Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

p.s. if anyone recalls Wallace Ford in the early part of this quizzo, (tough challenge he was too) one way to remember him is as one of the two taxi drivers in 'Harvey'.

The other driver was Norman Leavitt, but is there something significant about these men?

Any chance on Charles Coleman for #103?

Yes! A winnah. #103 is Charles Coleman. Good work.

Coleman can be seen in early Astaire/Rogers musicals; among many other romps.

Good job, Betsy. I am still working on #101 who totally has me stumped and he is supposed to be pretty well known. I want no clues as it will give it away.....but I finally will have to ask for an obscure hint.

Hard to know how to add clues for #101 without immediately revealing how easy he should be to deduce.

The guy was an icon; although he died almost destitute and forgotten.

On one episode of 'The Beverly Hillbillies', Granny Clampett reveals she is a big fan of this star.

He is mentioned by name in a few (more modern) movies: Myra Breckenridge, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Carpetbaggers

#101 makes an appearance in one of the Chaplin films Betsy viewed recently.

I did not look at the clues. That is a face I know. Now here comes the really dumb guess but the eyes seemed too familiar.

#101. Hoot Gibson?

Yes!!

Second biggest grossing box office western star after Tom Mix. Got his start on the rodeo circuit. Champion rider. Eventually eclipsed by 'croonin cowboys' like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

You can see why I chose a rare pic of him in fireman's garb rather than a cowboy hat.

Strong showing by both you girls today

I knew I recognized those eyes but wasn't thinking of a cowboy star. Good picture that took forever to identify.

What numbers are still open for guesses? I've lost track.

#107 still standing for the moment. Man with surprised look (as if soup spilt in lap).

Very good, Jill. Glad that one is out of the way.

Wonder how he got the name, 'Hoot'

You can see him as an obscure little Union sergeant with Duke Wayne in 'The Horse Soldiers'. Some comedown.

The guy who spilled the soup looks like Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges but not enough to be a guess. He really doesn't look familiar but he has got to be someone we have heard of......or not.

Upwards of 400 films ...he's likely been in a lot of titles we've all seen.

For example, one of the pics I posted is from an installment of Powell/Loy 'Thin Man'. He's been in Laurel & Hardy shorts, in 30s comedies, in 40's crime yarns. A real workhorse.

Quiz #108. British.

#107 - Heinie Conklin?

Yes --Heinie Conklin is #107. Deftly scored!

Three cherries. That was a tough one

One of the pics I posted was his face gaping in amusement as the last shot of 'After the Thin Man'; he's a passing trainman who glances up to see Nick smooching Nora in the train car as they complete the mystery.

But like I said, he's been in gobs of flicks; including some of the Chaplin titles you enjoyed two weekends ago

Now we know to look for him whenever credits roll

Quiz #109 - American. Upwards of 300+ film appearances. Often cast as police chiefs, newspaper editors, medical examiners.

Quiz #110 - American. This joe doesn't have a lengthy filmography so I will be more than usually forthcoming.

He has teeny-weeny bit parts in (1) one Hitchcock flick; and two mega-famous film-noirs about which we've chatted recently around here.

If you can identify any of these movies by name, I will reveal what kind of role he played in each film. In the pic above, he is seen in the Hitch movie.

#109 - Bert Moorehouse?

Guess on #110 - George Eldredge?

negative

For #110, only 28 films between 1929 and 1949. Only 5-6 notable ones.

One DW Griffith movie I see now too. Some crime 'series' movies...one Cary Grant flick...and the Hitch and the two noirs I already mentioned.

I'm confused, is it #109 or #110 that has a long filmography? (300+)

Sorry --I've now corrected the typo I made.

#109 (Navy officer's cap) has a lengthy filmography (300 films).

#110 (the laughing man) has only 28 films with very few 'notable' ones.

A Hitchcock film. That will be tough since people seldom laugh in a Hitchcock film! So I will try Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

uh-uh

#108 looks familiar, maybe because he looks a little bit like Stewart Granger.....he looks like a handsome devil.

#108 was the star of star of a very popular action movie series in GB

The Hitchcock movie clue for #110: a Hitchcock title from the 40s (not the 50s and not the 30s). This laughing man is laughing because he is in a scene set in a movie theater and he is laughing at the screen.

#110 would be ordinarily be totally unworthy of this quizzo --he's far too obscure -- except that he has a KEY cameo in a major noir we've often discussed

#110 - Kernan Cripps?

Yes!! Score on #110!

He was in Hitchcock's 'Saboteur', 'Mr. Lucky' with Cary Grant, he was in DW Griffith's 'Lincoln'...

then, I see him listed in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'

and most very notably: he is the conductor/ticket taker on the train in 'Double Indemnity'

But y'know... IMDb lists a lot more titles for him than I saw listed from the source where I first stumbled across this mug

I am gonna start double-checking every quiz candidate I post, on IMDb beforehand, to be sure I give correct clues.

No way does Kernan Cripps have a mere 28 films. What goes on here.

Way to go, Betsy!!!!. I go to get my hair cut and come back to find that you have cracked #110. I was going to work my way through the Hitchcock films but I probably would have missed it anyway. I was surprised when it appeared that he had only been in so few films. but it looks like Feliks' source was wrong. But hey, I got a great hair cut.

#109 - Joseph Crehan?

Sure looks good, Jill.

Guess on #108 - Dermot Walsh?

Jill nails #109. Joseph Crehan yep!

No to Dermot Walsh

I'm amazed at some of these bullseyes you ladies have been zinging. These forgotten cast members of these forgotten movies are some of the dustiest names and faces I've come up with. They're being toppled like nine-pins.

Handily identifying these obscure butlers and police commissioners and train-conductors puts the earlier quizzo portions to shame.

Yeomen effort!

How about John Bentley for #108?

Nope.

Clues: this was a short-lived action adventure movie series which sprang from an earlier radio series; but then it also became a television series, and then even a stage play, and then also a comedy spoof. So its well-known in Britain.

Sorta like 'The Saint' or 'Danger Man' or 'Secret Agent' or 'The Prisoner'.

Quiz #111 American. This man needs no extensive research. He is readily familiar to us all.

Quiz #112. British. I want to say, "I'll eat my hat, if you get this one" but I can't. Too sharp lately, you are.

#108 - Edmund Purdom?

noo

#111 - Robert Cornthwaite?

Yes! Betsy scores.

Cornthwaite is the overzealous scientist in Howard Hawks' 'The Thing', and that egghead of his made him the professor or doctor in numerous other famous roles as well.