The Great Ziegfeld

Here is a movie that, somehow, I had missed seeing.  The Great Ziegfeld (1936) was recently on TCM, so I put it on the DVR.  My wife and I just watched it.  This movie has a huge cast for 1936, and a huge price tag.  It cost $2,000,000 to make, but it took in $40,000,000 and won an Oscar for Best Picture.

No, I won't talk about William Powell, Myrna Loy, or Frank Morgan.  If you are reading a classic movie blog, you already know those names.  Let's look at some smaller parts.

In some very small parts we find Rosina Lawrence (1912 - 1997) and Mae Questel (1908 - 1998) who are both acquaintances of mine.  Rosina played in several Laurel and Hardy films and Little Rascals shorts for Hal Roach.  I attended Sons of the Desert banquets and conventions with her.  A wonderful lady--first class.  Mae was the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl and entertained us at one of the Sons of the Desert conventions.

Look quickly for Vivian Vance (1909 - 1979) in the audience of Anna Held.  It was her second film, and years before "I Love Lucy."  There is also an appearance of William Demarest (1892 - 1983) who has 167 titles on his list, including "My Three Sons."

Another Hal Roach actor in Ziegfeld is Mickey Daniels (1914 - 1970) who was in quite a few of the Little Rascals silent films. 

Nat Pendleton (1895 - 1967) played Sandow the strong man.  Pendleton has over 110 movies on his filmography.  He was in five with William Powell, including the first two Thin Man movies.  He was a strong man in real life and may be the first to display his body as art.  He was an Olympic wrestler for the United States in 1920, winning a silver medal.  In his later career he was in Buck Privates (1941) and Buck Privates Come Home (1947) with Abbott and Costello.

Reginald Owen (1887 - 1972) is cast as Sampston in one of his 142 titles.  Of course, Owen was Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 film, A Christmas Carol.  He was also the captain of the ship in White Cargo (1942) with Hedy Lamarr (1914 - 2000).  That must have been a steamy adventure!

Finally Ray Bolger (1904 - 1987) appears as Ray Bolger; and Fanny Brice (1891 - 1951) appears as Fannie Brice, but is credited as Fannie Brice.  Well, that's what IMDb says.

If you are new to classic films, this one is certainly worth viewing.  You can also catch the incredible staging of the song, A Pretty Girl in That's Entertainment (1974).  Could Ziggy have really done that on a theater stage???

Photo of Some Friends, Sons of the Desert

Below is a photo that I took at a 1979 banquet of the Two Tars Tent of The Sons of the Desert.  I have spoken of the Sons before, but if any readers are new, the SoD is the international organization dedicated to the films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

Each city has a local group called a tent.  The Two Tars meet in the Philadelphia, PA area.  At the banquets they always try to have guests who were involved in some way with L&H or at Hal Roach Studios, or were active in the era.  These days they are getting much older and hard to find.

Here is the pic -

Copyright 1979 Allen Hefner

In the picture (from left to right) we see Red Stanley (1900 - 1980), his wife Anita Garvin (1906 - 1994) and Rosina Lawrence (1912 - 1997).

Red Stanley was a musician and appeared in only nine movies.  He was a delight to talk with.  He worked in films with Betty Grable, Fred MacMurray, Harriet Hilliard (of Ozzie and Harriet), Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake in Blondie Goes Latin (1941), and was uncredited as a trombonist in The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) with Jack Benny.  He married Anita in 1930.


Anita Garvin was one of the most endearing supporting actors used by Laurel and Hardy.  She appeared in 94 films from 1924 to 1940, including about 11 with The Boys, plus some films with Laurel or Hardy, sans the other.  About a third of her films were made at Hal Roach Studios.  My favorite of hers with The Boys was Blotto, a 1930 short where Anita played Stan's wife.  Stan and Ollie thought they would put one over on her and take her hidden liquor to a club.  She had replaced it with cold tea before they left, but they got blotto anyway.  It is one very funny movie.

Rosina Lawrence was one of the nicest people you could ever meet!  Someone once said that she was so sweet, if she went out in the rain, she would melt.  Rosina made 30 films from 1924 to 1939, when she married and became a housewife.  She was popular in some Our Gang comedies as well as some of the best Laurel and Hardy movies.  She had a major role in Way Out West (1937), considered one of their finest feature films.

Rosina's first husband died in 1973.  She married John McCabe in 1987.  McCabe (another acquaintance of mine) was the founder of The Sons of the Desert.  Look for his books about Laurel and Hardy and also Charlie Chaplin.

I have fond memories of all these people, and I will continue to share them with you.  Back in those days I shot these pics on film.  I am in the process of scanning them, which is quite a project!  I just picked up a negative and slide scanner (Thanks, eBay!) and have loads more to go.

Please respect the photographs I have taken.  If you want to use them, please ask first.  It's probably OK, I just want to know and maybe receive credit under the pic!

Way Out West

The 1937 film Way Out West was a story about riches being bestowed on a poor girl who worked in a saloon, and the attempt to steal it by her boss and his lady friend.  Sounds serious, doesn't it?  It could have been an early drama.  1937 was also the year for A Star is Born, The Good Earth, and Lost Horizon so Hollywood was making some wonderful dramas by then.

Of course, the stars of Way Out West were Laurel and Hardy, so there is not much drama here!  As the tag line reads, "A Rumble Of Roars That Ends In A Laff Riot."

The boss is played by James Finlayson, the actor who first started making the frustrated "Doh" sound, usually directly into the camera.  The young girl who really inherited the money was played by the wonderful Rosina Lawrence, and the lady friend who tried to help Fin steal the money was Sharon Lynn.

I have mentioned Rosina Lawrence before, as it was my considerable pleasure to know her.  She became a countess when she married Juvenal P. Marchisio in 1939, a NY judge and a leader in the postwar relief efforts in Italy.  After his death, she eventually married John McCabe, Stan Laurel's biographer.  Her obituary in the New York Times can be seen here.

Rosina only made 30 films, preferring to be a housewife after she married.  But she was a dancer and had a good career working with Rita Hayworth, Jean Harlow, Charley Chase, Warner Oland and others.  She was one of the teachers in several Our Gang comedies, including Bored of Education in 1936 which won an Oscar.

Sharon Lynn (or sometimes Lynne) had 32 movie roles, none were big hits, but some may be worth looking for.  In 1935 she was in Go Into Your Dance with Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler.

Most of the cast of Way Out West were regulars at Hal Roach, so you see them in Our Gang comedies, Charley Chase and L&H films.  The Avalon Boys supplied some good music, and Chill Wills provided the low voice for Stan Laurel in his big hit, In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

The mule was played by Dinah.  This was her only film.

Chaplin and Fester

I just used my new search box and found that I have been remiss in my duties, and have not yet mentioned Charles Chaplin.  Chaplin is recognized as one of the greatest film makers of all time.

I am just finishing a re-read of Charlie Chaplin by John McCabe.  It is considered one of the best Chaplin biographies, mainly because McCabe is so thorough in his research.  As a matter of fact, it is much more accurate than Chaplin's own autobiography.  McCabe is careful to explain the differences in Chaplin's memories and what actually happened in his life.

I met Jack (as he was called) back in the 1980s while in the Sons of the Desert.  He was the founder of the group, and he was also the authorized biographer of Stan Laurel.  Stan helped him as he (and others) formed the SoD, with some ideas and suggestions. 

Jack was always friendly and very easy to talk to, and extremely knowledgeable.  His wife was Rosina Lawrence, who was an actress with Hal Roach, and appeared in several L&H films, as well as Our Gang and others.

The book got me thinking about how bit actors become stars, but in this case, how a star became a bit actor.  Of course I am referring to Jackie Coogan.  Coogan's first big hit was The Kid.  It is a silent Chaplin film released in 1921, with Coogan in the title role.  It is my opinion that Coogan was the real star of the film, with Chaplin playing a big supporting part.  You simply can't take your eyes off the Kid, he is so wonderful in this movie.

I would imagine that the trade news of the time would have predicted Jackie Coogan would go on the become a big movie star.  He made over $4,000,000 as a child actor in the 1920s, which is a huge amount of money.  Sadly, his mother and step-father refused to give him his money when he grew up.  He sued them and was awarded only $126,000 in 1939.  The public was angry about this, so California eventually passed the Coogan Act to protect the income of child actors by requiring a trust fund for them.

Coogan's career wound down after that and he became a guest star on many television shows, ending up as a bit actor.  His biggest part as an adult was as Uncle Fester on the original "Addams Family" on TV.  I remember him later playing villains and other characters on other TV shows.  You can only wonder what the turn of fate will deal. 

BTW, if you decide to purchase any silent films, try to find them with a good musical score.  Bad music from a cheap copy can really detract from what could be a truly great film.  Many of the old silent films are now in the public domain, which means anyone with a copy can dupe it and sell it.  In many cases that means they add whatever free music they can find.  Good luck.