Virginia Davis and Walt Disney

I started thinking about early Walt Disney (1901 - 1966) live action films and took a look at IMDb.  Well, Disney produced over 650 films, mostly shorts and most of the early films were animated.  With no easy way to figure out which were live action, I decided to continue looking at other resources.

On Wikipedia I found that Disney's first successful cartoon series' were the Alice Comedies.  Starting with the 1923 silent short, Alice's Wonderland.  These films included live action and animation.  Alice was originally played by Virginia Davis (1918 - 2009).  Walt himself, and Virginia's mother Margaret Davis also appeared in the film.  Also included in the film is Ub Iwerks (1901 - 1971), the legendary animator of the Disney Studios, and co-creator of Mickey Mouse (b. 1927).

There were about 57 entries in the Alice series. and they were made during Disney's move from Kansas City to California.  Virginia moved with the studio, to help Margaret's ambitious hopes for her daughter.

Virginia worked in 15 of the Alice Comedies, and also in a few more silents with Ronald Coleman (1891 - 1958) and Harry Carey (1878 - 1947).  In 1932 she appears in Three on a Match, with a young Bette Davis (1908 - 1989) and Joan Blondell (1906 - 1979), and also Humphrey Bogart (1899 - 1957).  She plays Blondell's character when she was young. 

Virginia went on to a few more uncredited roles before giving up acting.  Notably, she was in: College Holiday (1936) with Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen; You'll Never Get Rich (1941) starring Fred Astaire (1899 - 1987) the year before he made Holiday Inn; a couple of Betty Grable (1916 - 1973) films; and her final film was The Harvey Girls (1946) starring Judy Garland.

Wikipedia credits her with several films that don't appear in IMDb, and I have no way of checking those listed.  If you see Virginia Davis in Flying Down to Rio (1933), please let me know.

After leaving Hollywood, Virginia eventually started a career as a realtor in the mid-west, and ended up selling homes back in California.  She was later sought out by Disney fans and regained more popularity than she had when she was making films.  That must always be a shock to actors who thought they left their old career in the dust.

She certainly qualifies as a Bit Actress, and I would say a successful one, even with a short career spanning just 18 years and 28 films.  She helped make Walt Disney a household name.

Don't Think Twice, It's Bob Dylan

Labor Day weekend is upon us.  I am not sure where I'll be or what we will be doing for the next few days, so here I am, writing.  I found a new, free music service on the Internet called Spotify.  It has a few ads, but it isn't very intrusive.  What I like is the ability to search and easily create playlists that are saved in the cloud.  You can then retrieve the same playlists on any computer.

Music is integral to movies, and could be considered a Bit Actor of sorts (I guess).  Well, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but this is my blog and one song has grabbed my attention.

I heard the Bob Dylan song "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and wondered how many versions are available by different artists.  I counted over 65 different recordings, but they didn't have one on Spotify by Dylan, who wrote the words.  I heard quite a few who tried to sound like him, though.

The song came to my attention years ago because I used to listen to Peter, Paul and Mary a lot.  I met all three of them several times.  Nice folks.  They had a big hit with the song, which went to #9 on the charts.

Some of the versions I heard today (I have been listening to the same song for over three hours) are truly terrible.  Many are by folk singers and they tend to all sound the same.  Elvis Presley recorded it.  I am currently listening to it sung by Shinji Tonomura in Japanese (I think).

If you try this, watch out for karaoke versions.  It seems the same version is released on multiple karaoke albums, so they all sound exactly the same.  Feel free to sing along.

The absolute best version out there is by The Wonder Who.  As a joke, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons did a rock'n'roll version of DTT,IAR in 1965, but they didn't use their real name.  It was such a hit that it reached #12 on the charts!

Let's look at the history.  Bob Dylan (b. 1941) wrote it down in 1962 and released it in 1963.  The melody was taught to him by (or stolen from) a folksinger named Paul Clayton (1931 - 1967) who was popular in the Greenwich Village scene.  Clayton called the song, "Who's Gonna Buy You Ribbons When I'm Gone?"  Dylan and Clayton both had recording contracts and their record companies fought out lawsuits over the song, but the two artists remained friends.

The melody is actually from an older folk song called, "Who's Gonna Buy You Chickens When I'm Gone?" and that one is in the public domain.  I love that title!


As far as the movie connection, so I can stay somewhat on topic...  According to Wikipedia, the song was used in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973).  Then Bob Dylan made a four hour long movie called Renaldo and Clara (1978).  It was used in other Dylan films, Hearts of Fire (1987) and Masked and Anonymous (2003).  In 2007 it is in I'm Not There, a bio/musical with Dylan influence.  Plus you will hear it in countless documentaries about Dylan and the era that brought music of the same genre.
 
Bob Dylan had numerous other songs recorded for soundtrack use, and he appears in six movies and a TV movie.  He is heard on well over 300 soundtracks.
 
There was also a movie released in 1999 called Don't Think Twice, that has nothing to do with the song or Dylan. 
 
I am approaching six hours of listening to the same song.  They are playing in artist first name order.  I'm still waiting for the Ts to play so I can hear The Four Seasons version.  I'm up to Steel Train, whoever that is.  It must be like a movie marathon...I'm not tired of hearing it!
 
Have a great holiday weekend!

Hurricane Irene Missed Key Largo

Thankfully, Hurricane Irene went through the Philadelphia area with little damage.  My problem now is that there are few hurricane movie titles.

The Hurricane shows up first in 1926.  That would be a silent film, but it has no storyline listed, so it is probably lost.  In 1937 there is a Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall film called The Hurricane that includes a big storm.  I have never seen it, though.

The Hurricane (1999) is a Denzel Washington film about a boxer, not a storm.  Hurricane Season (2009) is a Forrest Whitaker film about high school basketball after Hurricane Katrina.  And Eye of the Hurricane (2011) is in post-production.

What is your favorite movie that includes a hurricane?  For any real classic film fan, the only answer is Key Largo (1948), and I think I would agree.  The only problem with Key Largo is that I won't write about Bogart, Bacall, Barrymore or Robinson.  Not even about Claire Trevor.  They aren't Bit Actors.

Thomas Gomez (1905 - 1971) is.  He played Curly, one of the thugs.  He also appeared in almost 100 other titles in his career.  He started out in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.  A good start!

That first year Gomez was also in Who Done It? starring Abbott and Costello, and Pittsburgh starring John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich.  He made eight films with Turhan Bey (b. 1922), and one more with The Duke.

In 1950 Gomez got to work with Barbara Stanwick in The Furies.  In 1951 he stars in The Harlem Globetrotters as Coach Saperstein.  Then, in the mid-50s, he can be found on TV.  He has quite a good list of films and television, but nothing as big as Key Largo.  His final movie was Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and he appeared on "Gunsmoke" in 1972.

Harry Lewis (b. 1020) played Toots, another bad guy.  He has 59 titles listed on IMDb, starting in 1941, after a time running a successful hamburger restaurant.  His first film was Dive Bomber starring Errol Flynn.  He made five films with Flynn.

After Largo, Lewis works with Edward G. Robinson twice more.  In Vice Squad (1953) and The Ten Commandments (1956).  As I have said before, everyone in Hollywood was in The Ten Commandments.

Lewis' also did a lot of television work, and his final film was The Astral Factor (1976) starring Stefanie Powers (b. 1942) about a strangler in jail who learns to make himself invisible.  (A little too late, if you ask me.)

Another Largo henchman, Ziggy, was played by Marc Lawrence (1910 - 2005).  He has 217 titles listed, and was in everything from If I Had a Million (1932) with an all star cast including Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and W. C. Fields, through two James Bond films (Diamonds are Forever (1971) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)), to two "Star Trek" appearances on "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine."

Lawrence's final film is Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) with Brendan Fraser, Steve Martin and Timothy Dalton. 

I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to mention one of the Seminole Indians who was killed by the gang.  Jay Silverheels (1912 - 1980) played Tom Osceola, and he went uncredited.  I'm glad he recovered in time to become Tonto the next year on "The Lone Ranger."

I must watch Key Largo again.  It is a classic hurricane movie.

Earthquake in SenSurround

The year was 1974.  SenSurround Sound was invented by a loudspeaker company call Cerwin Vega.  SenSurround was basically a set of sub-woofers that would produce a low frequency rumble to shake the theater and all who were in it.  Perfect for a movie called Earthquake.  Since we just had an earthquake of our own on the east coast of the USA yesterday, I thought a quick look at this movie to be appropriate, or at least, timely.

The cast is amazing, with Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene (playing Gardner's father, despite being only 7 years older), Genevieve Bujold (in a Bit Part due to her part being edited), Lloyd Nolan, Walter Matthau (as a drunk in an extra's part.), and Victoria Principal.

The movie wasn't as good as the cast list.  Lots of love triangles, cheating, jealousy, and overall bad feelings, as sometimes happens in LA.  So they had an earthquake to set things right.  Most of the leads die leaving only the good people to start over.  That sounds like a movie plot. 

How about the real Bit Actors?  Well, we have Monica Lewis (b. 1922) who appeared in some earlier films such The D.I. (1957).  She did a lot of TV shows as an actress or a singer.  After 'Quake she went on to Airport '77 (1977 of course), Rollercoaster (another SenSurround film), The Concorde... Airport '79 (guess what year), and The Sting II (1983). 

Wonderful John Randolph (1915 - 2004) played the mayor.  He looks a bit like Carl Reiner, don't you think?  Randolph has 173 titles on IMDb, including everything from The Naked City in 1948 to You've Got Mail 1998, and a few others after that.  He even managed to be in a coupla Planet of the Apes films in between. 

We also see Donald Moffat (b. 1930) in a small part as a doctor.  Of his 117 roles, my favorite is as the taxman in Popeye (1980 - That's a "45 cent rowboat under the wharf tax.")  He went on to play Lyndon Johnson in The Right Stuff (1983), and the president in Clear and Present Danger (1994).  Love those movies!

The real star of the film was SenSurround.  When the film premiered at Grauman's, they had to fasten a net below the ceiling to catch the chandeliers in case they fell.  Actually, SenSurround worked a bit too well.  It sickened viewers and caused complaints from the neighbors, so after a few more films, it was discontinued.  Where's their sense of humour?

This weekend the Philadelphia area will be treated to The Arrival (1996) of Hurricane Irene.  What's next...Armageddon (1998)?  Maybe I'll watch 2012 (2009), or just look out the window.

Paul Newman

I know, Paul Newman is NOT a Bit Actor.  Well, he was at one time.  Let's take a look.

Paul Newman was born in 1925.  After the war and his stint in the navy, he graduated from college and went to The Actor's Studio in New York.  His Broadway acting was successful, and led to some television and then movie opportunities.  I would say that he did everything right to start an acting career.

Oh, those early television days!  Paul started out in "Tales of Tomorrow" which is a show dim in my memory.  The series only aired for two years, but presented quite a variety of suspense stories, and an equal number of great actors.  Look for Boris Karloff, Gene Lockhart, Leslie Nielsen, Thomas Mitchell, Brian Keith and many others...if you can find the episodes to watch.  The Internet is your best choice here.  It is such a shame that the primitive production value of these early shows keeps them from becoming true collector classics.  Kinescope was the best they could do to preserve the moment.

Next up was a spot on "Suspense," another anthology series of suspenseful stories.  Most of the stars are the same as on Tales, but "Suspense" went on for a few more years, so add a few more stars. 

Newman appeared on "The Aldrich Family" next.  He is listed on IMDb as an 'occasional cast member.'  All of these early roles were short term deals.  He wasn't much more than an extra, I am sure, but I haven't seen any of them. 

He was on "You Are There" three times.  That was an interesting series hosted by Walter Cronkite (1916 - 2009) that attempted bring some history to TV land by taking the audiuence back to the time of certain events and interviewing the people who made it happen.  In one episode, Paul Newman was Plato!  OK.

Paul appeared a few times on "The Web," which had nothing to do with the Internet.  It was live presentations of mysteries.  All this time, he is making friends and watching the performances of some great stars. 

There were a few more television dramas before his big screen debut in The Silver Chalice (1954).  I think he was less than thrilled with the result of his first movie.  It was a box office disaster.  The film starred Virginia Mayo (1920 - 2005) and Jack Palance (1919 - 2006) in a drama about creating the cup of Christ.  It was so bad, that Newman took out a full page ad to apologize for his performance.

So Newman went back to TV for a couple of years.  He got to play Billy the Kid for the first time on "The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse."  We'll come back to Billy the Kid later.

His next film was a starring role, but I don't think Newman was a full fledged star yet.  He played Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and got good reviews. 

As he continued to climb the ladder to stardom, he gets top billing in The Rack (1956) and The Helen Morgan Story (1957) starring Ann Blyth (b. 1928), and then Until They Sail (1957) with Jean Simmons (1929 - 2010) and Joan Fontaine (b. 1917).

1958 was Paul Newman's golden year.  Four films that year.  The Long, Hot Summer; The Left-Handed Gun (yes, Billy the Kid again); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; and Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!  All hits, and two of them with Joanne Woodward (b. 1930) who would become his long time wife. 

Paul Newman was no longer a Bit Actor.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Denver Pyle

I bet everyone has seen Denver Pyle (1920 - 1997) in something on TV.  He has over 250 titles on IMDb, and that doesn't include the multiple times he appeared in the same series'.  He goes back a bit further, though.  Let's take a look.

Pyle always seemed to play a slow, southerner with a great, gruff, drawn out speaking style and the ever-present coveralls.  He started acting on the big screen in 1947, after doing some theater.  His first film was The Guilt of Janet Ames, starring Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas and Sid Caesar.

In 1950 he was in Vaughn Monroe's  (1911 - 1973) first film, Singing Guns, about a thief who shoots and then saves a sheriff and then becomes his deputy.  I'll have to look for that one.  I like Vaughn Monroe, and he only acted in two films.  The same year, Pyle was in The Flying Saucer, and early attempt at a classic Sci-Fi theme.

His early career wasn't much to talk about, so I am glad he gave television a try.  He appeared in many early western series, and drifted into other roles, including "Ramar of the Jungle" and "Commando Cody."  I think, being born in Oklahoma and working on a ranch, he was happiest in westerns.

In 1957 he appeared in The Left Handed Gun with Paul Newman, and Jet Pilot with John Wayne.  He was starting to be noticed.

Pyle's best work happened after 1960, when he joined up with Wayne again in The Alamo and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).  There were regular parts on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," "Have Gun - Will Travel," "Zane Grey Theater," "The Rifleman," "Cheyenne," "Death Valley Days," and "Laramie."  He even shows up as Uncle George on "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

I remember him as Briscoe Darling on "The Andy Griffith Show."  The Darling clan was in about six episodes as a mountain family with a flair for bluegrass music.  Those were the days!

In 1964 he appears in John Ford's last western, Cheyenne Autumn, and in 1967 he gets to spit in Faye Dunaway's face in Bonnie and Clyde.  Pyle's last movie with The Duke was Cahill U.S. Marshal in 1973. 

According to one writer in the IMDb trivia pages, Denver Pyle was almost cast as Matt Dillon for "Gunsmoke."  James Arness did a fine job with that role, and Denver appeared on at least 14 episodes.  The two of them had worked together once before, in The Lone Hand in 1953.

In the 1970s, Pyle is getting more into his crotchety old man days.  His two most famous roles are probably for "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams" and "The Dukes of Hazard."  His final movie appearance was in Maverick (1994) as an old gambler on the riverboat.  The riverboat scene in that movie is a great place to spot all the old western stars.

Over the years, Pyle worked in six Audie Murphy films, and six with John Wayne.  He also worked with many of the later B western stars, like Tim Holt, Bill Elliott and Allan 'Rocky' Lane.  Denver Pyle is a Bit Actor who added a lot to movies and television.

William Fawcett

I must say, William Fawcett (1894 - 1974) has always been a favorite of mine.  I think it is because the old Saturday morning TV show, "Fury," was one I never missed, and Bill Fawcett was a regular as Pete the ranch hand. 

Fawcett worked as an actor from 1936 to 1972, and I believe he always looked like an old man.  He was a professor of theater and had a Ph.D., working at Michigan State University before the war.  He did appear in one movie in 1936 (The King Steps Out starring Franchot Tone) as a strongman, so maybe he didn't look that old back then.

After WWII, he decided to give acting a try as a full time career, and he went on to appear in almost 250 titles on the big and small screens.  I'll try to pick some good examples of his work from each decade.

In the 1940s, Fawcett made eight westerns with Eddie Dean (1907 - 1999).  Dean was a singing cowboy who came along a little too late.  Dean did manage to make over 50 films, and ended up on "The Beverly Hillbillies." 

Fawcett also made two films with Lash La Rue (1917 - 1996), Pioneer Justice and Ghost Town Renegades, both in 1947.

The 1950s brought television.  Doc T. (for William Fawcett Thomas) was already working in movie serials, appearing in some Kirk Alyn (1910 - 1999) Superman episodes, and in several others, including Tex Grainger, Pirates of the High Seas, Captain Video and Blackhawk.  He started on TV as a regular on "The Range Rider" series around 1952, starring Jock Mahoney (1919 - 1989) and Dickie Jones (b. 1927).

The 1950s were his most prolific years.  He could be seen on TV everywhere, from "The Lone Ranger" to "Whirlybirds."  Did we really call helicopters 'whirlybirds?'  He also appears in No Time for Sergeants (1958) as Andy Griffith's father, and Damn Yankees! (1958) starring Tab Hunter.

1961 brought his only work with John Wayne in The Comancheros.  The next year he is uncredited in The Music Man, and he even gets to sing a line in The Wells Fargo Wagon.  I just saw him the 1964 Audie Murphy movie, The Quick Gun, but he has a very small part as the bartender.  No mistaking that face, though.

Again, the 1960s find him in all sorts of TV shows, from "Perry Mason," Hazel," and "The Smothers Brothers Show."  And a few TV series' you may not remember..."T.H.E. Cat" and "Pistols 'n' Petticoats."

You can't always make good choices for work in Hollywood.  Bill Fawcett can be found in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966) starring John Lupton (1928 - 1993) and in her last film, Narda Onyx (1931 - 1991). 

Fawcett's last movie was The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) starring Kurt Russell.  And after stints on "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," and "The Virginian," Bill made his final appearance in the TV movie, "The Manhunter" in 1972, starring Sandra Dee (1942 - 2005).

William Fawcett had quite an acting career.  He never really was the star of any movies or TV shows, but he added a lot, just by looking old.

Fritz Weaver

Fritz Weaver sounds like a name from Spike Jones.  Sorry, that was Doodles Weaver (1911 - 1983).  Fritz Weaver (b. 1926) was a fine actor, and it may be questionable to include him as a Bit Actor. 

Weaver started acting in television in the late 1950s.  His first film was Fail Safe (1964) where he played a colonel.  There were a lot of colonels in that one.  Weaver's deep voice and great facial expressions of terror, disgust or horror help him to stand out.

He was very active on TV through most of his career.  You can find him on most of the dramatic and western series, including "Rawhide," "The Fugitive," and "Combat."

His next film was The Maltese Bippy (1969) starring Dan Rowan (1922 - 1987) and Dick Martin (1922 - 2008).  While "Laugh-In" was a big hit, I am not sure the movie was as good, and it didn't have Goldie Hawn. 

To put him back in his element, Fritz appeared multiple times on "The F.B.I." and "Mission Impossible" over the years of those well received shows.  It suited Weaver.  As did most dramatic or suspense roles. 

Weaver has a major part in The Day of the Dolphin (1973) starring George C. Scott (1927 - 1999).  Then, a few years later, he is in a trio of decent movies...Marathon Man (1976), Black Sunday (1977) and Demon Seed (1977). 

A year after appearing in 1977 on "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman" he has, perhaps, his best television role.  He plays Dr. Josef Weiss on the TV mini series "Holocaust."

Weaver appears in one segment of Creepshow (1982) which is a very interesting, and campy, horror flick by Stephen King (b. 1947).  The cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adirenne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen and E. G. Marshall.  I loved it!

His final film was the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and the wonderful Rene Russo.  I thought that version held up well in comparison to the 1968 Steve McQueen version.  That sort of comment always causes a reaction from the public.  I do love McQueen, the King of Cool.

Fritz continued to work on the TV series, "Law & Order" up until 2005.  He is now 85 years young, so I hope he has the health to continue appearing in roles, even if they are small ones.  His voice can be heard on many History Channel documentaries, so Fritz Weaver will be around for quite a while.

Hi-Hat Hattie McDaniel

Here is a Bit Actress who needs to be recognized on my blog.  Her accomplishments were amazing, yet she never really became more than a Bit Part player in most of her movies.

Hattie McDaniel (1892 - 1952) was born in 1892 to former slaves, her father actually fought in the Civil War in the U. S. Colored Troops.  She graduated from high school in Denver, CO, and was able to get some work singing on the radio and recordings.  She is considered the first African American woman to sing on the radio.  After the stock market crashed, she worked as a waitress in a club in Milwaukee, and eventually became a regular on their stage.

McDaniel started as an extra or a singer in films in the early 1930s, with stars Lew Ayers, Una Merkel, Lionel Barrymore, Hoot Gibson and Marlene Dietrich.  It has been my thought that a novice in Hollywood could learn their trade by observing the more important stars in a film, and I am sure Hattie was no exception.

In 1933 she worked with Mae West (1893 - 1980) in I'm No Angel, also starring Cary Grant (1904 - 1986).  She then scores a big role opposite Will Rogers (1879 - 1935) in Judge Priest (1934), and even sings a duet with him.

The next year she works with the biggest star in Hollywood, Shirley Temple, in The Little Colonial.  This was another chance to work with Lionel Barrymore (she made four films with Barrymore), and also with Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. 

If you have a chance to watch some of McDaniels' films in chronological order, you can probably see her refining and enlarging her 'Mammy' character.  She starts out as a maid, but slowly starts getting more confident in her ability, almost to the point of becoming confrontational.  You can see the changes between her part in Alice Adams (1935) with Katharine Hepburn and The Mad Miss Manton (1938) starring Barbara Stanwyk and Henry Fonda.

1935 saw her in China Seas with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, then 1936 and Show Boat starring Irene Dunn.  Hattie plays Queenie and gets to sing again.  Another Harlow film, Libeled Lady (1936) with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and then a major role in Saratoga (1937), again with Harlow and Gable.  A busy couple of years!

She was in Vivacious Lady (1938) with Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers, and in 1939 she worked with Oliver Hardy in Zenobia, one of the later films he made without Stan Laurel due to a contract dispute.  Hattie's roles finally settled back into less than great parts for Hattie as the years progressed. 

Hattie McDaniel is best remembered as Mammy in Gone With the Wind (1939), and this may be her strongest role as a maid.  That part won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  She was the first African American to win an Oscar, and the first African American to attend the award ceremony as a guest rather than a servant.  The next time an African American actress would win an Academy Award was 51 years later when Whoopi Goldberg took one for Ghost in 1990.

Courtesy USPS.com

After that big year, she continued to work hard, but in smaller roles.  She was in They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with Errol Flynn, and in 1942 in George Washington Slept Here with Jack Benny.  In 1946 she works for Walt Disney in Song of the South, appropriately.

She ends her acting career on TV, starring in a handful of episodes of "Beulah" in 1952, after replacing Ethel Waters in the role.  She would be replaced by Louise Beavers and soon after that she died of cancer.  She was the first African American to be buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Hattie McDaniel must have been quite a lady.  She was also active in charity work, and in bringing respect to her middle class community of Sugar Hill in Los Angeles.  Although she made quite a good salary for most of her work, she had a load of medical bills at the time of her death and left an estate of only $10,000.  Not fair for such an impressive actress.  She didn't just open doors, she knocked down walls for future generations.

More Film Restoration and Richard W. Bann

I received a comment from film historian and writer, Richard W. Bann, about my last post requesting everyone to donate lots of money to film restoration.  Here is what he has to say:

"Richard W. Bann commented on your link.

"My comment:

"All of us want to believe we are doing something useful with our lives, something that matters, something that leaves lasting marks. Something that speaks to future generations, to show we were here, and made a difference.

"Time travel is an important component of my attraction to old films. Did all that talent realize they were communicating with millions of people not yet born at that time? Those of us who receive that communication today...how can we respond? We want to let these artists and technicians know they didn't do all that work for nothing. That we enjoy and honor the entertainment value, and that we treasure the living history they have unwittingly given us. And one meaningful thing we can do and one way we can respond is to support film preservation efforts. It is important to do so.


"Yes my essay will make some fans cringe. The story is painful; in fact it is worse than you know. I softened and concealed some of the worst incidents. And yes it is easy for us to look back and criticize the careless custodians of these treasures. We have some responsibility here too, however, because we have an opportunity now to be part of the film preservation effort at UCLA. If these films mean something to you, please get involved."


Pretty good thoughts, don't you think?  It shows his insight, as well as his love of movies.

I would like to add a few words about Dick Bann.  I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago at a Sons of the Desert meeting.  Dick is incredibly knowledgeable in all things film, and probably has one of the best jobs in the world. 

A quick search at Google Books for his name returns well over 800 hits.  He didn't write that many books, but his writing is easy to find.  He is also well known for his contribution to movie documentaries and other books about the film industry.

I have an autographed copy of his 1984 book, Our Gang: The Life and Times of The Little Rascals, which was co-authored by Leonard Maltin.  There is an updated version of that book, released in 1992, called The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang.  Buy either one...they are very informative, including a section on where they are now.  (The Rascals...not Bann and Maltin.)

Bann has also co-authored several other books.  Here is a very short list -

• Laurel & Hardy, with text by John McCabe, compiled by Al Kilgore, and filmography by Richard W. Bann.  I have had the pleasure of meeting McCabe and Kilgore as well, but sadly, they are both gone.
• Lone Pine in the Movies, Celebrating Republic's 75th Anniversary, with Ed Hulse, Chris Langley, and Sam Sherman.  (I don't know them!)
• W. C. Fields: A Life on Film, with W. C.'s grandson, Ronald Fields.  (I met him, too.)

As you can see, his interest in movies reflects that of many classic film buffs by covering some of the top people and studios in all of classic filmdom.

Dick Bann is also tapped as a source of reliable information for other authors and filmmakers.  He has helped on many documentaries, and you can find him quoted on many web sites as well.

Courtesy Richard W. Bann

According to IMDb, Dick has appeared as himself in two documentaries, a video short about Hal Roach's Rascals, and on the Playboy TV series, "Kendra."  (Dick is also a regular at the Playboy Mansion.)  He will soon appear in a documentary about Bettie Page (1923 - 2008) sometime this year, and is currently making one about Laurel and Hardy.

It is interesting to search for his name on the 'net, and then follow the links to read his various interviews, references and stories.  Many of these can be found at http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/ the official web site for The Boys, or on other L&H devoted web sites.

In addition to the UCLA film restoration project, there are other institutions that do their part.  The Library of Congress is one of the biggest, although with limited money at the present due to the economic dilemma in the USA.  You can search the Internet for Film Preservation or go to the Wikipedia site for that topic for more info and other organizations.

I am thankful as well, to have Dick answer my e-mail questions.  I have limited resources and time to write my little blog, and getting the full poop from him has been very helpful.  I am sure he can now be included in the (more or less) exclusive club called - Bit Actors.