Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

naw

#80.......Hobart Cavanaugh?

nein

Darn, I know this guy but can't dig his name out of my memory banks. I have seen him in dozens of films but don't know what films since he was all over the screen. It will come to me or to Betsy at some point.

#80 specialized in playing small-town characters. Storekeepers; newspaper editors; barbers; town loafers and wags.

Not just bit parts either; sometimes these were significant figures in the story.

He was in vaudeville at a young age and even working for major Hollywood studios was not his last stop; he worked on both sides of the camera.

He doesn't look like much but he's got a real resume in the business.

I think he played a pharmacist in one film of which I can't remember the title. This one is driving me crazy since I know this guy.

Yep, he sure did, That's exactly the kind of role he 'cornered'

#80 - Frank Craven.

#81 - Frank Albertson?

Two fer! Two in a row!

You finally remembered Frank Craven eh? From 'Our Town'?

And Frank Albertson was the boss whom Janet Leigh embezzled from at the beginning of 'Psycho'.

Good wurk!

Frank Craven was driving me insane but it finally came to me. I had to really do some work on the Frank Albertson since that picture didn't look a lot like him.......but that's the point, isn't it?

Yep. Here he is with Janet...

Little does she know that she is going to die in the shower!!

Quiz # 82, American

More than the shower, I love the last scene in 'Psycho' where the towtruck hauls her car out of the swamp. Big influence on me.

#82 - Paul Kelly.

Yes. Too easy... but at one time I hunted this name down from a film about newsmen which I saw a brief fragment of, as a lad. It was one of the first trivia searches I ever did. So it's an old fave.

Good going, Jill. Hat trick! My Internet was out most of the day so I missed some of your posts until now.

Quiz #83, American

Its true that for decades Janet Leigh's demise in 'Psycho' altered the shower habits of women all over America. A phobia was developed about shower curtains; (I believe glass shower doors boomed as a result).

Today? Young women don't even realize the need to be wary, They never even heard of the film.

What can you even say about such cluelessness? Let 'em die? Might be apropos.

I really like Paul Kelly...usually a crook but once he played a "good" crook in one of my favorite but almost unknown films Star of Midnight (1935) with William Powell and Ginger Rogers. It had a great title song with words that have haunted me for years since I can never think of all of them. I think it is called "Midnight in Manhattan.

He certainly had Irish charm; tall with a big shock of unruly red hair. And it is fun to watch him progress in maturity and roles. He would go from the 'rebellious reporter fighting the crotchety city editor' (usually James Gleason) to himself playing the grouchy, irascible, city editor

Wasn't he in prison at one time or did I dream that up?

I think he was jailed briefly --and this was an early case of an actor's ill-repute perversely boosting his notoriety and appeal

I didn't think I dreamed it......didn't hurt his career obviously and thankfully. Very good actor.

I like the way he had a thick mop of red hair like the bristles of a scrub-brush that stuck straight up off his noggin

unique look as far as movie actors go; but common among many Irish I've seen. screams authentic

and of course that lantern jaw

It's funny but I remember in the film I mentioned above that he was in, Star of Midnight, in his last scene as he was leaving William Powell's apartment, he turns and smiles and is actually handsome. I never really thought he was but the camera loved his in that shot.

rough-hewn features, for sure

I gravitate to that type of actor 100x times more so than say, a pretty-boy like ... Brad Pitt...who looks entirely unconvincing in every shot I've ever seen of him

whereas Paul Kelly, its unmistakable that he had a life, 'off-screen' and wasn't afraid to mix it up. You could tell just lookin at him, he grew up rough

I don't like pretty boys either particularly......Tyrone Power for example. Give me a little character to the face. There are some actors that I really like who border on being ugly.

Power's delicate features (for me) are offset by the type of roles he was lucky enough to land in. He overcame the possible hindrance they posed.

Some actors had a way of playing against their detriments their whole career. Holden, for example, hated the idea that anyone thought he was a pretty boy. He continually fought it.

Peck too--maybe no one has ever stated it aloud, but he too seemed to me to be a guy very careful and choosy in his assignments. Sometimes he was catcalled as a 'wooden' actor and (i think) you can see it shaped him. He strove to be better.

#83 - Irving Bacon?

Yes! One for Betsy.

Quiz #84, American

#84,,,,,Paul Harvey?

nicht

#84.....Pierre Watkin?

Looks good, Jill.

I think it is him.....he has been in so many films and I never thought he looked like someone named Pierre.

Exactly. He's been in films and tv, but I could never imagine calling him Pierre.

Jill plucks the peach! Yes, Pierre Watkin. The first actor to portray Clark's irascible editor Perry White of the 'Daily Planet'.

Quiz #85, another American

Oh dear, this one doesn't look very familiar.

He has a fun little supporting role in one hugely famous 1930s American comedy movie. Then later on in the early 1940s he has a small part in another mega-hit, but by that time he was less recognizable as a player in his own right.

He doesn't ring any bells with me at all. Hmmmmm.

Picture him in a courtroom setting.

The only thing I can say is that he needs his hat blocked.

I underrated him in my description above. I see now he eared in 250 films. That's two hundred and fifty, I sez.

Usually police sergeants, reporters, prison guards, prison wardens, construction foremen, taxi drivers ...anything where a gruff, burly character was needed to say a few lines.

And now that I see his full filmography I must point out that there at least a dozen very well-known flicks you may spot him in.

Quiz #86. American.

Ted DeCorsia

You're too fast for me, Jill, and my Kindle was charging. Maybe next time. :)