Una Merkel

Una Merkel (1903 - 1986) is one actress I cherish.  She had an enormous career spanning 1923 to 1968.  And no one era of hers is better than any other.  She was good in everything!

She made two silent films and then in 1930 was cast in the D. W. Griffith (1875 - 1948) movie, Abraham Lincoln, starring Walter Huston (1884 - 1950) in the title role. 

In 1931 Merkel is in an early sound version of The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez (1900 - 1977) as Sam Spade.  That movie had quite a cast, including Bebe Daniels (1901 - 1971) famous for 42nd Street in 1933; Thelma Todd (1906 - 1935) who worked with Laurel and Hardy; and Dwight Frye (1899 - 1943) who played in the wonderful 1931 Carl Laemmle hits, Dracula and Frankenstein.  Una also appears in 42nd Street, her only Busby Berkeley film.

In 1939 we find her in a strong supporting role with Jimmy Stewart in Destry Rides Again (as you know, one of my favorites), and then she makes Some Like it Hot the same year with Bob Hope.  She works with Hope and Crosby in Road to Zanzibar in 1941.  As all fans of comedy know, she played Myrtle Souse in The Bank Dick, W. C. Fields' classic in 1940.

She appears in The Merry Widow twice.  In 1934 with Maurice Chevalier (1888 - 1972) and Jeannette MacDonald (1903 - 1965), and in 1952 with Lana Turner (1921 - 1995) and Fernando Lamas (1915 - 1982).

Television appearances start around 1952 in "Four Star Playhouse" and "Schlitz Playhouse."  Merkel will continue making movies and TV shows for the rest of her career. 

In 1961 she is cast in the Haley Mills (b. 1946) Brian Keith (1921 - 1997) movie The Parent Trap.  She made two other Disney films, Summer Magic (1963) again with Haley Mills, and A Tiger Walks (1964) again with Brian Keith. 

Una Merkel's final work of her 114 titles was in "I Spy" in 1968.  She was never a huge star, but her voice and talent, and her odd name which is apparently her real one, have kept her at the top of the Bit Actor list.

The Bank Dick

One of everyone's favorite W. C. Fields movies is The Bank Dick from 1940.  This was the second to last Fields movie and by this time his popularity allowed him do whatever he wanted.  The story seems a little disjointed by today's standards, but each part is so much fun that it doesn't matter.  Don't be a moon-calf, don't be a jabbernow, you just have to enjoy it as it unfolds.

Fields came from vaudeville, so he could put on an act all alone on stage.  In his movies he surrounded himself with character actors like Grady Sutton, (Og Oggilby) Una Merkel (Myrtle Souse), Shemp Howard (the bartender, Joe Guelpe) and Franklin Pangborn (J. Pinkerton Snoopington, bank examiner).  These people have wonderful comedic timing, and Fields used them to great effect.


Russell Hicks played J. Frothingham Waterbury.  Hicks started his film career in the silent classic The Birth of a Nation in 1915.  He had 316 roles in movies and TV over 42 years.  His deep voice and ability to project it, and his perfect diction was great in the talkies.  Look for him in You Can't Take it with You (Directed by Frank Capra), Buck Privates Come Home (Abbott and Costello), The Big Store (Marx Brothers), Great Guns (among other films with Laurel and Hardy), Dark Alibi (A Sidney Toler - Charlie Chan film)...it's another endless list by a great bit actor!  For most of his career on the screen he averaged 13 films a year.

One of my favorites in this film had a small part.  David Oliver was the bank teller with the straw hat.  Billy Mitchell comes in and wants to withdraw his money because the teller with the hat makes him nervous.  He made ME nervous with his nervous little voice and that sneeze!  Billy Mitchell was a tenor sax player with Dizzie Gillespie and Count Basie.  David Oliver also appeared in Fields' You Can't Cheat an Honest Man a year earlier, and I also noticed him in Pot O' Gold (1941) with Jimmy Stewart and Paulette Goddard.

I guess its time to watch some more W. C. Fields movies.  I had the pleasure of meeting his grandson, Bill Fields, at one of our Sons of the Desert meetings quite a few years ago.  I believe he still lives in the Philadelphia area.