ginnyfan

I've been apologizing a lot lately, but I'm a little under the weather this week and just forgot to post this last night. TODAY IN GINNY for April 3 starts with three co-workers and ends with more personal connections. Edward Ward (1900) was a staff composer at MGM from 1935-40. As such, he has credits for LOVE IS A HEADACHE, BAD LITTLE ANGEL, THE WOMEN, YOUNG TOM EDISON. I'm letting a movie poster for EL JOVEN EDISON represent him. Lois Austin (1901) is another society woman type. She played a shopper in BORN TO SING. She also has a connection to one of our other birthdays as she played the mother in the silent film shown during ON MOONLIGHT BAY (1951). Mary Anderson (1920) appeared in films in which Ginny also appeared on two occasions. She was an uncredited young girl in THE WOMEN and she played REBECCA JAY in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO. She may be best known for playing Maybelle in GONE WITH THE WIND. Leonard Sues (1921) was a child prodigy on trumpet and spent a lot of time on the MGM lot while Virginia was there. They didn't appear in any films together, though. They did, however, pose for a "soda with two straws" photo in 1945 and were romantically linked by gossip columnists. Finally, Doris Day (1922) was very briefly Virginia's sister-in-law after Miss Day made what everyone concedes was a major mistake and married Virginia's brother George. The marriage lasted a couple of years and for most of that time they were separated, I think. Doris' interest in Christian Science comes from her time as a Weidler.

Gee, if I had known that TODAY IN GINNY would consist of only one birthday, I could have combined the two entires. Well, it does and I didn't. Charles McAvoy (1885) is another one of "those guys" we keep running into. 152 roles, almost all of them "uncredited". Policeman, Policeman, Bank Guard, Counterman, Policeman, Policeman...you get the idea. The first role he received screen credit for was THOSE WHO DANCE (1930) with Lila Lee and Monte Blue. He played a prison guard. The last was as Barney Soper in the 1948 Rosalind Russell film, THE VELVET TOUCH. He had the role of Father in MAID OF SALEM. Since I found no pictures of Mr. McAvoy and I have few pics of Ginny from that film, here's Bennie Bartlett and Claudette Colbert to represent.

It was like these men (the characters, not the actors) secretly desired their daughters, that is the message that comes cross. And I forgot the worst one-Randolph Scott. His 1950s westerns always paired him with women 25-30 years younger than he. And he looked nowhere near as young as Cary Grant did.

It's finally time for YESTERDAY IN GINNY. One of these days ginnyfan will start planning his posts in advance and all this stuff will be ready to go...NAAAHHH! Wallace Beery (1883) is the big one. He starred as Bill Johansen, Ginny's childlike father in BARNACLE BILL. We have no reports that he pulled any mean, nasty tricks on Ginny as he was reported to have done with several other young co-stars. Since Ginny was smart enough to eat raw veggies and cottage cheese, he probably didn't want to steal her lunch as he later did to Margaret O'Brien. An Oscar winner for THE CHAMP, he was very big box office for MGM in the 1930s and ran into Ginny as his career was just starting to wind down. Ukrainian born Jack Chefe (1894) was a character player with over 330 credits. In the 1950s, he would regularly show up on PERRY MASON as a courtroom spectator. I wonder what he would have done if Perry had whirled around and accused him. When I look at his list, he played spectator a lot and was Croupier several times. He was a music teacher in OUTSIDE THESE WALLS. Is this him playing a barber in PITTSBURGH? I'm not sure. Frances Carson (1895) is another one of those actresses who regularly played dowagers, society matrons, and wives of the powerful. Her 16 characters rarely were given a first name. She was Mrs. Arthur Freeman in THIS TIME FOR KEEPS. Don English (1901) was a Hollywood still photographer who did the still work on MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH. The photo is one of his; it's of Paul Lukas and his wife. Bobby Jordan (1923) was one of the Bowery/Dead End/East Side guys I thought could actually act some. I never cared Gorcey or Hall, but I could support the Halops, Dells and Jordans. He seems a little out of place in Port Huron in YOUNG TOM EDISON, although the bully role fit him to a "T".

CONSPIRATOR gives us MGM's first on-screen pairing of Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor. The story is rife with political intrigue. It benefits from on-location filming in Europe, a somewhat suspenseful cold war plot, and top-notch studio production values. However, doesn't the ing?nue seem a bit too young to play a wife? In the story, she is meant to be 18 (but is actually 16 in real life); and Mr. Taylor's character is said to be 31 (but he is 37). At more than twice her age, he is old enough to be her father; and yet, this glaring fact is barely even mentioned and hardly a story point. One supposes that this is what is known in the film business as either suspension of disbelief or dramatic license. It certainly couldn't be a case of miscasting, could it? The age difference didn't bother me when I saw it, even though I recognized it. I think we expect such differences in the old movies, as long as the man is older. Look at a lot of 1950's Grant and Stewart films. It got pretty ridiculous.

IT'S A JOKE, SON! (1947)..Eagle-Lion..Kenny Delmar, Una Merkel, June Lockhart I loved Senator Claghorn on the Fred Allen Show, but I question if he could pull off an entire film. I need to see it.

Milland is a scientist who discovers a formula that makes a baseball which is repelled by wood in the comedy IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING. I used to watch this one with my dad every time it was on.

This was the cover photo at the VWRS today and we spent the whole day with nothing but Shirley posts. I'll be back to normal, such as that is, tomorrow.

There are four birthdays TODAY IN GINNY. Dudley Clements (1889) seen here drawing Van Heflin's ire played Wilkes, a town leader, in THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT. Clements only made 25 films, but was a bigger hit on Broadway regularly working with the likes of George Gershwin and George S. Kaufman. Victor Moore, Victor Kilian, George Murphy and Paul Kelly all played the boards with Dudley. Eddie Dunn (1896) was a Hal Roach gagman but still found the time to do straighter character parts. He was a newsreel man in TOO HOT TO HANDLE and a field employee in MEN WITH WINGS. Len Hammond (1907) wrote the original story for TOO HOT TO HANDLE. It was his only writing credit in Hollywood. Loy and Gable, the Queen and King, represent. Finally, Carmencita Johnson (1923) is someone the VWRS has discussed before and was Ginny's sister Asia in MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH. She started younger than Ginny, playing a baby in a film in the year of her birth. She played "Baby" 17 times in films before gaining a role with an actual name. Carmencita continued to work into her twenties, eventually compiling 59 titles to her credit. Her final role was in 1997 in the film IRISH WHISKEY.

I couldn't find a Virginia Weidler easter photo, so I had to do it myself!

In TODAY IN GINNY we have two birthdays. Alec Craig (1884) was in films with Virginia on two separate occasions. In 1939, he was the Marriage License clerk in THE LONE WOLF SPY HUNT. Two years later, he played MacDonald, one of Barton MacLane's henchmen in BARNACLE BILL. He's probably best known, if at all, for his role as Tim in NATIONAL VELVET. Born in Scotland, he played a lot of Scots during his career. Lowell Drew (1882) was the jury foreman in SOULS AT SEA. I don't think his role and that of Virginia overlapped in the film at all. He has a fairly small career as a character actor, appearing in only 23 films over 13 years. Only three of his roles were actually credited and his biggest was probably his first. He played Chester Greene in THE GREEN MURDER CASE, a William Powell/Philo Vance mystery. A copy of a glass slide from SOULS AT SEA represents him.

Yesterday In Ginny I got a little sidetracked... We only have one birthday in TODAY IN GINNY for March 29. Editor Robert J. Kern (1885) did his thing in two Weidler movies, THE WOMEN and BORN TO SING. If he had edited OUT WEST WITH THE HARDYS, I'd be cursing him this morning, but he didn't so he's OK by me. I have no photo of Mr. Kern and that gives me a great excuse to post the first of many images supplied to me by the member I'll call Danny P. Danny P has been finding some really sharp large images I either had in a very small form or I didn't have at all. In the shameless plug department, Danny P hosts a great page on Facebook for Martha Raye, one of Ginny's supporting players in THE BIG BROADCAST of 1937. Go like that page right now.

I love him in I WAKE UP SCREAMING. I read a bio of Raymond Burr last year and the author kept mentioning that most of the early interest in Burr was in hope he could be the new Laird Cregar.

Finally! It's TODAY IN GINNY! Helen Westley (1875) is just one more in the list of grand ladies of the theatre who turned to films late in their careers. In addition to playing Madame LeMaire in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO, she also worked with Anne Shirley and someone I can't quite remember... Grayce Hampton (1876) is probably best known as the Inmate Countess in THE SNAKE PIT. She was in two successive Weidler films, playing an old knitting woman in SOULS AT SEA and a dowager in the powder room in THE WOMEN. I found a pic of her knitting, but it's from THE BAT WHISPERS. Pandro S. Berman (1905) produced 115 films. Based on how many time I've read his name on a title card, I could have sworn it was 10 times that. Late in his career he produced SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH and BUTTERFIELD 8. Much earlier, he produced LADDIE and FRECKLES featuring Ginny. I suspect without her help he'd never have gotten that Thalberg in 1977.

ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL (1937) ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL is noted for Deanna Durbin's ability to sing and act. What a shame that most young female stars today cannot do either. Very real crying scene proved she was going to be special.

May Wynn & Jack Kelly Costars meet on set, get married, make a few pictures together, get divorced. This happens every day in Hollywood. James Garner liked him, didn't like her, thought she goaded Jack to be jealous over the Maverick billing. Another actress named after a role she played, looking back at that old thread.

First up, is Patty S. Hill (1868). An educator credited with revolutionizing early childhood education, she was never actively connected with Hollywood yet has over 300 movie credits. How? She and her sister Mildred wrote "Happy Birthday To You". It was sung in one Ginny film, MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS. Mariska Aldrich (1889) was an opera singer whose voice evolved from contralto to dramatic soprano. After her opera career, she dabbled in character parts in Hollywood, specializing in playing singers and other "big women". She was the singing teacher in THE WOMEN. David Clyde (1885) is nowhere near as remembered as his brother Andy. He did appear in 90 films prior to his death in 1945 including MRS. MINIVER, NOW, VOYAGER, and THE LOST WEEKEND. He played a lot of Scotsmen. He was Mac in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. Charles Lang (1902) was an Oscar winning cinematographer. He won for A FAREWELL TO ARMS. He won his TIG mention with MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH, PETER IBBETSON, and SOULS AT SEA. Mary Treen (1907) is "one of those faces". Once you've seen her in a couple of films, you start to chuckle when she walks into a scene. She walked into such scenes in over 200 films and television shows. IMDb says she's best remembered as Cousin Tilly in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Early in her career, she played Susy Abbott in MAID OF SALEM. A fun story about her is that after her husband died, she moved in with her old vaudeville partner, Marjorie Barrett, and they spent their final years reenacting their old routines for their senior friends. Guy Trosper (1911) is a screenwriter best known for the work he did late in his career. THE BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, ONE-EYED JACKS are all his. He is not remembered for I'LL WAIT FOR YOU, his first credit in Hollywood. I chose Ginny going heels over head for Robert Sterling to represent.

TODAY IN GINNY has but one birthday. If the Barrymores were the first family of American actors, I guess the Hallors were the second. Edith, Ethel, and Ray Hallor were siblings who worked on both the stage and in motion pictures. Ray had the biggest film career spanning fifteen years and 34 titles. Ethel, the shortest, with only five titles in five years. Edith (1896) had a 31 year film career with only 24 titles to her credit. She played a townswoman in MAID OF SALEM. The picture of her looks a bit like the Columbia Pictures logo, doesn't it?

We have six birthdays today, some more intriguing than others. First is Spencer Charters (1875). Like many of the others I've posted he worked on the stage until late in his career, then finished up by taking small character roles, retailers, judges, and the like. He got into some big features like HIGH SIERRA and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. He was the druggist in THE UNDER-PUP. Violet Seaton (1882) played a governess (not THE governess) in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION. She only had roles in 16 films, all very small. The photo is from a 1910 stage appearance in Seattle. Allan Cavan (1880) played a dignitary in SOULS AT SEA. He was in 164 films from 1919 through 1940. He played everything from newspapermen to doormen. Unlike many other actors of the era, he seems to have moved easily back and forth between westerns and other types of films. The photo is of him in LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT. Bandleader Leo Kempinski (1891) wrote much of the stock music used in FRECKLES. He didn't work for the movies much, but he did apparently compose music for the original score that went with Von Stroheim's GREED (1924). I didn't find a photo, but I did find this record label for one of his 78s. Child star Shirley Jean Rickert (1926) is the intriguing one on this list. Starting at age four, she was Shirley in several Our Gang shorts then moved on to team with Mickey Rooney in the Mickey McGuire shorts as Tomboy Taylor. As Shirley was reaching adulthood, she reentered the business as a dancer and it was in that role that she appeared in today's film BEST FOOT FORWARD. After struggling through the 1940s for dancer roles she finally became a star...in burlesque. Through the 1950s, she was the headlining stripper known as Gilda. If someone wants to see the more PG photos of Shirley as Gilda-you actually see worse on TMZ-you can easily Google them. Screenwriter Bertram Millhauser (1892) wrote the screenplay for SCANDAL STREET, one more Paramount movie Universal doesn't want you to see. He also has a connection to fellow TIGer Violet Seaton as she appeared in a Sherlock Holmes feature he wrote, THE WOMAN IN GREEN. Edited by: ginnyfan on Mar 25, 2013 9:00 PM

> {quote:title=lydecker wrote:}{quote}Gad. Is there a worse movie with more talented people in it?? Stumbled upon this > disaster this AM. I will admit I loathe these "come to the school dance" musicals but > this one seems particularly pointless. A memo must have been sent to the make-up > department with instructions to try to turn Virginia Weidler (who I worship) into a "Lana Turner-esque" glamour clone but she just looks wrong. Took me a few minutes to even realize that it was > Virginia Weidler. > > Lydecker As the ginnyfan I am, I can't leave this thread alone. MGM bought the rights to the play and then left little of it for the screen. Most of the songs were new, the play was set at a private school, not a military academy, Winsocki! opened the second act and was sung by a secondary character, not the lead. So Gil Stratton, the Broadway lead, was passed over so that Tommy Dix could sing Winsocki! as he had on Broadway. I suspect the Weidler makeover, which began with THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION, was as much her doing as MGMs. Her previous film to those two was THE AFFAIRS OF MARTHA, where they once again adapted a role written for an eleven year old for the fifteen year old Virginia. It seems she wanted to skip her teens and play the roles her older studio mates were playing, a major miscalculation on her part. Had her makeover been more gradual, her career might have survived. She went from playing younger than she was to older than she was with a six month layoff between MARTHA and YP and it messed everything up. She had just turned age sixteen as BFF wrapped. Her female castmates were three to ten years older than she. Virginia would compound this mistake a year later when she turned down a chance to play a bobby soxer similar to her parts in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION and BEST FOOT FORWARD in an early Sinatra film. When I spoke with Tommy Dix last fall he was stunned when he found out Virginia was fifteen when the film was shot. He said that Ball and Weidler were the mature heads who kept everything moving as Edward Buzzell was trying to keep retakes to a minimum. Buzzell told the cast they had limited film stock to work with as justification for the limited retakes, I believe. As far as the dubbing Arturo mentions goes, MGM would dub almost anybody short of Garland and Rooney. I think they dubbed Lansbury at times. In this film, they dubbed both Ball and Weidler even though Weidler had done her own singing in other films at the studio.

TONIGHT IN GINNY we have but one birthday! Jameson Thomas (1888) played Pelton in SOULS AT SEA. Born in London as Thomas Jameson, he worked regularly on the British stage in his youth then moved into films. After becoming disillusioned with British films, he came to the U.S. and worked in minor roles for the final decade of his life. In addition to his visit to Ginnyworld, he also appeared in JANE EYRE, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, and one of my favorites ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL The photo is from the Hitchcock 1928 entry THE FARMER'S WIFE. He played the farmer. CORRECTION: Two weeks ago, we celebrated the birthday of character actor Cy Kendall (I just watched him as the bad guy in a Richard Dix/Lucille Ball film the other night). When I listed his credits in the Weidler Stock Company, I omitted one. He also played an assayer in GOLD RUSH MAISIE. ginnyfan regrets the error but makes no promises that it won't occur dozens of times in the future. NOTE-I just made my 1500th post in the CFU IN EXILE Virginia Weidler Birthday Celebration thread. Please humor me and go look at it. A really wonderful child did something special for me on Ginny's birthday and I'd like everyone to see it! http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8744842#8744842 Edited by: ginnyfan on Mar 24, 2013 9:24 PM

TODAY IN GINNY features three birthdays. Hazel Dawn (1891) was a silent film and Broadway star known as "The Pink Lady". She played Lucy Shannon in the 1917 film THE LONE WOLF and actually got billing above the actor playing Michael Lanyard. When I looked up her photo I found two different Photoplay covers, so she must have been something. She quit acting after she married but came back for only one talkie. That role was as Hazel in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION. She later appear in four television plays before calling it a career in 1954. It's almost unfair to mention Cedric Gibbons (1893). As MGM's resident Art Director, his name automatically appeared in the credits of virtually every MGM picture, just like Recording Engineer Douglas Shearer. His name graced the credits of every film Ginny made at MGM. I wonder if he ever was actually on one of her sets. Last but certainly not least we have Joan Crawford (1906). Joan played the cheap, evil, hideous, terrible, not-so-nice, Crystal Allen in THE WOMEN. In addition to that she was also one of the biggest film stars of all time, so I don't see a need to blow her horn that much here. Besides, ginnyfan's research has noted that Crawford may have been helping Ann Blyth prepare for her test for Veda in MILDRED PIERCE, a role Ginny seemed certain for prior to Blyth's late audition. I guess Joan never forgave Virginia for that bathroom butt-kicking.

I was never much of a post-Desi Lucy fan although obviously millions of viewers were. I did watch LUCY IN LONDON which was part variety special and part extended episode of THE LUCY SHOW. The Dave Clark Five were one of the guests and I was a huge fan. Wikipedia states that even though it was the #1 show for its week, Lucy thought it so bad that she never did the other two specials on a three special deal CBS gave her to get another season of the sitcom.

I was actually worn out by yesterday's festivities, believe it or not. So, of course, we get an ultra long TODAY IN GINNY. ginnyfan reserves the right to skip the photos of those I can't find regularly, and I'm doing so today. First up is Rollo Lloyd (1883). He played Parchy in SOULS AT SEA. Compared to a lot of the stock players, he has relatively few credits at 65. I know I saw him in SMASHING THE RACKETS and THE SAINT IN NEW YORK, both made the year he died. IMDb mentions that Tay Garnett and Frank McHugh paid for his funeral. Rudolph G. Kopp (1887) provided some of the stock music for TIMOTHY'S QUEST. He would continue to provide music for shorts and smaller features into the 1950s. I didn't find a photo and I have very few of TQ either. William Royle (1887) was the second flyer in TOO HOT TO HANDLE. I believe we had the first flyer recently, too. He had 64 credits in a five year career. His biggest role was as Sir Dennis in THE DRUMS OF FU MANCHU. His first role was in the infamous REEFER MADNESS. The photo is from BLOCK-HEADS, I believe. Jim Corey (1888) played Man on Bus in HENRY GOES ARIZONA. No pic was found, but a screen capture of Kibbee, Morgan, and Weidler will substitute. Jim is one of those guys I'd be tempted to skip over, but I know better now. 333 credits, almost all westerns might rule him out as a co-star with many actors, but Ginny did enough films with rustic settings that these cowboy types sneak into. Joseph Schildkraut (1896) is the star of this group. A supporting actor Oscar winner for THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, he was also nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy during his career. He had been a leading man in the silents, but turned toward villainy and aristocracy inn his early sound work. As he grew older, his range of characters grew broader. He played Gaston de Bastonet in SOULS AT SEA. The photo is from ZOLA. FERN EMMETT (1896) is another Weidler Company regular. She played Lillian Johnson in SCANDAL STREET, Mrs. McCarney in YOUNG TOM EDISON, and Mrs. Miller in KEEPING COMPANY. She shows up in a lot of the series films, Aldrich, Gildersleeve, and had a regular gig in the Scattergood Baines films. The photo is from THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS. Tudor Williams (1896) played "uncredited" in BORN TO SING. I guess no one has identified him in there. An operatic bass, he played singers in a lot of his films, so maybe he was a chorus member. When I searched for a photo, I got pictures of a young voice actor of that name. Inez Cooper (1922) played Mrs. Jacell in THE AFFAIRS OF MARTHA. She appeared in 21 films from 1941-51. Her most memorable roles were as the female lead in Rusell Hayden's NORTH OF THE BORDER and as Pamela Driscoll in THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY.

Since I started doing the birthdays of actors who worked with Virginia Weidler in my thread, I've had several 300-400 credit people. I guess if you could get enough jobs only taking a day or two and you were dependable you could literally go from set to set. I've also noticed that players who did oaters tended to stay with only oaters, for tne most part, although they might branch into modern rustic setting films as well. Edited by: ginnyfan on Mar 22, 2013 9:27 PM