ginnyfan

I like GOLD RUSH MAISIE quite a bit, and I wish MGM had put Weidler with Sothern more often. That's the second film I wound up looking at yesterday. I told the VWRS I was looking at BLA after OZARKS, but then I realized I didn't even watch Maizie after recording it. I generally like the Maizie films. It was a pretty good series. GOLD RUSH is pretty heavy in places and I thought it interesting that because of where the family had come from, Weidler got to do the same accent in GOLD RUSH as in OZARKS.

TODAY IN GINNY is light. Jonathan Hale (1891) is one of those Hollywood faces you just know. If Ginny had been The Saint's daughter rather than The Lone Wolf's, she'd have seen him as Inspector Fernack. He was Mr. Dithers in the Blondie films. His trip into Ginnyworld consists of having played Long in MEN WITH WINGS. He no doubt interacted with the adult Peggy rather than Ginny's age 8 version. Screenwriter Elizabeth Reinhardt (1909) was one of two women who wrote the screenplay for GOLD RUSH MAISIE. She wrote a couple more Maisies and is best remembered for LAURA and SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY. I found no photo, so here's a poster from the film altered to put our favorite where a sepia "gold rush girl" used to be. Suzanne Kaaren (1912) was a beauty who graced trading cards before she graced movies. she performed with everyone from the Three Stooges to William Powell to Bela Lugosi. Her favorite role was her scenes opposite Powell and Frank Morgan (two more Weidler Stock Company members) in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. Here we see her as Princess Mara in THE WOMEN, but she was also "young girl in negligee" in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936. That's all I have, am I forgetting anyone???

It is finally time for TODAY IN GINNY! ginnyfan has never been so thankful for a short list as he is tonight. First up, we have Frank Hagney (1884). Hagney is a strong candidate for hardest working man in show business, with an amazing 424 credits on IMDb. His first film was released in 1919 and his final credit was in 1967 on TV's Daniel Boone. Along the way he was in THE PALEFACE, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, THE HARDER THEY FAL and TEEN-AGE CRIME WAVE. I'd also like to point out that he was a plant guard in BABY FACE NELSON starring frequent Weidler Stock company player Mickey Rooney and Tara Gordon's father Leo (yaay!) When I saw that he was the Electrical Lineman in THIS TIME FOR KEEPS, I had to scan through the film to determine who that was. It's actually a key role. He's seen here accepting the 2 cent lemonade from Harriett and making the mistake of asking the difference between the 2 cent and 3 cent lemonade. The answer leads to a spittake worthy of Danny Thomas himself. Hal Walker (1896) was the Assistant Director on Timothy's Quest, the film where Dickie Moore spanked Ginny in the film and then they both spanked the director for a publicity shot. Walker was a safe distance away from that action. He's seen here after he became a director, getting no respect from Hope, Crosby, or Lamour on the ROAD TO BALI. Judith Evelyn (1913) starred in Ginny's Broadway play THE RICH FULL LIFE. I've already caught a mistake about that on Wikipedia which I'll need to fix later. She may be the first American actress to go directly from Broadway to TV without passing through the movies since she did a TV production of her hit play ANGEL STREET right after THE RICH FULL LIFE had folded.

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote} > *THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION (1943)* > > Virginia Weidler, who usually gives decent performances in her pictures, seems to be at her least convincing in this narcissistic MGM romp about a teen (Weidler) who disrupts the lives of movie stars with her best friend (Jean Porter) for just one more autograph, please! Clark Gable does not appear in this confection, because he's off at war. But countless other MGM contract players have been drafted into service, such as Lana Turner, Greer Garson, and Walter Pidgeon, to mention a few. > > Weidler can be forgiven for being at that awkward stage of life known as adolescence, though someone has tried to glamorize her a bit too much in order to be taken seriously as an average American girl in this picture. But what is most distressing is that she has received direction in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION that allows her to run the gamut from silly to sillier. And to say she is over-acting on occasion is putting it mildly. Secondary star Porter is not much better, and at times her Texas accent seems to rub off on Weidler, who hails from Eagle Rock, California. > > Several noteworthy character actors are present, but their talents are largely wasted. Agnes Moorhead as an out-dated governess has probably her most thankless role ever, and is permitted to shriek like Fanny Amberson in one of her other pictures. Edward Arnold, as Pop, tries valiantly but seems almost grandfatherly. > > There are several subplots, some more entertaining than others. But this writer was distracted by the fact that some of the stories were recycled from other MGM films, as were some of the sets. The kitchen and the dining room seem to have been left over from THE AFFAIRS OF MARTHA, an earlier Weidler production. > > Speaking of Weidler, how come her character doesn't recognize the fact that the actors playing her family are also under contract to MGM? And how come Weidler's character doesnt realize that Weidler herself is an MGM actress? I guess that would mean she would have to ask herself for her own autograph, and then there wouldn't be much need to haunt hotels and cruise the streets until Mr. Gable returns to town. > > Ouch. While I certainly didn'tt find it to be a stellar effort, I certainly did find it to be a more pleasant outing than you did. As far direction goes, this was also Edward Buzzell who would tone Virginia down in BEST FOOT FORWARD to the point where she almost disappeared from parts of the film, at least when compared to her exhuberant castmates. I haven't seen much of Jean Porter's work but she strikes me as an actress with only one speed. It worked a lot better later in CRY DANGER than it did here. Still, I kind of liked their Lucy/Ethel thing a lot better than I liked any other part of the film and would not have minded seeing them work again with a better script than this one. I think we discussed Moorhead privately last week and I now realize that they already had a better person to play this busybody governess in the cast, Sara Haden. I read another reviewer last year who made a similar point about Weidler concerning her chasing MGM stars, but I don't think that individual was being as tongue-in-cheek as you were. The reveiewer said she couldn't believe that anyone who had held her own with Hepburn and Grant could get excited by Walter Pidgeon.

TODAY IN GINNY features a few birthdays and a release of a film we will never see... Arthur Hoyt (1873) was a character actor in films from 1914 up through 1947. He's best known, if that's the right word, for getting regular employment from Preston Sturges in his various efforts. Like the more successful Donald Meek, he played little men, professors, doctors, coroners. He played the little man entering Nick's in BABES ON BROADWAY. Edward Fielding (1875) entered Ginny's world by playing Dr. Louis in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO. Nowhere near as prolific an actor as Arthur Hoyt, his parts were a little bigger than Hoyt's though usually still uncredited. He started out high, playing Dr. Watson in a 1916 silent of SHERLOCK HOLMES and ended in an uncredited role as Dean Barker in Joan Leslie's CINDERELLA JONES, which was released several months after his death. The photo is of him as one of the Mayo Clinic doctors in PRIDE OF THE YANKEES. Mexican born Joe Dominguez (1894) got steady work in westerns and as servants. Both those categories were met when he played Jose the servant in OUT WEST WITH THE HARDYS. The photo is of a much older Joe trying to get himself understood as the grandfather in I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS! Muriel Roy Bolton (1908) was a screenwriter who seemed to specialize in teen comedy. She ended up writing five Henry Aldrich films, a film called MICKEY with Lois Butler where the title character sounds a lot like Ginny's characters prior to the late career makeover, and another called MEET MISS BOBBY SOCKS in which Louise Erickson sounds like she's playing a Ginny clone. Muriel apparently learned a lot and built up a reputation from writing for Virginia in what was Ms. Bolton's first effort at film after a brief career writing plays. Oddly, late in her career she suddenly switched from comedy to writing noirs and later wrote many episodes of TV's THE MILLIONAIRE. I found no photo so I'm using a pic of Ginny as Harriett wishing she were a boy because, "I could do the same things I do now and no one would care." We also have a milestone in that LADDIE was released by RKO on this date in 1935. I've never seen it, you could probably fill a small auditorium with people today who have seen it and I hold no hope that I will ever see it. Suffice it to say that Virginia got great reviews and the film jump started her career. RKO and Paramount, especially RKO, had a much better idea of who Virginia Weidler should be than the more prestigious MGM ever did.

Virginia Weidler's birthday is this Thursday and we at the VWRS have decided to celebrate by each picking a film featuring Ginny, watching it, and commenting on what we chose and why over on the Facebook site. Anyone who'd like to join me by participating and commenting here is more than welcome. I've started a thread in the CFU In Exile forum for the celebration. For those who have no Weidler films in their collections, there are several clips on YouTube of trailers and scenes from various films. By the way you get extra credit if you eat some cottage cheese, Ginny's favorite food, while watching! Please drop by the thread or the Facebook page! We'd love to hear from you! I'll be back later with today's co-stars.

*Spencer Tracy & Mickey Rooney* Six pictures together, including RIFFRAFF and, of course, BOYS TOWN. Gee, that's only two more than Mickey and somebody else I can think of...

It's time for TODAY IN GINNY. First up is the 22nd and 24th POTUS, Grover Cleveland (1837). "But how can that be, ginnyfan?", you ask, "Cleveland died years before Virginia was born and her parents were living in Germany back then! "And besides, everyone knows her policy on the gold standard was completely in conflict with Cleveland's!" Well, there is a small connection. Cleveland was the first sitting President to be filmed with a motion picture camera and he was filmed by the company owned by Ginny's "brother", Thomas Edison. Watch TCM at 8PM (EDT) on Sunday if you don't believe me. Jazz composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844) realized that one day there would be a Harry James appearing in a film called BEST FOOT FORWARD and that Harry would need a number to wow the audience. So Nikolai left "The Flight of the Bumblebee" behind. I don't think even he anticipated the whole "Green Hornet" thing. Robert Emmett O'Connor (1885) was obviously born a day later than intended based upon his name. He was a fine character actor. I probably remember him best as Henderson in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, but that just shows how little I know about movies. I've seen him credited plenty of times, but most of his 216 roles were uncredited. He was the Train Conductor in BEST FOOT FORWARD and played the role so convincingly that he was later the motorman in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. Ben Hall (1899) slips in just because I'm in charge here. He played a clerk in GIRL OF THE OZARKS and then discovered he was cut out of the film when he paid his 15 cents to see it. He's seen here praying that Wyatt likes his haircut in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE. Jody Gilbert (1916) played the neighbor's maid Hadwig in THE AFFAIRS OF MARTHA. A lot of her 111 roles were assigned based on her size. She played a bearded lady in one of the Maisie films and may be the only actress to have worked on both a Virginia Weidler film and on Starsky and Hutch, I don't know. Anne Howard (1925) was one of Virginia's contemporary child actresses. She played Isabelle Loullard in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO. She appeared with fellow TIGer Ann Gillis in LITTLE MEN. As an adult she kept her hand in the game by appearing in 42 episodes of GUNSMOKE as one of Kitty's saloon girls.

Tonight In Ginny O'Weidler features four birthdays. Winifred Harris (1880) played Mrs. North, a society woman, in THE WOMEN. She appeared in more than seventy films between 1914 and 1956. She played a lot of upper class matrons and was an English Lady getting a visa in NINOTCHKA. She appeared in a 1929 film starring Richard Dix called THE LOVE DOCTOR which has piqued ginnyfan's curiosity. Alas, the film has not been shown anywhere in more than fifty years. Ted Adams (1890) was a cowboy actor from Cornell University. He appeared in just under 200 films, usually as a cowboy villain and usually for the lowest budget studios. Since HENRY GOES ARIZONA was kind of, sort of an oater, MGM called on Adams to play Rancher Buzz Sawyer (get it?). Dolly Tree (1899) was a costume designer in both Europe and the United States. Many of her fans consider her to be terribly underrated, especially when compared with the better remembered Ert? and Adrian. She was responsible for wardrobe on three of Virginia's films. STAMBOUL QUEST and TOO HOT TO HANDLE aren't surprises, but I was a little shocked to see GOLD RUSH MAISIE on the list. I guess that proves her range. Sherry Shourds (1906) was the assistant director on ALL THE AND HEAVEN TOO. Shourds was, in fact, an Academy Award nominated Assistant Director in 1936 for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. I have chosen a movie poster from THE BIG PUNCH (1948), the only feature Shourds ever directed, to represent. Edited by: ginnyfan on Mar 17, 2013 8:57 PM

"Those stairs lead to the roof!" -from the duubed English version of El ata?d del Vampiro (1958) starring Abel Salazar. The way the American actor doing the dub delivered the line like it was the most important information in the world always cracked me up. All the dubbed Salazar films can be fairly humorous.

Thanks for the St. Pat's shoutout. Going back a couple of days, I've never seen the earlier version of Galahad, but I have to admit that the Presley one has become a bit of a guilty pleasure.

TODAY IN GINNY has but one birthday, that of I.A.R. Wylie, Australian-British-American author. She wrote over 30 stories that were made into movies, the most famous being KEEPER OF THE FLAME. She wrote the story THE UNDER-PUP. She also apparently called her autobiography, MY LIFE WITH GEORGE. George was what she called her subconscious ego. When I started checking my TIG birthdays this morning I noticed the it's Ernie Hare's birthday. In an odd coincidence I had noticed that yesterday was Billy Jones' birthday. Jones and Hare were a vaudeville team who sang novelty songs and told really bad puns in the middle of them. They were quite popular on stage and in radio in the 1920s. When their 15 minute daily show was sponsored by Happiness Candy, they called themselves The Happiness Boys. That is what the few who remember them know them by. At one time, they were sponsored by Tastee Bread and called themselves The Tastee Loafers. You get the idea of the level of humor just from that. I learned of them many years ago while listening to THE BIG BROADCAST, a weekly old time radio show in Washington DC. It's still on the air to this day, but I haven't heard any Jones and Hare in a long, long time. Since we only have the one pic to post, I've added a photo The Happiness Boys, The Tastee Loafers, Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, who are also birthday boys this weekend. Edited by: ginnyfan on Mar 16, 2013 10:05 PM

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}Did I miss something? Did you have a chance to speak to Jean Porter? No, I guess I should have written "Jean Porter wrote". Everything I know about Jean's story came from her article for Classic Images in 2003. She only sent me an autograph, no questions were answered. And thanks for the congrats. I actually hadn't checked this week.

As far as I know, the last thing Virginia did professionally was hosting that daily variety show in San Diego while her husband was stationed there in 1951-52. After that, we found a clipping saying that she, Contance Bennett and one other actress I can't recall at the moment had started a thetre group in Washington DC. Both she and Bennett were married to military men, so I guess tnat's why they were both in DC. By 1954 or 55, the Krisel family was stationed in Cuba, where they'd be until Castro came to power. So that took care of the 1950s. They then built the house in Brentwood and she spent the last years of her life very involved in her son's schools and in the interests I mentioned in the last post. Jean Porter says they went on a lot of outings together. Colorado is right that there is reason to believe that Virginia was practicing Christian Science and was probably caring for her heart condition solely with diet, rest, and prayer. I'm saddened and feel a little cheated by her early exit from show business and her early death, but she wasn't a tragic figure like so many child stars became.

TODAY IN GINNY: Montagu Love (1880) was born Harry Montague Love and was a reporter and illustrator during the Boar War. He played nobles and villains, going up against the likes of Barrymore, Valentino and Errol Flynn. He played Marichal Sebastiani in ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO. Michael Mark (1880) is best known for his roles in science fiction and horror pictures. He also played a large collection of vendors, cabbies and elevator operators. He had a continuing role as Pop Palooka in the Joe Palooka series. He was a headwaiter in STAMBOUL QUEST and he's seen here in THE WASP WOMEN. It's hard to picture George Brent (1899) in the arms of someone other than Bette Davis, but he was the male lead, Douglas Beall, in STAMBOUL QUEST and is seen here with the pic's true star, Myrna Loy. Murray Cutter (1902) was the orchestrator on TOO HOT TO HANDLE, another Loy film with Ginny. He worked on films like THE HUMAN COMEDY, THE MORTAL STORM, and THE WIZARD OF OZ. I like those enough that I don't even hold A SUMMER PLACE against him. Here Ginny is seen as Hulda seeing Myrna off to rescue Hulda's father in THTH. Bandleader Harry James (1916) stretched out his acting chops to play Harry James in BEST FOOT FORWARD. Dancer/Actress Carol Adams (1918) was in NAVY BLUES at age five after being discovered playing in her aunt's front yard. She had lots of small roles as co-eds and dancers through the 1930s and graduated to ingenue roles in the early 1940s. She was fourth billed in RIDIN' ON A RAINBOW behind Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette and the wonderful Mary Lee. She was a dancer in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937. Finally, today is the day that YOUNG TOM EDISON when into general release in 1940. It will make it to your home on March 24.

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}I watched OUT WEST WITH THE HARDYS today, and I was genuinely impressed with how well Ginny does in a somewhat limited role. She has some comic bits (the boiling of the boots) and some rather dramatic scenes (the horse's leg). She and Rooney were truly dynamic together. > > When I read a user review for the film at the IMDB, I came across comments about her and how she died at age 42 from a heart attack. It really does seem unfair that she passed away so young. > It's a really good role for her, and we found some sources indicating that the role was actually cut after previews because the audiences liked her too much and MGM worried it would be to Mickey's detriment if she did too well in support of him. It looked to me like they had cut down the entire western segment of the film. They wasted almost a half hour in Carvel before the trip and then were back home for the last 10 minutes of the movie. The western stuff had really just gotten started and they were going home. I also thought that Mickey played Andy at his absolute broadest in the film. Andy was a little more believable in other entries in the series. As far as her death goes, we found an article from February 1968 in which one of her relatives talked of how well she was in retirement and that she played music, she knew several instruments coming from that family, and was always working on learning new languages. Her heart condition was the same as Bobby Darin's and something made her fade fast that spring. It was really more of the heart failing than an attack as she had time to have all her family present when she died.We've actually determined her to have been 41. I am curious to know at what point her condition might have made any comeback impossible, but I doubt we'll ever know. Edited by: ginnyfan on Mar 15, 2013 8:49 PM

I like almost everyone listed in the Goddard film, how come I didn't know about it?

TONIGHT IN GINNY we've promised the Hays Office no more photos of Ina Ray Hutton!: Charles Reisner (1887) was the director on the second Rutherford-Weidler comedy, THIS TIME FOR KEEPS. He did a little bit of everything during his life. He was a boxer, a vaudevillian, wrote lyrics for musicals. Going to Hollywood he was first a gag writer, for Chaplin no less, then moved in to direction. He pretty much stuck to comedies, directing Jack Benny, the Marx Brothers and Joan Davis before retiring in 1950. Leota Lorraine (1899) generally played wife. dowager, woman and bit role. She played woman in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION. The only photo I found is this one of her in RUGGLES OF RED GAP. She's to the right, Mary Boland to the left. We celebrated Nancy Claster last week. This week it's her husband Bert Claster (1910). Once again, he qualifies because he hired talent for the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore around the time Virginia would have played there. In addition to creating Romper Room with his wife he also created the show on which all real Baltimoreans of the post war era dreamed of appearing, Duckpins For Dollars. The show was later franchised nationwide as Bowling for Dollars because God didn't choose to let everyone in the world have REAL bowling like Baltimore. Local columnist Dan Rodricks actually changed Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon intro to fit Baltimore by making the last line read, "...and the children are above average...duckpin bowlers!" That's DFD host John Bowman in the photo. At this point, I'm throwing in a poster from BARNACLE BILL not because it has anything to do with TIG, but because it balances out the collage. Les Brown (1912) touched Virginia's life in a couple of ways. His band shared the headline slot with Virginia all over vaudeville in the 1943-45 period. Additionally he employed her brother George, sister Renee, and sister-in-law Doris Day for varying lengths of time. George Offerman Jr. (1917) started in the movies in 1927, the year Ginny was born. He turned his career of small child roles into a career of small adult roles as he attained age of majority. His specialty seems to have been messenger boys. He had a rare credited role as Jerome Murphy, who I'm guessing was Ginny's brother, in SCANDAL STREET. Bradley Hail (1927) is listed as cadet in two films, THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR and BEST FOOT FORWARD. The role in BFF is listed on IMDb as "unconfirmed". We are going to assume it to be accurate and assume that he might have been one of the cadets in this scene.

Some days TIG is large, some days small. Some days TIG looks small but means more. Walter Walker (1864) moved into films after a long theatrical career. He played Dr. Barton in MRS. WIGGS and is seen here as a stage actor in 1906. Interestingly, he played "Judge Hardy"-no, not THAT Judge Hardy-in Barbara Stanwyck's A LOST LADY (1934). Henry Hathaway (1898) directed Virginia twice, in PETER IBBETSON and SOULS AT SEA. He directed a lkong list of my favorite films, including NIAGARA, THE DARK CORNER, and THE HOUSE ON 92nd STREET. He also directed great westerns, especially late in his career. He's seen here learning as Ginny does the actual directing of PETER IBBETSON after having pulled her "Hitchcock" by appearing in the film. The next photo is Ginny hanging out with Hathaway's dog. Herbert Kline (1909) was a top flight documentary director. HEART OF SPAIN, REHEARSAL FOR WAR, and CRISIS were just three of these. He is also credited with writing the story for LOVE IS A HEADACHE. Ina Ray Hutton (1916) is a two fer. She performed a specialty in the film THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936, filmed when Virginia was eight, and then shared the bill with Virginia on the Weidler War Bond tour of the summer of 1943. Obviously, she and Virginia were selling to two different audiences. If anyone has access to Hartford Courant archives, I'd love to see their articles on the Hartford stop as it appeared Virginia got a lot of press there. Here's one review of Virginia in tomorrow's film:

TODAY IN GINNY is a biggie for the first time in several days. On top of that, I have a bonus selection! First, we have a new oldest member of TIG. Composer Thomas Augustine Arne (1710) wrote "Rule Brittannia!" That automatically gets him hundreds of credits on IMDb. That tune was used as part of the "Chin up, Cheerio, Carry on" number in BABES ON BROADWAY. When I searched MGM's Asscociate Art Director Harry McAfee (1888), I got a bunch of photos of Paul Lynde. That's because Harry McAfee was Lynde's character in BYE, BYE BIRDIE. I almost used a Lynde pic just to see if anyone would get it. Instead we're using pics from YOUNG TOM EDISON. He also worked on I'LL WAIT FOR YOU. William A. Lee (1890) didn't get into the movies until he was 51. Playing Shorty, the Pitt-Astor Waiter in BABES ON BROADWAY was actually his first role. He only has 13 credits between then and 1959, the year he died. I just watched him play a newsstand owner in THE NARROW MARGIN and the picture is him as Sgt. Monahan in ST. BENNY THE DIP, Freddie Bartholomew's final film. Eddy Chandler (1894) had a long career playing almost exclusively cops. He was a motor cop in BORN TO SING and Mr. Briggs in YOUNG TOM EDISON. Milton Merlin (1905) was the screenwriter for HENRY GOES ARIZONA. He later co-wrote a book called "May You Live to Be 200", as well as his first novel at age 83. He was blacklisted from 1950-56 and claimed that it was solely because he had been president on the Radio Writers' Guild. I have no picture, so Ginny from HENRY is subbing. Lee Gold (1919) co-wrote the screenplay for THE AFFAIRS OF MARTHA. He did little else in movies or TV after that. Apparently the only internet photo of Lee is my screen capture from a couple of months ago, so we're repeating it. Billy Lee (1929) was Ginny's stable mate at Paramount and I find all of his photos to be scary, although I'm sure he was a good person. He was a trainbearer in THE BIG BROADCAST of 1937 and a "young boy" in OUTSIDE THESE WALLS. And a bonus, we salute the birthday of actress Helen Parrish (1923). I urge everyone to check out Bobby J. Sulecki's page for more information on her since I fear I'd get something wrong and I feel a little intimidated with the expert in our midst. Let me just say that she too died tragically young at age 35 and that I'm a big fan of her second husband, John Guedel, the brains behind YOU BET YOUR LIFE. Here's a further reminder about Thursday's TCM's IDES OF GINNY feature. I love these old newspaper ads. The first one I found didn't have Virginia in it at all, while these others display her prominently.

We are on a streak of short TODAYS these days. Leigh De Lacey (1878) was a three time Weidler Stock Company member. She was a neighbor of the O'Tooles in LOVE IS A HEADACHE, Train Passenger in YOUNG TOM EDISON (we'll need to look for her), and had the very descriptive role of "woman" in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION. Unlike most actors of her type, she doesn't have hundreds of uncredited roles posted, only 14. If she's remembered for anything at all, it might be for playing Charley Grapewin's wife in AH, WILDERNESS! We'll use an LIAH photo to represent. German born Harry Schultz (1883) played a lot of ...Germans! He was in several films as a German (fill in the blank). He played Kabarett Doorman in STAMBOUL QUEST. The photo is from the Laurel and Hardy short BEAU HUNKS. He was Sgt. Schultz in that one. And just to remind people about Thursday...

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}I am sure calvin will be posting the complete details soon. > > I just wanted to say that the evening of June 7th looks like a lot of fun: > > THE MALTESE FALCON 31 > SATAN MET A LADY > THE MALTESE FALCON 41 I really like that 1931 version. If only they would have cut that final scene...

I'm finally ready for TODAY IN GINNY. William Broadus (1880) was an African American actor probably best known for appearing as himself in the War Department documentary THE NEGRO SOLDIER. He appeared in five feature films from 1936-41 and one of those was TOO HOT TO HANDLE, where he played the Medicine Man. Cy Kendall (1898) made his career playing both sides of the law. In westerns, he was usually plotting to steal all the cattle or something equally dastardly. In contemporary settings, his roles alternated between criminals and lawmen. He was the police captain in BORN TO SING. Clare Boothe Luce (1903) was a writer, diplomat and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut. She was the managing editor of Vanity Fair before she reached the age of thirty. She also wrote THE WOMEN. Kenny Bowers (1923) was a singer/actor who appeared in both the Broadway play and film of BEST FOOT FORWARD as Dutch Miller. VWRS friend Ken Robichaux has a Kenny Bowers Fan club site in addition to the Tommy Dix one he runs. Kenny is seen here with June Allyson in a scene from the film.

TODAY IN GINNY is once again graced by but a single birthday. Walter Miller (1892) got his start in the movies in 1911 and would literally die on the set, suffering a heart attack in 1940 while filming GAUCHO SERENADE with Gene Autry. In his early days, he worked with D.W. Griffith; in later years, with Virginia Weidler. He was the First Flyer in TOO HOT TO HANDLE and is seen in the photo here as Joe, The Detective (the only cop the Fixer ever liked) in FIXER DUGAN. Ginny is whittlin' in the background.

TODAY IN GINNY I'm exercising my right to extend the definition of a "Ginny connection". First up is someone a lot of us just saw on Tuesday. Jessica Grayson (1886) played the Lyons family's "loyal old family retainer" Lily-bud in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION. She had a relatively brief film career that didn't even begin until she was in her fifties, but she did garner some plum assignments, although the opportunities were limited by the times. She is probably best known for playing Addie in THE LITTLE FOXES (1941). Actor Jack Perry (1895) had a full career of uncredited roles. He played a gangster in BORN TO SING. He was also a referee in CHAMPION, so I chose a poster from that film to represent him. Actor Phillip Terry (1909) joined the Virginia Weidler Stock company on two occasions. First he was a Club 44 radio man in LOVE IS A HEADACHE, then he was a SAN FRANCISCO airport official in TOO HOT TO HANDLE. Terry was the "MGM Crime Reporter" in several CRIME DOES NOT PAY shorts, and played Wick Birham in THE LOST WEEKEND. I know him because he appeared five Perry Mason episodes. If you look along the right side of the collage, you'll see my additions. First, Dorothy Arville (1880) played a restaurant singer in TROUBLE FOR TWO, a film that Ginny shot and was cut from. The second one is even more of a stretch. Nancy Claster (1915) created ROMPER ROOM in 1953 in Baltimore along with her husband Bert. The show, like Bozo, was then franchised nationwide and ran somewhere until 1994. Follow this tenuous thread of connection. Prior to their TV foray, the Clasters booked vaudeville variety acts for the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore. I don't know for sure that Virginia played the Hippodrome in the mid-1940s, but it was the most prestigious theatre in Baltimore. It has now been remodeled and hosts Broadway tryouts and touring productions.