Sheila Ryan goes A-Haunting

Last night was the spring banquet for the local Sons of the Desert group, and I was there.  It's good to see old friends again.  Hopefully you remember that the SoD is the Laurel and Hardy appreciation club. and we have "tents" all over the world.  The Philadelphia, PA chapter is the Two Tars Tent, each city having a tent named after one of the films.

This time we had a magic theme to the evening.  We started out with a documentary on the later films, made at 20th Century Fox and MGM.  Then we toasted the boys and some friends and sang the SoD theme song.  Next came a wonderful buffet dinner, with a showing of a Three Stooges film that had nothing to do with magic.

A live magician was next, and he gave us a great show, astounding us with card tricks.  To end the meeting, we screened A-Haunting We Will Go (1942).  While not one of the boy's best film's, it was quite enjoyable.  The camera tricks were a bit over the top and took away from Laurel and Hardy to an extent, but the film still works.

Laurel and Hardy were still a big draw at the box office, some 21 years after they first appeared in The Lucky Dog (1921), although not as a team back then.  The film also featured Dante the Magician, as I mentioned a few days ago.  He was quite good and obviously felt at home on the stage or screen.

In smaller parts Elisha Cook Jr. (1903 - 1995) played a crook, as usual.  His career spanned 1930 to 1988, and this was only six films after The Maltese Falcon, which was released a year earlier.

Looking pretty as always was Sheila Ryan (1921 - 1975).  Ryan was married from 1951 to 1975 to Pat Buttram (1915 - 1994) who played his most famous part (to modern audiences) as Mr. Haney on "Green Acres."  To most of us older folk, he was Gene Autry's sidekick.

Sheila has 62 acting credits on IMDb, starting in 1939.  She was in The Gay Caballero (1940) with Cesar Romero, Dressed to Kill (1941) with Lloyd Nolan, and Sun Valley Serenade (1941) with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  Her first work with Laurel and Hardy came in Great Guns (1941) and then A-Haunting We Will Go.

She made four movies with Gene Autry, I wonder if that's where she met Pat, and also appeared multiple times on his TV show.  Looking at the titles in her later movie career, she was mostly in B-movies.  Her last film was Street of Darkness (1958), starring Robert Keys (1921 - 2004).  (Who?)

As Dante's assistant in A-Haunting, she was perfect, and could not be any prettier.  You can be part of the Sons of the Desert.  Just send me a private e-mail and I'll get you in touch with your local Grand Sheik.  bitactors@gmail.com  It is a load of fun and very educational about these older films, and the Bit Actors as well as the stars.

Mae Marsh

I just realized that today is a special date.  This is the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight, and also the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. 

The famous D.W. Griffith (1875 - 1948) film, The Birth of a Nation, was released in 1915, which is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.  We will not go into the controversy surrounding the film, because this is a blog about Bit Actors.

Mae Marsh (1894 - 1968) started working in films in 1910.  She was one of the leads in TBoaN, along with Lillian Gish (1893 - 1993).  Marsh went on to appear in about 200 films, up until a few years before her death.

In 1912 her big break came when Griffith cast her in The Sands of Dee, a movie that Mary Pickford (1892 - 1979) was supposed to get.  This led to The Birth of a Nation, and then a starring role in Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages in 1916.  Those two are arguably the most famous silent films made in America. 

After Intolerance, Mae left Griffith and started working for Samuel Goldwyn (1879 - 1974).  Her career faltered after that.  She made quite a few more silents, but none were the big hits she had with Griffith. 

With the advent of talkies, Mae went back to work as a character actress, which made her a very famous Bit Actress.  She was approaching 40 years old by then, so starring roles would go to younger actresses.

Her list of sound films is impressive, but she is uncredited in many of them.

1932 -   Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1933 -   Alice in Wonderland
1939 -   Drums Along the Mohawk
1940 -   The Grapes of Wrath
1941 -   Tobacco Road
1941 -   Great Guns (Had to get Laurel and Hardy in there!)
1941 -   How Green was my Valley
1943 -   The Song of Bernadette

Plus, State Fair, Miracle on 34th Street, Fort Apache, The Fighting Kentuckian, The Gunfighter, The Quiet Man, The Robe, A Star is Born, The Searchers...Holy Cow! what a list.

Her last two films, both uncredited roles, were Donovan's Reef (1963) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964).  She worked with John Wayne in eight films, but she only did a few TV westerns around 1960. 

Mae Marsh was a star.  And I am glad we have her in so many great films, if only in Bit Parts.

Sim Sala Bim!

This coming Friday will be the next banquet for The Two Tars Tent of The Sons of the Desert.  The SoD is, of course, the Laurel and Hardy film appreciation society, formed in part by Stan Laurel himself.  Each city has a Tent named after one of the films, and the one in Philadelphia is Two Tars.

This week will include a screening of A-Haunting We Will Go (1942) starring The Boys.  This is one of their last films, and was made at Twentieth Century Fox, after they left Hal Roach.  It is not considered one of their best films, but it is worth seeing.

The film is about L&H getting involved with con men and a magician.  The magician is played by real life magician Dante.  Dante the Magician was considered one of the best.  He was born in Denmark as Harry August Jensen (1883 - 1955) (possibly spelled Jansen).  He was also the last of the large traveling magic shows in the USA.  He often said, "Sim Sala Bim" during his performance.

His career as an entertainer started when he was about 16 years old, and he was quickly recognized as talented.  He was given the stage name Dante by Howard Thurston (1869 - 1936) in 1925.  Thurston was, at the time, the premier magician in the world.  Thurston was more well known than Harry Houdini (1874 - 1926). 

In film, Dante first appeared as himself in a Swedish film called Dante Mysterier (1931).  Next came A-Haunting, and then two more films; Bunco Squad (1950) from RKO Radio Pictures, and The Golden Coach (1951) made in Italy.  Of his four performances on screen, A-Haunting would be the best choice to see a good movie, but my guess is Dante Mysterier would be the best to see Dante.  (If you can find it.)

Another great Bit Actor we will see in A-Haunting We Will Go is Elisha Cook Jr. (1903-1995) who made more than 200 titles in his career. 

At this banquet we will also partake of a sumptuous buffet dinner, and then be entertained by a real life magician, who performs in the style of Dante.  We will raise a glass to Dante, Stan and Ollie, and some other friends, and then park our camel and have one for the road.

A Request from Me

As it says on the right side of the Bit Part Actors Blog, my three year old grandson has Cystic Fibrosis.  This is a short commercial to ask for your help.

This is Cayden -

Cayden's Third Birthday

He is, on the outside, a healthy, fun loving three year old.  He has an older sister, and the best parents in the world.  He also has CF.  It is a disease that somehow he inherited from both his mother's and his father's genes.  Neither side of the family knew they had the gene, so this was a complete surprise to everyone.  Luckily, all young children are tested for CF in their first year, so it was caught early.

Here is the good news.  Our family lives in the Philadelphia area, and we have Children's Hospital of Philadelphia within a short drive.  CHoP is considered the best hospital for children in the USA.  Also, Cayden's mom is a pediatric nurse, and there are a considerable number of nurses in our family to call on.  His grandparents on both sides are also very helpful.

Both of Cayden's parents have great, understanding bosses, so the frequent trips to CHoP have not caused a huge problem.  That doesn't mean they aren't a drain on everyone's stress level.  His daily care at home is also quite a lot of work.  And luckily, his insurance has been pretty good.

Here is my short request.  The Great Strides walk to benefit Cystic Fibrosis is coming up on April 30, 2011.  I am asking you to please take a look at the link below and consider donating to help defeat CF.  The link goes to the page I have set up, and the donations shown there are mine for this year.  I have it set up to automatically charge my card ten bucks a month.

I hope you will click on the "Click to Donate" button at the top of that page.  If you can give five or ten bucks, that would be great.  More would be better, and an automatic charge can be set up any way you can handle.  This money does not go to my family, it goes to fight CF.

Here's the link - Great Strides Walk for CF

If you can't donate this month, maybe you'll keep it in mind for later.  Thanks.

Two SE PA Silent Movie Events

Not everything centers around Hollywood or even the West Coast.  There are two small events coming up soon in Southeastern Pennsylvania, which is strangely enough, where I live.  Both are inexpensive excursions into the Silent Movie Era.

First up is 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 10, 2011 at the famous Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA.  Yes, that is the theater where the 1958 hit movie The Blob was partially filmed.  To benefit the Theatre Organ Society of the Delaware Valley, they will be showing five silent shorts accompanied by the newly renovated organ. 

Courtesy http://www.thecolonialtheatre.com/

Sadly, they don't say which five silent shorts, but they do mention Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  Those four men made hundreds of films, and many were silent shorts.  Let's hope they pick your favorites for the show.  It doesn't really matter much, since the admission is only ten bucks and the proceeds benefit the Organ Society. 

Later on in the summer, July 8 to 10, is this year's Blobfest.  Come on out for your chance to run out of the theater screaming.  After that show, you can drive out to the Downingtown Diner for some refreshments.  That's where the Blob was fried.  It's only about 15 miles away.

Then, on Saturday, May 14, 2011, come to Montgomery County Community College at 8:00 p.m. for the Betzwood Silent Film Festival.  The Betzwood Studio was located near Norristown, PA, and the site of the interior studio and lab is about a mile from where I live now.  It was a 350 acre ranch of early movie mogul Siegmund Lubin (1851 - 1923).  Check my Blog label list on the right for more about Lubin and Betzwood.

This year will be a showing of westerns, accompanied by Don Kinnier on the organ.  It's not a theater organ, but Don is incredibly talented at bringing silent films to life.  Hosting the event, as always, is Lubin biographer, Joseph Eckhardt.  Make sure you pick up his book, The King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin, and bring it along for an autograph.

I will be there once again.  Look for me with my copy of his book!  And this show is only eight bucks.

Charlotte Rampling

Yesterday I was able to catch a 1975 Robert Mitchum (1917 - 1997) movie called Farewell, My Lovely.  It was a Phillip Marlow detective story, so I had to watch it.  About half way into the movie he finds himself kissing Charlotte Rampling (b. 1946), in her home, as her husband pops in.  Oops!  Rampling plays Velma, the villainess.  (Is that a word?  My spell checker doesn't seem to think so.)

While the movie wasn't the best I've seen of Marlow, it wasn't bad.  Bogart is more intense, but Mitchum brings a more intelligent portrayal, and the movie sticks to the style of a detective novel in the 1930s.  Mitchum is definitely one of the best for this genre, and this one is definitely worth seeking out.

Charlotte Rampling first came to my eye in The Verdict (1982), a courtroom drama starring Paul Newman.  In that movie, she was also not very nice.  She tried to throw Newman off track by seducing him.  The Verdict is well worth viewing, but it does come off as a little dated.

Rampling was born in England and educated in France, so she is well spoken and well educated.  She became a model, and that led to a part as a water skier in The Knack...and How to Get It (1965).  That led to better parts in Georgy Girl (1966) and several TV programs.

She played the hitchhiker in Vanishing Point (1971), and she played Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972) starring Keith Mitchell (b. 1928).  In 1974 she co-starred with Sean Connery in Zardoz.

In 1980 she stars with Woody Allen (b. 1935) in his movie, Stardust Memories.  Later on she was in the 1988 remake of D.O.A., starring Dennis Quaid (b. 1954).  That one would never live up to the original 1950 film noir classic starring Edmond O'Brien.  Rampling has some 95 titles on IMDb, and she is still working.  That's should give you ample opportunity to find her.

Sadly, Farewell, My Lovely isn't available on DVD or BluRay.  The link above goes to Amazon for a download, which is OK if your computer will play to a decent television.  Also sadly, Charlotte Rampling is not a big star...but she is talented, and is still a very good looking woman.  She was beautiful in The Verdict and Farewell, reaching for (and achieving, in my book) an early Lauren Bacall look.  She is a Bit Actress, and a good one.

Marie Dressler

Was Marie Dressler a big star or a Bit Actress?  Well, both, actually.  Dressler was born in Canada somewhere between 1863 and 1971, depending on which account you read.  She started acting at age 14, and in 1892 made her debut on Broadway.

She was in a play written by Maurice Barrymore (1849 - 1905) who was the father of Lionel, Ethel and John, and great-grandfather of Drew.  That family has great genes!  Dressler later worked with Lionel and John Barrymore.

The early movie days were not well documented.  There are notes that Dressler started working in film in 1910, but IMDb shows her first film as the 1914 Chaplin film, Tillie's Punctured Romance.  There is a reference to Actors' Fund Field Day in 1910, with the cast all listed as playing themselves.  In any case, it is accepted that Mack Sennett was the one who got her into movies.  She may have had more small parts in early films.

Dressler made two sequels to Tillie, and a few shorts through 1918, and then found herself blacklisted from movie jobs because of an actor's strike.  In 1927 she was back in movies, cast in The Callahans and the Murphys.  She made a few more silent films, and returned to the stage to work with Edward Everett Horton (1886 - 1970).

As an experienced stage actress, Dressler was a prime choice for sound films.  Many silent stars lost their popularity when they had to speak, and Dressler was one of the lucky ones who already knew how.

After appearing in Annie Christie (1930) opposite Greta Garbo (1905 - 1990), Marie Dressler was considered a movie star and signed to a $500 a week contract at MGM.  She went on to win the 1931 Academy Award for Best Actress in Min and Bill (1930) co-starring with Wallace Beery (1885 - 1949).

Dressler was now the biggest box office draw of the time.  More hits followed.  Emma in 1932, Tugboat Annie and Dinner at Eight in 1933.  Those last two were again with Wallace Beery. 

Dinner at Eight is one of the best films of the early sound era.  Jean Harlow is a very sexy 22 year old, married to Wallace Beery!  Let's see, he was 48 years old.  (No comment!)  Even though the casting was evenly divided among the stars, Dressler, Beery, John and Lionel Barrymore - Dressler dominates the screen when she is in a scene.  Her final comment to Harlow is classic.

Marie died of cancer in 1934, just a year after making Dinner at Eight.  So, was she a star or a Bit Actress?  She was a star, but she only made 29 films.  And she could hold her own with the Barrymores sharing the credits.

Blog Labels Complete and J Chan

Whew!  I have finished adding labels to all of my posts.  And, by the way, this is post #250, in about 10 months of The Bit Part Actors Blog.  I started last May.

It was quite a task to add the labels.  I don't have unlimited time to devote to the job, but on the days I was not writing, I would go in and add to a few posts at a time.

I suppose I should have listed the names with the last name first, but you'll just have to deal with it!  A comma in the label field indicates the next label, so I couldn't add Bogart, Humphrey...it would be listed as two names.  I actually found that out the hard way.  I added the label for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and had links to "It's a Mad," Two links to "Mad," and a link to "Mad World."  Gotta love it!

Then there is the problem of movies that start with "The."  Do I list The Dirty Dozen, or just Dirty Dozen.  You will have to look both places if you are looking for a title, because I wasn't very consistent.  As they say, "Consistency is the hobgoblin of foolish minds."  Or something is the hobgoblin...I don't know.

Back to my chosen topic.  The Bit Actress of the day is Jacqui Chan.  That's a great name for a martial artist, but she wasn't one.  She started out in 1955 and quickly made it into The World of Suzie Wong in 1960, and Cleopatra in 1963.  Her last big movie was Krakatoa: East of Java in 1969, but she continues to work. 

A web search returns a lot of hits for Jacki Chan, so there are few details about Jacqui.  Maybe she is just a notch above an extra, but I'll put her in as a Bit Actress.

Wife vs. Secretary or Harlow vs. Loy

What a pleasure it was to see Wife vs. Secretary (1936) on my DVR.  Once again, THANK YOU to Turner Classic Movies for a great March full of Jean Harlow (1911 - 1937) movies, during Jean's 100th birthday month.

I must admit, up until this month, I had only seen her in the two Laurel and Hardy films she made in 1929, Double Whoopee and Bacon Grabbers.  She was also in City Lights (1931) the Chaplin classic, but was only an extra so I didn't notice her.

We started out by watching Bombshell (1933), an early starring feature with a very platinum blonde Harlow.  I believe it was typical of some early talkies to have too much dialog in a movie populated by a cast of former stage actors who project all the way to the back row of the theater.  Someone needed to tell them that the microphone was closer.  As a result, the movie is difficult to watch.  The talking is too fast, and combined with the colloquial way of speaking in the thirties, I couldn't easily follow the story.  To really understand this movie would take three viewings.

Then we watched Reckless (1935).  I figured two more years of sound experience, plus William Powell (1892 - 1984) would make this a better experience.  Harlow and Powell were lovers and I hoped there would be on screen chemistry.  It was another disappointment.  The script was beneath them both, and it became boring, but Harlow was beautiful and quite accomplished for only 24 years old.

We struck cinematic gold with Wife vs. Secretary.  The pairing of good friends Myrna Loy (1905 - 1993) and Jean Harlow (now with toned down, more natural blonde color), was perfect.  Clark Gable (1901 - 1960) got top billing because he was the King of the Movies, but his part could have been played by any leading man of the time.  All eyes were on Harlow and Loy.

In a Bit Part, we have James Stewart (1908 - 1997) as Harlow's boyfriend.  This was only Stewart's fifth film, but you could see his bright future in every scene he had.

I can't say enough about this film.  The story took you through all the emotions of the head of a publishing empire and his desire to succeed, his secretary who knows her help is needed by him, and his wife who only wants to give her love as he gives his to her.  Plus, the frustration of Harlow's boyfriend who thinks he may be losing her.  The fact is, everybody loves everybody else, but is Harlow just too much of a temptation for Gable?

There is no sex, because this was after the Hays Code.  Loy and Gable even have separate bedrooms.  But listen closely and you can hear the innuendos.  These were all sexy stars and they could deliver the message in body language plus a few words.

I was going to commit Wife vs. Secretary to VHS tape, but I think I'll order the DVD set instead.  (I really need to get that home theater PC I've been thinking about!)  Harlow was a star for a very short time.  I wonder what her future would have brought.  Would it have been filled with success in a long life like Bette Davis, or end in tragedy like Marilyn Monroe?  Kidney disease took Jean Harlow at just age 26, so we'll never know.

My Last Elizabeth Taylor Post

Since yesterday's news of the passing of screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, there is little left to be said about her.  Here is my take, which tends to be quirky at times. 

She was amazing in her early career, establishing herself as an actress who would become a shining star.  Right from the start in Lassie Come Home (1943) she was noticed as having something that made her special on the screen.  The next year she starred in National Velvet at age 12 and never looked back.

Not all of her work was magic, though.  After the big hits, Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), BUtterfield 8 (1960), and Cleopatra (1963), she made the stinker, The V.I.P.s (1963).  Then back to the hits with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) and The Taming of the Shrew (1967).

By now Taylor had a loyal fan base and they would watch anything with her in it.  But the mid 1960s were the start of her decline, if you can call it that.  There was a younger audience going to a new kind of movie, like The Graduate (1967), and they looked at Taylor as being one of the old stars.  She was 35 you know, and Dustin Hoffman was five years younger.

In 1973 she did a TV movie called "Divorce His - Divorce Hers."  I had the misfortune to buy this movie for $1 at Walmart.  My wife and I tried to watch it, but decided it would be better if we just put it in the box of stuff we take to the charity thrift shop. 

Taylor can be difficult to watch during this period.  She was obviously trying, but perhaps trying too hard and coming off as melodramatic.  Richard Burton in this was the opposite.  He seemed to be bored with the whole production, not just his wife, who he divorced (the second time) the next year.

I think the toll of her lifestyle and her health problems added to her later acting problems.  Take a look at the Wikipedia entry for her and you'll see what I mean.  She was a chain smoker from an early age and that led to lung cancer.  It also didn't help her heart, as she died from congestive heart failure.  And that's just the start. 

The fact remains that she was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.  She was beautiful in her early years, and glamorous as she aged.  I never liked the big hair years in the 1980s, but it showed that she was bigger than life.  She also did a lot of good for many charities.  You have to like her simply because she showed what can be done in America.

Being a star is never easy.  It is easier to be a Bit Actor, as I've said before.  I am sure that Liz handled it as best she could.  She has also ensured her place as an immortal star, who will live on the screen forever.