearance on stage at the age of four months when she was carried on in a cradle as the daughter of Peggy Astaire in The Greatest Love. Her family comprised a vaudeville troupe, the “Bouncing Blondells”.

Joan had spent a year in Honolulu (1914–15) and six years in Australia and had seen much of the world by the time her family, who had been on tour, settled in Dallas, Texas, when she was a teenager.

Under the name Rosebud Blondell, she won the 1926 Miss Dallas pageant, was a finalist in an early version of the Miss Universe pageant in May 1926, and placed fourth for Miss America 1926 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in September of that same year.

She attended Santa Monica High School, where she acted in school plays and worked as an editor on the yearbook staff. While there (and after high school), she gave her name as Rosebud Blondell, such as when she attended North Texas State Teacher’s College (1926–1927), now the University of North Texas in Denton, where her mother was a local stage actress.

Career

Around 1927, she returned to New York, worked as a fashion model, a circus hand, a clerk in a store, joined a stock company to become an actress, and performed on Broadway.

In 1927, the actress made her Broadway debut with a small role in “The Trial of Mary Dugan.”

In 1930, she starred with James Cagney in her third play, Penny Arcade on Broadway. Penny Arcade lasted only three weeks, but Al Jolson saw it and bought the rights to the play for $20,000. He then sold the rights to Warner Bros., with the proviso that Blondell and Cagney be cast in the film version, then renamed Sinners’ Holiday (1930).

Penny Arcade (1930)

Sinner’s Holiday (1930)

Placed under contract by Warner Bros., she moved to Hollywood, where studio boss Jack L. Warner wanted her to change her name to “Inez Holmes”, but Blondell refused. She began to appear in short subjects and was named as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1931.

Wampas Baby Stars (1931)

Blondell was paired several more times with James Cagney in films, including The Public Enemy (1931), and she was one-half of a gold-digging duo with Glenda Farrell in nine films.

During the Great Depression, Blondell was one of the highest-paid individuals in the United States. Her stirring rendition of “Remember My Forgotten Man” in the Busby Berkeley production of Gold Diggers of 1933, in which she co-starred with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, became an anthem for the frustrations of unemployed people and the government’s failed economic policies.

James-Cagney-Jean-Harlow-The-Public-Enemy

The Public Enemy (1931)

Gold Diggers of 1933

In the years that folowed, Joan Blondell made almost 50 films, with 1930s being the most productive period of her career. Some of the most successful included Night Nurse (1931), The Greeks had a Word for Them (1932), The Crowd Roars (1932), Three on a Match (1932), Footlight Parade (1933), We’re in the Money (1935), Bullets or Ballots (1936), Three Men on a Horse (1936), and Stand‐In (1937).

In most of these films she appeared as the wisecracking working girl who was the lead’s best friend. In gangster films and musicals she was mostly the second lead.

Often cast opposite the era’s leading male stars, she appeared frequently opposite Mr. Cagney (seven times) and Dick Powell (also seven times)

Night Nurse (1931)

The Greeks had a Word for Them (1932)

The Crowd Roars (1932)

Three on a Match (1932)

Footlight Parade (1933)

We’re in the Money (1935)

Bullets or Ballots (1936)

In 1937, she starred opposite Errol Flynn in The Perfect Specimen. By the end of the decade, she had made nearly 50 films. She left Warner Bros. in 1939.

The Perfect Specimen (1937)

In 1943, Blondell returned to Broadway as the star of Mike Todd’s short-lived production of The Naked Genius, a comedy written by Gypsy Rose Lee.

She was well received in her later films, despite being relegated to character and supporting roles after 1945, when she was billed below the title for the first time in 14 years in Adventure, which starred Clark Gable and Greer Garson.

The Naked Genius (1943)

Adventure (1945)

She was also featured prominently in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) and Nightmare Alley (1947).

In 1948, she left the screen for three years and concentrated on theater, performing in summer stock and touring with Cole Porter‘s musical, Something for the Boys. She later reprised her role of Aunt Sissy in the musical version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the national tour, starred opposite Tallulah Bankhead in the play Crazy October (which closed on the road) and played the nagging mother, Mae Peterson, in the national tour of Bye Bye Birdie.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

Nightmare Alley (1947)

Crazy October (1948) with Tallullah Bankhead and Estelle Winwood

Bye Bye Birdie (1949)

Blondell returned to Hollywood in 1950. Her performance in her next film, The Blue Veil (1951), earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She played supporting roles in The Opposite Sex (1956), Desk Set (1957), and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957).

She received considerable acclaim for her performance as Lady Fingers in Norman Jewison‘s The Cincinnati Kid (1965), garnering a Golden Globe nomination and National Board of Review win for Best Supporting Actress. John Cassavetes cast her as a cynical, aging playwright in his film Opening Night (1977).

The Blue Veil (1951)

The Opposite Sex (1956)

Blondell was widely seen in two films released not long before her death – Grease (1978), and the remake of The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight and Rick Schroder. She also appeared in two films released after her death – The Glove (1979), and The Woman Inside (1981).

Blondell also guest-starred in various television programs, including three 1963 episodes as the character Aunt Win in the CBS sitcom The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan and Richard Crenna.

Grease (1978)

MBDCHAM EC036 — THE CHAMP, Joan Blondell, 1979, (c) MGM

The Champ (1979)

The Glove (1979)

The Woman Inside (1981)

Also in 1963, Blondell was cast as the widowed Lucy Tutaine in the episode, “The Train and Lucy Tutaine”, on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Lucy sues a railroad company, against great odds, for causing the death of her cow. Noah Beery Jr., was cast as Abel.

In 1964, she appeared in the episode “What’s in the Box?” of The Twilight Zone. She guest-starred in the episode “You’re All Right, Ivy” on Jack Palance‘s circus drama, The Greatest Show on Earth, which aired on ABC in the 1963–64 television season. Her co-stars in the segment were Joe E. Brown and Buster Keaton.

What is in the Box – Twilight Zone (1964)

In 1965, she was in the running to replace Vivian Vance as Lucille Ball’s sidekick on the hit CBS television comedy series The Lucy Show. Unfortunately, after filming her second guest appearance as Joan Brenner (Lucy’s new friend from California), Blondell walked off the set right after the episode had completed filming when Ball humiliated her by harshly criticizing her performance in front of the studio audience and technicians.

The Lucy Show (1965)

Blondell continued working on television. In 1968, she guest-starred on the CBS sitcom Family Affair, starring Brian Keith. She replaced Bea Benaderet, who was ill, for one episode on the CBS series Petticoat Junction. In that installment, Blondell played FloraBelle Campbell, a lady visitor to Hooterville, who had once dated Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) and Sam Drucker (Frank Cady).

That same year, Blondell co-starred in all 52 episodes of the ABC Western series Here Come the Brides, set in the Pacific Northwest of the 19th century. Her co-stars included singer Bobby Sherman and actor-singer David Soul. Blondell received two consecutive Emmy nominations for outstanding continued performance by an actress in a dramatic series for her role as Lottie Hatfield.

Here Come the Brides (1968)

In 1971, she followed Sada Thompson in the off-Broadway hit The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, with a young Swoosie Kurtz playing one of her daughters.

In 1972, she had an ongoing supporting role in the NBC series Banyon as Peggy Revere, who operated a secretarial school in the same building as Banyon’s detective agency. This was a 1930s period action drama starring Robert Forster in the title role. Her students worked in Banyon’s office, providing fresh faces for the show weekly. The series was replaced midseason.

Banyon (1972)

In 1974, Blondell played the wife of Tom D’Andrea‘s character in the television film, Bobby Parker and Company, with Ted Bessell in the starring role as the son of Blondell and D’Andrea. Coincidentally, D’Andrea had earlier played Jim Gillis, the television husband of Blondell’s younger sister, Gloria Blondell, in the NBC sitcom The Life of Riley.

Blondell has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6311 Hollywood Boulevard. In December 2007, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City mounted a retrospective of Blondell’s films in connection with a new biography by film professor Matthew Kennedy, and theatrical revival houses such as Film Forum in Manhattan have also projected many of her films recently.

She wrote a novel titled Center Door Fancy (New York: Delacorte Press, 1972), which was a thinly disguised autobiography with veiled references to June Allyson and Dick Powell.

Center Door Fancy – Joan Blondell Novel (1972)

Personal life

Blondell was married three times, first to cinematographer George Barnes in a private wedding ceremony on January 4, 1933, at the First Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, Arizona. They had one child, Norman Scott Barnes, who became an accomplished producer, director, and television executive known as Norman Powell. Joan and George divorced in 1936.

Joan Blondell and George Barnes

On September 19, 1936, she married her second husband Dick Powell, an actor, director, and singer. They had a daughter, Ellen Powell, who became a studio hair stylist, and Powell adopted her son by her previous marriage under the name Norman Scott Powell. Blondell and Powell were divorced on July 14, 1944. Blondell was less than friendly with Powell’s next wife, June Allyson, although the two women would later appear together in The Opposite Sex (1956).

Joan Blondell and Dick Powell

Dick Powell, Ellen Powell and Joan Blondell

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Joan Blondell and Dick Powell in Stage Struck (1936)

On July 5, 1947, Blondell married her third husband, producer Mike Todd, whom she divorced in 1950. Her marriage to Todd was an emotional and financial disaster.

She once accused him of holding her outside a hotel window by her ankles. He was also a heavy spender who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling (high-stakes bridge was one of his weaknesses) and went through a controversial bankruptcy during their marriage.

Joan Blondell and Mike Todd

An often-repeated myth is that Mike Todd left Blondell for Elizabeth Taylor, when in fact, she had left Todd of her own accord years before he met Taylor.

Death

Blondell died of leukemia in Santa Monica, California, on Christmas Day, 1979, with her children and her sister at her bedside. She is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Joan Blondell Plate, Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetary, Glendale, California

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1930	The Office Wife	Katherine Mudcock	^[19]
1930	Sinners’ Holiday	Myrtle	^[19]
1931	Other Men’s Women	Marie	^[19]
1931	Millie	Angie Wickerstaff	^[19]
1931	Illicit	Helen Dukie Childers	^[19]
1931	God’s Gift to Women	Fifi	^[19]
1931	The Public Enemy	Mamie	^[19]
1931	My Past	Marian Moore	^[19]
1931	Big Business Girl	Pearl	^[19]
1931	Night Nurse	Maloney	^[19]
1931	The Reckless Hour	Myrtle Nichols	^[19]
1931	Blonde Crazy	Ann Roberts	^[19]
1932	Union Depot	Ruth Collins	^[19]
1932	The Greeks Had a Word for Them	Schatze Citroux	^[19]
1932	The Crowd Roars	Anne Scott	^[19]
1932	The Famous Ferguson Case	Maizie Dickson	^[19]
1932	Make Me a Star	Flips Montague	^[19]
1932	Miss Pinkerton	Miss Adams	^[19]
1932	Big City Blues	Vida Fleet	^[19]
1932	Three on a Match	Mary Keaton	^[19]
1932	Central Park	Dot	^[19]
1933	Lawyer Man	Olga Michaels	^[19]
1933	Broadway Bad	Tony Landers	^[19]
1933	Blondie Johnson	Blondie Johnson	^[19]
1933	Gold Diggers of 1933	Carol King	^[19]
1933	Goodbye Again	Anne Rogers	^[19]
1933	Footlight Parade	Nan Prescott	^[19]
1933	Havana Widows	Mae Knight	^[19]
1933	Convention City	Nancy Lorraine	Lost film^[19]
1934	I’ve Got Your Number	Marie Lawson	^[19]
1934	He Was Her Man	Rose Lawrence	^[19]
1934	Smarty	Vickie Wallace	^[19]
1934	Dames	Mabel Anderson	^[19]
1934	Kansas City Princess	Rosie Sturges	^[19]
1935	Traveling Saleslady	Angela Twitchell	^[19]
1935	Broadway Gondolier	Alice Hughes	^[19]
1935	We’re in the Money	Ginger Stewart	^[19]
1935	Miss Pacific Fleet	Gloria Fay	^[19]
1936	Colleen	Minnie Hawkins	^[19]
1936	Sons o’ Guns	Yvonne	^[19]
1936	Bullets or Ballots	Lee Morgan	^[19]
1936	Stage Struck	Peggy Revere	^[19]
1936	Three Men on a Horse	Mabel	^[19]
1936	Gold Diggers of 1937	Norma Perry	^[19]
1937	The King and the Chorus Girl	Dorothy Ellis	^[19]
1937	Back in Circulation	Timmy Blake	^[19]
1937	The Perfect Specimen	Mona Carter	^[19]
1937	Stand-In	Lester Plum	^[19]
1938	There’s Always a Woman	Sally Reardon	^[19]
1939	Off the Record	Jane Morgan	^[19]
1939	East Side of Heaven	Mary Wilson	^[19]
1939	The Kid from Kokomo	Doris Harvey	^[19]
1939	Good Girls Go to Paris	Jenny Swanson	^[19]
1939	The Amazing Mr. Williams	Maxine Carroll	^[19]
1940	Two Girls on Broadway	Molly Mahoney	^[19]
1940	I Want a Divorce	Geraldine Brokaw	^[19]
1941	Topper Returns	Gail Richards	^[19]
1941	Model Wife	Joan Keathing Chambers	^[19]
1941	Three Girls About Town	Hope Banner	^[19]
1942	Lady for a Night	Jenny Blake	^[19]
1942	Cry ‘Havoc’	Grace Lambert	^[19]
1945	A Tree Grows In Brooklyn	Aunt Sissy	^[19]
1945	Don Juan Quilligan	Margie Mossrock	^[19]
1945	Adventure	Helen Melohn	^[19]
1947	The Corpse Came C.O.D.	Rosemary Durant	^[19]
1947	Nightmare Alley	Zeena	^[19]
1947	Christmas Eve	Ann Nelson	^[19]
1950	For Heaven’s Sake	Daphne	^[19]
1951	The Blue Veil	Annie Rawlins	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress^[19]
1956	The Opposite Sex	Edith Potter	^[19]
1957	Lizzie	Aunt Morgan	^[19]
1957	Desk Set	Peg Costello	^[19]
1957	This Could Be the Night	Crystal	^[19]
1957	Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?	Violet	^[19]
1961	Angel Baby	Mollie Hays	^[19]
1964	Advance to the Rear	Easy Jenny	^[19]
1965	The Cincinnati Kid	Lady Fingers	National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture^[19]
1966	Ride Beyond Vengeance	Mrs. Lavender	^[19]
1967	Waterhole #3	Lavinia	^[19]
1967	Winchester ’73	Larouge	TV movie
1967	The Spy in the Green Hat	Mrs. “Fingers” Steletto
1968	Stay Away, Joe	Glenda Callahan	^[19]
1968	Kona Coast	Kittibelle Lightfoot	^[19]
1969	Big Daddy		^[19]
1970	The Phynx	Ruby	^[19]
1971	Support Your Local Gunfighter!	Jenny	^[19]
1975	The Dead Don’t Die	Levinia	TV movie
1976	Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood	Landlady	^[19]
1976	Death at Love House	Marcella Geffenhart
1977	The Baron
1977	Opening Night	Sarah Goode	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture^[19]
1978	Grease	Vi	^[19]
1979	Battered	Edna Thompson	NBC TV movie
1979	The Champ	Dolly Kenyon	^[19]
1979	The Glove	Mrs. Fitzgerald
1981	Feud	Aunt Coll

Short films

Year	Title	Notes
1929	Broadway’s Like That	Vitaphone Varieties release 960 (December 1929) Cast: Ruth Etting, Humphrey Bogart, Mary Philips^[20]^:50
1930	The Devil’s Parade	Vitaphone Varieties release 992 (February 1930) Cast: Sidney Toler^[20]^:52
1930	The Heart Breaker	Vitaphone Varieties release 1012–1013 (March 1930) Cast: Eddie Foy, Jr.^[20]^:53
1930	An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee
1931	How I Play Golf, number 10, “Trouble Shots”	Vitaphone release 4801 Cast: Bobby Jones, Joe E. Brown, Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.^[20]^:226
1933	Just Around the Corner
1934	Hollywood Newsreel
1941	Meet the Stars #2: Baby Stars
1965	The Cincinnati Kid Plays According to Hoyle

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	The Untouchables	Hannah ‘Lucy’ Wagnall	Episode: “The Underground Court”
1963	The Virginian	Rosanna Dobie	Episode: “To Make This Place Remember”
1963	Wagon Train	Ma Bleecker	Episode: “The Bleecker Story”
1964	The Twilight Zone	Phyllis Britt	Episode: “What’s in the Box”
1964	Bonanza	Lillian Manfred	Episode: “The Pressure Game”
1965	Petticoat Junction season 5 episode 22	Florabelle Campbell
1965	My Three Sons	Harriet Blanchard	Episode: “Office Mother”
1968–70	Here Come the Brides	Lottie Hatfield	52 episodes^[21]^[22] Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1969–70)
1971	McCloud – ″Top of the World, Ma!″	Ernestine White	Episode: “Top of the World, Ma”
1972–73	Banyon	Peggy Revere	8 episodes
1979	The Rebels	Mrs. Brumple	TV movie

Radio broadcasts

Year	Program	Episode/source
1946	Hollywood Star Time	The Lady Eve^[23]

References

^ Obituary Variety, December 26, 1979.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e “Joan Blondell, Actress, Dies at 70; Often Played Wisecracking Blonde”. The New York Times. December 26, 1979. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
^ “[Unknown]”. The Republic. Columbus, Indiana. October 7, 1971. p. 26. Archived from the original on February 16, 2018. The Katzenjammer Kids will be presented in Franklin this evening, the company having passed through here this morning on the way to that place. “Eddie Blondell’s true name is Levi Bluestein, and he was a resident of Columbus many years ago, living with his father at the foot of Washington street
^ “[Unknown]”. The Republic. Columbus, Indiana. January 29, 1906. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 16, 2018. No allowance was made for alimony, but Mrs. Blondell seemed to be satisfied. The Blondells, who in private life were Mr. and Mrs. Levi Bluestein, have been annoyed by a case of incompatibility of temper for a long time. They were formerly a member of Katzenjammer Kids’ company….
^ “Blondell and Fennessy’s hurricane of fun and frolic, The Katzenjammer Kids”. loc.gov. United States Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 16, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
^ “[Unknown]”. Variety. November 1916. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Rowland & Clifford, a western producing firm, have also a production in preparation under the title of ‘The Katzenjammer Kids’, securing the rights from Blondell & Fennessy. Both shows are scheduled to play over the International, with the Hill production to be ready by Jan. 1.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d Kennedy, Matthew (September 28, 2009). “Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes”. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781628461817 – via Google Books.
^ “Grave Spotlight – Joan Blondell”. cemeteryguide.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
^ Rathbun, Joe (December 10, 1944). “Joe’s Radio Parade”. Sunday Times Signal. p. 23. Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Punahou School Alumni Directory, 1841–1991. White Plains, New York: Harris Publishing Company, 1991.
^ Santa Monica High School Yearbook, 1925
^ “Page 68”. The Yucca. North Texas State Teacher’s College. 1927. Retrieved December 2, 2019 – via texashistory.com.
^ “Lights! Camera! University of North Texas!: Joan Blondell (1906 – 1979)”. library.unt.edu. University of North Texas. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
^ Joan Blondell at the Internet Broadway Database
^ “The Train and Lucy Tutaine on Death Valley Days“. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
^ “Joan Blondell”. iobdb.com.
^ “Hollywood Walk of Fame – Joan Blondell”. walkoffame.com. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak ^al ^am ^an ^ao ^ap ^aq ^ar ^as ^at ^au ^av ^aw ^ax ^ay ^az ^ba ^bb ^bc ^bd ^be ^bf ^bg ^bh ^bi ^bj ^bk ^bl ^bm ^bn ^bo ^bp ^bq ^br ^bs ^bt ^bu ^bv ^bw ^bx ^by ^bz ^ca ^cb ^cc ^cd ^ce ^cf ^cg ^ch ^ci ^cj “Joan Blondell”. AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d Liebman, Roy (2003). Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0786446971.
^ Here Come the Brides – ‘The Complete 2nd Season’: Shout!’s Street Date, Cost, Packaging Archived November 12, 2011, at the Wayback MachineTVShowsonDVD.com November 7, 2001
^ Here Come the Brides – Official Press Release, Plus Rear Box Art & Revised Front Art Archived November 14, 2011, at the Wayback MachineTVShowsonDVD.com March 7, 2006
^ “Joan Blondell In ‘Lady Eve’ On WHP ‘Star Time‘“. Harrisburg Telegraph. September 21, 1946. p. 17. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

Joan Blondell at the Internet Broadway Database
Joan Blondell on IMDb
Joan Blondell at the TCM Movie Database
Joan Blondell at AllMovie
Photographs of Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell Q&A with Biographer Matthew Kennedy

Actors, Articles, Pre Code Films

Una Merkel

September 11, 2019 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Prepared by Daniel B Miller

Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.

Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film actress. Two of her best-known performances are in the films 42nd Street and Destry Rides Again. She won a Tony award in 1956, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1961.

Una Merkel in 42nd Street promo

Una Merkel with Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again

1–Life and career
2–Personal life
- 2.1Marriage
3–Death
4–Filmography
- 4.1Features
- 4.2Short subjects
5–References
6–Further reading

Life and career

Una Merkel was born in Covington, Kentucky, to Arno Merkel and Bessie Phares but in her early childhood, she lived in many of the Southern United States due to her father’s job as a traveling salesman.

At the age of 15, her parents and she moved to Philadelphia. They stayed there a year or so before settling in New York City, where she began attending the Alviene School of Dramatic Art.

Una Merkel aged 4

Because of her strong resemblance to actress Lillian Gish, Merkel was offered a part as Gish’s youngest sister in a silent film called World Shadows.

Unfortunately, the public never saw the film because funding for it dried up, and it was never completed. Merkel went on to appear in a few silent films during the silent era, several of them for the Lee Bradford Corporation. She also appeared in the two-reel Love’s Old Sweet Song (1923), which was made by Lee DeForest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process and starred Louis Wolheim and Helen Weir.

Not making much of a mark in films, Merkel turned her attention to the theater and found work in several important plays on Broadway. Her biggest triumph was in Coquette (1927), which starred her idol, Helen Hayes.

Invited to Hollywood by famous director D. W. Griffith to play Ann Rutledge in his Abraham Lincoln (1930), Merkel was a big success in the “talkies”. During the 1930s, she became a popular second lead in a number of films, usually playing the wisecracking best friend of the heroine, supporting actresses such as Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Loretta Young, and Eleanor Powell.

Una Merkel with Walter Huston in Abraham Lincoln

With her Kewpie-doll looks, strong Southern accent, and wry line delivery, Merkel enlivened scores of films in the 1930s. She even had the distinction of playing Sam Spade‘s secretary in the original 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon. Merkel was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player from 1932 to 1938, appearing in as many as 12 films in a year, often on loan-out to other studios. She was also often cast as leading lady to a number of actors in their starring pictures, including Jack Benny, Harold Lloyd, Franchot Tone, and Charles Butterworth.

Una Merkel with Ricardo Cortez in The Maltese Falcon

In 42nd Street (1933), Merkel played a streetwise show girl who was Ginger Rogers‘ character’s buddy. In the famous “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” number, Merkel and Rogers sang the verse: “Matrimony is baloney. She’ll be wanting alimony in a year or so./Still they go and shuffle, shuffle off to Buffalo.” Merkel appeared in both the 1934 and the 1952 film versions of The Merry Widow, playing different roles in each.

One of her most famous roles was in the Western comedy Destry Rides Again (1939) in which her character, Lily Belle, gets into a famous “cat-fight” with Frenchie (Marlene Dietrich) over the possession of her husband’s trousers, won by Frenchie in a crooked card game. She played the elder daughter to the W. C. Fields character, Egbert Sousé, in the 1940 film The Bank Dick. Her film career went into decline during the 1940s, although she continued working in smaller productions. In 1950, she was leading lady to William Bendix in the baseball comedy Kill the Umpire, which was a surprise hit.

42nd Street Promo

Una Merkel and Ernst Lubitsch on the set of The Merry Widow

She made a comeback as a middle-aged woman playing mothers and maiden aunts, and in 1956 won a Tony Award for her role on Broadway in The Ponder Heart. She had a major part in the MGM 1959 film The Mating Game as Paul Douglas‘ wife and Debbie Reynolds‘s mother, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Summer and Smoke (1961). She was also featured as Brian Keith‘s housekeeper, Verbena, in the Walt Disney comedy The Parent Trap in 1961. Her final film role was opposite Elvis Presley in Spinout.

Una Merkel and Elvis Presley 1950s

Personal life

On March 5, 1945, Merkel was nearly killed when her mother Bessie, with whom she was sharing an apartment in New York City, committed suicide by gassing herself. Merkel was overcome by the five gas jets her mother had turned on in their kitchen and was found unconscious in her bedroom.

On March 4, 1952, nearly seven years to the day that Merkel’s mother committed suicide, Merkel overdosed on sleeping pills. She was found unconscious by a nurse who was caring for her at the time and remained in a coma for a day.

Merkel was a lifelong practicing Methodist.

Marriage

Merkel was married once and had no children. She married North American Aviation executive Ronald L. Burla in 1932. They separated in April 1944. Merkel filed for divorce on December 19, 1946 in Miami, and it was granted in March 1947.

Death

On January 2, 1986, Merkel died in Los Angeles at the age of 82. She is buried near her parents, Arno and Bessie Merkel, in Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Una Merkel has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6230 Hollywood Boulevard). In 1991, a historical marker was dedicated to her in her hometown of Covington, KY.

Filmography

Features

The Fifth Horseman (1924)
Abraham Lincoln (1930)
The Eyes of the World (1930)
The Bat Whispers (1930)
Command Performance (1931)
Don’t Bet on Women (1931)
Six Cylinder Love (1931)
Daddy Long Legs (1931)
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
The Bargain (1931)
Wicked (1931)
The Secret Witness (1931)
Private Lives (1931)
She Wanted a Millionaire (1932)
Impatient Maiden (1932)
Man Wanted (1932)
Huddle (1932)
Red-Headed Woman (1932)
They Call It Sin (1932)
Men Are Such Fools (1932)
Whistling in the Dark (1933)
42nd Street (1933)
The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933)
Clear All Wires! (1933)
Reunion in Vienna (1933)
Midnight Mary (1933)
Her First Mate (1933)
Broadway to Hollywood (1933)
Beauty for Sale (1933)
Bombshell (1933)
Day of Reckoning (1933)
The Women in His Life (1933)
This Side of Heaven (1934)
Murder in the Private Car (1934)
Paris Interlude (1934)
The Cat’s-Paw (1934)
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
Have a Heart (1934)
The Merry Widow (1934)
Evelyn Prentice (1934)
Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935)
The Night Is Young (1935)
One New York Night (1935)
Baby Face Harrington (1935)
Murder in the Fleet (1935)
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)
It’s in the Air (1935)
Riffraff (1936)
Speed (1936)
We Went to College (1936)
Born to Dance (1936)
Don’t Tell the Wife (1937)
The Good Old Soak (1937)
Saratoga (1937)
Checkers (1937)
True Confession (1937)
Four Girls in White (1939)
Some Like It Hot (1939)
On Borrowed Time (1939)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Comin’ Round the Mountain (1940)
Sandy Gets Her Man (1940)
The Bank Dick (1940)
Double Date (1941)
Road to Zanzibar (1941)
Cracked Nuts (1941)
The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
Twin Beds (1942)
This Is the Army (1943)
Sweethearts of the U.S.A. (1944)
It’s a Joke, Son! (1947)
The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
Man from Texas (1948)
Kill the Umpire (1950)
My Blue Heaven (1950)
Emergency Wedding (1950)
Rich, Young and Pretty (1951)
A Millionaire for Christy (1951)
Golden Girl (1951)
With a Song in My Heart (1952)
The Merry Widow (1952)
I Love Melvin (1953)
The Kentuckian (1955)
Vertigo (1956), uncredited
The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956)
Bundle of Joy (1956)
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957)
The Girl Most Likely (1957)
The Mating Game (1959)
The Parent Trap (1961)
Summer and Smoke (1961)
Summer Magic (1963)
A Tiger Walks (1964)
Spinout (1966)

Short subjects

Love’s Old Sweet Song (1923) two-reeler made in Phonofilm early sound process
Menu (1933)
Hollywood Goes to Town (1938)
Quack Service (1943)
To Heir Is Human (1944)

References

Jump up^ Kentucky. Birth Records, 1847-1911
Jump up^ Reid, Alexander (5 January 1986), “Una Merket Dies at Age of 82; From Silent Films to a Tony”, The New York Times, p. 24
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Una Merkel Lies In Coma After Pill Overdose”. Star-News. Wilmington, North Carolina. March 4, 1952. p. 4. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
Jump up^ “Una Merkel in Death Escape”. Lodi News-Sentinel. Lodi, California. March 6, 1945. p. 8. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
Jump up^ “Una Merkel Recovering”. The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, Australia. March 6, 1952. p. 3. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
Jump up^ kyumc.org/events/detail/1806
Jump up^ “About FUMC”. First United Methodist Church, Eunice, Louisiana.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Folkart, Burt A. (January 4, 1986). “Una Merkel, Movie, Stage Actress, Dies”. latimes.com. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
Jump up^ “Divorce Is Sought By Una Merkel”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. December 3, 1946. p. 2. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Una Merkel Files Suit on Back Alimony”. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. November 6, 1947. p. 2.
Jump up^ “Actress Una Merkel dies”. The Evening News. Newburgh, New York. January 5, 1986. p. 2A. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
Jump up^ Tenkotte, Paul A.; Claypool, James C., eds. (2015). The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky. p. 615. ISBN 0-813-15996-2.
Jump up^ “Hollywood Star Walk: Una Merkel”. latimes.com. Retrieved March 22, 2015.

Her First Affaire (1932)

February 4, 2018 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD

Her First Affaire (1932)

Director: Allan Dwan

Cast: Ida Lupino, George Curzon, Diana Napier, Harry Tate, Muriel Aked, Arnold Riches, Kenneth Kove, Helen Haye, Roland Culver

71 min

Her First Affaire is a 1932 British drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Ida Lupino, George Curzon and Diana Napier.^[1] It was based on a play by Merrill Rogers and Frederick J. Jackson.

Plot

A headstrong young girl falls completely for a writer of trashy novels, and insinuates herself into his household, all to the chagrin of her erstwhile fiancé.He conspires with the author’s wife to show the girl how foolish she’s been.

Cast

Ida Lupino – Anne
George Curzon – Carey Merton
Diana Napier – Mrs Merton
Harry Tate – Major Gore
Muriel Aked – Agatha Brent
Arnold Riches – Brian
Kenneth Kove – Professor Hotspur
Helen Haye – Lady Bragden
Roland Culver – Drunk
Melville Gideon – Melville Gideon

References

Jump up^ “Her First Affaire (1932)”. BFI. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

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From Hell To Heaven (1933)

January 31, 2018 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

From Hell To Heaven (1933)

Director: Erle C Kenton

Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Oakie, Adrienne Ames, Sidney Blackmer, David Manners, Sidney Blackmer, Verna Hillie, Shirley Gray, Rita La Roy, Donald Kerr, Berton Churchill, Nydia Westman

67 min

From Hell to Heaven is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film. It was directed by Erle C. Kenton, and features an ensemble cast including Carole Lombard, Jack Oakie, Adrienne Ames and Sidney Blackmer.

Synopsis

A group of people from several walks of life gather to watch a horse race.

Cast

Carole Lombard as Colly Tanner
Jack Oakie as Charlie Bayne
Adrienne Ames as Joan Burt
David Manners as Wesley Burt
Sidney Blackmer as Cliff Billings
Verna Hillie as Sonnie Lockwood
James Eagles as Tommy Tucker
Shirley Grey as Winnie Lloyd
Bradley Page as Jack Ruby
Walter Walker as Pop Lockwood
Berton Churchill as Toledo Jones
Cecil Cunningham as Mrs. Chadman
Nydia Westman as Sue Wells

Production and reception

From Hell to Heaven was Paramount‘s effort to replicate the success of Grand Hotel (1932), which had won the Academy Award for Best Picture for MGM the year before.^[1] Reviews were favorable; Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote, “It is not as ambitious a picture as Grand Hotel, but it is interesting.”^[2]

References

Jump up^ Swindell, Larry (1975). Screwball: The Life of Carole Lombard. New York: William Morrow & Company. p. 127. ISBN 978-0688002879.
Jump up^ Ott, Frederick W. (1972). The Films of Carole Lombard. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0806502786.

From Hell To Heaven 9

From Hell To Heaven 5

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Heart of New York, The (1932)

January 29, 2018 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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The Heart of New York (1932)

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Cast: Joe Smith, Charles Dale, George Sidney, Ruth Hall, Aline MacMahon, Anna Appel, Donald Cook, Oscar Apfel

73 min

The Heart of New York is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring the vaudeville team of Smith & Dale and George Sidney. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and based on the Broadway play Mendel, Inc. by David Freedman.

Plot

The plumber Mendel Marantz, a passionate inventor, hasn’t much luck and a family that doesn’t understand him. He finally strikes it rich with a dishwashing machine he invented.

He finds an investor, Gassenheim, and begins to make his way up in the world. But Mendel’s troubles are not over; his family doesn’t share his dream to become the landlord of the house where they live on New York’s Lower East Side.

They prefer to move uptown to Park Avenue and adapt to how rich people live. Mendel’s ideas for the house are not forgotten. The men he once told how he wished to transform the building take on the work of renovating it, with every detail he planned.

Neighbours and visitors come to see the house and the new, beautiful penthouse. His wife and his children are still in Park Avenue and when Gassenheim stops paying royalties to Mrs. Marantz, she and the children come home, to find that Mendel is close to losing everything.

Cast

Joe Smith as Sam Shtrudel
Charles Dale as Bernard Schnaps
George Sidney as Mendel Marantz
Ruth Hall (actress) as Lillian Marantz
Aline MacMahon as Bessie, the Neighbor
Anna Appel as Mrs. Zelde Marantz
Donald Cook as Milton
Oscar Apfel as Otto Gassenheim
Harold Waldridge as Jakie Marantz (as Harold Waldrige)
Marion Byron as Mimi Marantz
George MacFarlane as Mr. Marshall
Ann Brody as Mrs. Nussbaum
Charles Coleman as Mendel’s Butler

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Sin Of Nora Moran, The (1933)

January 24, 2018 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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The Sin Of Nora Moran (1933) AKA Voice From The Grave

Director: Phil Goldstone

Cast: Zita Johann, John Miljan, Alan Dinehart, Paul Cavanagh, Claire Du Brey, Sarah Padden, Henry B Walthall, Otis Harlan, Aggie Herring, Cora Sue Collins, Ann Brody

65 min

The Sin of Nora Moran is a 1933 American film directed by Phil Goldstone. The film is also known as Voice from the Grave (American reissue title).

The painting for the movie poster was by Peruvian Alberto Vargas, who was working in the United States and later became known for his images of the “Vargas Girls.” This poster is frequently named as one of the greatest movie posters ever made.^[1]

Plot summary

Nora Moran, a young woman with a difficult and tragic past, is sentenced to die for a murder that she did not commit. She could easily reveal the truth and save her own life, if only it would not damage the lives, careers and reputations of those whom she loves.

Cast

Zita Johann as Nora Moran
John Miljan as Paulino
Alan Dinehart as District Attorney John Grant
Paul Cavanagh as Governor Dick Crawford
Claire Du Brey as Mrs. Edith Crawford
Sarah Padden as Mrs. Watts
Henry B. Walthall as Father Ryan
Otis Harlan as Mr. Moran
Aggie Herring as Mrs. Moran
Cora Sue Collins as Nora Moran, as a Child
Joseph W. Girard as Captain of Detectives
Ann Brody as Matron
Rolfe Sedan as Stage Manager

References

1. The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever, Premier Magazine

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Thirteenth Guest, The (1932)

December 8, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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The Thirteenth Guest (1932) AKA Lady Beware

Director: Albert Ray

Cast: Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, J Farrell MacDonald, Paul Hurst, Erville Anderson, Ethel Wales, James Eagles, Eddie Phillips

69 min

The Thirteenth Guest is a 1932 American pre-Code mystery comedy thriller film, released on August 9, 1932. The film is also known as Lady Beware in the United Kingdom.

It is based on the 1929 novel by crime fiction writer Armitage Trail^[1] best known for writing the novel Scarface,^[2] on which the 1932 movie was based. The novel was again brought to the silver in screen in 1943 as Mystery of the 13th Guest.^[3]

Plot summary

Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers) has been lured to an old abandoned house by a false note from a friend, and is in jeopardy although she doesn’t yet realize it. As she sits at the table inside, she thinks back to the banquet held there 13 years earlier, when she was a little girl.

Only 12 of 13 guests had attended, and the manor’s owner, the Morgan family patriarch, who was then dying, has since passed on. The chance to claim the bulk of the estate fortune has resulted in an ongoing campaign of murder by someone targeting the original 12 guests, whose dead bodies are being left at the table in the same seats they had occupied originally.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
	Ginger Rogers	…	Lela / Marie Morgan
	Lyle Talbot	…	Phil Winston
	J. Farrell MacDonald	…	Police Capt. Ryan
	Paul Hurst	…	Detective Grump
	Erville Alderson	…	Uncle John Adams
	Ethel Wales	…	Aunt Jane Thornton
	James Eagles	…	Harold ‘Bud’ Morgan
	Crauford Kent	…	Dr. Sherwood (as Craufurd Kent)
	Eddie Phillips	…	Thor Jensen
	Frances Rich	…	Marjorie Thornton
	Phillips Smalley	…	Uncle Dick Thornton

References

Trail, Armitage (1929). The Thirteenth Guest (First ed.). Whitman. ASIN B000KD7C8U.
Jump up^ Trail, Armitage (1930). Scarface (1ST ed.). D.J. Clode. ASIN B00085TELI.
Jump up^ The Thirteenth Guest, msnbc.com; accessed August 3, 2015.

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Klondike (1932)

December 7, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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Klondike (1932) AKA The Doctor’s Sacrifice

Klondike is a 1932 American Pre-Code film directed by Phil Rosen. The film is also known as The Doctor’s Sacrifice in the United Kingdom. It was silent film star Priscilla Dean‘s final film.

Plot summary

A doctor, Lyle Talbot as Dr. Robert Cromwell, is charged with murder, when a patient dies, after an experimental operation to remove a brain tumor.

His pilot friend, Frank Hawks as Donald Evans, convinces him to start a new life; and, they plot their course, across the Bering Strait. The weather blows them off course; and, they end up in Alaska.

There the doctor is faced with a new dilemma. Mark, Henry B. Walthall as Mark Armstrong, the Father of Jim, Jason Robards Sr. as Jim Armstrong, a man crippled by a similar brain tumor, begs the doctor to attempt the operation. When the doctor refuses, he accuses him of wanting his son to die, because he’s in love with Jim’s fiancée, Thelma Todd as Klondike.

“Doc” acquiesces, at Klondike’s insistence. Although, having none of the facilities of a hospital. He believes that the operation is less likely to succeed, the longer it is delayed.

The operation seems to be a partial success. But, now, Jim will do anything to keep “Doc” from taking Klondike back to the States with him, even using his genius, with electricity, to electrocute him.^[1]

Cast

Thelma Todd as Klondike
Lyle Talbot as Dr. Robert Cromwell
Henry B. Walthall as Mark Armstrong
Jason Robards Sr. as Jim Armstrong
Priscilla Dean as Miss Porter
Tully Marshall as Editor Hinman
Pat O’Malley as Burke
Myrtle Stedman as Miss Fielding
Ethel Wales as Sadie Jones
George ‘Gabby’ Hayes as Tom Ross
Frank Hawks as Donald Evans

Production

The film was remade as Klondike Fury (1942).^[2]

References

Jump up^ “The Doctor’s Sacrifice (1932) : Plot Summary”. IMDb.com. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
Jump up^ “Klondike Fury (1942)”. IMDb.com. Retrieved 2015-11-05.

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Probation (1932)

December 6, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Probation (1930) AKA Second Chances

Director: Richard Thorpe

Cast: Clara Kimball Young, Betty Grable, John Darrow, Sally Blane, J Farrell MacDonald, Eddie Phillips, David Rollins

67 min

Probation (also known as Second Chances) is an American Pre-Code 1932 film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Clara Kimball Young and Betty Grable.^[1] The film was distributed by the Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation.

Synopsis

Ruth (Betty Grable) is a minor who is running with an uptown, older man; Ruth’s brother Nick, (John Darrow), is unaware of kid sisters activities.

Ruth is turned into the Juvenile authorities by the well meaning Mrs. Humphries, (Clara Kimball Young). Nick finds the man in their apartment and proceeds to be arrested for beating up the man, who runs away before Nick is arrested.

Nick is taken to Night Court and remanded to the custody of the judges, (J. Farrell MacDonald), niece, Janet, for six months as her chauffeur. Janet, (Sally Blane), is the fiancé of Allen, (Eddie Phillips), who is coincidentally the man who was beaten up by Nick.

Betty Grable is on the verge of becoming a superstar, in the 1940s.^[2]^[3]

Cast

Sally Blane as Janet
John Darrow as Nick
J. Farrell MacDonald as Uncle George
Clara Kimball Young as Mrs. Humphries
Eddie Phillips as Allen
David Rollins as Alec
Matty Kemp as Berl
David Durant as David
Betty Grable, as Ruth

References

Jump up^ “Probation”. IMDB.Jump up^ “Probation”. American Film Institute. Retrieved 30 July 2013.Jump up

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Back Street (1932)

October 23, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Back Street (1932)

Director: John M Stahl

Cast: Irene Dunne, John Boles, June Clyde, George Meeker, Zasu Pitts, Shirley Grey, Doris Lloyd, William Bakewell, Arletta Duncan, Maude Turner Gordon, Walter Catlett, James Donlan, Jane Darwell, Betty Blyth, Russell Hopton, Gloria Stuart

93 min

Back Street is a 1932 American Pre-Code drama film directed by John M. Stahl and starring Irene Dunne and John Boles.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Fannie Hurst, it tells the story of a woman who spends her life as the secret mistress of a wealthy married man.

This was the first of three film versions of Hurst’s novel; remakes were released in 1941 and 1961.

Plot

In early 1900s Cincinnati, young and beautiful Ray Schmidt (Irene Dunne) works in her father’s shop by day and stays out late drinking beer and dancing with various men by night, although her stepmother disapproves. Ray dates for fun, mostly going out with traveling salesmen passing through town, and neither she nor her dates are interested in any permanent attachment. An exception is Kurt Shendler, who owns a bicycle shop near Mr. Schmidt’s shop and aspires to get into the automobile business. Kurt is in love with Ray and asks her to marry him, but she refuses because while she likes Kurt, she doesn’t return his romantic feelings.

While visiting the train station with Kurt, Ray meets Walter Saxel (John Boles) and the two fall for each other at first sight. Walter soon confesses to Ray that he is actually engaged to another woman in town, Corinne, who comes from a wealthy background and whose mother is friends with his own mother. Nevertheless he has fallen in love with Ray, and asks her to meet him at a local band concert that he will be attending with his mother.

Walter hopes to introduce Ray to his mother and perhaps get her approval of the relationship. On the day of the concert, Ray is late arriving because her younger half-sister Freda is suicidal over her boyfriend, Hugo, leaving town. Freda begs Ray to go after Hugo and stop him, threatening to throw herself out a window if Ray does not help.

By the time Ray has dealt with Freda’s situation and gotten to the concert, it is over, and Ray cannot find Walter or his mother in the departing crowds. Walter, thinking she stood him up, writes her an angry letter and marries Corinne.

Several years later, Walter, now a rising young financier on Wall Street, runs into Ray who is single and working in New York City. The two renew their acquaintance and realize they still love each other, although Walter is still married and has two children. Walter sets Ray up in an inexpensive apartment and gets her to give up her job so she will be free to see him when he has time.

However, his work, family and social commitments sometimes keep him away for long periods of time, causing Ray to feel lonely and isolated. After Walter takes an extended trip to Europe with his wife, leaving Ray alone with insufficient money to live on, she breaks up with him and accepts a proposal from Kurt, who has become a rich automobile manufacturer. Walter goes to Cincinnati to convince her not to marry Kurt and they resume their previous relationship.

Years pass, and Walter has become a wealthy and prominent financier. When he travels he now brings Ray along, although they must keep their relationship hidden and avoid being seen in public together, meaning Ray spends much of her time alone. Ray is the target of gossip and is hated by Walter’s adult children, who regard Ray as a gold digger.

Walter’s son Dick tells Ray to get out of his family’s life, but his father Walter walks in on the conversation and tells his son to be more understanding or at least to mind his own business. That night, Walter suffers a massive stroke and dies shortly thereafter. Just before Walter dies, he asks Dick to telephone Ray’s number and hears her voice over the phone one last time.

Dick, who now understands his father’s feelings for Ray, goes to see her and offers to continue to support her. He finds her distraught over Walter’s death and also learns that his father had been paying her only a very small amount per month, thus proving that she stayed in the relationship for love, not money. After Dick leaves, Ray dies looking at Walter’s picture.

Cast

Irene Dunne as Ray Schmidt
John Boles as Walter Saxel
George Meeker as Kurt Shendler
ZaSu Pitts as Mrs. Dole
June Clyde as Freda Schmidt
William Bakewell as Richard “Dick” Saxel
Arletta Duncan as Beth Saxel
Shirley Grey as Francine
Doris Lloyd as Corinne Saxel
Paul Weigel as Adolph Schmidt
Jane Darwell as Mrs. Schmidt
James Donlan as Phothero
Walter Catlett as Bakeless
Robert McWade as Uncle Felix
Maude Turner Gordon (uncredited) as Mrs. Saxel (Walter’s mother)

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Sunnyside Up (1929)

October 20, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Sunnyside Up (1929)

Director: David Butler

Cast: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Marjorie White, El Brendel, Mary Forbes, Peter Gawthorne, Sharon Lynn, Frank Richardson, Joe Brown, Henry Armetta, Sherwood Bailey, Jay Berger

121 min

Sunny Side Up is a 1929 American Pre-Code Fox Movietone musical film starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, with original songs, story, and dialogue by B. G. DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson. The romantic comedy/musical premiered on October 3, 1929 at the Gaiety Theatre in New York City.^[3] The film was directed by David Butler, had (now-lost) Multicolor sequences, and a running time of 121 minutes.

Plot

The film centres around a Will-they won’t-they romance. Wealthy Jack Cromwell from Long Island runs off to New York City on account of his fiancee‘s relentless flirting. He attends an Independence Day block party where Molly Carr, from Yorkville, Manhattan, falls in love with him.

Comic relief is provided by grocer Eric Swenson (El Brendel), above whose shop Molly and her flatmate, Bea Nichols (Marjorie White), live.^[3]^[4] Gaynor performs a charming singing and dancing version of the song “(Keep Your) Sunny Side Up” for a crowd of her neighbors, complete with top hat and cane. Later in the film, a lavish pre-Code dance sequence for the song “Turn on the Heat,” including scantily clad and gyrating island women enticing bananas on trees to abruptly grow and stiffen, with the graphic metaphor lost on no one, occurs without Gaynor’s participation.

Gaynor and Farrell made almost a dozen films together, including Frank Borzage‘s classics Seventh Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Lucky Star (1929). Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for the first two and F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise.

Cast

Janet Gaynor as Molly Carr
Charles Farrell as Jack Cromwell
Marjorie White as Bea Nichols
El Brendel as Eric Swenson
Mary Forbes as Mrs. Cromwell
Peter Gawthorne as Lake
Sharon Lynn as Jane Worth

Reception

The Times and The New York Times both express the opinion that the film, and the singing voices of Gaynor and Farrell, are all tolerable if not exactly worthy of praise. Despite the sugary sentimentality, the film is engaging, while the cinematography and special effects are impressive.^[3]^[4]

Footage from Sunny Side Up was included in the comedy film It Came from Hollywood, which parodied B movies.^[5]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

2006: AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated^[6]

Music

I’m A Dreamer, Aren’t We All?

Several times throughout the film Gaynor sings the tune “I’m a Dreamer, Aren’t We All?” and, on one occasion, sings it impressively, according to the New York Times.^[3] The credits are: words, De Sylva & Brown; music, Ray Henderson.

The song was punned by the Marx Brothers in the film Animal Crackers (1930). Groucho asks his brother to “play the song about Montreal“. Chico asks, “Montreal?, and Groucho replies, “I’m a dreamer, Montreal.” The pun has been much-recycled ^[7] not least in Stewart Parker‘s award-winning play I’m a Dreamer, Montreal.

An early popular recording was by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra on October 16, 1929 with a vocal group including Bing Crosby^[8] and this reached the charts in 1929.^[9] The tune was also recorded by John Coltrane in 1958 ^[10] and included on his album Bahia (1964).

Turn on the Heat

Another song in the film. This one would be used in the Pooch the Pup cartoon Hot and Cold (1933).^[11]

(Keep Your) Sunny Side Up

Another song in the film that would later be used as the theme song to the 1988 British sitcom Clarence.

In the 1950s, the song was used as the theme song for Sunnyside Up, a variety program produced by HSV-7 (a television station in Melbourne, Australia_. The song’s melody was later adapted by the Essendon Football Club for its club song, “See the Bombers Fly Up”, written by Kevin Andrews in 1959.^[12]

References

Jump up^ Quigley Publishing Company “The All Time Best Sellers”, International Motion Picture Almanac 1937-38 (1938) p 942 accessed April 19, 2014
Jump up^ “WHICH CINEMA FILMS HAVE EARNED THE MOST MONEY SINCE 1914?”. The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848-1956). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. March 4, 1944. p. 3 Supplement: The Argus Weekend magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d NY Times October 4, 1929 Movie Review
^ Jump up to:^a ^b The Times, December 30, 1929, New Gallery Cinema “Sunny Side Up”
Jump up^ “Collage of 10 worst films now a movie of its own”, Lodi News-Sentinel, November 25, 1982. (p.8).
Jump up^ “AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals Nominees” (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-13.
Jump up^ Glenn Mitchell, The Marx Brothers encyclopedia (Reynolds & Hearn, 2003) ISBN 1-903111-49-8
Jump up^ “A Bing Crosby Discography”. BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
Jump up^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn’s Pop Memories 1890-1954. Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. 452. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
Jump up^ The Complete Prestige Recordings
Jump up^ “The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia: 1933”. The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
Jump up^ History behind every AFl club theme song

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Discarded Lovers (1933)

October 7, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Discarded Lovers (1932)

Discarded Lovers is a 1932 American Pre-Code mystery film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer.

Plot summary

Discarded Lovers is a murder mystery. Early in the film a blonde bombshell movie star is murdered and her body is found in a car.

She had just finished doing the last and final scenes in a film. Irma Gladden was a sexy blonde bombshell who was having many tangled romantic affairs. She was loose and easy. In solving the murder there are the usual friends, police, reporters and employees who administer their help to the police captain and the police sergeant.

In this whodunit suspects abound and include Irma’s husband, a jealous wife, a boy friend and an ex-husband.

Cast

Natalie Moorhead as Irma Gladden
Russell Hopton as Bob Adair
J. Farrell MacDonald as Chief Sommers
Barbara Weeks as Valerie Christine
Jason Robards Sr. as Rex Forsythe
Roy D’Arcy as Andre Leighton
Sharon Lynn as Mrs. Sibley
Fred Kelsey as Sgt. Delaney
Robert Frazer as Warren Sibley
Jack Trent as Ralph Norman, the chauffeur

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Double Harness (1933)

October 2, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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Double Harness (1933)

Director: John Cromwell

Cast: Ann Harding, William Powell, Lucille Browne, Henry Stephenson, Lilian Bond, George Meeker, Reginald Owen, Kay Hammond, Leigh Allen, Irving Bacon, Lila Chevret, Wong Chung, Jean Malin

69 min

Double Harness (1933) is an American Pre-Code film starring Ann Harding and William Powell. It was based on the play of the same name by Edward Poor Montgomery. A young woman maneuvers a lazy playboy into marrying her.

This was one of several films, all produced by Merian C. Cooper at RKO, that were out of distribution for more than 50 years as a result of a legal settlement that gave Cooper complete ownership of the films. Turner Classic Movies eventually acquired the rights to the films.

Plot

When spoiled younger sister Valerie Colby (Lucile Browne) becomes engaged to be married to Dennis Moore (George Meeker), a more level-headed Joan (Ann Harding) decides to do the same, not because she is in love, but in order to make something of herself. She chooses unambitious, wealthy playboy John Fletcher (William Powell), who owns a troubled shipping line.

She eventually spends the night in his apartment. To Joan’s annoyance, over the following months, she finds herself falling in love. When John shows no interest in marrying her, Joan forces the issue. She arranges for her father, Colonel Sam Colby (Henry Stephenson), to find them in a compromising position. John graciously agrees to do the honorable thing and marry Joan. However, on their honeymoon cruise, he lets her know that he expects her to grant him a divorce after a decent interval. They settle on six months.

Joan prods her husband into taking an interest in his family business. To his surprise, he finds that he enjoys it. As the new Postmaster General (Wallis Clark) is a good friend of her father’s, Joan invites him to dinner, hoping to land a government contract for John’s company.

Meanwhile, Valerie goes into debt due to her extravagant spending habits and borrows from her big sister over and over again. Joan gives Valerie all she can afford without touching John’s money. Finally, she pawns a ring for half the latest sum Valerie needs, but tells her that it is the last time.

That same day, John finally realizes that he loves his wife. However, when he goes home, Valerie goes to John behind Joan’s back and cons him into giving her a check. Joan finds out and tears up the check. In her anger, Valerie blurts out how Joan trapped John into marriage.

Disillusioned, he turns to his former paramour, Mrs. Monica Page (Lilian Bond). Joan follows them to Monica’s apartment and confesses all, including the fact that she has fallen in love with him, to no avail. She then tries to salvage her dinner party. To her delight, John shows up and makes it clear that he believes and forgives her.

Cast

Ann Harding as Joan Colby
William Powell as John Fletcher
Lucile Browne as Valerie Colby
Henry Stephenson as Colonel Sam Colby
Lilian Bond as Monica Page
George Meeker as Dennis Moore
Reginald Owen as Freeman, John’s butler
Kay Hammond as Eleanor Weston, Joan’s friend
Leigh Allen as Leonard Weston
Hugh Huntley as Farley Drake, an acquaintance who offers to give Valerie money, but expects something in return
Wallis Clark as Postmaster General Oliver Lane
Gene Malin was cut from the film at the producer’s request.

Preservation status

This is one of the “lost RKO films” owned by Merian C. Cooper and only re-released in April 2007 when Turner Classic Movies acquired the rights and showed all six films on TCM.

Cooper accused RKO of not paying him all the money contractually due for the films he produced in the 1930s. A settlement was reached in 1946, giving Cooper complete ownership of six RKO titles:

Rafter Romance (1933) with Ginger Rogers
Double Harness
The Right to Romance (1933) with Ann Harding and Robert Young
One Man’s Journey (1933) with Lionel Barrymore
Living on Love (1937)
A Man to Remember (1938)

According to an interview with a retired RKO executive, shown as a promo on TCM, Cooper withdrew the films, only allowing them to be shown on television in 1955–1956 in New York City.

TCM, which had acquired the rights to the six films after extensive legal negotiations, broadcast them on TCM in April 2007, their first full public exhibition in over 70 years. TCM, in association with the Library of Congress and the Brigham Young University Motion Picture Archive, had searched many film archives throughout the world to find copies of the films in order to create new 35mm prints.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Reception

According to RKO records, the film made $10,000 in profit.^[1]

References

^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Richard Jewel, ‘RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951’, Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p39
Jump up^ Fristoe, Roger. “Rafter Romance” (TCM article)
Jump up^ Osborne, Robert. Turner Classic Movies broadcast on April 4 and 11, 2007.
Jump up^ Eder, Bruce “Rafter Romance” (AMG review)

Double Harness 9

Double Harness 10

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Once in A Lifetime (1932)

October 2, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Once In A Lifetime (1932)

Director: Russell Mack

Cast: Jack Oakie, Sidney Fox, Aline MacMahon, Russell Hopton, Louise Fazenda, Zasu Pitts, Gregory Ratoff, Jobyna Howland, Onslow Stevens, Gregory Gaye, Frank LaRue, Walter Brennan, Alan Ladd

91 min

Once in a Lifetime is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film based on Once in a Lifetime by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.^[1] The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, directed by Russell Mack and stars Jack Oakie, Sidney Fox and Aline MacMahon.^[2]

It is preserved at the Library of Congress.^[3]

Plot

The immense success of The Jazz Singer, the first all-talking picture, results in the cancellation of a booking for three song-and-dance vaudeville performers: Jerry Hyland, May Daniels and George Lewis. Jerry, convinced that talkies are the future, decides they will head to Hollywood to break into the fledgling movie industry before others get the same notion.

May comes up with the idea to open a school of elocution to teach actors how to speak on film. On the train there, May encounters an old friend, Helen Hobart, an influential, nationally syndicated columnist. She offers to put them in touch with Herman Glogauer, the head of a major movie studio. George is smitten with another passenger, aspiring young actress Susan Walker.

They discover the movie world to be an eccentric place. George is unexpectedly appointed by Glogauer as supervisor of production, allowing him to promote Susan’s career. Despite his incompetence (or rather because of it), his first picture turns out to be a critical and commercial smash hit, and Susan becomes a star.

Later, a very persuasive salesman gets George to buy 2000 airplanes, which causes Glogauer to fire him. However, air movies become very popular, and George has inadvertently cornered the market. The other studios are desperate to get airplanes from Glogauer at any price, and George is once again considered a genius.

Cast

Jack Oakie as George Lewis
Sidney Fox as Susan Walker
Aline MacMahon as May Daniels
Russell Hopton as Jerry Hyland
Louise Fazenda as Helen Hobart
ZaSu Pitts as Miss Leighton
Gregory Ratoff as Herman Glogauer
Jobyna Howland as Mrs. Walker
Onslow Stevens as Lawrence Vail
Gregory Gaye as Rudolph Kammerling
Eddie Kane as Meterstein
Johnnie Morris as Weiskopf
Frank LaRue as The Bishop
Margaret Lindsay as Dr. Lewis’ Secretary
Alan Ladd as Projectionist (uncredited)
Mona Maris as Phyllis Fontaine (uncredited)

Reception

Mordaunt Hall, film critic of The New York Times, gave the film a favorable review, calling it a “merry diversion”.^[1] He praised all the main performers, as well as ZaSu Pitts as the studio’s obtuse receptionist.^[1]

References

^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c Mordaunt Hall (October 29, 1932). “Jack Oakie, Aline MacMahon and Others in a Film of the Hart-Kaufman Satire on Hollywood.”. The New York Times.
Jump up^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1931-40 by The American Film Institute, c.1993
Jump up^ Catalog of Feature Films The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress by The American Film Institute, c.1978

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Big News (1929)

September 30, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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Big News (1929)

Director: Gregory La Cava

Cast: Robert Armstrong, Carole Lombard, Louis Payne, Wade Boteler, Charles Sellon, Sam Hardy, Tom Kennedy, Warner Richmond, Helen Ainsworth, Herbert Clark, George Gabby Hayes, Vernon Steele, Lew Ayres, Lynton Brent

75 min

Big News is a 1929 American pre-Code film directed by Gregory La Cava, released by Pathé Exchange, and starring Robert Armstrong and Carole Lombard, billed as “Carol Lombard”.

Cast

Robert Armstrong as Steve Banks
Carole Lombard as Margaret Banks (billed as Carol Lombard)
Louis Payne as Hensel
Wade Boteler as O’Neill
Charles Sellon as Addison
Sam Hardy as Reno
Tom Kennedy as Ryan
Warner Richmond as District Attorney Phelps
Helen Ainsworth as Vera, society editor
James Donlan as Deke
George “Gabby” Hayes as reporter Hoffman
Vernon Steele as reporter
Clarence Wilson as coroner
Colin Chase as Birn
Robert Dudley as Telegraph editor

Plot

Steve Banks (Armstrong) is a hard-drinking newspaper reporter. His wife Margaret (Lombard), a reporter for a rival paper, threatens to divorce him if he doesn’t quit the drinking that is compromising his career. Steve pursues a story about drug dealers even when his editor fires him. When the editor is murdered, Steve is accused of the killing.

Preservation status

The film exists in a 16mm reduction print.^[1]

References

Jump up^ SilentEra entry

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High Voltage (1929)

September 30, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

High Voltage (1929)

Director: Howard Higgin

Cast: Carole Lombard, William Boyd, Diane Ellis, Owen Moore, Phillips Smalley, Billy Bevan

63 min

High Voltage (1929) is an American pre-Code film produced by Pathé Exchange and directed by Howard Higgin.

The film stars William Boyd, Diane Ellis, Owen Moore, Phillips Smalley, Billy Bevan, and Carole Lombard in her feature-length “talkie” debut, billed as “Carol Lombard.”

This film is in the public domain.

Plot

The film begins with a bus driving along a snow-covered roadway in the Sierra Nevada between Nevada City, California, and Reno, Nevada.

Soon the vehicle gets hopelessly stuck in deep snow forty miles from the nearest town.

Needing shelter, the driver “Gus” (Billy Bevan) and his four passengers find refuge in an isolated one-room log church. The passengers include “Billie” (Carole Lombard), who is an escaped criminal being escorted back to jail in New York by a deputy sheriff, “Dan Egan” (Owen Moore); a young woman, “The Kid,” (Diane Ellis) on her way to Chicago to meet her boyfriend; and “Hickerson,” a pompous, ill-tempered banker. In the church the group finds “Bill” (William Boyd), a self-described “hobo,” who had found shelter there earlier. Tensions quickly arise in the group over their general plight, petty jealousies, and concerns about how six people are going to share the small supply of food that Bill had brought with him.

Tensions quickly arise in the group over their general plight, petty jealousies, and concerns about how six people are going to share the small supply of food that Bill had brought with him.

After a few days being stranded, the group sees a passing mail plane high in the sky. They try to attract the pilot’s attention, but he is too far away to see them. More days pass, and the group continues to ration their dwindling supplies and battle the subfreezing temperatures. To keep warm they begin to break up the church’s pews and other furnishings to use as firewood in the room’s potbelly stove.

The group’s desperation intensifies, as does a romance between Bill and Billie. Soon Bill confides to her that he too is a wanted criminal, a fugitive from Saint Paul, Minnesota. As conditions worsen, The Kid collapses from hunger and become delirious; and the church’s interior becomes almost bare as more furnishings–even the church’s pulpit and pump organ–are consigned to the stove. Bill and Billie finally commit to leaving to avoid being imprisoned if the group is somehow rescued. They quietly depart during the night, hoping to reach a ranger station ten miles away.

Everyone else is sleeping except Dan, the deputy sheriff, who sees the two leaving; but he does nothing to stop them. After walking a short distance through snowdrifts, Bill and Billie hear and then see a search plane slowly circling overhead at low altitude. Realizing that the others inside the church will not hear the plane’s engine, they rush back and awaken them. The group hurriedly builds a signal fire, which the plane’s pilot sees. He parachutes a box of provisions to them with a note saying that help will be sent immediately.

The next day the group sees a rescue party heading toward the church. While awaiting their rescuers, Dan observes Bill and Billie sitting together on the floor. From his coat pocket Dan pulls out Billie’s extradition papers and a “wanted” notice that includes a photograph of Bill and information about his being a fugitive from Saint Paul. Dan walks over to the stove, now cold from no fires, and tosses both papers into it. Bill and Billie see him discard the papers, and they look at one another. Bill then gets up, retrieves the papers from the stove, gives them back to Dan, and asks him to drop him off in Saint Paul on his way back to New York with Billie.

Cast

William Boyd as “The Boy” (Bill)

“Carol” Lombard as “The Girl” (Billie Davis)

Owen Moore as “The Detective” (Dan Egan)

Phillips Smalley as “The Banker” (J. Milton Hendrickson)

Billy Bevan as “The Driver” (Gus)

Diane Ellis as “The Kid”

Cast notes

The opening credits of High Voltage give Carole Lombard’s first name as “Carol,” her preferred spelling for her name up until that time. However, the year after the release of High Voltage she performed in Paramount Pictures‘ production Fast and Loose. In her credits for that film, the studio mistakenly added an “e” to Carol. Lombard liked the spelling, so she decided to keep “Carole” permanently as her screen name.

High Voltage is only one of five films released in 1929 in which William Boyd starred or is featured. His other films that year include Lady of the Pavements, The Leatherneck, The Flying Fool, and His First Command

In the screen credits of High Voltage, Owen Moore’s character “Dan Egan” is identified as “The Detective”; but early in the film Dan shows Bill his badge, which actually identifies him as a New York deputy sheriff.

Diane Ellis, who portrays “The Kid” in High Voltage, would die tragically the year after her performance in this film. In October 1930, she married Stephen C. Millett, a fellow American, in Paris, France. While on their extended honeymoon in India, she contracted an infection and died a week later in Chennai (then Madras) on December 15, 1930, just five days before her twenty-first birthday.

References

Jump up^ “High Voltage”. The New York Times.
Jump up^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: High Voltage
Jump up^ High Voltage, “Free Public Domain Movies” listing; May 23, 2008. iMovies. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
Jump up^ Several full 63-minute copies of High Voltage are available for viewing on YouTube.
Jump up^ In the opening minutes of the film, the exterior signage and route destinations displayed on the bus identify the storyline’s setting as the Sierra Nevada.
Jump up^ Gehring, Wes D. (2003). Carole Lombard: The Hoosier Tornado. Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Society Press, 78-79. ISBN 978-0-87195-167-0.
Jump up^ “William Boyd,”, Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved March 10, 2017.
Jump up^ The full 63-minute film High Voltage is available for viewing on YouTube.
Jump up^ “Diane Ellis,” IMDb. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
Jump up^ “Diane Ellis,” Redirectify. Retrieved March 10, 2017.

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Racketeer, The (1929)

September 30, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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The Racketeer AKA Love’s Conquest (1929)

Director: Howard Higgin

Cast: Carole Lombard, Robert Armstrong, Roland Drew, Paul Hurst, Kit Guard, Al Hill, Robby Dunn, Budd Fine, Hedda Hopper, Jeanette Loff, John Loder, Winter Hall, Robert Parrish

68 min

The Racketeer is a 1929 American Pre-Code drama film. Directed by Howard Higgin, the film is also known as Love’s Conquest in the United Kingdom. It tells the tale of some members of the criminal class in 1920s America, and in particular one man and one woman’s attempts to help him. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper appears in a minor role. The film is one of the early talkies, and as a result, dialogue is very sparse.

Plot

Mahlon Keene, a suave racketeer, notices Mehaffy, a policeman, arrest a shabby, drunken violinist for vagrancy and bribes him to forget the charge; after Keene and his henchman depart, Rhoda Philbrook appears in a taxi, addresses the musician as “Tony,” and has him driven away. Meanwhile, Keene arranges for a planned robbery to be delayed.

At a charity function, Keene takes an interest in Rhoda when he detects her cheating at cards; she reveals that she has left her husband for the violinist, whom she hopes to regenerate; and for Rhoda’s sake Keene arranges for Tony’s appearance at a concert. When threatened by Weber, a rival, Keene shoots him and, after the concert, bids farewell to Rhoda. The rival gang take revenge on Keene, leaving Tony and Rhoda to a new life together.

Cast

Robert Armstrong as Mahlon Keane
Carole Lombard as Rhoda Philbrooke
Roland Drew as Tony Vaughan
Paul Hurst as Mehaffy – Policeman
Kit Guard as Gus
Al Hill as Squid
Bobby Dunn as The Rat
Budd Fine as Bernie Weber
Hedda Hopper as Mrs. Karen Lee
Jeanette Loff as Millie Chapman
John Loder as Jack Oakhurst
Winter Hall as Mr. Sam Chapman
Winifred Harris as Mrs. Margaret Chapman

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Behind Office Doors (1931)

September 30, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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Behind Office Doors (1931)

Director: Melville W Brown

Cast: Mary Astor, Robert Ames, Ricardo Cortez, Catherine Dale Owen, Kitty Kelly, Edna Murphy, Charles Sellon, William Morris, George McFarlane, Mary Foy

82 min

Behind Office Doors is a 1931 Pre-Code American drama film directed by Melville W. Brown, from a screenplay by Carey Wilson and J. Walter Ruben, based on Alan Schultz’s novel, Private Secretary. It starred Mary Astor, Robert Ames and Ricardo Cortez, and revolved around the premise of “the woman behind the man”. While not well-received by critics, it did well at the box office.

Plot

Mary Linden (Mary Astor) is a receptionist at a paper milling company, who is secretly in love with one of the salesmen, James Duneen (Robert Ames).

Her extensive knowledge of the paper industry, the mill and its clients allows her to have input in company operations far outweighing her level as a receptionist. As the current president of the company, Ritter (Charles Sellon), approaches retirement, Mary uses her knowledge and skill of company politics to enable James to make some important sales coups, after which she begins a fifth-column attempt to get him named as the next president. James, for his part, is grateful to her for her help, but is completely oblivious to her romantic interest in him, preferring more of the party girl type.

When Ritter does retire, James wins the position, and Mary is promoted to be his personal secretary. Still unaware of her feelings, he hires his latest party girl, Daisy (Edna Murphy), to work in the office, and report to Mary. Mary is upset by this turn of events, but remains faithful to James, assisting him with running the company. In fact, it is her knowledge and acumen which makes the company successful. Mary even spurns the advances of several men, including the wealthy Ronnie Wales (Ricardo Cortez), who, although married, is estranged from his wife and wishes to pursue an affair with Mary.

However, when James becomes engaged to the daughter of a wealthy banker, Ellen May Robinson (Catherine Dale Owen), that is the straw which breaks Mary’s resolve. She resigns from the company, and eventually agrees to go away with Ronnie for an assignation in Atlantic City. Between the time of her resignation, and her agreeing to go away with Ronnie, the paper mill is already suffering terribly from a lack of good

Between the time of her resignation, and her agreeing to go away with Ronnie, the paper mill is already suffering terribly from a lack of good management, since most of James’ success was due to Mary’s guidance. James tracks her down before she can give in to the libidinous advances of Ronnie, and begs Mary to return. She is reluctant, until she discovers that James has broken off the engagement with Ellen, and upon her return to the company she is not only met with a job offer, but also a marriage proposal from James.

Cast

Mary Astor as Mary Linden
Robert Ames as James Duneen
Ricardo Cortez as Ronnie Wales
Catherine Dale Owen as Ellen May Robinson
Kitty Kelly as Delores Kogan
Edna Murphy as Daisy Presby
Charles Sellon as John Ritter
William Morris as Banker Charles H. Robinson
George MacFarlane

(Cast list as per AFI database)^[3]

Soundtrack

“Three Little Words”, music by Harry Ruby, lyrics by Bert Kalmar – played as dance music in the nightclub

Reception

While the public seemed to like the film,^[4] critics like Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times were less kind, stating that the film “is a witless and interminably dull exhibition on which three capable players, Mary Astor, Robert Ames and Ricardo Cortez, have been sacrifi[c]ed to very little purpose.^[5]

Notes

In 1959, the film entered the public domain in the USA due to the copyright claimants failure to renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after production.^[6]

The working title for this film was the title of the novel on which it was based, Private Secretary.^[3]

References[edit]

Jump up^ “Behind Office Doors, Credits”. Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on August 18, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b “Behind Office Doors: Technical Details”. theiapolis.com. Retrieved August 17, 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Jump up to:^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f “Behind Office Doors: Detail View”. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 2, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
Jump up^ Jewell, Richard B.; Harbin, Vernon (1982). The RKO Story. New York: Arlington House. p. 34. ISBN 0-517-546566.
Jump up^ Hall, Mordaunt (March 21, 1931). “Behind Office Doors: A Noble Stenographer”. New York Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2014. Retrieved September 2,2016.
Jump up^ Pierce, David (June 2007). “Forgotten Faces: Why Some of Our Cinema Heritage Is Part of the Public Domain”. Film History: an International Journal. 19 (2): 125–43. ISSN 0892-2160. JSTOR 25165419. OCLC 15122313. doi:10.2979/FIL.2007.19.2.125. See Note #60, pg. 143.

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Lady To Love, A (1930)

September 27, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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A Lady To Love (1930)

A Lady to Love is a 1930 American drama film directed by Victor Sjöström and written by Sidney Howard. The film stars Vilma Bánky, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Ames, Richard Carle and Lloyd Ingraham. The film was released on February 28, 1930, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.^[1]^[2]

Plot

Tony, a prosperous Italian vineyardist in California, advertises for a young wife, passing off a photograph of his handsome hired man, Buck, as himself. Lena, a San Francisco waitress, takes up the offer, and though she is disillusioned upon discovering the truth, she goes through with the marriage because of her desire to have a home and partially because of her weakness for Buck, whose efforts to take her away from Tony confirm her love for her husband.

Cast

Vilma Bánky as Lena Shultz
Edward G. Robinson as Tony
Robert Ames as Buck
Richard Carle as Postman
Lloyd Ingraham as Father McKee
Anderson Lawler as Doctor
Gum Chin as Ab Gee
Henry Armetta as Angelo
George Davis as Giorgio

References[edit]

Jump up^ “A Lady to Love (1930) – Overview – TCM.com”. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
Jump up^ “A Lady To Love”. TV Guide. Retrieved 11 November 2014.

Lady to Love A 1

Lady to Love A 4

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Night Work (1930)

September 14, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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Night Work (1930)

Director: Russel Mack

Cast: Eddie Quillan, Sally Starr, Frances Upton, John T Murray, Tom Keene, Ben Bard, Robert McVade, Douglas Scott, Addie McPhaill, Kit Guard, Georgia Caine, Georgie Billings, Charles Clary

93 min

Night Work is a Pre Code comedy directed by Russel Mack, released in 1930 and starring Eddie Quillan, Sally Starr and Frances Upton.

Plot

Willie Musher, assistant window-trimmer and jack-of-all-trades at Tracy’s Department Store, consistently shoulders the blame for patrons who deem themselves aggrieved and one day is awarded a $10 bill.

On his way to the bank, he stops to examine a car that is campaigning for funds for an orphans’ home; he holds his bank book in such a way that Mary, a nurse, takes the bill and leaves him a receipt. Later, he is alarmed to learn he has obligated himself to support a baby, but taking an interest in Mary and little Oscar, he gets a job as waiter in a nightclub to support the child. To Willie’s chagrin, he learns that Vanderman, Sr., wants to adopt Oscar, apparently the offspring of his son, Harvey.

Willie dreams of hair-raising stunts to kidnap Oscar; finding that he has been promoted, he proves that Oscar is not Vanderman’s grandson, adopts the boy, and asks Mary to marry him.

Cast


Eddie Quillan	…	Willie
Sally Starr	…	Mary
Frances Upton	…	Aggie
John T. Murray	…	Calloway
Tom Keene	…	Harvey Vanderman (as George Duryea)
Ben Bard	…	Pinkie
Robert McWade	…	Phil Reisman
Douglas Scott	…	Oscar, the Orphan
Addie McPhail	…	Trixie
Kit Guard	…	Squint
Georgia Caine	…	Mrs. Ten Eyck
Georgie Billings	…	Buster (as George Billings)
Charles Clary	…	Mr. Vanderman
Tom Dugan	…	Johnny Harris
Arthur Hoyt	…	George Twining

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Gigolettes of Paris (1933)

June 25, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

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Gigolettes of Paris (1933)

Director: Alphonse Martell

Cast: Madge Bellamy, Gilbert Roland, Natalie Moorhead, Theodore Von Eltz, Molly O’Day, Henry Kolker, Paul Porcasi, Robert Bolder, Ellinor Vanderveer

64 min

Plot

Suzanne Ricord, the prettiest salesgirl at the Parfumerie Parisienne, attracts the attention of wealthy Albert Valraine, who purchases all the expensive perfumes that she recommends.

After work, Suzanne and her roommate Paulette find Valraine waiting. He insists on giving the demure Suzanne a ride home and puts Paulette in the rear outdoor seat, where she still manages to hear Valraine offer Suzanne both the perfumes that he bought and to be her “fairy godfather.”

Suzanne refuses, but after she finds no mail from her lover, Paulette talks her into accepting Valraine’s offer. She removes the ring that her lover gave her, and it is soon replaced by Valraine’s. Suzanne and Paulette now live in a nicely-furnished apartment paid for by Valraine, and Suzanne is his mistress.

However, when she begins to talk about their planned honeymoon, Valraine takes back his ring and, accusing her of not having learned the rules of the game, says that everything has to end sometime.

Suzanne cries in disappointment. Valraine then promises his fiancée Diane that he is finished with his mistress and gives her the ring he took back from Suzanne.

Sometime later, Suzanne sings at a cabaret and accepts gifts from the many wealthy men who come to see her. Her friend, Antoine “Tony” Ferand, a gigolo, dances with Diane, now Valraine’s wife, and Suzanne notices the ring on her finger. When Tony tells Suzanne that Diane is Mrs. Albert Valraine, Suzanne reveals that the ring was her engagement ring and says she wants it back.

Diane gives the ring to Tony supposedly to help finance his business, and when Tony, who really loves Suzanne, gives her the ring, she reveals that her plan is to show Valraine how it feels to be at the losing end of the game. When Tony says that he is sick of their life and has no self-respect, Suzanne refuses to listen.

Valraine, who has just returned from a trip, accompanies his wife to the cabaret, and he notices that her ring is gone. Seeing the ring on a hand holding the curtain leading to the telephone, Valraine grabs it only to find Suzanne waiting for his approach.

When he questions her about the ring, she obliquely threatens to reveal their affair if his inquiries go too far. Back at the table with his wife, after Valraine, noticing Tony staring at Diane, accuses her of humiliating him with a common gigolo, Diane leaves with Tony, who is frustrated with Suzanne’s schemes. In their cab, Tony reveals to Diane that Suzanne had been engaged to Valraine and apologizes.

Although disappointed, Diane refuses his offer to return the ring. Tony goes to Monte Carlo, where he is arrested after he leaves a watch that had been given to Suzanne by a man at the cabaret, at a repair shop. The watch turns out to be stolen property.

The next night, Suzanne, upset that Tony has not come to the club, rebukes Valraine when he apologetically asks if she could ever care for him again. In front of Valraine, she gives the ring as a present to Louie, her waiter.

Meanwhile, Tony, in jail, refuses to say who gave him the watch. Realizing that she really loves Tony, Suzanne goes with Paulette to Monte Carlo to get away. She sees Diane at a table but her fears at finding her with Tony are relieved when her new husband joins her.

After Paulette shows her a newspaper article about the stolen watch, she tells her story to the police. Tony is released and the man who gave her the watch is picked up in Marseilles. Tony and Suzanne plan to marry, and he plans to return to his father’s textile producing business. To their surprise, they find that with the ring, Louie has married Paulette.

Tony is released and the man who gave her the watch is picked up in Marseilles. Tony and Suzanne plan to marry, and he plans to return to his father’s textile producing business. To their surprise, they find that with the ring, Louie has married Paulette.

	Madge Bellamy	…	Suzanne Ricord
	Gilbert Roland	…	Antoine ‘Tony’ Ferrand
	Natalie Moorhead	…	Diane Valraine
	Theodore von Eltz	…	Albert Valraine
	Molly O’Day	…	Paulette
	Henry Kolker	…	Police Interrogator
	Paul Porcasi
	Albert Conti
	Ferdinand Schumann-Heink	…	(as F. Schumann-Heink)
	Maude Truax
	Lester New
	Robert Bolder
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Ellinor Vanderveer	…	Diane’s Friend (uncredited)

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Girls About Town (1931)

June 19, 2017 Film Dialogue Leave a comment

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Girls About Town (1931)

Director: George Cukor

Cast: Kay Francis, Joel McCrea, Lilyan Tashman, Eugene Palette, Alan Dinehart, Lucile Gleason, Anderson Lawler, Lucile Browne, George Barbier, Robert McWade, Louise Beavers, Judith Wood, Adrienne Ames

80 min

Girls About Town is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Kay Francis and Joel McCrea.

Plot

Wanda Howard (Kay Francis) and Marie Bailey (Lilyan Tashman) go out with two balding, middle-aged businessmen from out of town (for $500 apiece) to help Jerry Chase (Alan Dinehart) close a sale. However, the women, who share a luxurious suite in an apartment building, have their African-American maid Hattie (Louise Beavers) disguise herself as their mother, waiting at the window, to avoid having to invite the men inside.

Wanda is getting tired of how she makes a living, but she and Marie go aboard a yacht the next night to divert rich practical joker Benjamin Thomas (Eugene Pallette) and his handsome business associate Jim Baker (Joel McCrea).

Jim knows that the women are paid “entertainment”, but quickly finds himself falling for Wanda anyway, and vice versa. (When Jerry pays her for her efforts, Wanda tears up the check.) Once Jim realizes she genuinely loves him, he asks her to marry him. Although she is initially reluctant, she agrees. However, she informs Jim that there is one complication: her estranged husband Alex (Anderson Lawler). She asks him for a divorce, and he agrees.

Meanwhile, Benjamin’s wife, who is divorcing him because of his stinginess, shows up and asks Marie to stop making a fool of him. Marie realizes that Mrs Thomas (Lucille Gleason) is still in love with her husband, and comes up with a plan to cure him of his tightfisted ways. The next day, Marie steers Benjamin to the jewelry store where Mrs Thomas is waiting. Mrs Thomas, pretending not to see him, complains (in a loud voice) how cheap her husband is. Benjamin becomes so angry he buys Marie lots of expensive items for about $50,000.

That night, Alex crashes the birthday party Marie has arranged for Benjamin. He tells Jim that he wants $10,000 or he will name Jim as the co-respondent in the divorce. Alex insinuates that Wanda is part of the blackmail scheme. Believing the lie, Jim breaks up with Wanda.

Wanda visits Alex in Brooklyn and demands he give the money back. He introduces her (as “cousin Wanda”) to the ailing Mrs. Howard and their baby, the reasons he needs the money so desperately. He confesses that he got a divorce in Mexico 2 years before, and promises to pay her back once he is back on his feet financially. Touched, Wanda leaves without the check.

Wanda decides to auction off enough of her possessions to her friends to raise $10,000 and pay Jim back. She also asks Marie to return her jewelry. Wanda gives Jim the proceeds; even before that, however, he has come to his senses, and the couple reconcile. Marie gives Benjamin’s gifts to his wife and reunites that couple.

Cast

Kay Francis as Wanda Howard
Joel McCrea as Jim Baker
Lilyan Tashman as Marie Bailey
Eugene Pallette as Benjamin Thomas
Alan Dinehart as Jerry Chase
Lucille Webster Gleason as Mrs Benjamin Thomas
Anderson Lawler as Alex Howard
Lucile Browne as Edna
George Barbier as Webster
Robert McWade as Simms
Louise Beavers as Hattie

Uncredited:

Adrienne Ames as Anne
Frances Bavier as Joy
Patricia Caron as Billie
Claire Dodd as Dot
Judith Wood as Winnie

Reception

Mordaunt Hall, The New York Times film critic, gave Girls About Town a qualified favorable review, writing, “This handsomely staged and ably directed production is one that affords no little laughter, but unfortunately it is burdened in the latter stages by highly improbable serious sequences.”

References

Jump up^ Hall, Mordaunt (November 2, 1931). “The Screen; Movietone News.”. The New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2008.

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Actors, Articles, Home, Silent Films

Theda Bara

March 12, 2017 Film Dialogue 1 Comment

Prepared by Daniel B Miller

Theda Bara

Born	Theodosia Burr Goodman July 29, 1885 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died	April 7, 1955 (aged 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Stomach cancer
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale
Nationality	American
Education	Walnut Hills High School
Alma mater	University of Cincinnati
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1908–1926
Spouse(s)	Charles Brabin (1921–1955)

Theda Bara (/ˈθiːdə ˈbærə/^[1]thee-də barr-ə; born Theodosia Burr Goodman, July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress.

Bara was one of the most popular actresses of the silent era, and one of cinema’s earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname The Vamp (short for vampire).

Bara made more than 40 films between 1914 and 1926, but most were lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire. After her marriage to Charles Brabin in 1921, she made two more feature films and retired from acting in 1926 having never appeared in a sound film. She died of stomach cancer on April 7, 1955, at the age of 69.

Theda Bara 25

Early life

Theda Bara 12

She was born Theodosia Burr Goodman in the Avondale section of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father was Bernard Goodman (1853–1936),^[2] a prosperous Jewish tailor born in Poland. Her mother, Pauline Louise Françoise (née de Coppett; 1861–1957), was born in Switzerland.^[3] Bernard and Pauline married in 1882.

She had two siblings: Marque (1888–1954)^[4] and Esther (1897–1965),^[2] who also became a film actress as Lori Bara and married Francis W. Getty of London in 1920. She was named after the daughter of US Vice President Aaron Burr.^[5]

Bara attended Walnut Hills High School graduating in 1903. After attending the University of Cincinnati for two years, she worked mainly in theater productions, but did explore other projects.

After moving to New York City in 1908, she made her Broadway debut in The Devil (1908).

Career

Theda Bara 17

Theda Bara in A Fool There Was (1915)

Bara in The She-Devil (1918)

Most of Bara’s early films were shot around the East Coast, primarily at the Fox Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.^[6]

Bara lived with her family in New York City during this time. The rise of Hollywood as the center of the American film industry forced her to relocate to Los Angeles to film the epic Cleopatra (1917), which became one of Bara’s biggest hits.

No known prints of Cleopatra exist today, but numerous photographs of Bara in costume as the Queen of the Nile have survived.

Theda Bara 27

Between 1915 and 1919, Bara was Fox studio’s biggest star, but tired of being typecast as a vamp, she allowed her five-year contract with Fox to expire. Her final Fox film was The Lure of Ambition (1919). In 1920, she turned briefly to the stage, appearing on Broadway in The Blue Flame.

Bara’s fame drew large crowds to the theater, but her acting was savaged by critics.^[7] Her career suffered without Fox studio’s support, and she did not make another film until The Unchastened Woman (1925) for Chadwick Pictures Corporation. Bara retired after making only one more film, the short comedy Madame Mystery (1926), made for Hal Roach and directed by Stan Laurel, in which she parodied her vamp image.

At the height of her fame, Bara earned $4,000 per week. She was one of the most popular movie stars, ranking behind only Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.^[8]

Bara’s best-known roles were as the “vamp”, although she attempted to avoid typecasting by playing wholesome heroines in films such as Under Two Flags and Her Double Life. She also appeared as Juliet in a version of Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet.

Although Bara took her craft seriously, she was too successful as an exotic “wanton woman” to develop a more versatile career.

Image and name

Bara in one of her famous risqué costumes, in Cleopatra (1917)

The origin of Bara’s stage name is disputed; The Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats says it came from director Frank Powell, who learned Theda had a relative named Barranger, and that “Theda” was a childhood nickname.

In promoting the 1917 film Cleopatra, Fox Studio publicists noted that the name was an anagram of Arab death, and her press agents claimed inaccurately that she was “the daughter of an Arab sheik and a French woman, born in the Sahara.”^[9]^[10] In 1917 the Goodman family legally changed its surname to Bara.^[2]

Bara is often cited as the first sex symbol^[11] of the movies.^[12] She was well known for wearing very revealing costumes in her films. Such outfits were banned from Hollywood films after the Production Code started in 1930, and then was more strongly enforced in 1934.

It was popular at that time to promote an actress as mysterious, with an exotic background. The studios promoted Bara with a massive publicity campaign, billing her as the Egyptian-born daughter of a French actress and an Italian sculptor.

Theda Bara 26

Theda Bara in The Siren’s Song (1919)

They claimed she had spent her early years in the Sahara Desert under the shadow of the Sphinx, then moved to France to become a stage actress. (In fact, Bara had never been to Egypt or France.)

They called her the Serpent of the Nile and encouraged her to discuss mysticism and the occult in interviews. Some film historians point to this as the birth of two Hollywood phenomena: the studio publicity department and the press agent, which would later evolve into the public relations person.

Marriage and retirement

Theda Bara 4

Bara married British-born American film director Charles Brabin in 1921. They honeymooned in Nova Scotia at The Pines Hotel in Digby, Nova Scotia, and later purchased a 400 hectares (990 acres) property down the coast from Digby at Harbourville overlooking the Bay of Fundy, eventually building a summer home they called Baranook.^[13]

They had no children. Bara resided in a villa-style home, which served as the “honors villa” at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Demolition of the home began in July 2011.^[14]

Theda Bara 24

In 1936, she appeared on Lux Radio Theatre during a broadcast version of The Thin Man with William Powell and Myrna Loy. She did not appear in the play but instead announced her plans to make a movie comeback,^[15]^[16] which never materialized. She appeared on radio again in 1939 as a guest on Texaco Star Theatre.

These may be the only recordings of her voice ever made.

In 1949, producer Buddy DeSylva and Columbia Pictures expressed interest in making a movie of Bara’s life, to star Betty Hutton, but the project never materialized.^[17]

Theda Bara 23

Death

Niche of Theda Bara, in the Great Mausoleum, Forest Lawn Glendale.

On April 7, 1955, Bara died of stomach cancer in Los Angeles, California. She was interred as Theda Bara Brabin in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Legacy

Theda Bara 1

For her contribution to the film industry, Theda Bara has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bara is one of the most famous completely silent stars – she never appeared in a sound film, lost or otherwise. A 1937 fire at Fox’s nitrate film storage vaults in New Jersey destroyed most of that studio’s silent films.

Bara made more than forty films between 1914 and 1926, but complete prints of only six still exist:The Stain (1914), A Fool There Was (1915), East Lynne (1916), The Unchastened Woman (1925), and two short comedies for Hal Roach.

Theda Bara 28

Theda Bara poster for East Lynne (1916)

Theda Bara 29

Theda Bara in East Lynne (1916)

Theda Bara 30

Theda Bara in The Unchastened Woman (1925) Lobby Card

Theda Bara 31

Theda Bara in The Unchastened Woman (1925)

In addition to these, a few of her films remain in fragments including Cleopatra (just a few seconds of footage), a clip thought to be from The Soul of Buddha, and a few other unidentified clips featured in a French documentary, Theda Bara et William Fox (2001).

Most of the clips can be seen in the documentary The Woman with the Hungry Eyes (2006). As to vamping, critics stated that her portrayal of calculating, coldhearted women was morally instructive to men. Bara responded by saying, “I will continue doing vampires as long as people sin.”^[18]

In 1994, she was honored with her image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.

The Fort Lee Film Commission dedicated Main Street and Linwood Avenue in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as “Theda Bara Way” in May 2006 to honor Bara, who made many of her films at the Fox Studio on Linwood and Main.

Theda Bara Interview for LUX Radio in 1936

Contents

Early life

Career

Personal life

Death

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Television

Radio broadcasts

References

Further reading

External links

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Contents

Life and career

Personal life

Marriage

Death

Filmography

Features

Short subjects

References

Further reading

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Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD

Her First Affaire (1932)

Plot

Cast

References

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From Hell To Heaven (1933)

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Production and reception

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Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

The Heart of New York (1932)

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The Sin Of Nora Moran (1933) AKA Voice From The Grave

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The Thirteenth Guest (1932) AKA Lady Beware

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