Silent Film Star: Jean Arthur.

Jean Arthur (October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991). Was discovered by Fox Film Studios while she was doing commercial modeling in New York City in the early 1920's, Arthur landed a one-year contract and debuted in the silent film, Cameo Kirby (1923), directed by John Ford. It was Ford's first film credited as John Ford instead of Jack Ford.

Following the small role in Cameo Kirby, she received her first female lead role in, The Temple of Venus (1923), a plot-less film about a group of dancing nymphs. Not thinking she was sexy enough, the film's director Henry Otto replaced Arthur with actress, Mary Philbin during the third day of shooting. Arthur, agreed with the director and was planning on leaving acting for good, but stayed due to her contract and performed in many comedy shorts.

After awhile, Arthur, began to really enjoy acting and was looking for her big break, registered herself as a photo player in the Los Angeles city directory, as well as appearing in a promotional film for the Encino nightclub.

Her luck began to turn around when she showed up at the lot of Action Pictures, which produced B westerns, and impressed Lester F. Scott Jr. He cast her in over twenty westerns in a two-year period. The films were shot on location, under harsh conditions.

She also performed in independent westerns: The Drug Store Cowboy (1925), and westerns for Poverty Row, as well as having an uncredited bit part in Buster Keaton's.. Seven Chances (1925). In 1927, Arthur attracted more attention when she performed with Mae Busch and Charles Delaney as a gold digging chorus girl in, Husband Hunters and the film, Horse Shoes (1927).

Director Richard Wallace ignored Fox's wishes to cast a more experienced actress by placing Arthur to the female lead in, The Poor Nut (1927), a college comedy. In which she received poor reviews.

She landed a small role in, Warming Up (1928), a film produced for a big studio, Famous Players-Lasky. The film received a lot of media attention, because it was the studio's first sound film, which resulted in Arthur receiving good reviews for her performance.

The success of Warming Up, resulted in Arthur being signed on a three-year contract with the studio, soon to be known as Paramount Pictures.

After realizing that sound films was not just a phase, she met with sound coach Roy Pomeroy. Her all-talking film debut was, The Canary Murder Case (1929), in which she co-starred with William Powell and Louise Brooks. A crime/mystery film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and Frank Tuttle. Based on novel, The Canary Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine.

Arthur is best-remembered for her well known performances in her three Frank Capra films: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It With You (1938), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

Her last performance was the non–comedic—role as the rancher's wife in the western, Shane(1953).

Arthur was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in, The More the Merrier (1943).

Video: Full movie. The Canary Murder Case (1929).

History Is Made at Night (1937).

History Is Made at Night(1937). A romantic/drama about a love triangle. Cast: Colin Clive, Jean Arthur and Charles Boyer. Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Frank Borzage.

The film has a very suspenseful Titanic-like ending, when the ocean liner "SS Princess Irene" (named after Jean Arthur's character) hits an iceberg on its maiden voyage. In the movie the Hindenburg, successfully completes a transatlantic trip, with her husband on board. This movie was released (USA) March 5, 1937. The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937. It never made that return flight to Europe.

The story begins when Irene Vail, the wife of possessive shipping magnate Bruce Vail, is about to return to her Paris hotel room when Michael, her chauffeur, comes to inform her that he has been ordered by her husband to put her in a compromising position, to force her into dropping their divorce.

Expecting to find the chauffeur and his wife in a compromising position, Bruce is surprised to find a jewel thief, there instead who demands jewelry and then kidnaps her. Once he and Irene are alone, the thief reveals that he really is Paul Dumond, one of Europe's best known headwaiters. Feeling sorry for her after overhearing her argument with Michael, he decided to pose as a jewel thief to save her from her abusive husband.

Paul takes Irene to the Chateau Bleu, where he works, the two dine and dance until morning. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Bruce kills Michael and then tells the police that the murder was committed by Irene's lover.

When Irene returns to the hotel, she lies to Bruce and the police about her abduction, but Bruce knows that she is lying when he notices that she is wearing one of the necklaces that was claimed to have been stolen.

After the police leave, Bruce forces Irene to go to New York with him to stop the divorce by threatening to frame Paul for the murder of the chauffeur.

Paul, is heartbroken when he reads about Irene's departure in the newspapers and does not understand why she did not show up as planned.

While traveling to America, Irene tells Bruce,"You're right, Bruce. This time you're right. This time there *is* another man. You set a trap to catch me with one... and another came instead, to tell me that he loves me, and for me to tell him I love him too. And *you* did it! You did it all by yourself! Isn't that funny? Don't you think that's funny? Before he came, I never even looked at another man. But you wouldn't believe me! So you created one, and you sent him right into my arms..."

Paul, follows the couple to New York. There, Paul and his hot headed chef, Cesar find work at a Manhattan restaurant named, Victor's.

Irene is shocked to lean that Paul, has been arrested for Michael's murder. Bruce, now wants Irene to go to Paris to testify against Paul, but before they leave, Bruce takes her to Victor's for dinner, where she sees Paul, much to her relief.

Irene tears up her ticket to Paris, and walks out on Bruce and returns to Victor's, where she tells Paul the truth. Paul, cannot allow an innocent man to be punished for the murder that Bruce committed and travels back to Parison the, S.S. Princess Irene.

When, Bruce reads in the newspaper that Irene is traveling back to Paris to defend "the man of her heart," he becomes enraged.

Ignoring the radio call from the captain of the Princess Irene warning of bad weather, Bruce gives instructions for the ship to proceed at full speed. The ocean liner soon collides with an iceberg and capsizes. Will Bruce and Irene be rescued in time?

Charles Boyer, gives a very charming performance and Jean Arthur, was never more beautiful. Colin Clive, gave a very convincing performance as the jealous and obsessive husband. Boyer's and Arthur's love scenes were very romantic.

Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (August 6, 1881 – September 10, 1961). Although he played many stereotypical Latinos parts, Leo Carrillo was from an very respected California family. His great-great grandfather, José Raimundo Carrillo (1749–1809), was an early Criollo settler of San Diego, California. His great-grandfather Carlos Antonio Carrillo (1783–1852) was Governor of Alta California (1837-38), his great-uncle, José Antonio Carrillo, was a Californio defender and three-time mayor of Los Angeles, and his paternal grandfather, Pedro Carrillo, who was educated in Boston, was a writer.

The family moved from San Diego to Los Angeles then to Santa Monica, where Carrillo's father Juan José Carrillo (1842–1916), served as the city's police chief and later the first mayor. His cousin was Broadway star William Gaxton. Proud of his heritage, Leo Carrillo wrote a book, The California I Love, published shortly before his death in 1961.

A university graduate, Leo Carrillo worked as a newspaper cartoonist for the San Francisco Examiner before turning to acting on Broadway. In Hollywood, he performed in more than 90 films, including: The Gay Desperado (1936). He is best remembered from the television series, The Cisco Kid, on which, beginning at the age of seventy, he played the sidekick Pancho, a role that he had previously played in several films. After The Cisco Kid ended production, Carrillo appeared in the episode, "Rescue at Sea" of the syndicated military drama, Men of Annapolis.

A preservationist and conservationist, Carrillo served on the California Beach and Parks commission for eighteen years and played a key role in the state's acquisition of Hearst Castle at San Simeon, the Los Angeles Arboretum, and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

He was made a goodwill ambassador by the State Governor at the time. As a result of his service to the State, the Leo Carrillo State Park, west of Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, was named in his honor, and the city of Westminster, California named an elementary school after him. The Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park, originally Rancho de los Kiotes, in Carlsbad, California, is a registered California Historical Site. Rancho Carrillo Trail, also in Carlsbad, is named for Leo Carrillo.

Pre-code: Bedside (1934).

Bedside (1934). Directed by Robert Florey. Cast: Warren William, Jean Muir, Allen Jenkins and David Landau.

The story begins with Bob Brown aka Dr. J. Herbert Martel, a X-Ray tech with 3 years of medical school. He works in the same offices as, nurse Caroline, who is charmed by Bob as all woman in his life seem to be..

Caroline, loans Bob $1,500 so he can finish up his degree and become a real doctor, but.. but when Bob, boards the train headed for medical school he quickly blows the $1,500 in a poker game.

Not able to go back home and face Caroline, Bob finds a new job as an orderly and writes letters telling her how tough medical school is.

While on the job Bob, gives a shot to a patient who was crying out for help and is fired, for it. He returns home and comes close to telling Caroline, the truth, but she looks so upset that he just can't do it.

Things take a turn for the better for Bob, when "John Smith", comes to see him in desperate need of some morphine to help with his asthma. Smith, is really J. Herbert Martel, a doctor who has become a drug addict. He confesses to Martel, that his degree is useless to him now. Bob the says, "You've come to the end of your rope. I can use it! and then offers to keep him supplied in drugs, in exchange for his identity.

Brown, travels to New York where things are going well until, a poker game with press agent Sam Sparks, leads to Sparks forcing Brown, now known as, Dr. J. Herbert Martel, to participate in a million-dollar insurance scam over a showgirl's legs. Dr. Martel provides a fake X-Ray of a broken leg (which belonged to a corpse).

Brown/Martel takes the money he made from the scam and opens up a swank Park Avenue office, hiring Dr. Wiley to work as the doctor and hires Caroline, to be his nurse. Things are going well until, "John Smith" finds him.

Dr. Wiley tells him about this experiment he's performed hundreds of times with guinea pigs and hopes to use on humans. His experiment is to stick a needle in a dead guinea pig's heart, then shock them back from the dead. (I'm not sure whether the experiment worked or not).

Caroline, begins to become suspicious of Bob and quits, after his refusal to treat a sick little girl, when Wiley( who really does the work) is not there. At this point, the real Martel, finally meets Caroline and she has a life-threatening accident.  The hospital gets a hold of Bob, who's in a panic, now what we will he do to save Caroline's life or does he?

Warren William, was often cast as a detective. But.. I think I like him best in dark roles such as this one. I don't know whether to call Bedside.. a horror movie, sci-fi or film noir?

Jean Muir (February 13, 1911 – July 23, 1996), first appeared on Broadway in 1930, and was signed by Warner Brothers Studios three years later.

She played opposite several famous actors - Warren William, Paul Muni, Richard Barthelmess, Franchot Tone, etc. But she returned to Broadway in 1937 because she was unsatisfied with the roles, appearing occasionally in films through 1943.

In 1950 she was named as a Communist sympathizer by the notorious book Red Channels, and immediately removed from the cast of a television sitcom The Aldrich Family, in which she was supposed to appear as the Mother Aldrich.

 In the mid 1950s she reportedly suffered from alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver.

 She was back on Broadway and TV by the early 1960s. In 1968 she moved to Columbia, Missouri, where she taught drama at Stephens College.

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Jean Arthur.

Fun Fact:

 Was a leading contender for the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Jean Arthur.

(1977 comment on Gary Cooper) "I loved working with Gary Cooper. Gary was my favorite. He was so terrific-looking, and so easy to work with."

Jean Arthur tries some EASY LIVING (1937)

This is the daffy story of a hard working girl named Mary (the always fresh and engaging Jean Arthur), who has a sable coat thrown on her from a window of a rich man named J.B. Ball (Edward Arnold) who is fed up with his free spending family. Directed by Mitchell Leisen from a screenplay by Preston Sturges, Easy Living is classic screwball comedy at its best. And mistaken scenarios abound as people think that Ball gave his wife's coat to Mary and she is his mistress. Ray Milland is on hand as Ball's son John who of course falls for Mary. Great slapstick scenes are aplenty in this film including a wild food fight that is hilarious. Jean Arthur is excellent in this film as she combines sex appeal, comedy, warmth, and a touch of bewilderment to her character. She is definitely one of screwball comedy's top queens. If you have never seen Easy Living, check it ASAP.

Great On Screen Couples: Jean Arthur & Jimmy Stewart

When you think of great female screwball comedy actresses, you have to think of Jean Arthur. She starred in some of the most notable screwball comedies of all time: Easy Living, The Devil and Miss Jones, Too Many Husbands, and The More The Merrier. And let's not forget her three classic films for director Frank Capra: Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, You Can't Take It With You, and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. The last two pairing her with Jimmy Stewart. The only two films these legendary stars appeared in. Jean and Jimmy were perfectly in these wildly popular and sentimental films. Both stars projected down home easy going manners that everyday people could relate to. Even though they only paired up for these two films, they made a lasting impression of film lovers everywhere and established them firmly as a top Hollywood on screen couple.

The More the Merrier (1943).

The More the Merrier (1943).  Comedy. Cast: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn, Stanley Clements and Richard Gaines. Directed by George Stevens and written by Richard Flournoy, Lewis R. Foster, Garson Kanin (uncredited), Frank Ross (who was Jean Arthur's husband at the time), and Robert Russell.

Coburn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while Arthur was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Other nominations included Best Director, Best Picture, Best Writing, Original Story and Best Writing, Screenplay.

This film was remade in 1966 as Walk, Don't Run, with Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar and Jim Hutton.

The story begins During World War II, when millionaire Benjamin Dingle arrives in Washington, D.C., as an adviser on the housing shortage and finds he he too has nowhere to stay. He looks in the classifieds and finds some one looking for a room mate, who turns out to be a young, Connie Milligan. Dingle has to do some "big talking", to convince her to let him stay, as she prefers to rent to a another girl.

A very cute scene when the two try to work around each other while getting ready for work. When Dingle is about to leave the apartment, he runs into Sergeant Joe Carter, who looking for a place to stay for a couple of days.. Dingle, thinks that Joe might be a good match for Connie and decides to rent him half of his half.

When Connie finds out about Joe, renting the other half of  Dingles room, she becomes angry and orders them both to leave. But is forced to let them both stay because she has already spent their rent money. Joe and Connie are attracted to each other, even though she is engaged to Charles J. Pendergast.  Dingle happens to meet Pendergast at a business luncheon and does not care for him. He decides that Joe would be a better match for Connie.

One day, Dingle gets a hold of Connie's private diary, including her thoughts about Joe. When she finds out, again.. she demands they both leave. Dingle accepts full blame for reading the diary and Connie allows Joe to stay the few more days before he has to leave.

Because of a nosy teenage neighbor, Joe and Connie are taken in for questioning as a suspected spies for the Japanese. When Dingle and Pendergast show up, it comes out that Joe and Connie are living in the same apartment. When they are released, the story reaches a reporter and Dingle advises them to get married to avoid a scandal and then have it annulled later. Will they follow his advice?

I  thought the film, The More the Merrier , was a very endearing movie. How can you go wrong with these three very charming leads.  They have great chemistry as a comic trio. Grady Sutton has a very funny cameo near the end of the film as a waiter.  One of my favorite romantic scenes is when McCrea,  gives a carrying case to Jean Arthur.  Here is another wonderful scene..

Charles Douville Coburn (June 19, 1877 – August 30, 1961), started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater. By the age of 17 or 18, he was the theater manager. He later became an actor, making his debut on Broadway in 1901. Coburn formed an acting company with Ivah Wills in 1905. They married in 1906.

After his wife's death in 1937, Coburn moved to Los Angeles, California and began film work. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a retired millionaire in the film, The More the Merrier (1943). He was also nominated for the film, The Devil and Miss Jones(1941) and The Green Years(1946). Other film credits include: Of Human Hearts (1938), The Lady Eve (1941), Kings Row (1942), The Constant Nymph (1943), Heaven Can Wait (1943), Wilson (1944), Impact (1949), The Paradine Case (1947), Everybody Does It (1950), Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and John Paul Jones (1959). He usually played comedic parts, but Kings Row and Wilson were dramatic parts, showing his versatility.

The Talk of the Town(1942).

The Talk of the Town(1942). Cast: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan, and Glenda Farrell. The movie was adapted by Dale Van Every, Irwin Shaw and Sidney Buchman from the story by Sidney Harmon. It was directed by George Stevens.

Mill worker and political activist Leopold Dilg is accused of burning down a mill and causing the death of the foreman. In the middle of his trial, Dilg escapes from jail and finds shelter in a house owned by his old friend Nora Shelley.



 Shelley has the house rented for the summer to law Professor Michael Lightcap, who plans to write a book. When Dilg is seen by Lightcap, Shelley introduces him as her gardener. Lightcap and Dilg quickly become friends.

Over some things that had been said during one of their lively discussions over politics, Lightcap becomes suspicious of what is really going on and begins to investigate. He finds that the former foreman is still alive and hiding in Boston. Dilg is persuaded to return to town and admit his guilt. Will Lightcap convinces Dilg give himself up and be set free?

The acting is very good. Cary Grant, plays a very different roll than I'm used to seeing him in.. Ronald Coleman is also good as his rival and Jean Arthur is great she steals scene after scene.

Fun Fact:

Lloyd Bridges' tiny role was one of 20 film appearances he made in 1942 .

Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971), came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

She was in the cast of ,Cobra and The Best People with actress Charlotte Treadway, in 1925.

Farrell was first signed to a long-term contract by First National Pictures in July 1930. She was given the feminine lead in, Little Caesar.

Warner Brothers signed her to re-create on film the role she played in, Life Begins on Broadway. Farrell worked on parts in twenty movies in her first year with the studio. She was known a the wise-cracking, dizzy blonde of the early talkies, along with  Joan Blondell, with whom she often would be paired with.

She went on to perform in, Little Caesar (1931) opposite Edward G. Robinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), Havana Widows (1933) with Blondell, Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) opposite Pat O'Brien, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) opposite Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray and The Big Shakedown (1934) with Bette Davis.

She became one of Warner Brothers most popular actresses of the 1930s, solidifying her success with her own film series, as Torchy Blane, "Girl Reporter". In this role Farrell was promoted as being able to speak 400 words in 40 seconds. Farrell would portray the character Torchy Blane in eight films, from 1937 to 1939 when the role was taken over by Jane Wyman.

In 1937 she starred opposite Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in the Academy Award nominated Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley directed musical Gold Diggers(1937).

When her Warner Brothers contact expired in 1939 she focused more on her stage career once again. She said that working in plays gave her more of a sense of individuality whereas in films you get frustrated because you feel you have no power over what you're doing.

Farrell went out of vogue in the 1940s but made a comeback later in life, winning an Emmy Award in 1963, for her work in the television series, Ben Casey.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936 ).

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). Directed by Frank Capra, based on the story Opera Hat by Clarence Budington Kelland that appeared in serial form in the Saturday Evening Post. Cast: Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in her first featured role. The screenplay was written by Kelland and Robert Riskin in his fifth collaboration with Capra.

In the middle of the Great Depression, Longfellow Deeds, co-owner of a tallow works, inherits 20 million dollars from his late uncle, Martin Semple. His uncle's attorney, John Cedar, locates Deeds and takes him to New York City.

Cedar gives his ex-newspaperman Cornelius Cobb, the job of keeping reporters away from the heir. He is outsmarted by reporter Louise Bennett, who gets to Deeds' by masquerading as a poor worker named Mary Dawson. She pretends to faint after "walking all day to find a job". She writes a series of articles calling him the "Cinderella Man". Meanwhile, Cedar tries to get Deeds' power of attorney in order to keep his plan a secret. Fortunately, Deeds outwits them all, but.. when he falls for a big-city girl anything can happen.



A wonderful fast pace film that never lets the viewer down. It shows the genius of Frank Capra that make us treasure films like this one.

Fun Fact: Carole Lombard was going to play the female lead but she backed out three days before production began to go work on, My Man Godfrey (1936).

Jean Arthur (October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991). Discovered by Fox Film Studios while she was modeling in New York City in the early 1920s, Arthur debuted in the silent film, Cameo Kirby (1923), directed by John Ford. It was her distinctive voice, that helped make her a star in the talkies.

In 1935, at age 34, she starred opposite Edward G. Robinson in, The Whole Town's Talking, also directed by Ford. She was famous for being filmed almost always from the left, Arthur felt that her left was her best side. Frank Capra recounted that producer Harry Cohn described Jean Arthur's imbalanced profile as "half of it's angel, and the other half horse."

The turning point in Jean Arthur's career came when she was chosen by director Frank Capra to star in, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Capra had spotted her from the film, Whirlpool (1934) and convinced Cohn to have Columbia Studios sign her for his next film. Arthur co-starred in two other Capra films: You Can't Take It With You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington(1939), both with James Stewart. She was re-teamed with Cooper, playing Calamity Jane in Cecil B. DeMille's, The Plainsman (1936) and the film, Easy Living(1937) opposite Ray Milland. In 1939, she was one of four finalists for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in, Gone with the Wind.

She continued to star in films such as Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings(1939), with Cary Grant, The Talk of the Town(1942), also with Grant and The More the Merrier(1943), for which Jean Arthur was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Arthur remained Columbia's top star until the mid-1940s, when she left the studio. Stevens famously called her "one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen", while Capra credited her as "my favorite actress".

Arthur "retired" when her contract with Columbia Pictures expired in 1944. For the next several years, she turned down many film offers, the two exceptions being Billy Wilder's, A Foreign Affair (1948), in which she played a congresswoman and rival of Marlene Dietrich and in the classic Western, Shane (1953), which turned out to be the biggest film of her career. The latter was her final film, and the only color film she performed in.