ginnyfan

We have a short TODAY IN GINNY with two birthdays both related to a single film. Jack D. Moore (1906) was the set decorator for THE WOMEN. He was nominated for Oscars several times and won for the 1950 version of LITTLE WOMEN. Some of his other work included LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, THE TENDER TRAP, and AIRPORT. TCM is making sure we get to memorize every single inch of those sets on THE WOMEN over the next few months. Ruth Findlay (1917) had a short career in the 1930s under three different names, this one, Ruth Frazer, and Marian Arnold. Almost all her films were small studio oaters. THE WOMEN was her biggest film; the pedicurist her smallest part. Mary and Little Mary taking down the projector will stand in for both of them.

I really like both LIMELIGHT and A KING IN NEW YORK. Chaplin did some of his best work after we stopped watching.

We discussed Breen and a film he made with Irene Dare on my page a couple of months ago. I have to admit that I've never seen one of his movies that I know of. When Tommy Dix first started performing, he used the name Bobby Britain. When he signed with William Morris, they had him change it to avoid confusion with Bobby Breen.

12:30 p.m. The Great Dictator (1940)..Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie I think I first saw this film on screen when I was about 14. It was in a double feature with ROOM SERVICE, I think. I showed it for a dorm activity when I was in college and some people didn't like it because they thought it "made fun of a serious subject". I obviously argued in favor, but a handful actually walked out. Interestingly, HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM! with extreme racial stereotypes got no negative reaction at all. I hadn't prescreened that film and it made me cringe. A lesson learned by a nineteen year old.

9:00 a.m. House of Women (1962)..Shirley Knight, Andrew Duggan, Constance Ford Three actors who were doing a decent amount of WB television around that same time.

Thanks, TB! I love Walter Connolly. I think my favorite Connolly role is as Clark Gable's boss in Too Hot too Handle. He had a birthday last week (April 8), too!

TODAY IN GINNY the Virginia Weidler Remembrance Society wraps up a nearly week long celebration of child actress/singer Gloria Jean, whose birthday is today. This is our Facebook cover today in her honor: Now for our other TIG birthdays. First up is Lee Tracy (1898), the rapid fire talking pre code leading man who, later in his career played Charlie "the Fixer" Dugan in Virginia's film, FIXER DUGAN. Our member Jarrod recently told me that the role was originally intended for Chester Morris, which would have also been very interesting, but Lee is The Fixer to me. A star on both Broadway and in Hollywood, Tracy sabotaged his career though a host of reckless incidents, some apparently bigger than the studios could or would cover up for him. By the time Ginny was teamed with him, he was one of the few actors working on one film deals, since that's all the studios would trust him with. In a last hurrah, Tracy received his only Oscar nomination for his final big screen role, that of the terminally ill POTUS in THE BEST MAN. He died of cancer in October 1968, three and a half months after Virginia Weidler. Next is B leading man and A film second banana John Howard. His link to Virginia is his role as the stuffed shirt George Kittredge in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. When Gov. Thomas Dewey ran for President, he was said to look like the guy on the wedding cake. I think they meant George Kittredge. In the 1930s, John Howard was known to many as Bulldog Drummond in that series. And he did go on to win the Navy Cross and Croix de Guerre during World War II. Character actor John Hubbard (1914) appeared in OUT WEST WITH THE HARDYS, but not under that name. He was still calling himself Anthony Allan when he played Cliff Thomas in that film. In a connection to birthday girl Gloria Jean, he played Mr. Sydney in one of her later films, AN OLD FASHIONED GIRL. He later was a regular on THE MICKEY ROONEY SHOW (1954-55) and did lots of TV roles through the 1960s.

I love the bit about Stanley Donen...good stuff! Sometimes, you get an odd reminder of something. Earlier this week I just happened to read someone writing of CHARADE and that it might be the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made, and then here comes Donen's birthday! BTW, relating to your earlier thread about age differences, Grant was 58 and Audrey Hepburn 33 when they made the film.

This really isn't hard. Removing the label under penalty of law comes to my mind right away. I'd also like to use the pictures, descriptions, and accounts without the expressed consent of Major League Baseball. A guy can dream...

TIG abandons chronological order today so I could fit the photos on the page. First, we have Tully Marshall (1864). He was pursuing a law degree when he took a drama course at Santa Clara University and it changed his life. After work on both Broadway and the traveling stage, he turned to films around the start of The Great War. Tully appeared in D.W Griffith's INTOLERANCE in 1916 and had regular work from then until his death in 1943. He played Pecota in SOULS AT SEA. The photo is of him with Bernice Claire in NUMBERED MEN. Theodore Morse (1873) is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Among his were M-O-T-H-E-R, London Bridge, and Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here! which was sung in THE GREAT MAN VOTES. William Tuttle (1912) is one of the great makeup artists. His most memorable work is for science fiction-he won four awards from The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films-he was also responsible for the makeup on THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION. Rex Evans (1903) played two types, butlers and fat men. According to IMDb, George Cukor regularly hired him to keep him working. Greta Garbo asked Cukor, on the set of Camille, "Who is that big man, and what part is he playing?" Cukor replied, "He's playing the part of a friend who needs a job." Cukor had him keep his eye on James Stewart while playing Thomas the butler in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. Henri Jaffa (1905) was an early Technicolor Director and they needed one on BEST FOOT FORWARD. He did technicolor work on scores of MGM musicals in the 1940s and '50s. Before Stanley Donen became a classic director of musicals (ON THE TOWN, ROYAL WEDDING, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, need I go on?), he appear in Ginny's BEST FOOT FORWARD as a cadet. Oddly, ginnyfan's favorite Donen work isn't a musical, it's CHARADE. Donen is seen here with two guys who were slightly better hoofers than he.

TODAY IN GINNY we start with Doran Cox (1881). Mr. Cox started as an assistant director in 1921, had directed shorts at Universal in the late 1920s until returning to being an assistant or 2nd unit director on features. He later moved into early television as...an assistant director. He was the 2nd unit director on THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT. Luck letting the school teacher know that she's comfortable without no schoolin' will serve in Mr. Cox's stead. Eleanore Whitney (1917) had a short career in films during the 1930s as an actress and dancer. She actually had tap lessons from Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and was reported to be able to record 60 taps in 4 seconds. After time in vaudeville and then 13 films, Eleanore got married and quickly told the press she was retired at age 22. She stuck to it. She played Martha in TIMOTHY'S QUEST and did a specialty I'm betting involved tap in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937. Her final film was CAMPUS CONFESSIONS with Betty Grable. Jane Withers (1926) was apparently one of Ginny's Hollywood friends, at least on the level that actors were supposed to spend some time hanging out together in Hollywood. They attended each others birthday parties; Jane is clearly seen in the photo Danny posted of Ginny being spanked on her fourteenth and newspapers reporting Virginia's reign as Hollywood jitterbug champ stated that she had won the contest at Jane's birthday party two years running as of 1942. I wish I knew if they remained in any contact at all later, but I don't (Jane, write me back!). They did appear together on film once, as themselves in the 1945 Vitaphone short, PEEKS AT HOLLYWOOD where they do a Laverne and Shirley style golf routine and announcer Knox Manning calls Virginia WEED-ler instead of the correct WIDE-ler. OK, Jane does the routine and Ginny makes fun of her. It looks like they were having a lot of fun, but I don't know why the director set up the shot so the girls were staring into the sun the entire scene. Ginny spent the scene squinting and popping her chewing gum. We've posted the link here on two different occasions, it's still up on YouTube for those who haven't seen it. The pair show up about six minutes in. It's an important piece of film because, to the best of my knowledge, Virginia Weidler never appeared on film again after this shoot.

Thursday's TIG features two of those character actors we've become so attached to. Dubliner Brandon Tynan (1875) spent most of the first third of the 20th century working on the stage. Although he dis do a couple of silent films in the 1920s, he only started taking regular movie work in the late 1930s when he was already past 60 years of age. His Hollywood career only lasted four years. He was cast in two films with Virginia, THE GREAT MAN VOTES, where he played Chester Ainslee and THE LONE WOLF SPY HUNT, where he played Ida Lupino's father, Senator Carson. There have been several different Frank O'Connors in the movies. The one with all the photos on the internet was once married to Ayn Rand. This one, born in 1881, has no pictures on the 'net. He did, however, have a very long career of very small roles. An average role for him was "Guy with Phil in Bar" or "Man shouting, 'HOLD-UP!'". Like one other guy we had here recently, he spent his last years being a courtroom spectator on PERRY MASON. He played officer on train in AFTER TONIGHT and I hope I correctly screen captured him.

Our second TIG birthday belongs to Harry Segall (1892). Segall was part of the writing team for THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT. Harry is best known for writing a play called HEAVEN CAN WAIT that was reworked as screenplays called HERE COMES MR JORDAN, ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER, DOWN TO EARTH and was, three decades later, turned into a film called HEAVEN CAN WAIT. To represent Harry, Luck holds all the cards...

The promo photos for this film are really nice. I wish we had more of these for her other films.

TODAY IN GINNY is just about perfect. Two birthdays, no pics! I get to stick in two Ginny photos! And this is POST NUMBER 500 in the thread that never ends. On top of that, birthday boys Junior Samples of HEE-HAW and Poncie Ponce of HAWAIIAN EYE proved to have absolutely no connection to Virginia Weidler. Sorry, J and P fans! First up is writer Stuart Anthony (1891). From what I can see on IMDb, Anthony wrote a lot of formulaic B western stuff. He did work with the screenwriting team responsible for GIRL OF THE OZARKS, a very effective film, so he did have some talent. He also wrote ARIZONA MAHONEY which had Billy Lee and Charlene Wyatt in it, THE BISCUIT EATER in which Billy Lee replaced Baby Leroy in the lead role, and TOM SAWYER, DETECTIVE featuring Ginny's MEN WITH WINGS castmates Billy Cook and Donald O'Connor as Tom and Huck. I'm posting one of VWRS member Danny P's very nice OZARKS pics to represent and, to do it justice, I'll come back with birthday number two in a bit.

Annette's husband actually allowed Canadian TV, I think the program W5, to film her in the last year or so as he tried to promote some controversial treatment he thought had actually helped her a little. It was very sad.

I watched several of the Ryan films today because he is just one of those actors I'm really comfortable with. I know that I'm usually going to like a Robert Ryan film. Of the films on tomorrow, I really like both DEEP VALLEY and NOBODY LIVES FOREVER. Lori used to give me trouble about liking Dane Clark because he's seen as JG's rival during that period by fans. I used to get Dane Clark and Richard Conte confused for some reason.

It's another double dose of TIG this morning. For Monday, TODAY IN GINNY features three very important birthdays. One is important to Ginny and to the VWRS because it kicks off a special week, another is important to everyone because it's the birthday of a man who helped define the Great American Songbook. The third is Walter Connolly (1887), a character actor who entire bearing screamed unreasonable boss. Connolly had a brief seven year career in the talkies, but most people who screen old films know him. He played Gabby McArthur, the unreasonable boss in TOO HOT TO HANDLE. Next is songwriter E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896). I remember seeing a 60 Minutes interview years ago with Harold Arlen where he explained that as Harburg initially wrote the lyrics, Dorothy wanted to go to "The Other Side Of The Rainbow" but that would have left Judy holding a note on the "uh" of other, so Harburg changed it. He wrote lyrics for "April In Paris", "Paper Moon" and Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" Most importantly to Ginny, he wrote the lyrics to "Lydia, The Tatooed Lady" a song I can't believe Harry Ruby didn't write. He gets credit for THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, BABES ON BROADWAY, and THIS TIME FOR KEEPS. Apparently, the orchestra plays "Off To See The Wizard" in that film, I'll have to rewatch. Last but certainly not least is Shirley Mills (1926), the villainess of THE UNDER-PUP who finally gets stood up to by Ginny's Janet and Gloria Jean's Pip-Emma. I think the photo of her here is from THE GRAPES OF WRATH, probably the high spot of her career. I think people here have discussed the low spot previously. After THE UNDER-PUP, Shirley and Gloria maintained a life long friendship. Gloria's birthday is Sunday, and the VWRS is celebrating both Shirley and Gloria as the week progresses. Tuesday's TODAY IN GINNY features just one birthday again. Before Frederic Knudtson (1906) edited JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG or IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD or INHERIT THE WIND or ON THE BEACH or THE WINDOW or even THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY SOXER, he edited THE ROOKIE COP with Virginia and Tim Holt. Would be detective Ginny will serve in his stead.

We used to watch reruns of Byington's December Bride when I was young, but I don't remember what the show was about at all. Is the 1940 version of LADDIE available?

Because I chose sleep last night as I recover from a case of snifflles, you are getting the whole weekend of Ginny in one easy to take dose. I found all the photos for SATURDAY IN GINNY so I don't get to sneak in one of her, durn it! Harold Rosson (1895) is the younger, more successful brother of Richard who was listed earlier this week. He was nominated for five Oscars for cinematography without winning. The nominated films were THE WIZARD OF OZ, BOOM TOWN, THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO, THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, and THE BAD SEED. He received an honorary Oscar plaque in 1937 for THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. He was the cinematographer on TOO HOT TO HANDLE. The photo is with short term wife Jean Harlow. Songwriter Leo Robin (1900) is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, having written or co-written such gems as "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", "Thanks For The Memory", "Love In Bloom" and my favorite, "All's Well" (I guess you'd have to have seen the 1939 feature of Gulliver's Travels to know that one). He wrote the less well known "Susie Sapple" and "Hang, Boys, Hang" for SOULS AT SEA. Robin's entry on IMDb irritates ginnyfan a bit. It reads, "Soundtrack, Fight Club" as what he's best known for. Gertrude Short (1902) got into the movies at age ten and stayed through WWII. She was at her most popular in the 1920s when she appeared in a series of "telephone girl" comedies directed by her husband. She played Suzie in the BIG BROADCAST OF 1937. Charles Lawton Jr. (1904)was director of photography on several of Ginny's MGM features. GOLD RUSH MAISIE, THIS TIME FOR KEEPS, THE AFFAIRS OF MARTHA, and THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION were all his. His path mirrored Ginny's in the 1930s as he was contracted to Paramount, then MGM. He did his best work after the lion, however, with 3:10 TO YUMA, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, and RAISIN IN THE SUN. His final credit was probably the worst film he was ever associated with, OH DAD, POOR DAD, MOMMA'S HUNG YOU IN THE CLOSET AND I'M FEELIN' SO SAD (1967). Caren Marsh (1919) makes up half of yet another sibling team in the Weidler Stock Company. Caren is the sister of Dorothy Morris, who played Ginny's sister in THIS TIME FOR KEEPS. Caren played a dancer in BEST FOOT FORWARD. There were a lot of those. She didn't win as many roles in the movies as her younger sister, but is still in demand for interviews based on one thing she did in the business. She was Judy Garland's dancing stand-in in THE WIZARD OF OZ. John Treul (1928) played a cadet in BEST FOOT FORWARD. There were a lot of those. He's best known for his final role, that of Bob Mason in the 1948 feature, STREET CORNER, which is apparently an exploitation film passing itself off as educational, "Don't Let This Happen To Your Daughter!" The photo is of John in a steamy embrace with fellow Weidler Stock Company member, Marcia Mae Jones, playing the girl. We only have one birthday for SUNDAY IN GINNY, but that also gives me a chance to make a correction. Cinematographer Paul K. Lerpae (1900) was responsible for Special Photographic Effects on the BIG BROADCAST OF 1937. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1947 for Special Effects for UNCONQUERED. He won a Technical Achievement Award in 1945 for the design and construction of the Paramount traveling matte projection and photographing device. One part artist, one part inventor. I decided to put both a mini poster and sheet music for the film together with Mr. Lerpae's photo to make it more festive and discovered an omission from Saturday. If you can make out the top of the music you'll see it was written by Leo Robin. Obviously, he worked on more Weidler films than just SOULS AT SEA.

The theme music that runs all the way through Sophie's Choice makes me tear up. And, for some reason, the Patton March has run through my head virtually every day since 1970.

I never explained why Arthur Murray made yesterday's list. I call this post "Arthur Murray Tried To Hire Her In A Hurry!" The top clipping is from Hedda Hopper in September 1947. We know that Ginny was a well known jitterbug in Hollywood dance halls and at parties prior to her marriage (she won the cup at Jane Withers birthday two years running), but apparently she hadn't lost a step six months into marriage and pregnant, I think. Jean Porter wrote that many of their outings during her adult life were still to go dancing, so she never gave it up. The clip below the photo is from 1942 and tells us that she had "teaching experience" before Murray ever made his offer.

Technically, Spencer Tracy (1900) did appear in YOUNG TOM EDISON. He was staring at the portrait of the real Edison right before the curtain closed on the film. Tracy was one of the great legends and it's a pity that Ginny couldn't have added him to her fairly remarkable list of castmates. Richard H. Riedel (1904) was a long time art director at Universal. He served as the Associate Art Director on THE UNDER-PUP and Ginny's Janet Cooper from that film will stand in for him. Bit role master Ray Cooke (1905) gets two photos because I hate the screen capture where you can see his face, but the shot I like doesn't show his face at all. Ray's speciality seems to have been bellhops and sailors. He was popular as the star of the TORCHY shorts in the early 1930s. Grady Sutton (1906) is another one of those guys. You've seen him hundreds of times if you watch old movies. He generally played the naive country boy, sort of a quieter Gomer Pyle. He played Peter Dover in LADDIE. He worked in Hollywood from 1925 through 1979, when he appeared in ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL. Bette Davis (1908) is a legend that Ginny did get to add to her list thanks to a loanout. Bette played Henriette Deluzy Desportes in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO. Most reviewers think the film is good, but that Warners was trying a little too hard. Bette received an Oscar nomination that year, but not for this film. It was for THE LETTER, the Davis film released right after this one. Gordon Jones (1911) was a rarity. He played Ginny's dad in OUT WEST WITH THE HARDYS and was one of the few on screen dads she ever had that didn't look like her grandfather. If anything he's a little too young, although I think her Jake was supposed to be three years younger than Ginny really was. I saw him in lot of westerns and, in a bit of odd casting, he played Britt Reid in the serial of THE GREEN HORNET in 1940. When he was the Hornet, the studio dubbed in the voice of the radio actor who played the character. Jack Matthias (1915) was Harry James arranger when BEST FOOT FORWARD was made and for sometime after. We'll let a pic of James and Blind Date represent him.

I know you've been wondering where it was. It's time for TODAY IN GINNY! First up, Samuel S. Hinds (1875) was an attorney who didn't make the career switch until he was over 50. He was very busy over the next twenty plus years playing, attorneys, businessmen, policemen, doctors, and in this photo clergy. He was the captain in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936, Rev. Fellows in TIMOTHY'S QUEST, and Dr. McKay in THE UNDER-PUP. He's best known for playing the late, lamented Peter Bailey in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Richard Rosson (1893) was a busy actor in the silent era who went behind the cameras during the talkies. Much of his work was as a 2nd Unit Director as he was on TOO HOT TO HANDLE. While he worked steadily, he's probably best known for being the brother of Academy Award winning cinematographer, Harold Rosson. Arthur Murray (1895) was a world famous dance instructor. He's seen here with his wife Kathryn, who generally did his speaking for him as he had a stutter. A later post will clear up how he got here on the list. Agnes Ayres (1898) is one of those silent era stars who could not transition to talkies. She was reduced from stardom to walk ons in the 1930s. She was a townswoman in MAID OF SALEM and had a bit role in SOULS AT SEA. Mary C. McCall Jr. (1904) was a screenwriter who served as President of the Screen Writers Guild twice (1942-44), (1951-52). She wrote many of the Maisie screenplays including GOLD RUSH MAISIE. Sothern and Weidler reprersent. Last, but certainly not least, is Gene Reynolds (1923). He was Tommy Wilks, the boy who first defends Patsy then becomes her full fledged boyfriend in BAD LITTLE ANGEL. After a very successful child actor run and a smaller adult one, Gene went behind the cameras and had a much larger career in television as a director, producer, and writer. He was a major influence in these roles to the TV version of M*A*S*H and earlier to MY THREE SONS. And if anyone knows him, please ask him to answer my letter. (gf)

I found this Frank Sinatra rumor-that Virginia had passed on the opportunity to be in a Frank Sinatra movie in 1944. Ever since, I've been trying to figure out what movie it could have been. Frank was still bouncing from studio to studio; he worked at Paramount and MGM with Dorsey, then made two films at RKO before settling in at MGM in 1945. None of those films seem to need a bobby soxer. So I wondered if it's possible he was sought after to make the film mentioned at another studio and then the plan fell through. Just like all those Ginny films Paramount would announce then never make. This film, with Bob Crosby, would seem to fit plot-wise, age-wise and timeline-wise. Lynn Merrick played the older sister and radio's Louise Erickson, one year younger than Ginny, played the bobby soxer. Several theatres around the country ran bobby socks contests to promote the film. And the film was released in late 1944...