TopBilled

They definitely do not play this version often. I recorded it a year or two ago when they had a morning and afternoon tribute to Eleanor Parker on her birthday. That was the first time I had seen it played on TCM. Several of her pictures at Warners in the 40s and early 50s are sadly obscure. I am still waiting for them to play THREE SECRETS.

_9.05_ BACALL ON BOGART BOGART: THE UNTOLD STORY TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT THE BIG SLEEP DARK PASSAGE KEY LARGO _9.12_ CONFIDENTIAL AGENT BRIGHT LEAF YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN _9.19_ THE COBWEB DESIGNING WOMAN HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE BLOOD ALLEY WRITTEN ON THE WIND _9.26_ THE GIFT OF LOVE SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL HARPER MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

I decided to make it a Sybil Jason day! I watched LITTLE BIG SHOT, and right now I am watching THE GREAT O'MALLEY. Bogart slugs a guy and steals some money near the beginning of the story. He is soon sent to prison and the middle portion of the picture is carried by Pat O'Brien, whose police officer character forges a bond with the crippled daughter, played by Sybil. When Bogart is released from prison, he wants revenge and goes after O'Brien. He pulls a gun, and there's a shooting that leads to O'Brien falling down a flight of stairs. Sybil is not in these scenes, unlike LITTLE BIG SHOT where she was directly involved in the violence. For the most part this picture feels like a melodrama. Technically, it is considered a crime film. But the emphasis is on the emotional aspects of the characters' lives, not on criminal activity so much. The production values in this picture are very good. There is some striking cinematography during a rainstorm sequence. And the casting is just right. Ann Sheridan is effective as the teacher who becomes involved with O'Brien through Sybil and the other neighborhood kids. Donald Crisp contributes a nice bit as the police captain. And Mary Gordon is perfect as Mother O'Malley.

I just looked at LITTLE BIG SHOT on the TCM database. Maltin's review mentions another Warners effort entitled LITTLE MISS THOROUGHBRED. It seems that as soon as Warners dropped Sybil, they tried again with the same idea to make Janet Chapman their new Shirley Temple. In this reworking, the Glenda Farrell part is taken over by Ann Sheridan. I looked at Janet Chapman's filmography, and she definitely did not catch on, having made less films for the studio than Sybil did. They also put her in a remake of THREE ON A MATCH, and there was another project called ON TRIAL, where she plays Margaret Lindsay's daughter. Lindsay is a career woman, a lawyer in this picture, and it seems like a part Kay Francis would've played a few years earlier. After Chapman was dropped by Warners, she found small parts at MGM. Here's the link for LITTLE MISS THOROUGHBRED: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3146/Little-Miss-Thoroughbred/

I don't remember if there was much violent content in THE GREAT O'MALLEY. I will have to go back and look at that one again. But this time around, we have Humphrey Bogart playing Sybil's dad, and he's a gangster. It's presented more sympathetically, because O'Brien's policeman character finds out that Bogey was committing crimes to get money to raise his daughter (Sybil).

THE CAPTAIN'S KID is a reworking of CAPTAIN JANUARY, which Shirley did...and Guy Kibbee played the captain in that one, too! Part of the problem is that unlike Zanuck at Fox, Warners did not really hire a strong writing team to develop projects that were more tailor-made for Sybil's talents. She should've been a bigger child star. Fortunately we get these glimpses of something very special despite the material she was often handed. The knife scene that you mentioned is a classic.

One of her friends posted the news of her death on Facebook, and then I made a thread about it on the Hot Topics forum...so we did cover the event here on the message boards. I just looked at Sybil's filmography. The STELLA PARISH movie premiered two months after LITTLE BIG SHOT, and that was a big hit thanks to Kay Francis' star power. I agree that LITTLE BIG SHOT does go a bit overboard with its violent content. However, Glenda Farrell and Edward Everett Horton are so great in that picture, as is Sybil, that you tend to overlook it and feel good anyway. She did work for other studios. As I mentioned in a previous post, she went to Fox for those two Shirley Temple vehicles. And in between, she had a job at Republic in a film called WOMAN DOCTOR.

Interesting question...sort of like: But is it art? LOL The auteurists would have us believe the main credit goes to the director. I am sure that actors and writers might disagree. Cinema is a collaborative art. Mara Wilson probably wasn't old enough, or proven enough at the box office, in the beginning to be allowed to improvise. Plus, with a huge studio budget at stake, the producers are going to want to make sure the story and the performances stick to a tried-and-true formula as much as possible. The fact that MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET was remade in the first place shows that they were playing it safe, with a project that would have a built-in audience and some guaranteed return on the initial investment. Why would they let a child actor think outside the box and ruin their cash cow...?

Sybil Jason was honored a few years ago for her 80th birthday. She was the first child star signed by Warners in the mid-30s, the studio's answer to Shirley Temple. She's very good, but she did not make a dent at the box office the way Jack Warner had hoped, so she was eventually let go. Ironically, she ended up playing supporting roles to Shirley Temple. They costarred together in THE LITTLE PRINCESS and THE BLUE BIRD. Sybil passed away last August. Up until her death, she would post to fans on Facebook. I think my favorite film of hers is LITTLE BIG SHOT, which seems like a reworking of LITTLE MISS MARKER. She is also excellent as Kay Francis' daughter in the tearjerker I FOUND STELLA PARISH. Both these films, plus THE CAPTAIN'S KID (with Guy Kibbee) and THE GREAT O'MALLEY (with Pat O'Brien) appeared on TCM for her tribute.

>The night of September 30th could be a night of Mummy movies...8p.m. The Mummy 1932...11p.m. Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy 1955 More than likely it is to prepare viewers for what's in store during the month of October. It would be nice if they showed a lot of the classic Universal horror films leading up to Halloween. They usually feed viewers a steady diet of Hammer horror flicks instead.

Ron Howard appeared in several films in the 1960s and 1970s. He definitely counts.

*Walter Brennan* To Jack Lambert in BRIMSTONE: A man that ain't no good at gun slingin' ain't no good for me-- even if he is my son.

*ALISON SKIPWORTH* TONIGHT OR NEVER (1931) with Gloria Swanson & Melvyn Douglas HE LEARNED ABOUT WOMEN (1932) with Stuart Erwin MADAME RACKETEER (1932) with George Raft TONIGHT IS OURS (1933) with Claudette Colbert & Fredric March A LADY'S PROFESSION (1933) with Roland Young TILLIE AND GUS (1933) with W.C. Fields THE CAPTAIN HATES THE SEA (1934) with Victor McLaglen & Wynne Gibson COMING OUT PARTY (1934) with Frances Dee & Gene Raymond THE CASINO MURDER CASE (1935) with Paul Lukas & Rosalind Russell HITCH HIKE LADY (1935) with Mae Clarke & Arthur Treacher DOUBTING THOMAS (1935) with Will Rogers & Billie Burke SATAN MET A LADY (1936) with Bette Davis, Warren William & Arthur Treacher TWO WISE MAIDS (1937) with Polly Moran LADIES IN DISTRESS (1938) with Polly Moran WIDE OPEN FACES (1938) with Joe E. Brown & Jane Wyman KING OF THE NEWSBOYS (1938) with Lew Ayres & Helen Mack

*THE IDIOT (1946)* From Agee on April 24, 1948: A skillful, sensitive, intense film, with beautiful work by Gerard Philippe, Edwige Feuilliere and Lucien Coedel. The most satisfying movie version of a Dostoevski novel that I have seen. It was adapted by Charles Spaak and directed by Georges Lampin.

*Out West with John Lund* He's Major Jim Colton in THE BATTLE AT APACHE PASS with Jeff Chandler, then Major Twist in FIVE GUNS WEST, costarring Dorothy Malone.

First, I hope we don't need multiple threads on this subject. It would be good if people just added to this one as they find more information. Unless we want duplicate threads...LOL I see birthday tributes so far for the following performers: Roddy McDowall films on the 17th. Greta Garbo on the 18th, including TWO-FACED WOMAN, her last film. Aldo Ray films, mostly his Columbia titles, all morning and afternoon on the 25th. Greer Garson, as she has each of the past few years, gets her due again on the 29th. We might as well just call that Greer Garson Day for all eternity. Also, I found that GREED airs on the morning of the 3rd. Not sure who is being honored. My first thought was ZaSu Pitts...? Von Stroheim's birthday is not till the 22nd, and it is not re-airing on that day.

I have Sybil Jason on my list, and I will feature her in a post. Also, I will make sure to include Tatum O'Neal. I wanted to mention something about the age range I described yesterday (from zero to seventeen). In some cases, we do have young-looking 20-year-olds playing a teenager part. As long as they can convincingly portray a character who is in high school, would that still count? I don't know...

*Fay Holden* To Lewis Stone in JUDGE HARDY'S CHILDREN: Nobody ever paid anybody $200 a day for anything honest.

*DEAN MARTIN AS MATT HELM* THE SILENCERS (1966) with Stella Stevens MURDERERS' ROW (1966) with Ann-Margret & Karl Malden THE AMBUSHERS (1967) with Senta Berger & Janice Rule THE WRECKING CREW (1969) with Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate & Nancy Kwan

*NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART (1944)* From Agee on December 2, 1944: This is a story about the education of a young man in London's prewar slums. It is an unusually sincere, almost-good film and was made under unusually unexpected auspices. Its star, Cary Grant, asked that it be made, and plays its far from Cary Grantish hero so attentively and sympathetically that I all but overlooked the fact that he is not well constituted for the role. Its other most notable player, Ethel Barrymore, seemed miscast too, but I was so soft as to be far more than satisfied by her beauty and authority. I suppose I should be impressed by the fact that the picture comes out all right and says that it is a bad world which can permit poor people to be poor. I was even more impressed by the fact that its director, Clifford Odets, was more interested in filling his people with life and grace, instead of explaining them, arguing over them, or using them as boxing gloves.

*Lucille Ball & Richard Dix* Lucy is teamed with Richard Dix for TWELVE CROWDED HOURS, an early gangster noir; and for THE MARINES FLY HIGH, a romantic adventure story from RKO.

I don't know about Thorpe's participation in WAGON MASTER. As for Bond, it's a given that his role in this picture led to Universal casting him for TV's Wagon Train. Ward Bond had a lead role in GYPSY COLT, which airs occasionally on TCM. It's a reworking of LASSIE, with the story of the beloved canine transposed to an equestrian tale. Donna Corcoran is the little girl, playing the daughter of Bond, and her mother is played by Frances Dee (Mrs. Joel McCrea) in what would be Dee's last screen role.

I think you have something there, comparing Weidler to Quinn Cummings. I completely agree. Interesting you mentioned Chapin as I just watched NIGHT OF THE HUNTER last night. I thought the girl who played his sister Pearl was very good also. Today I profiled Mary Badham in the Wanted thread. She only made three films, that's it, then retired from acting. She was from a show biz family, but I guess she wanted to pursue other interests (probably boys and college). I like O'Brien, and as you stated, she does get a lot of attention. I also like Dean Stockwell as a child performer and Roddy McDowall as a child in films. Some of them make such strong impressions! There are a lot of other lesser-known and forgotten child actors from yesteryear that I hope people will learn about through this thread and seek out their films where available.

While looking at character actors, I found that some of the child stars could be considered character actors, too. But, they are usually not as stage-trained as their grown-up counterparts, and I think they are a different category altogether. In this thread, I would like to look at classic film work by performers that ranged in age from zero to seventeen. (We know that some of them have, or will, become adult movie stars.) The focus will not be on child stars, per se, because not every child working in Hollywood was or is a star, but many of these young budding talents have turned in memorable performances and should be recognized. This survey should go as far back as the silent film era and it should come up to the present. So, yes, expect a post about Haley Joel Osment! Lastly, the format will be different than the other actor threads. It will be as visual as possible, meaning hardly any text. Just two photos of different films in which they appeared with their name in between. Now, which child actor is your favorite? I have two favorites. Mine are Virginia Weidler and Gary Coleman.

In the book, she does not inform the police. She wants him to get away with it and be free, because she still loves him (strange I know!). If viewers, then and now, cannot accept him as a villain (though he did play a cad in some early pre-codes), then we have to conclude he was miscast. The story calls for her husband to be a cold-blooded opportunist, not a Cary Grantish hero.