Classic Movie Hub Blog

Silver Screen Standards: Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

Posted on October 10, 2023 by Jennifer Garlen

Silver Screen Standards: Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

Although it’s more Gothic mystery than true horror, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) fits right in for spooky movie season. With its ghosts and gruesome past, the decaying Southern mansion where the story takes place is a perfect setting for tales of terror, and in spite of its more worldly plot twists the film retains its haunted atmosphere throughout. Director Robert Aldrich meant the picture to serve as a second act to his previous successful pairing of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), but Crawford’s departure led to Davis’ good friend Olivia de Havilland stepping in to replace her. It’s certainly an unusual role for the elegant star, but she does a terrific job with it, joining a cast of true luminaries that includes Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Mary Astor, Cecil Kellaway, and a very young Bruce Dern. The talent pool in front of and behind the camera led to seven Oscar nominations for Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, including a nod for Moorehead as Best Supporting Actress, which proves this movie is more than a cult classic example of the “hagsploitation” genre that Aldrich helped to create. It mingles elements of earlier films like Gaslight (1944), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and Baby Jane with the classic tropes of the female Gothic to craft a story that might not be very scary by our modern standards but is still provocative when it comes to the subjects of aging, grief, and long-kept secrets that fester in the dark.

Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte Agnes Moorehead and Bette Davis — Velma (Agnes Moorehead) protects Charlotte (Bette Davis) from many threats, but nobody can stop the state from tearing down the old mansion.

Davis leads as the titular Charlotte, whose married lover John Mayhew (Bruce Dern) was violently dismembered in the summer house of Charlotte’s home many decades earlier. Haunted by visions of her dead beau and guilt about the circumstances of his demise, Charlotte has lived in the old mansion as a recluse ever since, with only her temperamental maid, Velma (Agnes Moorehead), for company. When the construction of a new bridge leads the state to claim eminent domain over her home, Charlotte invites her cousin Miriam (Olivia de Havilland) to return and help her, but Miriam has her own reasons for coming back to town after so many years away.

Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte Bette Davis Gown — Charlotte descends the shadowy stairs in true Gothic fashion, with her long hair and white nightgown trailing.

Traditional Gothic stories, with their roots in 18^th century British literature, tend to feature virginal young women as their heroines, stereotypically depicted fleeing along shadowy corridors in their long white nightgowns. Here we see that convention turned on its head with the introduction of the aged Charlotte as our heroine, still sporting her long girlish locks and youthful dresses but ravaged emotionally and physically by the years that have passed since her fateful discovery of her lover’s headless corpse. Although she can be volatile and even violent, Davis’ Charlotte is not interchangeable with Baby Jane Hudson; Charlotte, like Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, is a tragic figure, trapped in the past by betrayal she has never been able to process. She wanders the mansion at night, still hearing the ghostly music of a song her lover wrote for her, her heart still as tender and longing as it was the night John Mayhew died. There’s a softness to Charlotte that we don’t see in Baby Jane, and it’s important to her character because we have to see her vulnerability in order to appreciate the peril she faces from her enemies. Far from being a “crazy old lady” who is meant to frighten or elicit cruel laughter, Charlotte is a victim of compounded schemes and jealousies whose sanity hangs in the balance as a result.

Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte Bette Davis and Olivia deHavilland — Charlotte and Cousin Miriam (Olivia de Havilland) share a fearful moment in the old mansion.

Complexity elevates each of the supporting characters, as well, from the pugnacious but fiercely loyal Velma to the dying Jewel Mayhew, played to great effect by Mary Astor in her last screen appearance. Joseph Cotten revels in the glib charm of the smalltown Southern doctor, while de Havilland deftly shifts between ladylike polish and seething resentment. Victor Buono only has a few scenes as Charlotte’s overbearing father, but he makes them count, and his domineering behavior helps us understand Charlotte’s difficult childhood as her father’s pet and possession. It’s Buono who most embodies the type of the Gothic villain, which leads both Charlotte and the viewer to certain conclusions (compare his character here to those played by Charles Laughton, Laird Cregar, and Sidney Greenstreet, all literal and figurative heavies). In lieu of a romantic hero or detective character we get Cecil Kellaway as the kindly but persistent insurance investigator, Harry Willis, who has come from England to pursue some lingering questions about the old Mayhew case. Willis, as an outsider, offers us exposition and uncovers information that other characters cannot, but he also directs our sympathy toward Charlotte, even when the strain of her situation causes her to lash out at him and others. A traditional Gothic thriller might see Harry Willis and Charlotte end the story with a wedding or a tight embrace, but again this tale eschews its genre conventions to provide an ambiguous ending more suited to the characters’ circumstances. These choices make Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte fascinating from start to finish, with plots and characters we think we know from their outlines but which then surprise us with their twists.

Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte Mary Astor — Jewel Mayhew (Mary Astor) holds a letter containing a carefully kept secret about her husband’s death.

If you want to compare Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte with other Gothic classics, try Rebecca (1940), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Lodger (1944), Dragonwyck (1946), Bedlam (1946), The Spiral Staircase (1946), and The Woman in White (1948), or get really scary with The Haunting (1963). Bette Davis leaned into “hagsploitation” roles after the two Aldrich pictures with The Nanny (1965), Burnt Offerings (1976), The Watcher in the Woods (1980), and Wicked Stepmother (1989). Other examples of the genre – also known as “psycho-biddy” films or “Grande Dame Guignol” – include Lady in a Cage (1964) with Olivia de Havilland, Strait-Jacket (1964) and Berserk! (1967) with Joan Crawford, Die! Die! My Darling! (1967) with Tallulah Bankhead, and Who Slew Auntie Roo? (1972) with Shelley Winters.

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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic movies at her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifetime learning groups and retirement communities. She’s the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its sequel, Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and she is also the co-editor of two books about the works of Jim Henson.

Posted in Films, Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards | Tagged agnes moorehead, bette davis, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, Mary Astor, olivia de havilland | 4 Comments

Classic Movie Travels October: Red Skelton

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Annette Bochenek

Classic Movie Travels October: Red Skelton

Richard Red Skelton was born on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. He was the fourth son born to Joseph and Ida Skelton. Skelton had three older brothers named Denny, Christopher, and Paul. Skelton’s father, a grocer and former Hagenbeck-Wallace circus clown, passed away two months prior to Skelton’s birth.

Due to his father’s passing and his family’s poverty, Skelton began to work at a very young age. He sold newspapers and performed other odd jobs. While selling newspapers, Skelton became interested in an entertainment career. Comedian Ed Wynn visited Vincennes for a performance in 1923 when he encountered a young Skelton and inquired about which events were happening in town. Unwittingly, Skelton pitched Wynn’s own show to him. In response, Wynn purchased every newspaper in Skelton’s possession, affording Skelton enough money to purchase a ticket. Wynn took Skelton backstage and introduced him to the other entertainers, piquing Skelton’s interest in performance.

Skelton appeared in minstrel shows and on showboats in the Ohio and Missouri rivers, perfecting his comedic craft. He dropped out of school in his preteen years and worked in various stock companies, on the burlesque circuit, and with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. With his mother’s blessing, Skelton left home and worked in traveling medicine shows and, later, vaudeville.

As the years went on, Skelton became a popular master of ceremonies at dance marathons. One of the winners, Edna Stillwell, would be Skelton’s first wife. Edna wrote some of his early comic material, negotiated a raise, and educated Skelton with textbooks until he received a high school equivalency degree.

Skelton and Edna traveled throughout the United States with their act, featuring new routines as well as their popular “Doughnut Dunkers” routine. In 1937, Skelton entertained President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a White House luncheon; after that performance, Skelton became the master of ceremonies for many of Roosevelt’s future birthday celebrations.

Red Skelton Radio — Red Skelton on the Radio

After a failed 1932 screen test, Skelton finally made his Hollywood film debut in Having Wonderful Time (1938). He could also be seen in two Vitaphone shorts: Seeing Red (1929) and The Broadway Buckaroo (1939). As for his MGM screen test, Skelton performed many of his other popular skits, including “Guzzler’s Gin” and impromptu performances of his “Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying.” His screen test was successful, leading to many MGM film roles, including Flight Command (1940), Dr. Kildare’s Wedding Day (1941), The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942), and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943).

Comedian Buster Keaton coached Skelton through his performance in I Dood It (1943), a remake of Keaton’s Spite Marriage (1929). Keaton was so impressed with Skelton that he asked MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer to create a small company for himself and Skelton in order to work on film projects, offering to forgo his salary if the films were not hits; Mayer declined the request.

Though working in films, Skelton’s interests were in radio and television. His MGM contract stipulated prior approval from the studio before any radio and guest appearances. He was able to renegotiate his contract to allow him to remain working in radio and on television. Skelton eventually became the sole studio contract player to have permission to also pursue television.

Ultimately, Skelton would go on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program after years of other radio performances. He developed an array of characters and personalities, including Clem Kadiddlehopper—based on one of Skelton’s former Vincennes neighbors—and Junior.

I Dood It Red Skelton MGM — I Dood It (1943) starring Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell

In 1943, Edna and Skelton divorced. She remained the manager of their funds, as Skelton had trouble managing his finances. Edna remained his financial advisor until 1952, receiving a weekly salary for the rest of her life for her efforts.

Skelton lost his married man’s deferment and was soon drafted into the army in 1944. His last Raleigh radio show aired in June of 1944 and his supporting stars—bandleader Ozzie Nelson and vocalist Harriet Hilliard—went on to their own radio show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

In 1945, Skelton married actress Georgia Maureen Davis. They had two children: Valentina and Richard.

Skelton served in the Special Services, performing 12 shows per day to troops in the U.S. and in Europe. He suffered from exhaustion and a nervous breakdown, also developing a stutter. While recovering, he devoted much of his time to entertaining a wounded soldier at the army hospital who was not expected to survive. Skelton’s stutter lessened and the soldier’s condition improved over time. By September 1945, Skelton was released from his army duties.

After another return to radio, Skelton became particularly interested in the then-experimental medium of television. The Red Skelton Show premiered in 1951, allowing Skelton to craft many more characters for the small screen. His show closed with the words, “Good night and may God bless.” The show was initially broadcast on NBC and performed live. The show caused a strain on his physical health and in his marriage. NBC later agreed to have the show filmed in advance, though it caused issues with the show’s sponsor, Procter & Gamble. He eventually moved to CBS with the intent to only perform variety shows, soon making the transition to color television programs in 1955.

Tragically, Skelton’s son, Richard, was diagnosed with leukemia and given one year to live. Though Skelton continued to work in television, he ultimately took his family on a trip to see the world. The Skelton family had a private audience with Pope Pius XII in 1957. The trip was cut short after the family encountered an aggressive reporter in London. Skelton himself suffered from a cardiac-asthma attack in the same year, leading him to stay off the air for a month. Richard Skelton passed away 10 days before his 10^th birthday on May 10, 1958. Skelton’s show was scheduled on the day of Richard’s interment. Skelton asked that guest performers be used instead. As a result, his friends in the industry—including Donald O’Connor, Vincent Price, and Sidney Miller—quickly organized The Friends of Red Skelton Variety Show, filmed to replace his usual television show for the week.

In 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios in order to use the location for videotape recording. CBS expanded his show to The Red Skelton Hour. One of the most famous moments of the show included Skelton performing a monologue explaining the Pledge of Allegiance, crediting his former Vincennes teacher with the original speech. CBS released the monologues as a single via Columbia Records, ultimately performing the monologue for President Nixon in the following year.

Skelton’s program was cancelled by CBS in the early 1970s, leading Skelton to switch to NBC; however, his NBC program was also soon canceled. Afterwards, he returned to live performances and tours.

At this point, Skelton and Georgia had divorced in 1971. Sadly, Georgia committed suicide in 18^th anniversary of Richard’s passing. Skelton put his work on hold as he mourned his former wife.

Skelton later married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, in 1973. Skelton felt bitter about television networks due to the cancelations of this shows but he did make occasional guest appearances on other shows.

Behind the scenes, Skelton enjoyed painting for decades, inspired by a visit to a Chicago department store that had different paintings on display. His wife, Georgia, encouraged him to pursue painting, leading Skelton to have his initial public showing of his work in 1964. He typically painted pictures of clowns. In addition, he wrote stories and composed music.

Skelton passed away on September 17, 1997, in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 84 years old. Skelton was interred in the Skelton Family tomb alongside his son, Richard, and his second wife, Georgia, in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park—Glendale, California.

The Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in 2006 at Vincennes University. It is located at 20 W. Red Skelton Blvd., Vincennes, Indiana. The performing arts center holds numerous displays and tributes to Skelton.

Red Skelton Center — The Red Skelton Performing Arts Center

In 2013, the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened its doors on what would have been Skelton’s centennial. The collection possesses many costumes, props, awards, and personal effects that belonged to Skelton. Per his wishes, he did not express interest in a Hollywood memorial, but to instead have his personal and professional artifacts displayed in his hometown. In addition, the museum holds a multipurpose classroom dubbed the “REDucation Room.” The museum is also located at 20 W. Red Skelton Blvd., Vincennes, Indiana.

Red Skelton make up case at Museum — Red’s Makeup Case

The town of Vincennes has held the Red Skelton Festival annually since 2005. Since Skelton considered himself a clown, the festival traditionally includes a clown parade.

Across from the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy, visitors can spot Skelton’s birthplace. The home stands at 111 Lyndale St., Vincennes, Indiana, and is owned by Vincennes University. In 2017, the Indiana Historical Bureau dedicated a new historic marker to Skelton in front of the home.

Birthplace of Red Skelton Lyndale — Red Skelton’s Birthplace

Skelton is celebrated with a mural, located at 12 S. 3^rd St., Vincennes, Indiana.

The Red Skelton Memorial Bridge links Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50. Skelton attended the dedication in 1963.

Red Skelton Bridge — The Red Skelton Memorial Bridge

In 2022, Skelton was honored with a statue depicting him as a young boy, selling newspapers. Legend has it that he was selling papers outside of the Pantheon Theatre when vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn purchased his entire stack so that he could afford to come see Wynn’s show. The statue is located at 422 Main St., Vincennes, Indiana.

Red Skelton Boy — Red Skelton Statue in Vincennes, Indiana

During the 2023 Red Skelton Festival, the design for an eventual mural in Skelton’s honor was unveiled. Inspired by the “You Are the Star” mural in Hollywood, this mural features actors and actresses seated as audience members. They are being entertained by Wynn, who is depicted as exiting the stage and welcoming Skelton onstage.

Red Skelton Pantheon Theater Proposed — Proposed Red Skelton Mural

Skelton is honored with a bust at the Television Hall of Fame, located at 5220 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, California.

Red Skelton Bust at the Television Hall of Fame

Skelton resided at 444 E. Sonora Rd., Palm Springs, California, which stands today.

Skelton’s former horse ranch stands at 61489 Burnt Valley Rd., Anza, California.

Skelton’s estate at 37715 Thompson Rd., Rancho Mirage, California, also remains.

Skelton’s former Bel Air home stands at 801 Sarbonne Rd., Los Angeles, California.

Skelton is honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, celebrating his work in radio and television. His stars are located at 6763 Hollywood Blvd. and 6650 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, California, respectively.

Forest Lawn Memorial Park—Glendale is located at 1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale, California.

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–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco SocietyMagazine.

Posted in Classic Movie Travels, Posts by Annette Bochenek | Tagged I Dood It, Red Skelton, Red Skelton hometown of Vincennes Indiana, Red Skelton Performing Arts Center | Leave a comment

Western Roundup: The Lone Hand at McCrea Ranch

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Laura Grieve

The Lone Hand (1953) at McCrea Ranch

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful event at McCrea Ranch.

The ranch, located in Thousand Oaks, California, was the longtime home of Joel McCrea and his wife Frances Dee; I previously wrote about it and shared photos here in 2019 and again a few weeks ago.

This summer the ranch hosted a series of outdoor movie screenings which included The Lone Hand (1953). The Lone Hand is a Universal Pictures Western which starred McCrea, Barbara Hale (Perry Mason), and child actor Jimmy Hunt. It was directed by longtime Western “specialist” George Sherman.

Lone Hand Poster — *The Lone Hand* Poster

Tropical Storm Hilary was due to hit California the next day, but it was an absolutely beautiful evening when we gathered at the ranch to watch the movie. It was a real treat to have Jimmy Hunt on hand at the ranch for the screening!

Jimmy is now an 83-year-old great-grandfather. He first visited McCrea Ranch at the age of 12 and shared some very special memories with Joel’s grandson, Wyatt McCrea, and the audience before the movie.

McCrea Ranch docents Garth and Betsy listen in on a chat between Jimmy Hunt and Wyatt McCrea

Jimmy first appeared in films in 1947 and worked with Joel McCrea twice. Prior to The Lone Hand he appeared with Joel in Saddle Tramp (1950), which I wrote about in my very first Western RoundUp column back in 2018!

Jimmy was a very busy young actor, appearing in over 30 films between 1947 and 1953. His work ranged from bit parts to much larger roles in movies such as the film noir Pitfall (1948) and the classic sci-fi film Invaders From Mars (1953).

Jimmy had a very large, key role in The Lone Hand, including serving as narrator. While reminiscing about the film, Jimmy told us that of the many actors he worked with in his career, “My favorite person to act with was Joel McCrea.”

Lone Hand McCrea Hunt — Joel McCrea and Jimmy Hunt

Jimmy said Joel “treated me just like his son. He was so kind.” He would talk to Jimmy about whether Jimmy might like to own a ranch one day and even gave him licorice so he could pretend it was chewing tobacco, like the cowboy wranglers on the set used.

Jimmy said working with Joel McCrea was “one of the highlights of my acting career” and added “He was just a good man. There wasn’t a finer gentleman than Joel McCrea.”

Jimmy also had kind words for Barbara Hale, who becomes his stepmother in The Lone Hand, saying “She was a very nice lady.”

Jimmy shared that after his acting career he was a “typical teenager”; he later served in the military. He said “My life has been good. I got to do things most people don’t have the opportunity to do.”

As it happens, Jimmy eventually worked in the same field as my husband and when they chatted after the movie they learned they knew people in common, which was a fun, unexpected connection.

Jimmy has been long married and has three children, several grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Jimmy’s granddaughter, in fact, attended the event with him, which I thought was really special.

Wyatt and Jimmy McCrea — Wyatt McCrea and Jimmy Hunt

It had been over a dozen years since I last saw The Lone Hand, which was nicely projected on a large outdoor screen near the ranch’s visitor center. Since it had been so long since my last viewing I felt I was seeing it from a fresh perspective.

The story concerns widowed Zachary Hallock (McCrea), who settles with his son Joshua (Hunt) on a farm outside a small Western town.

Lone Hand McCrea Hunt 1 — Joel McCrea and Jimmy Hunt

Soon thereafter Zachary marries lovely Sarah Jane (Hale), but soon both Sarah Jane and Joshua notice something amiss with Zachary’s behavior.

The Lone Hand Lobby Card 1 — *The Lone Hand* Lobby Card

Sarah Jane and Joshua understandably come to believe that Zachary has gone bad, as he is involved with a gang of robbers, but there might be more to the situation than they realize…

Joel McCrea Barbara Hale — Barbara Hale and Joel McCrea

Sarah Jane and Joshua’s pain when they think the worst of Zachary is difficult to watch at times, making one wish the lack of communication didn’t go on for quite so long, but at the same time I enjoyed the movie considerably more this time around.

Lone Hand Hunt McCrea — Jimmy Hunt and Joel McCrea

I think seeing the film in a different context, knowing what to expect and being so much more familiar with the work of all involved, made it much more pleasurable. And the bottom line is that time spent with this cast is enjoyable no matter the story.

In addition to the fine trio of lead actors, the film has an excellent supporting cast, which includes familiar Western faces such as Charles Drake, Alex Nicol, James Arness, Roy Roberts, and Frank Ferguson.

Lone Hand McCrea Nicol Arness — Joel McCrea, Alex Nicol, James Arness

The movie’s beautiful Colorado locations, filmed in Technicolor by Maury Gertsman, are another big plus. The screenplay for this 80-minute film was by Joseph Hoffman, based on a story by Irving Ravetch.

Having one of the film’s lead actors watching the movie with us, under the stars at McCrea Ranch, made this screening of The Lone Hand an especially memorable experience which I will long remember.

Shortly after the McCrea Ranch screening it was announced that Jimmy Hunt and Wyatt McCrea would reunite for another showing of The Lone Hand at the Lone Pine Film Festival on October 7, 2023. It’s a wonderful opportunity for anyone who’s able to attend!

The McCrea Ranch photographs accompanying this article are from the author’s personal collection.

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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns. She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals. Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.

Posted in Films, Posts by Laura Grieve, Western RoundUp | Tagged Alex Nichol, barbara hale, james arness, Jimmy Hunt, Joel McCrea, McCrea Ranch, Wyatt McCrea | 9 Comments

Silents are Golden: Silent Superstars: John Bunny and Flora Finch

Posted on September 21, 2023 by Lea Stans

Silents are Golden: Silent Superstars: John Bunny and Flora Finch

As a followup of sorts to my Vitagraph Studios piece, here’s a look at two of the company’s most popular stars, now considered icons of early 1910s screen comedy!

Still from *A Cure for Pokeritis* (1912).

It can be tempting to regard the silent era as a very well-defined unit of time, where all the films feature the cloche-hats-and-jazz era and where the existence of, say, a “nickelodeon era” is somewhat fuzzy and ill-defined. Just about everyone knows that the silent era was when Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd were the huge comedy stars, and they might also have heard of vague names like Rudolph Valentino and Louise Brooks.

But like any art form, silent film went through different stages, from primitive roots of little, one-shot films to the cinematographic perfection of the late 1920s. And the various genres within the “silent era” label evolved too, with various stars coming and going as the years went on. In fact, years before Chaplin started appearing in films, audiences were fans of other comedy stars–such as Vitagraph’s John Bunny and Flora Finch.

The cheery, rotund Bunny, with a face that looked like it was fished out of a puddle, and the rail-thin, pointy-nosed Finch, were the sort of characters that made for a naturally funny-looking screen pairing. Vitagraph first teamed them up in 1910, and they would go on to appear in dozens of one-reel comedies together–about one a week over the course of five years.

Bunny was born in Brooklyn in 1863 and had English and Irish heritage. He began his busy stage career in the 1880s. After 25 years of appearing in everything from humble traveling shows to Shakespeare plays on Broadway, he began to notice how motion pictures were capturing audiences’ attention. More perceptive than many of his colleagues, he felt certain that cinema was going to be the next big thing and would likely cause “lean times” on the stage. Thus, in 1910 he decided to get into the motion picture game himself.

Initially he found it difficult to join a studio, thanks to his theatrical pedigree–the ramshackle studios of the time thought they couldn’t afford to pay him what he was worth. He was finally hired by Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton of the Vitagraph company, although they also had concerns since most Vitagraph actors made $5 a day. Much to their surprise, Bunny agreed on a $40 a week salary, about a fifth of what he was making on the stage.

Flora Finch, born in 1867 in Surrey, England, also had a career on the stage. Her whole family worked in music halls and other forms of theater, and Finch herself eventually joined the Ben Greet Players, who specialized in traveling Shakespeare shows. She immigrated to the U.S. around 1908, the same year of her first film credit in the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company film The Helping Hand. She was in several Biograph shorts for the next year or so, including the short comedy Those Awful Hats (1909). Intended as a humorous way to tell ladies to remove their hats at the movie theater, Finch’s character insists on wearing a comically large hat and gets removed from the theater with a crane.

In 1910 Finch left Biograph and started working for Vitagraph, where she stood out with her bony, cartoonish look and ability to do both broad slapstick and sweeter, more emotional scenes. Her first pairing with Bunny was in The New Stenographer (1911), where she played the “very capable, but extremely homely” stenographer.

bunny and finch Still from The New Stenographer (1911). — Still from *The New Stenographer* (1911).

Bunny and Finch quickly made an impression on audiences and their one-reel films were soon in high demand. Exhibitors started referring to their films as “Bunnyfinches” and “Bunnygraphs.” While broad slapstick was becoming a trend in comedies thanks to busy companies like Keystone, Vitagraph specialized in genteel humor that usually revolved around domestic worries and marital disharmony. The acting style tended to be more natural, more adapted to the subtleties picked up by the camera.

bunny and finch A Lawrence, Kansas theater in 1912. — A Lawrence, Kansas theater in 1912.

Bunny and Finch’s films often had them playing husband and wife, with Bunny usually getting himself into mischief that he tries to conceal from his slightly uptight but not unloving spouse. Many of the films had simple, comical premises. In Bunny’s Birthday Surprise (1913), Finch wants to throw a surprise dinner party for her husband’s birthday. Unbeknownst to her, Bunny arrives home exhausted from his workday and puts on pajamas and heads to bed. When the guests arrive, she calls him to come downstairs and “he is seen in that garb by the scandalized guests when he turns on the electric lights.”

bunny and finch Theater ad for The Feudists (1913). — Theater ad for *The Feudists* (1913).

Other films were a bit more elaborate. In the two-reel Father’s Flirtation (1914), for example, the couple visit their daughter at college and Bunny meets a pretty widow who owns a boarding house. While he tries to call on her, his wife and daughter show up at the boarding house and he hides under a bed. He then steals a dress to disguise himself and ends up in a big chase. A Cure for Pokeritis (1912), where “Mrs. Sharpe” tries to end her husband’s poker addiction by staging a fake police raid, is probably the most well-known Bunnyfinch today–one of the small number that has survived.

bunny and finch Still from Father’s Flirtation (1913). — Still from *Father’s Flirtation* (1913).

Unfortunately, Bunny and Finch’s prolific partnership would only last a few years. Bunny’s health declined and he would pass away from Bright’s disease in 1915. Finch would continue acting in a series of “Flora films” by her own company, but they weren’t as successful, and she would mainly focus on doing smaller roles in feature films. Audiences were still fond of her, however, and when she was cast in the Valentino vehicle Monsieur Beaucaire (1924) director Sidney Olcott had to assure everyone that she had a weekly contract and wasn’t just an extra. Finch would pass away in 1940 at the age of 70 from blood poisoning, not long after making a brief appearance in the MGM feature The Women (1939).

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–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.

Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.

Posted in Posts by Lea Stans, Silents are Golden | 1 Comment

Noir Nook: Must-See Marie

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry

Noir Nook: Must-See Marie

We need to talk about Marie Windsor.

She was gorgeous. Talented. Adept at playing dames from the deadly side of the tracks, but able to hold her own in comedy as well.

And she once held the title of Miss D. & R.G. Railroad.

But for my money, Windsor is most worth celebrating for her presence in the world of film noir, with memorable roles in several pictures from the era, including two of my all-time favorite, absolutely must-see noirs. But more of that in a bit . . .

Born Emily Marie Bertelson in December 1919, Windsor was a native of Marysvale, Utah, and was captivated by acting as a child, once recalling that, at the age of eight, she decided that she wanted to be “another Clara Bow.”

“No one in the family ever said, ‘Oh, don’t be silly’ or ‘You can’t,’” Windsor said. “If that’s what I wanted, they were going to help me.” And help they did; her parents’ support included driving her to a town 30 miles away for weekly dancing and drama lessons. After high school, she studied drama for two years at Brigham Young University, and after winning the aforementioned Miss D. & R.G. Railroad beauty contest, Windsor used her prize of 99 silver dollars to buy a set of luggage and make her way to Hollywood. Once there, she sought out famed actress Maria Ouspenskaya – memorable in such films as Dodsworth (1936) and Kings Row (1942) – who took her on as a student.

Windsor paid for her room and board by working as a cigarette girl at the popular Mocambo nightclub, a job that wound up leading to her first big break. One night at the club, she was assisting producer Arthur Hornblow with his coat when he asked her, “Are you working at this job because you want to be an actress?” Windsor replied that she was and Hornblow responded, “You don’t belong here.” He arranged for her to have an audition and a short time later, she made her big screen debut as “Miss Carrot” in the Frances Langford starrer, All American Co-ed (1941).

After bit parts in a series of pictures, Windsor moved to New York where she appeared on more than 300 radio shows and was seen on stage in plays like Follow the Girls, which attracted the attention of an MGM exec and led to a two-year contract with the studio. But despite appearing in 15 films alongside such luminaries as Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and Frank Sinatra, Windsor failed to make a splash until 1948 when she entered the shadowy noir realm with Force of Evil, earning nearly unanimous praise for her performance as the predatory wife of a syndicate king. She would go on to appear in several more noirs, including the two that I love best: The Narrow Margin (1952) and The Killing (1956).

Marie Windsor in The Narrow Margin with Charles McGraw

The Narrow Margin stars Charles McGraw as Det. Sgt. Walter Brown, a Los Angeles law officer who’s tasked with secretly escorting a mobster’s widow, Mrs. Frankie Neall, from Chicago to L.A. via train so that she can provide grand jury testimony about her late husband’s “payoff list.” The need for secrecy and the danger involved are made glaringly apparent early on, when Brown’s partner (Don Beddoe) is gunned down in Mrs. Neall’s apartment stairwell with a bullet that was intended for her.

Windsor plays Mrs. Neall and gives us a pretty significant peek at her persona from her first appearance. It comes when Brown and his partner arrive at Neall’s apartment to take her to the train. She’s smoking a cigarette and listening to music (which, judging by the reaction of the cop who’s been guarding her, must have been playing non-stop). When she’s introduced to her escorts, she blows smoke in Brown’s face and derisively inquires, “How’s Los Angeles? Sunburn wear off on the way out?”

And that’s just the first of many wisecracks and smart alecky jabs served up by Mrs. Neall. Once safely inside her train compartment, she’s needling Brown non-stop, from complaining about the meals (“The food stinks and so does your company!”) to vehemently urging him to accept the bribe he’s been offered to turn over the payoff list. “You’re a bigger idiot than I thought,” she tells him. “Wake up, Brown – this train’s headed straight for the cemetery. But there’s another one coming along. The gravy train. Let’s get on it.”

Sadly, for the viewer, Windsor’s character takes her leave about halfway through the film. While she’s still around, though, she steals every scene, more than holding her own with the gruff and growly Charles McGraw and spitting out her lines like they leave a bad taste behind. The release of the film was delayed for 18 months by RKO head Howard Hughes, but that didn’t stop critics from noticing Windsor’s standout performance – she was singled out by several reviewers, including one who praised her ”splendidly incisive” performance and said she “looked capable of halving a railroad spoke with her teeth.” He wasn’t wrong.

Marie Windsor in The Killing with Elisha Cook, Jr.

My other favorite Windsor film, The Killing (1956), tells the tale of a motley crew of regular Joes who unite to pull off a crafty racetrack payroll heist. The group is led by recently released ex-con Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) and includes a beat cop (Ted de Corsia), a bartender (Joe Sawyer), and a mousy racetrack cashier named George Peatty (Elisha Cook, Jr.). Despite the intricate and nearly foolproof scheme, it goes the way of many a well-laid plan and winds up in the crapper – but it’s a great ride while it hangs together.

As Sherry Peatty, Windsor is the wife of the aforementioned mousy cashier, and believe me when I tell you, she’s a real piece of work. She clearly married George solely because of the lofty promises he made to her: “Something about hitting it rich and having an apartment on Park Avenue and a different car for every day of the week,” Sherry reminds him. “Not that I really care about such things, understand, as long as I have a big, handsome, intelligent brute like you.”

Sporting a blonde wig that puts Phyllis Dietrichson’s coiffure to shame, Sherry is a fascinating character. She’s an unabashed gold-digger and a remorseless two-timer who wouldn’t think twice about double-crossing her hubby in favor of a younger, stronger, more handsome model (Vince Edwards). But she’s no fool. On more than one occasion, she not only demonstrates her intelligence, but also her ability to maintain grace under pressure and think on her feet. One of my favorite examples of this comes when she gets caught snooping around Johnny’s apartment as he meets with the men involved in the heist. Johnny knocks her unconscious and when she comes to, she first tries flirting with him and then she makes up a whopper about finding his address in her husband’s pocket and suspecting him of stepping out on her. And then, for good measure, she goes back to playing the coquette. Even Johnny has to admit that he’s impressed: “You’re a no-good, nosy little tramp. You’d sell out your own mother for a piece of fudge. But you’re smart along with it.”

No matter how many times I see Windsor’s performance in The Killing – and I’ve seen it so often I lost count long ago – I’m positively mesmerized. She gives a master class in bringing the femme fatale to life; whether she’s merely applying cold cream to remove her make-up or using her feminine wiles to extract secrets from George, you won’t be able to take you eyes off of her. Interestingly, Windsor got the role of Sherry after director Stanley Kubrick saw her performance in The Narrow Margin. “The minute he picked up the paperback that became The Killing, he told [his partner] that he wanted me for Sherry,” Windsor recalled. She would later count the film as one of her favorites.

I must say, she certainly had good taste.

…

– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
If you’re interested in learning more about Karen’s books, you can read more about them on amazon here:

Posted in Noir Nook, Posts by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry | Tagged Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor | 5 Comments

Silver Screen Standards: Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Jennifer Garlen

Silver Screen Standards: Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Humphrey Bogart might be the most iconic version of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled detective, Philip Marlowe, but Dick Powell gives a surprisingly perfect take on the character in the 1944 noir classic, Murder, My Sweet, adapted from Chandler’s 1940 novel, Farewell, My Lovely. If you’ve only seen Powell as a hoofer in early musical hits like 42^nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), and Footlight Parade (1933), it can be something of a shock to find him embodying a quintessential tough guy like Marlowe, but his success in the role allowed him to part ways with his musical comedy past and embrace darker, more dramatic parts in middle age, when youthful dancers no longer suited him. Powell gets ample support from the rest of the cast in this crackling noir caper, with Claire Trevor and Mike Mazurki in particularly fine form as two of the shady characters Marlowe encounters, but it’s Powell himself who really leads with his convincing take on the classic detective.

Murder Sweet Powell cops — The picture opens with a blinded Marlowe (Dick Powell) being questioned by the police about his involvement in a tangled web of crimes.

The mystery begins when Marlowe is hired by recently released convict Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki), who wants to track down his former girlfriend, Velma. Moose still loves Velma even though she stopped writing during his prison term, but a lot can happen in eight years, and Velma proves elusive. Meanwhile, Marlowe is also hired by Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton) to help retrieve a stolen jade necklace for Marriott’s married lady friend, Helen Grayle (Claire Trevor). When Marlowe and Marriott are jumped at the meeting spot, and Marriott ends up dead, Marlowe feels obligated to salvage his business reputation by tracking down the killer. His investigation lands him in trouble with the cops as he becomes entangled in the schemes of psychic swindler Jules Amthor (Otto Kruger), but Marlowe is also drawn in by Helen’s pretty stepdaughter, Ann (Anne Shirley), who hates Helen but is determined to protect her beloved father, Leuwen (Miles Mander).

Murder Sweet Trevor — Claire Trevor plays the sexy but unscrupulous Helen Grayle, who asks Marlowe to help her after Marriott is murdered.

Powell’s Marlowe has a scrappy, wry charm, though he’s rarely seen at his best in this story, which takes particular delight in abusing its protagonist. He suffers repeated blows to the head, falls into dark pools of unconsciousness, is attacked by Moose, gets kidnapped and drugged out of his mind for three days, and opens and closes the picture with damaged eyes wrapped in bandages. Even when he isn’t being roughed up he looks ragged, like a guy with a lot of miles behind him but not much to show for it. I’m especially struck by the scene with Marlowe in his undershirt, partly because we had so memorably seen Powell in the same state of undress back in his younger days in 42^nd Street. In Murder, My Sweet, it looks like Powell has been wearing the same undershirt for the last eleven years; it’s stretched out and ill-fitting, but Marlowe isn’t going to waste money on new undershirts as long as the old ones hold together. Instead of a proper belt he wears a piece of cloth to hold up his pants, probably because it’s 1944 and there’s a war on, with a leather shortage leading to rationing, but also because even without a war Marlowe can’t afford the luxury of a new leather belt. Powell is a perpetually broke, middle-aged Marlowe who looks like it. When Helen makes love to him we know it’s phony, and so does he, because only a romantic kid like Ann could actually fall for a cash strapped, forty-something private eye whose personal codes – of honor, justice, or sheer contrariness – constantly land him in danger. These are the qualities that make Marlowe such a perfect noir hero, and Powell really digs into the character and makes us believe in him.

Murder Sweet drugs — Marlowe suffers frightening hallucinations after being kidnapped and drugged by a group of criminals.

Everything else about the picture supports that perfect noir mood. Director Edward Dmytryk treats us to reflections and shadows, looming blackness, and drug-fueled hallucinations. We see Moose, huge and menacing, reflected in Marlowe’s office window, and Helen smoking in the dark, a cloud of cigarette smoke rising in the moonlight above her head. They are all inhabitants of Dark City, the nighttime world of secrets, lies, and murder where Marlowe is a battered knight errant in search of a damsel in distress but just as likely to find a femme fatale. It’s fitting that he begins and ends the movie blinded, noir’s own figure of a certain kind of Justice, because Marlowe is always in the dark himself, groping for pieces of the truth while everybody lies to him. This theme reaches its peak in the delirious drug scene, with a helpless, panicked Marlowe running through imaginary doors like a Gothic heroine while the faces of his tormentors rise up before him. That feminization of a tough guy might seem strange, even contradictory, but it gets at the heart of noir by highlighting the powerlessness of the disenfranchised individual against a corrupt system that seeks to abuse, control, or destroy those who oppose it. Personally, I think that’s one of the main reasons I love classic noir, because I see myself in characters like Philip Marlowe just like I see myself in Gothic heroines like Jane Eyre. A film like Murder, My Sweet stays with the viewer, and remains relevant decade after decade, because so many of us can look at Dick Powell’s outsider hero and see ourselves reflected in his world-weary face.

Murder Sweet Powell Shirley — Still blind, Marlowe ends the picture with Ann Grayle (Ann Shirley) keeping him company instead of the cops.

If you’re eager to experience more of Dick Powell’s darker roles, try Cornered (1945), Johnny O’Clock (1947), and Pitfall (1948). For a lighter take on the Marlowe type, catch Powell as a reincarnated dog turned private detective in the weirdly delightful fantasy, You Never Can Tell (1951). Edward Dmytryk’s other noir films include Cornered (1947), Obsession (aka The Hidden Room, 1949), and Crossfire (1947). In addition to Bogart and Powell, other actors who have played Philip Marlowe are Robert Montgomery in Lady in the Lake (1947), George Montgomery in The Brasher Doubloon (1947), James Garner in Marlowe (1969), Elliott Gould in The Long Goodbye (1973), and Robert Mitchum in Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and The Big Sleep (1978). Most recently, Liam Neeson took up the role for the 2022 film, Marlowe, but the movie garnered poor reviews and little success at the box office.

…

— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Posted in Films, Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards | Tagged anne shirley, claire trevor, Dick Powell, mike mazurki, Murder My Sweet | 1 Comment

Silver Screen Standards: Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Posted on September 12, 2023 by Jennifer Garlen

Silver Screen Standards: Dick Powell in Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Murder, My Sweet (1944) Dick Powell blindfolded cops — The picture opens with a blinded Marlowe (Dick Powell) being questioned by the police about his involvement in a tangled web of crimes.

Murder, My Sweet (1944) Claire Trevor — Claire Trevor plays the sexy but unscrupulous Helen Grayle, who asks Marlowe to help her after Marriott is murdered.

Murder, My Sweet (1944) Dick Powell hallucination — Marlowe suffers frightening hallucinations after being kidnapped and drugged by a group of criminals.

Murder, My Sweet (1944) Dick Powell and Anne Shirley — Still blind, Marlowe ends the picture with Ann Grayle (Ann Shirley) keeping him company instead of the cops.

…

— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Posted in Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards | Tagged 42nd street, anne shirley, claire trevor, Cornered, Crossfire, Dick Powell, Edward Dmytryk, Farewell My Lovely, footlight parade, gold diggers of 1933, humphrey bogart, James Garner, jane eyre, Johnny O'Clock, Lady in the Lake, marlowe, mike mazurki, Miles Mander, Murder My Sweet, Otto Kruger, Pitfall (1948), robert mitchum, robert montgomery, the big sleep, The Brasher Doubloon, The Long Goodbye, You Can Never Tell | Leave a comment

Classic Movie Travels: Colleen Moore

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Annette Bochenek

Classic Movie Travels: Colleen Moore

Kathleen Morrison, later known as Colleen Moore, was born in Port Huron, Michigan, to Charles and Agnes Kelly Morrison on August 19, 1899. Moore’s family moved frequently, residing in cities like Hillsdale, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; Warren, Pennsylvania; and Tampa, Florida. Additionally, her family would typically spend summers in Chicago, where Moore’s Aunt Lib and Uncle Walter Howey lived. Howey, in particular, was well connected, as he was the managing editor of the Chicago Examiner, owned by William Randolph Hearst.

At age 15, Moore already had dreams of starring in films. Moore kept a scrapbook in which she would paste various pictures of her favorite actors after clipping them from motion picture magazines. However, Moore kept a page blank, reserved for when she would one day become a star. Reportedly, she and her brother began their own stock company, performing on a stage created from a piano packing crate. Incidentally, Chicago’s Essanay Studios was located fairly close to the Howey residence. Moore appeared in the background of several Essanay films, typically as a face in a crowd. Since film producer D.W. Griffith was in debt to Howey for helping him get both The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916) through the Chicago censorship board, he was able to secure a screen test for Moore. Her contract with Griffith’s Triangle-Fine Arts was conditional, as Moore possessed one brown eye and one blue eye. Her eyes photographed favorably, so Moore left for Hollywood with her grandmother and her mother as chaperones and began her film career.

Moore’s first credited role was in The Bad Boy (1917), for Triangle Arts. This appearance was followed by An Old Fashioned Young Man (1917) and Hands Up (1917), gradually allowing Moore to develop her career and become noticed and enjoyed by audiences. She later signed a contract with the Selig Polyscope Company, appearing in films like A Hoosier Romance (1918) and Little Orphant Annie (1918), leading her to become popular among moviegoers. Moore also performed with Fox Film Corporation, Ince Productions—Famous Players-Lasky, and Universal Film Manufacturing Company, before completing the next stage of her career with the Christie Film Company.

Moore was married to producer John McCormick from 1923 until their divorce in 1930.

Moore starred in Flaming Youth (1923), solidifying her image as a flapper; however, Clara Bow soon became a rival to Moore with a similar image. Moore continued her film career with appearances in comedies and dramas. When Moore worked in The Desert Flower (1925), she injured her neck and spent six weeks in a bod cast. After her recovery, she finished filming and was able to leave for a publicity tour throughout Europe.

Two of Moore’s key passions were dolls and films; each of these interests would become prominent throughout her life. Though approximately half of her films are now lost, Moore is, remembered as a delightful silent film actress by film aficionados. Moore’s films would often feature her as a good girl putting on a bad girl façade, and always carrying out her roles with panache. Her aunts, however, took care to indulge her in another great passion, which is the focus of this article: dollhouses. They frequently brought her miniature furniture from their many trips, with which she furnished the first of a sequence of dollhouses.

In 1928, Moore enlisted the help several professionals to help build a massive dollhouse for her growing collection of miniature furnishings. The professionals included Moore’s father as chief engineer, set designer Horace Jackson, and interior designer Harold Grieve. Cameraman Henry Freulich worked on the lighting, which was installed by an electrician. This dollhouse has an area of nine square feet, with the tallest tower standing several feet high and the entire structure weighing one ton. This eventually became known as Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle.

By 1929, the advent of sound had taken the film industry by storm, leading Moore to take a hiatus from acting. She married stockbroker Albert P. Scott in 1932 and they resided in Bel Air together until their 1934 divorce. Moore’s final film appearance occurred in that year in The Scarlet Letter (1934).

In 1937, Moore married stockbroker Homer P. Hargrave, remaining with him until his passing in 1964. Hargrave would ultimately provide much of the funding for her dollhouse. Moore adopted Hargrave’s children, Homer and Judy, to whom she remained devoted throughout her life. In the 1960s, Moore formed a television production company with King Vidor and published two books: How Women Can Make Money in the Stock Market and Silent Star: Colleen Moore Talks About Her Hollywood. She remained a popular interview subject and frequent quest at various film festivals, discussion the silent film era.

Moore married for the last time to builder Paul Magenot. They remained together until her passing on January 25, 1988, in Paso Robles, California, from cancer. She was 88 years old.

Moore’s childhood home stands at 817 Ontario St., Port Huron, Michigan.

Huron Colleen Moore home — Moore’s childhood home, 817 Ontario St., Port Huron, Michigan

Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle survives to this day. The dollhouse made its public debut at Macy’s in New York and traveled throughout the United States, raising approximately one half-million dollars for children’s charities. The dollhouse showcases ornate miniature furniture and art as well as the work of beyond 700 different artisans, and has been a featured exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry since the 1950s. The museum displays the dollhouse in its own exhibit hall, which features additional miniature items from Moore’s collection, items used to store and transport pieces for the dollhouse, and information about her film career. The Museum of Science and Industry is located at 5700 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, Illinois.

Castle Colleen Moore — Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle

In 1923, Moore and McCormick resided at 1231 S. Gramercy Place., Los Angeles, California. The home remains virtually unchanged on the exterior.

Gramercy Colleen Moore home — 1231 S. Gramercy Place., Los Angeles, California

In 1925, Moore and her husband lived at 530 S. Rossmore Ave., Los Angeles, California. This home also exists today.

Rossmore home Colleen Moore — 530 S. Rossmore Ave., Los Angeles, California

By 1929, Moore and her husband resided on a three-acre estate at 245 Saint Pierre Rd., Los Angeles, California. The home remains today.

Pierre home Colleen Moore — 245 Saint Pierre Rd., Los Angeles, California

In 1964, Moore co-founded the Chicago International Film Festival, which is held annually to this day.

CIFF Chicago International Film Festival

Moore has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring her work in motion pictures. The star is located at 1549 Vine St., Los Angeles, California.

Colleen Moore Hollywood Walk of Fame Star — Moore’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Moore’s prints can be found in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre, located at 6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California.

Colleen Moore handprints Graumans — Moore’s hand and foot prints at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood

…

–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

Posted in Classic Movie Travels, Posts by Annette Bochenek | 2 Comments

Monsters and Matinees: Move over Westerns and Make Way for Texas-sized B-Movie Horrors

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Toni Ruberto

Monsters and Matinees: Move over Westerns…

Cowboys and horses and Texas.

That’s been a winning hand for moviegoers and the film industry since 1910 when the state’s first film studio was opened in San Antonio by Gaston Méliès, brother of visionary filmmaker Georges Méliès.

For more than a century since then, the state’s photogenic and distinct landscapes have been seen in some of the greatest Westerns ever made like The Searchers, Giant, Sons of Katie Elder, Hud and The Alamo.

Vast plains, open ranges, mountains and sprawling ranches made the perfect backdrop for herds of cattle, cowboys, wagon trains and a giant lizard meandering down a lonesome road.

No, that’s not a mistake.

Though Westerns are synonymous with Texas, the Lone Star State also was the surprising home of a unique little cottage industry of horror and sci-fi B-movies by men like Larry Buchanan, Edgar G. Ulmer and Gordon McLendonn.

So, the horses and cattle ubiquitous in Texas-made films, share the landscape with such Texas-sized horrors and sci-fi treats as that giant lizard (The Giant Gila Monster), oversized killer dog-like beasts (The Killer Shrews), and evil aliens (Zontar: The Thing from Venus).

Actor Ken Curtis produced two films in Texas: *The Killer Shrews*, in which he also acted (above) and *The Giant Gila Monster.*

And you can’t talk Texas and horror without The Texas Chain Massacre, Tobe Hooper’s 1974 film that changed the face of horror.

There’s more. The Eye Creatures (AKA Attack of the Eye Creatures), a low-budget film even by low-budget standards, found John Ashley and his teen buddies trying to get someone to believe they saw aliens. The Amazing Transparent Man was a thief who spends time traveling the lonesome highway after he’s broken out of jail to carry on the nefarious deeds of a demented general.

The films are nearly 70 years old but haven’t been forgotten. They inspired author, artist and director Bret McCormick to become a filmmaker and write the 2018 book Texas Schlock. A new classic horror streaming service and vintage film restoration company called Film Masters has chosen Giant Gila Monster and Killer Shrews to debut its home video collection.

And they are being celebrated at the inaugural It Came from Texas Film Festival, Oct. 28-29 at the historic Plaza Theatre in Garland, Texas. While future festivals will showcase various genres, the first event will pay homage to horror and sci-fi films often shown at the drive-in during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

Celebrating B-movies

The festival schedule reads like a watch-list for B-movie horror fans: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amazing Transparent Man, Beyond the Time Barrier, Don’t Look in the Basement, Don’t Look in the Basement 2, The Eye Creatures, Giant Gila Monster, Killer Shrews, Manos: The Hand of Fate, Zontar: The Thing from Venus. Also included is a short film compilation by student filmmakers in the Garland High School Reel Owl Cinema film program.

Tom Neyman and his oversized robe star as The Master in *Manos: The Hands of Fate.*

As a B-movie fan, I recommend watching these films any way you can, but there’s no escaping the appeal of seeing them on the big screen.

“You’ve probably seen these films in your house on your TV or computer, but how many people are sitting with you and jumping at a scare or laughing? It’s such a different experience in a theater,” said festival director Kelly Kitchens, a longtime film festival publicist and a classic movie fan who added she is looking forward to seeing these films for the first time on the big screen and with an audience.

The festival’s B-movie focus came together organically. The festival dates happen to fall on Halloween weekend, plus organizers and members of the Garland Downtown Business Association felt that Texas Chainsaw Massacre had to be included – it has Texas in its title after all.

*Texas Chainsaw Massacre* changed the face or horror.

“Texas Chainsaw changed everything in the horror genre,” said Kitchens, who calls the festival “a perfect little petri dish” to show the evolution of horror films before and after Texas Chainsaw.

While horror films of the 1950s and ‘60s are based on fears of the time such as nuclear horrors and invading countries that manifested in giant creates and alien invasions, Texas Chainsaw Massacre gave us the masked killer as the horror, creating the slasher genre and leading to such film franchises as Friday the 13^th and Nightmare on Elm Street.

Film historian, educator and author Gordon K. Smith, who will be introducing films and showing trailers from the movies at the festival, said Texas Chainsaw Massacre remains hard to watch even today.

“It has a feverish quality that horror filmmakers have tried to do since and few have achieved,” Smith said in a telephone interview.

The festival is also the first time that the movies Don’t Look in the Basement (1974) from director S.F. Brownrigg and the sequel Don’t Look in the Basement 2 (2015) by his son, writer-director Tony Brownrigg, will be shown together. Both were filmed in Tehuacana.

“Don’t Look in the Basement 2 is a real representation of what a Texas filmmaker can do. It’s well made and has a lot of great actors from Texas,” Smith said.

Another highlight is Rondo and Bob, a 2020 documentary by Joe O’Connell about Robert A. Burns, art director for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and his fandom for 1930s and ‘40s actor Rondo Hatton, whose career was built around his unique facial features that were a result of acromegaly. This will be shown before a 49^th anniversary showing of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Kitchens and Smith previously worked together on a long-running fundraiser for the Dallas Producers Association called It Came From Dallas where only short clips of Dallas-made movies were shown. That led to the idea of a festival showing full films that were made throughout Texas.

B-movie star John Agar and Susan Bjurman have to deal with *Zontar: The Thing From Venus.*

Embracing the shlock

Often when these films are mentioned it is with the descriptors campy and schlock. Some have even been riffed on as part of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (MST3K). Others are found on streaming services under the banner “Shlock Classic.” But if you use that term with Smith, he’ll laugh and say “Yes – and what’s your point?”

“I know the difference between Giant Gila Monster and Schindler’s List. I’m not strictly devoted to B-movies,” he said. “Of course, there’s lots of low budget garbage in horror and sci-fi, but the ones we’re showing are classics of their own kind. They are fun and have substance for a lot of reasons.”

Kitchens agrees.

“It’s very much the way we are embracing it. It’s having like-minded people who think of campy and quirky as a term of endearment,” she said, sharing that the first time she saw some of these films was on MST3K. “I am looking forward to experiencing these with an audience and an audience that will absolutely be fans of the genre, the time period or classic films. I think it will be transformative and many of these will be new favorites.”

To that point, the festival will show The Giant Gila Monster with a live riff from The Mocky Horror Picture Show, an interactive movie mocking comedy troupe based out of Texas.

The sci-fi B-movies *The Giant Gila Monster* and *The Killer Shrews* were released as a drive-in double feature in 1959. Both were produced by Texas businessman Gordon McLendon who owned a series of drive-ins.

Texas B-movie masters

The independent “pioneers” in Texas helped build a film industry by simply showing people it could be done, Smith said. “They made it feasible to make low-budget films.”

Giant Gila Monster (1959) and Killer Shrews (1959) were produced back-to-back by Texas businessman and radio pioneer Gordon McLendon who also owned a Dallas drive-in chain and movie theaters throughout the south. He also co-starred in the films, both directed by Ray Kellogg and also produced by actor Ken Curtis (Gunsmoke, who also starred in Shrews), were often shown as a double feature.

The Eye Creatures and Zontar: The Thing from Space were directed by Larry Buchanan. Smith shares an interesting story about those alien costumes that looked like an art project made with bubbles (to give off the appearance of eyes).

“They only had two full suits and one monster head,” said Smith, adding they would keep them hidden behind a bush. “They had to keep using them over and over.”

To illustrate how close the Texas film community was, The Eye Creatures was filmed at McLendon’s ranch outside of Dallas. And S.F. Brownrigg, director of Don’t Look in the Basement, worked with Buchanan as the film editor of The Eye Creatures and sound supervisor for Zontar.

Noted director Edgar G. Ulmar was drawn to Texas by oil barons who wanted to be movie producers. For Beyond the Time Barrier and The Amazing Transparent Man, he used the Texas landscape to his advantage with long travel shots of open flat land and roads. For Time Barrier, he also used Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth and Eagle Mountain Marine Corps Air Station, along with Fair Park in Dallas, in telling the story of a test pilot who is accidentally sent into the future world of 2024.

While these films haven’t improved with time as some films do – those poor Eye Creatures costumes will never be in style – they have withstood a different test of time by holding their own long enough to be discovered by new audiences who don’t mind, as actor-producer Ken Curtis once said, that the killer shrews looked like a dog covered in a “shag carpet.”

– Toni Ruberto for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Toni’s Monsters and Matinees articles here.

Toni Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer at The Buffalo News. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and is a member of the Classic Movie Blog Association. Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and now leads the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at @toniruberto.

Posted in Film Festivals, Horror, Posts by Toni Ruberto | Tagged Amazing Transparent Man, Beyond the Time Barrier, Don't Look in the Basement, Don't Look in the Basement 2, Edward G. Ulmer, Gordon K. Smith, Gordon McLendon, It Came from Texas, Joe O'COnnell, Kelly Kitchens, Larry Buchanan, Manos: The Hand of Fate, Mocky Horror Picture SHow, Rondo and BOb, S.F. Brownrigg, science-fiction, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Giant Gila Monster, The Killer Shrews, Tobe Hooper, Tony Brownriff, westerns, Zontar: The Thing from Venus | 3 Comments

Western Roundup: Destry (1954)

Posted on September 6, 2023 by Laura Grieve

**Western Roundup: Destry (1954)**

Destry Rides Again is a classic Western novel by Max Brand. It was filmed by Universal Pictures multiple times, including a 1932 version starring Tom Mix and the best-known version, a 1939 release with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich.

George Marshall directed the James Stewart version, and he was again at the helm when Universal remade the story once more in 1954. Audie Murphy was chosen for the lead role of Tom Destry.

The 1954 version, simply called Destry, has just been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber Studio Classics; to my knowledge this is the first time it’s been available for home viewing. Destry is part of the three-film Audie Murphy Collection II along with Sierra (1950) and Kansas Raiders (1950).

I’ve periodically reviewed Murphy’s films here, as he’s both a great Western star and a personal favorite. I reviewed his Seven Ways From Sundown (1960) in 2020 and wrote about Hell Bent For Leather (1960) early last year. Since it’s been a year and a half since my last Murphy review, this new release is a perfect opportunity to visit another of his films.

This was my first time to see this version of the Destry story, and it’s interesting to note at the outset that with the exception of lead character Tom Destry, the characters have different names in each of Universal’s three versions.

While I’ve yet to see the Tom Mix edition, I’ve seen the one with Stewart, though it’s been a few years. While perhaps not a classic on a level with the Stewart film, I felt the Murphy version stands on its own feet as delightful Western entertainment. Murphy comes off extremely well in the title role, and he’s backed by a terrific cast.

In the familiar story, crooked Decker (Lyle Bettger) and his henchmen run a very wild little Western town and kill the sheriff (Trevor Bardette) who gets in their way.

Destry Thomas Mitchel and Lyle Bettger — Thomas Mitchell and Lyle Bettger

They appoint alcoholic Rags Barnaby (Thomas Mitchell) as sheriff, and Rags immediately sends for Tom Destry (Murphy), son of his late friend, who was a famed lawman.

Rags hasn’t met the adult Destry and when imposing cattleman Larson (Alan Hale Jr.) steps off the stagecoach, Rags is thrilled, only to learn he has the wrong man. Rags is then shocked when the diminutive Destry gets out of the stagecoach, assisting a pretty young lady (Lori Nelson) with her parasol and a birdcage.

Destry Audie Murphy and Lori Nelson — Audie Murphy and Lori Nelson

Nonethless, Destry ends up serving as Rags’ deputy. He doesn’t wear guns and prefers friendly discussions to battle, which initially shocks both Rags and the townspeople; over time, Destry’s positive, trusting attitude causes a number of people in town to reform. Rags stops drinking, saloon girl Brandy (Mari Blanchard) wakes up to realizing her life as Decker’s girl isn’t a good one, and combative Larson learns to deal with his problems in a more peaceable manner.

Only the most hard-bitten character town, Decker, doesn’t change, along with his cronies.

The townspeople are later shocked to learn that Destry is actually an expert marksman — Bettger’s expression at this reveal is hilarious — but even this disclosure is strategic on Destry’s part. He’s learned about new-fangled ways to analyze which guns have shot which bullets, and he’s emptied the townspeople’s guns out for research into the murder of the previous sheriff.

Destry was the perfect role for Murphy, who was only 5′ 5″ and could seem unassuming — yet both onscreen and off, underneath the mild-mannered exterior was a very determined and even dangerous man.

Destry Audie Murphy and Mari Blanchard — Audie Murphy and Mari Blanchard

Murphy also proves himself adept at comedy, whether it’s his good-natured line deliveries or his reactions to Martha (Nelson), who clearly has a crush on the young deputy. I’ve seen many of Murphy’s films and found this a particularly winning performance.

Murphy has a host of great character actors to interact with; in addition to names mentioned above, the deep cast boasts Edgar Buchanan, Wallace Ford, Mary Wickes, and John Doucette.

Nelson is very personable as Martha, engaging in some delightful repartee with Murphy. The film’s other leading lady, Blanchard, shines as the saloon gal, performing several songs. Blanchard bears a strong resemblance to Lynn Bari in this — which isn’t a bad thing, as I’m a big Bari fan.

The script by D.D. Beauchamp and Edmund H. North, adapted from Felix Jackson’s story for the 1939 version, moves along well at a nicely paced 95 minutes.

Marshall, who by 1954 had directed countless Westerns, does an excellent job managing his large cast and drawing a fine performance from Murphy, who had been in films for a half dozen years at this point.

The movie was filmed in Technicolor by George Robinson. It was shot at Universal Studios and the Janss Conejo Ranch in Thousand Oaks.

The new Kino Lorber Blu-ray print looks terrific, with excellent sound. Extras consist of the trailer; a gallery of five additional trailers; and a commentary track by Lee Gambin and actor Gary Frank (Family).

I’ve previously seen one of the other films in this set, Sierra, and can confidently say that the Audie Murphy Collection II is a “must” for Western fans.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub