42nd Street (1933).

42nd Street(1933). A Warner Bros. musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon with choreography by Busby Berkeley. The songs were written by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). 42nd Street was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1934.

Broadway director Julian Marsh, ignores his weak heart, because he really wants to direct the new musical, "Pretty Lady" with producers Jones and Barry.

The leading lady, Dorothy Brock, has been already cast by her "sugar daddy" Abner Dillon. In a casting call, Marsh and his stage manager, Andy Lee, audition the dancers, choosing: Lee's girlfriend Loraine Fleming, a gold digger nick-named "Anytime Annie" and Peggy Sawyer.

Billy Lawler, falls in love with Peggy, but she has eyes for Pat Denning, Dorothy's lover and ex-partner.

Pat is getting tired of Dorothy's acting career and leaves for Philadelphia to live his own life. During the cast party.. Dorothy gets drunk, fights with Pat and sprains her ankle.

The next evening, Peggy goes in her place and becomes a overnight star.

Now.. she realizes that she really does love Billy, just as Dorothy admits that what she really wants is to retire and marry Pat.

This is a really charming musical with a top notch cast. One of my favorite scenes is during a drunken cast party the night before the musical opens. I also love the musical number..."Young and Healthy" with Powell running around in his underwear.

 

Bebe Daniels (January 14, 1901 - March 16, 1971) made over 230 films. Daniels father was a theater manager and her mother a stage actress.

The family moved to Los Angeles, California and she began her acting career at the age of four in, The Squaw Man. That same year she also went on tour in a stage production of, Shakespeare's Richard III.

The following year she participated in productions by Morosooa and David Belasco. By the age of seven Daniels had her first starring role in, A Common Enemy.

At the age of nine she starred as Dorothy Gale in the 1910 short film, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

At the age of fourteen she starred opposite film comedian Harold Lloyd in a series of Lonesome Luke two-reel comedies starting with the 1915 film, Giving Them Fits. The two began a romantic relationship and were known in Hollywood as... "The Boy" and "The Girl."

In 1919, she accepted a contract offering from Cecil B. DeMille, who gave her secondary roles in such films as: Male and Female (1919), Why Change Your Wife? (1920), and The Affairs of Anatol (1921).

In the 1920's, Daniels was under contract with Paramount Pictures. She became an adult star by 1922 and by 1924 was playing opposite Rudolph Valentino in, Monsieur Beaucaire.

Following this she was cast in: Miss Bluebeard, The Manicure Girl, and Wild Wild Susan. Paramount dropped her contract with the advent of talking pictures.

Daniels was hired by Radio Pictures (later known as RKO) to star in one of their biggest productions of the year. She also starred in the 1929 talkie Rio Rita. It was one of the most successful films of that year and Bebe Daniels found herself a star and RCA Victor hired her to record several records for their catalog.

As did many stars of her day, she used the therapeutic services of Sylvia of Hollywood to stay in shape.

Radio Pictures starred her in a number of musicals including: Dixiana (1930) and Love Comes Along (1930).

Towards the end of 1930's, Bebe Daniels appeared in the musical comedy, Reaching for the Moon. However, by this time musicals had gone out of fashion so that most of the musical numbers from the film had to be removed before it could be released. Daniels had become associated with musicals and so Radio Pictures did not renew her contract.

Warner Brothers realized what a box office draw she was and offered her a contract which she accepted. During her years at Warner Brothers she starred in: My Past (1931), Honor of the Family (1931) and the 1931 pre-code version of The Maltese Falcon.

In 1932, she appeared in, Silver Dollar (1932) and Busby Berkeley's choreographed musical comedy 42nd Street (1933) in which she sang. That same year she played opposite John Barrymore in, Counsellor at Law.

Her last film for the Warner Brothers was Registered Nurse (1934).

She retired from Hollywood in 1935. With her husband, film actor Ben Lyon, whom she married in 1930 and moved to London.

A few years later, Daniels starred in the London production of, Panama Hattie in the title role originated by Ethel Merman.

The Lyons then did radio shows for the BBC. Most notably, the series Hi Gang!, continuing for decades and enjoying considerable popularity during World War II. Daniels wrote most of the dialogue for the Hi Gang radio show. The couple remained through the days of the The Blitz. Following the war, Daniels was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Harry S. Truman for war service.

In 1945 she returned to Hollywood for a short time to work as a film producer for Hal Roach and Eagle-Lion Films.

She returned to the UK in 1948 and lived there for the remainder of her life.

Daniels, her husband, her son Richard and her daughter Barbara all starred in the radio sitcom Life With The Lyons (1951 to 1961), which later made the transition to television.

Beauty for Sale (1933)

Una Merkel

Beauty for Sale (1933). A film about the romances of three beauty salon employees. It was based on the novel Beauty by Faith Baldwin. Cast: Madge Evans, Alice Brady, Otto Kruger, Una Merkel, May Robson and Hedda Hopper.

Madge Evans

Letty Lawson, has just run out of the money that her parents have given her to attend beauty school and now needs to make a living for herself. Her room mate, Carol helps Letty, land a job at Madame Sonia's, the salon where she works. Letty, is sent to the home of her first client Mrs. Henrietta Sherwood.

After Henrietta's manicure, Letty finds that her hat has been chewed up by Henrietta's dog, which Mr. Sherwood insists on paying for. When Letty returns to Madame Sonia's, she finds that her hat has been replaced by a very expensive hat.

While Letty, begins seeing Sherwood, Jane, another beautician, becomes involved with Burt Barton, Madame Sonia's son. Jealous of Sherwood's gifts to Letty, Bill confronts Letty, telling her that she is no better than Carol. Wanting to live her life without everyone passing judgement on her, Letty, decides to move in with Jane.

That evening, Letty joins Sherwood for dinner on his yacht and learns that Henrietta is spending the summer in Maine. Sherwood, then confesses to Letty that he is not able to divorce his wife, but.. he loves her and wants to continue seeing her. Letty, asks for a week to think about it...

During the next week, Jane tells Burt, who is about to leave for Russia on an engineering job, that she is pregnant. Burt, promises to marry Jane, but.. Letty, sees him boarding the same ocean liner that Carol and Freddy are taking to Paris.

When Jane hears the news, she becomes hysterical and jumps from her apartment window to her death. Heartbroken, by both Jane's suicide and Carol's advise that she stay away from married men, Letty tells Sherwood, that she can no longer see him.

Later, Bill shows up at the shop and asks Letty for a date. Although, not attracted to Bill and his bad jokes, Letty, agrees to go on a date with him.

Sherwood, wanting to rebuild his marriage suggest to Henrietta, that they build a house in the country.

Out for a drive, Letty and Bill stop by the site of the Sherwood's beautiful new home, where Bill once again acts badly. Will Letty, have a change of heart about marring Bill?

Another Pre-Code film of the 1930s, with colorful performances by Madge Evans, Una Merkel and Alice Brady and I never miss a opportunity to see Hedda Hopper(actress, gossip columnist), in a film. There are also a couple of lines from Bill the boyfriend, that are such duds, that you would not believe someone would leave those lines in a film.

Alice Brady (born Mary Rose Brady, November 2, 1892 – October 28, 1939). Was interested at an early age in becoming an actress. Her father, William A. Brady, was an important theatrical producer, and her mother was Rose Marie Rene, who died in 1896 when Alice was four.

Alice first went on the stage when she was 14 and got her first job on Broadway in 1911 at the age of 18. She continued to perform there (often in shows her father produced) for the next 22 years. In 1931 she performed in the, Mourning Becomes Electra.

Her step-mother was Broadway star Grace George (1879–1961). Her half-brother was William A. Brady Jr, the son of her father Grace George. Brady's father moved into movie production and presentation in 1913,with his World Film Corporation, and Brady soon followed along after him, making her first silent feature appearance in, As Ye Sow(1914).

She performed in 53 films in the next 10 years, all while continuing to perform on stage. In 1923, she stopped performing in films to concentrate on stage acting, and did not appear on the screen again until 1933, when she made the move to Hollywood to perform in her first talking film, When Ladies Meet.

From then on she worked until her death, making another 25 films in seven years. Her final film was, Young Mr. Lincoln (1939).

Brady was married to actor James Crane from 1919 to 1922, when they divorced. They co-starred in three silent films together: His Bridal Night (1919), Sinners (1920) and A Dark Lantern (1920); the couple had one child, Donald.

Alice Brady, died from cancer on October 28, 1939, five days before her 47th birthday.

Riffraff (1936).

Riffraff(1936). Cast: Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. The movie was written by Frances Marion, Anita Loos, and H. W. Hannaford. Directed by J. Walter Ruben.

As the fishermen are all about to strike against tuna cannery boss Nick Lewis, Dutch Muller talks them out of it, realizing that Nick wants them to break their contract with him so he can hire cheaper labor.

On the day of Dutch's and Hattie's wedding, Dutch shows her their new home and tells her that he will be the new union head because Brains, is going to be replaced. As his first official act, Dutch calls for a strike.

Weeks after the strike Brains tries to work a settlement with Nick and replaces Dutch. Now broke, Dutch watches as their furniture is repossessed and refuses Brains's offer to take him back into the union. "Flytrap," arrives with Hattie's repossessed fur. Because Nick is in love with Hattie, he has paid all of her bills. Dutch, becomes angry with Brains when he tells him to give up his conceit. When Hattie agrees with Brains, Nick walks out.

Nick convinces Hattie to get a divorce, but.. she still refuses to marry him. When Dutch's friend Lew tells her that Dutch is sick and has been living in a hobo camp, she asks Nick for money, but he refuses. She takes it, leaving a note promising to pay him back, but at the hobo camp, Dutch jumps a freight to avoid seeing her. Nick then presses charges against her and she goes to prison, even though she is pregnant.

After the baby is born, Hattie's sister Lil takes care of him. Hearing that Hattie has been jailed, but not knowing about the baby, Dutch goes to Nick for help, but he refuses and the union also does not want him back. Dutch then goes to see Hattie with an escape plan, but.. she says she never wants to see him again.

She tells two other inmates about Dutch's escape plan and they convince her that it will work.

Meanwhile, Dutch goes to Brains begging for a job to help Hattie, and Brains gets him a job as a night watchman.

One rainy night, Hattie and two other women escape from prison through a drain pipe, but one of the women is killed. That same night, while Dutch is standing guard, his friend Belcher and some other men come to him with a plan about sabotaging the docks, but Dutch refuses to go through with it and stops their plans.

Hattie has arrived at Lil's and asks Jimmy to find Dutch, who has just heard about Hattie's escape. Jimmy tries to talk to him, but Dutch sends him away because, the police are there asking him questions. Will Jimmy ever return to Hattie and their baby?

 I'm a huge Jean Harlow fan and she looks wonderful in this movie. Spencer Tracy, plays a immature and bull headed character. Who, is always getting in arguments or fights at every opportunity. Not one of my favorite Spencer Tracy characters. Una Merkel, plays the sister and a very young Mickey Rooney, plays the brother.

Dorothy Appleby (January 6, 1906 – August 9, 1990) , performed in over 50 films between 1931 and 1943. Appleby was seen in many supporting roles and never progressed to leading roles in important pictures because of her height, which made her difficult to cast. The trim brunette stood just over five feet tall, and her early leading men (like comedian Charley Chase) towered over her.

She soon found steady if not prestigious work in Columbia Pictures' two-reel comedies. She appeared frequently with The Three Stooges, who were only a few inches taller than she was, and in 1940 she became Buster Keaton's leading lady, for the same reason: her height complemented his. She also worked with Columbia comics Andy Clyde, El Brendel, and Hugh Herbert.

Some of her Stooge comedies were Loco Boy Makes Good, So Long Mr. Chumps, and In the Sweet Pie and Pie. One memorable appearance was as Rosita in 1940's Cookoo Cavaliers. In the film, Appleby gets hit by the Stooges when a facial "mud pack" made of cement dries on her face.

One of her last screen roles was a one-line bit (playing a college co-ed at age 35) in the 1941 Jane Withers feature Small Town Deb. Appleby left Hollywood in 1943 and married musician Paul Drake soon after. They remained married until her death August 9, 1990.

Evelyn Prentice (1934).

Evelyn Prentice (1934). Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Una Merkel and Rosalind Russell in her film debut. The third of fourteen films pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy. The movie was based on the 1933 novel of the same name by W. E. Woodward.

Evelyn Prentice, is a lonely for her husband, defense attorney John Prentice, who has been working long hours on the beautiful Mrs. Nancy Harrison, manslaughter's case. Evelyn, meets a nightclub gigolo Lawrence Kennard.

Later, both John and Nancy find themselves on the same train headed for Boston, Evelyn receives a book of Kennard's poetry and an invitation to meet him. With the urging of her best friend, Amy Drexel, Evelyn accepts Kennard's invitation even though she is still in love with her husband.

Later, Evelyn receives a package containing a woman's watch, which has been inscribed "To Nancy, from John," and a note explaining that the watch was found in John's drawing room. Heartbroken, Evelyn excepts another date with Kennard but, breaks it off before anything serious happens between them..

Amy, shows Nancy's watch to John, who then tells her that Nancy planted it in his room to destroy his marriage. John or Evelyn talk about the watch and both agree to take a long trip to Europe with their daughter Dorothy. Before they leave, Kennard telephones Evelyn and demands that she come to his apartment.

There, Kennard shows Evelyn three letters that she had written to him and insists on $15,000 in blackmail payment. Evelyn panics and grabs a gun, just as Judith Wilson, Kennard's  girl friend, enters the apartment's back door and hears a gunshot in the next room. Evelyn, quickly returns home, determined to keep quiet about the shooting.

When she learns that Judith, has been accused of killing Kennard, Evelyn convinces John to postpone their trip to Europe and defend Judith. From Judith, John learns first that Kennard was seeing the "wife of a prominent man".

Judith's chances of acquittal do not look good and on the last day of the trial, worried... Evelyn decides to tell the truth. During the district attorney's summation, John receives Kennard's diary, in which Evelyn is identified as "the prominent wife." Evelyn, no longer able to keep quite any more interrupts the proceedings. Will and Evelyn surprise the court, with her testimony?

This is a beautiful art deco film, supported with wonderful performances by Powell and Loy. Also, Isabel Jewell, gives a emotional performance. Una Merkel, is always fun to watch. "Evelyn Prentice" is most definitely worth your classic movie time..

Isabel Jewell (July 19, 1907 – April 5, 1972), was a Broadway actress who achieved immediate success in, Up Pops the Devil (1930) and Blessed Event (1932). She was brought to Hollywood by Warner Brothers for the film version of the latter. Jewell performed in a many supporting roles during the early 1930s.

She played stereotypical gangster's women in such films as Manhattan Melodrama (1934) and Marked Woman (1937). She was well received playing against type, as an innocent seamstress sentenced to death on the guillotine, in A Tale of Two Cities (1935). Her most significant role was as the prostitute Gloria Stone in, Lost Horizon (1937).

In the mid to late 1930s, Jewell was seen at nightclubs with William Hopper (who appeared on Perry Mason and was the son of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper and stage star DeWolf Hopper). Jewell's films included: Gone with the Wind (1939) (in the role of "that white trash, Emmy Slattery"), Northwest Passage (1940), High Sierra (1941), and The Leopard Man (1943).

By the end of the 1940s, her roles had reduced in significance to the degree that her performances were often uncredited: Men in White (1934 – scenes deleted). She also performed in radio dramas in the 1950s, including This is Your FBI. In 1972, she performed opposite Edie Sedgwick in the film, Ciao! Manhattan. Her final film was the B movie Sweet Kill (1973).

On Borrowed Time(1939).

On Borrowed Time(1939). The film is based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin. Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Beulah Bondi and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Barrymore plays Julian Northrup, a wheelchair user (Barrymore had broken his hip twice and was now using a wheelchair, though he continued to act), who, with his wife Nellie, played by Bondi, are raising their orphaned grandson, Pud.


The story begins when, Death, who comes in the form of Mr. Brink, hitches a ride with Dr. James Northrup and his wife, causing a tragic car accident. They leave behind a young son Pud in the care of his grandparents, Julian Northrup and Nellie. Pud's aunt, Demetria Riffle, an old maid, pretends to care about the boy, but really only wants his inheritance. Gramps, knows exactly what she is up to.

When Mr. Brink comes for Gramps, he tricks him into the apple tree. Mr. Brink is not able to come down from the tree, because only Gramps has the power to free him. After their pet cocker spaniel dies after touching the tree, Gramps has a fence built round the tree to protect others.

Dr. Evans, soon believes that Death is trapped up in the apple tree, when several of his cases of certain death do not happen. Evans tries to disprove Gramps's story, but nothing dies, except a mouse that touches the apple tree. Evans begs Gramps to let Brink down. Saying that a world without death would cause people with incurable diseases, to suffer. Gramps, thinks about his own old age, but still cannot let Brink out of the apple tree.

The next day, Evans comes with papers to commit Gramps and turn Pud over to Demetria, convincing Gramps to let Brink out of the tree. After he breaks the news to Pud about his decision to go with Brink, Pud cries that saying he wants to go with Mr. Brink, too. Heartbroken, when Gramps tells him he can't come, Pud runs away. Gramps, pretends that Mr. Brink has said that Demetria and the sheriff are due to die soon. Marcia Giles, Gramps's housekeeper, also pretends that she heard it too, frightening Demetria and the sheriff into leaving. While Marcia and Gramps are looking for Pud. Mr. Brink calls him a "baby calf." Pud trying to climb the tree falls to the ground and is paralyzed. Will Gramps now call Mr. Brink from the tree?

This is a wonderful, magical, movie, with some very heartbreaking scenes. A movie you will not soon forget. One of my favorite Lionel Barrymore performances.

 

Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981). She made her Broadway debut in Kenneth S. Webb's "One of the Family" at the 49th Street Theatre on December 21, 1925.

She next performed in, Maxwell Anderson's "Saturday's Children" in 1926. It was Bondi's performance in Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Street Scene," which opened at the Playhouse Theatre on January 10, 1929, that brought Bondi to the movies at the age of 43.

Her debut movie role was as "Emma Jones" in Elmer Rice's Street Scene (1931), which starred Sylvia Sidney, and in which Bondi reprised her stage role, followed by "Mrs. Davidson" in Rain (1932), which starred Joan Crawford and Walter Huston.

She was one of the first five women to be nominated for an Academy Award in the newly-created category of "Best Supporting Actress" for her work in The Gorgeous Hussy, although she lost the award to Gale Sondergaard.

Two years later, she was nominated again for Of Human Hearts, and lost again, but her reputation as a character actress kept her working. She would most often be seen in the role of the mother of the star of the film for the rest of her career, with the exception of Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) as the abandoned Depression-era 'Ma' Cooper.

She often played mature roles in her early film career even though she was only in her early 40's. Bondi played James Stewart’s mother in four films: It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Human Hearts and Vivacious Lady.

Pre-Code: Man Wanted(1932).

Man Wanted (1932). Romance. Here is another wonderful pre-Code comedy. The casting, acting are all very entertaining. The humor is very sophisticated. Kay Francis, is perfect playing the role of a worldly woman with a open marriage. The way she deals with her husband's many adulteries makes her character very human.

David Manners, gives a wonderful performance as her new office employee. He left Hollywood for a private life in 1936, never to return to movies.

Giving support in this film are: Una Merkel as Manners, fiancee and Andy Devine as his, good natured roommate.

Elizabeth Patterson, makes the most of her small role as Miss Francis' eccentric, secretary and Edward Van Sloan (DRACULA's Van Helsing) has only a few scenes as a store manager.

Kay Francis (January 13, 1905 – August 26, 1968). After a brief period on the Broadway stage, Walter Huston, was so impressed by Francis that he asked her to take a screen test for the Paramount Pictures film, Gentlemen of the Press (1929). Francis made this film and the Marx Brothers film, The Cocoanuts (1929).

Francis, went on to sign a Paramount contract and moved to Hollywood. She frequently costarred with William Powell, and performed in as many as six to eight movies a year, making a total of 21 films between 1929 and 1931.

Because of her beauty and deep voice, she was perfectly suited to early sound movies which made Francis one of the top film stars of the early 1930s. Her success came in spite of a minor, but distinct speech impediment (she pronounced the letters "r" and "l" as "w") that gave rise to the nickname "Wavishing Kay Fwancis."

Francis' career at Paramount changed when she performed in the films: Girls About Town (1931) and the film, Twenty-Four Hours (1931). After Kay’s career skyrocketed at Warners, she would return to Paramount for the film, Trouble in Paradise (1932).

In 1932, Francis was given roles that allowed her a more sympathetic screen persona, in her first three featured roles she had played a villainess. Like in the film, The False Madonna (1932), she played a jaded society woman taking care of a terminally ill child who learns to appreciate the simpler things in life.

From 1932 through 1936, Francis was the queen of the Warners and her films were developed as star vehicles. By the mid-thirties, Francis was one of the highest-paid actors.

She frequently played long-suffering heroines like in films, I Found Stella Parrish, Secrets of an Actress, and Comet over Broadway, wearing beautiful wardrobes that, sometimes, were more memorable than the characters she played. Francis' clotheshorse reputation led Warners to concentrate more on lavish sets and costumes, designed to appeal to Depression-era female audiences.

After her release from Warners, Francis was unable to secure another studio contract. Carole Lombard, one of the most popular stars of the late 30s and early 1940s (and who had previously been a supporting player in Francis' 1931 film, Ladies' Man) tried to help Francis' career by insisting Francis be cast in the film, In Name Only (1939). In this film, Francis had a supporting role to Lombard and Cary Grant, she recognized that the film offered her a wonderful opportunity.

After this, she moved to character and supporting parts, playing catty professional women in the film, The Feminine Touch. Francis, did have a lead role in the Bogart gangster film, King of the Underworld(1939).

She signed a three-film contract with Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures that gave her production credit as well as star billing in the films: Divorce, Wife Wanted, and Allotment Wives which had limited releases in 1945 and 1946. While more lavish than some Monogram productions, they were pale copies of her earlier work.

Declining health, along with an accident in 1948 in which she was badly burned by a radiator, hastened her retirement from show business.

They Call It A Sin(1932).

They Call It A Sin(1932). Cast: Loretta Young, George Brent and Una Merkel.

Traveling salesman Jimmy Decker falls in love with Marion Cullen, even though he is engaged to Enid Hollister, his boss's daughter. Marion is a talented composer, after a confrontation with her foster mother, who tells her that she is really the illegitimate daughter of a showgirl, she leaves for New York.

After, she soon realizes that he is not going to break off his engagement with Enid, she and dancer Dixie Dare interview with talent agent, Ford Humphries, who offers Marion a job as a rehearsal pianist. When Marion plays one of her own songs for Humphries, he suggests that she write a song for his show.

One evening at the club, Marion meets, Dr. Tony and they begin to see each other and when Jimmy finds out, he becomes upset. He goes looking for her at one of Humphries' parties and tell Marion, that he still loves her. Humphries, sees them kissing uses her songs without credit to get even with her and Jimmy goes to see Humphries, in her defence. Drunk, Humphries falls off his balcony and later dies. To save Jimmy, Marion takes the blame. Will she ever reveal the truth?

This a wonderful fluffy romance movie, that becomes a little racy at the end.

Helen Vinson (September 17, 1907 – October 7, 1999). Performed in 40 films between 1932 and 1945.

Vinson's screen career often featured her in roles in which she played the other woman or (pre-Code) women with active romantic lives.

Her first film role was, Jewel Robbery (1932).

She performed in the film, The Kennel Murder Case, The Wedding Night (1935).

She played the wife of Gary Cooper, in a story about the tobacco fields.


Another performance was in the film, In Name Only (1939), in which she was cast as the treacherous friend of Carole Lombard, Kay Francis and Cary Grant.

Another stand-out role for Vinson was as an undercover federal agent posing as a femme fatale opposite Richard Cromwell in the film, Enemy Agent(1940) and The Thin Man Goes Home.

Pre-Code: Red Headed Woman (1932).

Red Headed Woman (1932). Film of the Pre-Code era, based on a novel by Katherine Brush. Directed by Jack Conway. Cast: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Leila Hyams, Una Merkel, Henry Stephenson, May Robson, Charles Boyer and Harvey Clark.

The story begins when Lilian Andrews, will do anything to seduce her wealthy boss, William Legendre Jr. and break up his marriage. His wife Irene, soon after the divorce finds that she does not want to live without him and tries to get back with Bill, only to find he has married Lil.

Lil, is not happy because she is shunned by Bill's father, Will Legendre Sr., because of her low class behavior. When Charles B. Gaerste, a coal tycoon visits the family, Lil thinks she has found a way into the higher social circles. She seduces him, into throwing a party for her. Things are looking good for Lil, until her hairdresser Sally, informs her that all the guests have left early to attend a party for Irene.

She decides to move to New York City, without her husband. Will finds Lil's handkerchief at Gaerste's place and shows his evidence to his son, who hires a detective, who finds out that she having two affairs. One with Charles and the other with his French chauffeur, Albert. Bill shows Charles the photographs. When Lil learns that Charles has found out about her, she returns to Bill, only to find that he has gone back to Irene. She shoots him, but he survives, will he have her arrested?

Fun Fact:

Jean Harlow's first line is "Who says gentlemen prefer blonde's?" which was written by Anita Loos for the movie who's most famous work was the musical comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blonde's (1953).

No matter what type of role Jean Harlow played, it seems like she loved acting. Una Merkel, gives a wonderful performance as her roommate and look for Charles Boyer, in his small role. This film is very good example of a pre-code film.

Leila Hyams (1 May 1905 – 4 December 1977) . Her short film career began in silent films, and ended in the mid 1930s.

Her parents were vaudeville comedy performers John Hyams and Leila McIntyre, Hyams performed on-stage with her parents as a child. As a teenager she worked as a model and become well known after appearing in a successful series of newspaper advertisements. This success led her to Hollywood.

She made her first film in 1924, and with her blond hair, she was cast in many supporting roles. She proved herself in her small roles and over time she came to be taken seriously as an actress.

Her first first talkie was the film, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) opposite William Haines, Lionel Barrymore and Karl Dane. The following year she performed in the murder mystery, The Thirteenth Chair, a role that allowed her to showcase her dramatic abilities. The quality of her parts continued to improve, like her performance in the film, The Big House (1930) and in the film, Surrender (1931).

She is maybe best remembered for two early 1930s horror movies, Freaks (1932) and in the film, Island of Lost Souls (1933).

She also performed in the once controversial Jean Harlow film, Red-Headed Woman (1932), the musical comedy, The Big Broadcast (1932) and the film, Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) .

Una Merkel - Her Finest Moment

Dawn recently did a piece on Una Merkel, a solid character actress who got her start as a stand-in for Lillian Gish in 1920's Way Down East.  She is famous for her wisecracking blond character in 42nd Street, and is remembered best for such roles.  I wanted to pay homage to one of her performances as a mentally ill mother in 1961's Summer and Smoke, one of the most memorable characters in movies.  She had created the role on Broadway, and brought it to the screen, where her relatively small role shines alongside a stellar cast including Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey.

Summer and Smoke was a play by Tennessee Williams originally titled Eccentricities of a Nightingale.  It tells the story of a southern spinster named Alma (Page), a shy, nervous daughter of a minister.  Alma is emotionally fragile, unable to handle the realities of life and her feelings.  She is easily embarrassed and fluttery with nerves, physically frail, a sad woman who longs for love but cannot express it or act on it.  She is a character well known to Tennessee Williams fans from his  body of work.  Una Merkel plays a character also often seen in Williams' plays.  She is Alma's mother, Mrs. Winemiller, who could be an older version of Alma, old enough to have become mentally unstable and not to be trusted for normal behavior in public.  One of Alma's unspoken fears is that will end up like her mother, the barely tolerated wife of a harried and intolerant husband and the bane of her child's difficult life.  Mrs. Winemiller mainly lives upstairs, an embarrassment and annoyance to her family. When her behavior becomes erratic enough, she is often ordered upstairs by her husband. She has fits of mania when she talks crazily, screams "Where's the ice cream man? I want the ice cream man!"  When she manages to get out of the house, Mrs. Winemiller is known all over the small town as a sneaky kleptomaniac, mainly pilfering hats from stores.  Alma is often the person who has the agonizing job of apologizing to storekeepers, imploring her mother not to humiliate her with that behavior.

Mrs. Winemiller is crazy, alright, but not too crazy to see through Alma, and mean enough to enjoy baiting her daughter with sudden flashes of sane insight into Alma's nerves and humiliation.  She makes fun of Alma for Alma's deeply felt and hidden love of her hell-raising neighbor (Laurence Harvey).  Mrs. Winemiller sings "Alma's in love, Alma's in love" in front of other people, well aware that her daughter is deeply embarrassed by this revelation.  It is very difficult to play crazy without eliciting laughter, but Una does it with an attitude of dignity and pathos in her cruel insanity in this difficult role.  She is a complex character, and Una uses all of her considerable acting talent to bring a marvelous performance to the movie.

Her performance was noticed, and Una was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work.  Una Merkel rounded out her career with this fine piece of serious acting, light years from her early years as a dithering, wisecracking blond.  Well done, Una.  You have left a piece of genius in movie history.

Una Merkel

Una Merkel, looked alot like actress Lillian Gish, which started her acting career as a stand-in for Gish in 1920's Way Down East and in 1928's The Wind. She performed in a few films during the silent era, Love's Old Sweet Song (1923). Una, spent most of her time in New York City working on Broadway. Merkel returned to Hollywood and achieved her greatest success with "talkies".

She played Ann Rutledge in the film Abraham Lincoln (1930) directed by D. W. Griffith. During the 1930s, Merkel became a popular second lead in a number of films, usually supporting actresses such as Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Loretta Young, and Dorothy Lamour.

Merkel was an MGM contract player from 1932 to 1938, performing in twelve films in a year. She was also often cast as leading lady to a number of comedians in their starring pictures, including Jack Benny, Harold Lloyd, and Charles Butterworth.

She is best known for her performance in, Western Destry Rides Again (1939) in which her character, Lillibelle, gets into a famous "cat-fight" with Frenchie (Marlene Dietrich).


She played the elder daughter to the W. C. Fields character, Egbert Sousé in the 1940film The Bank Dick.

In the classic musical 42nd Street (1933), Merkel played a streetwise showgirl who was Ginger Rogers's best friend. In the famous "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" number, Merkel and Rogers both sing the immortal lyric, "Matrimony is baloney".

She performed in both the 1934 and the 1952 film versions of The Merry Widow, playing different roles in each.

During the 1940s she performed in much smaller rolls. In 1950 she was leading ladyin, Kill the Umpire. She made a comeback as a middle-aged woman playing mothers and maiden aunts, and in 1956 won a Tony Award for her role on Broadway in The Ponder Heart. She had a major part in the MGM 1959 film, The Mating Game as Paul Douglas's wife and Debbie Reynolds's mother, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Summer and Smoke (1961).

Private Lives (1931).

Private Lives (1931). Comedy. Director: Sidney Franklin. The screenplay by Hanns Kraly and Richard Schayer is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Noel Coward. Cast: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Reginald Denny and Una Merkel.

Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne, divorced are upset to learn they both are on a honeymoon with their new spouses at the same hotel on the French Riviera. Elyot becomes annoyed with Sybil's questions about Amanda, while Amanda wishes her new husband Victor would stop talking about Elyot. When Elyot run into Amanda on the terrace, he insists he and Sybil immediately depart for Paris, the same plan Amanda proposes to Victor.




Elyot and Amanda rekindle their relationship with a kiss and make a promise to each other to put an end to any future arguments. The two flee to St. Moritz, but before long they begin a argument that turns into a major fight about a record, which Amanda breaks over Elyot's head. Rushing out, Amanda meets Victor and Sybil, who have tracked them down. The two couples meet for breakfast the next day, but when Victor and Sybil begin to fight, What do Elyot and Amanda do?

I thought the performance that really made this film work was Norma Shearer. One of the few silent stars to make a full transition to sound. PRIVATE LIVES, maybe my favorite, Norma Shearer film.

Jean Pierre Hersholt (12 July 1886 – 2 June 1956) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of Claire and Henry Hersholt, actors who worked with the Danish Folk Theatre.

Hersholt toured Europe performing with his family when he was young. He then graduated from the Copenhagen Art School.

His first two films were made in Germany in 1906. He emigrated to the US in 1913 and the remainder of his movies were made in America.

Hersholt's best remembered film roles: Greed(1924) and Shirley Temple's beloved grandfather in the 1937 film version of the 1880 children's book, Heidi.

During his long career in the movies, he played silent villains, secondary parts and his mild Danish accent and pleasant voice was perfect for him to perform as fathers, doctors, professors and European noblemen.

Hersholt's last role was in the 1955 movie Run for Cover. In the trailer for the film Grand Hotel (1932) Promotional flyer for Seattle station KIRO. In The Country Doctor (1936), a movie starring the Dionne quintuplets, Hersholt portrayed Dr. John Luke, a character based on Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the Canadian obstetrician who delivered and cared for the Dionne Quintuplets. Two sequels followed.

In 1939 Hersholt helped form the Motion Picture Relief Fund to support industry employees with medical care when they were down on their luck. The fund was used to create the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, and it led to the creation in 1956 of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an honorary Academy Award given to an "individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry".

Hersholt's large collection of Hans Christian Andersen books is now in the Library of Congress. He translated over 160 of Andersen's fairy tales into the English language. These were published in 1949 in six volumes as The Complete Andersen, this work is "... rated as the standard translation, being one of the best" in English.

Hersholt was married to his wife, Via, in 1914. They had one child: Allan. He was the paternal half-uncle of the late actor Leslie Nielsen and former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Erik Nielsen. Jean Hersholt's grandson Gregg Hersholt has been a radio news broadcaster in the Pacific Northwest since 1973.  Hersholt died of cancer.