Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

mighty quiet out there. .. . peep peep peep . . . ribbit . . . ribbit. . .

quiz #24

#24 looks kind of like Jill Haworth.

anothah winnah! Sharp eye, there.

She had quite more of a career than I knew about. Singer, dancer. Stage and screen.

I've seen her in only 2 movies so I didn't know about the rest either.

Is #22, Mara Cordray? I don't think so but she looks a bit like her.

BTW, we have two #22s.....the blonde lassie and the latest who looks like Mara Cordray.

Good one, Betsy.

Thank ye, I fixed the numbering

Perhaps we could have a small clue for #22--nothing too obscure?

#22, blonde in the tiny et. She British; and this movie is a crime yarn from Britain, 19 . She was active on stage and screen all throughout the war and for a while afterwards; then she got married and raised children but --showing (like Hedy Lamarr) an intellectual side, she found other outlets for her talents. She remained in the industry but in several other interesting capacities.

#22................Sheila Sim?

Nuh. More detail: this little lass primarily worked in the decade of the 40s; by the 1950s she was already 'with child'. Just a dozen films. Her biggest role was opposite James Mason once.

#22 - Joyce Howard?

I think you got it, Betsy!!!

She does indeed have it. Whew! What an ace! What a sharpshooter!

Joyce is the female lead in a gripping little crime yarn I dig, called 'Appointment with Crime'.

I thought #23 looked a bit like Audrey Totter, except for the hair. Any chance of a clue?

I wouldn't mind posting a few more pics of #23 for you. Maybe later today.

This actress is British and usually blonde.

Belinda Lee?

Nope. I will also divulge that this was a fairly big star; she appeared as leading lady opposite many of the big Brit actors of the era and worked for two big studios. This is no bit-player. She starred in costume dramas, musicals, crime, romance; and had a decently-lengthy career.

June Duprez?

Gee I don't know any of these names. But no, sorry.

At least you can rule out all comediennes. This lass is not a ~comedy~ actress. She wasn't at Ealing.

I am running out of British actresses. Hazel Court?

Nope. By the way, I just added two further pictures of #23 to our photo gallery.

Anna Neagle?

Nooo...

Jean Kent?

Yes!! w00 w00

I saw her in 'Good Time Girl' and she gave a really tough performance as a juvenile delinquent. She was briefly the top British female star. Represented at the Rank studio and the Gainsborough studio.

you can see the lengths i have to go, to give y'all a challenging puzzle!

WTG, Betsy. I had run out of British actresses.

We still have to get the guy in #21....the one who looks like but isn't Warren Hymer. Is he, by chance, a musician?

#21 had musical talent and could play, but I doubt that would lead you to him. He's more well-known as a comedic actor. His musical background is obscure.

Any other good clues for #21 would be appreciated.

#21 is Irish; from a big Irish working-class family in Boston; he drifted into Hollywood pictures from the vaudeville circuit. Relatively short in stature. Usually seen with thick, curly black hair, the picture here is a shot of him as a slightly older man and a trimmed-down appearance; by that time happily married to a glamorous Hollywood blonde; and with kids of his own.

Thanks for the clues, but I am still struggling. Was #21 working in the 30s, 40s and 50s?

Born just prior to 1910. So he was in comedy clubs and vaudeville in the late 20s and early 30s; Broadway in the 30s which led to his break in films in the early 40s. In the 50s he mostly returned to Broadway except for occasional supporting roles and sporadic leads here and there.

He had a grin a mile wide. Brash, bold, devil-may-care Irish lad.

It sounds a lot like Ray Bolger, but he doesn't look like him.

I think if I add even one more clue you will pounce on the answer --I think you're getting mighty close --so I'm going to be very chary.

How about this devilish rake? We're talking young Hollywood here. Grand days. He went on to become a household name; looking anything like he looked here.
Quiz #25

Is #25 Laurence Olivier?

No banana. #25 is actually an American actor; hugely famous in American television (and also to someone like myself who also knows his voice in radio).

But nevermind that. He is phenomenally well-known to any American female such as the history-savvy women in this reader's group.

I'm fascinated by this pic though, because like other candid shots from his early days they show just how incredibly different a man can look in one phase of his life versus another.

It's the same if you ever saw a picture of young Josef Stalin. He was fantastically handsome as a youth. The face of an angel. We typically know him only as a sallow, bloated, shifty-eyed, face of evil.

Similarly, with this young man. We all know this actor but we'd never guess he ever played young Lochinvar (or whoever he plays) here.

This is a really far out guess but why not? Will Geer?

You're thinking along the right lines...try to picture him 'sans' goatee and with just a moustache

Although he looks heroic here (and by the way that is really some goatee isn't it? dang!) in his later career he would never be seen as romantic and we would never root for him.

I was looking more at his mouth and his eyes and he resembled Geer slightly. That goatee looks fake!

I see why Kandice thought it might be Olivier since the clothing looks like that Olivier wore in Fire Over England.

It's obviously Elizabethan period dress, and Geer was a good guess for the television element. That's one of the reasons I considered Edgar Buchanan (The Sea Hawk), but could he change that much?

This is going to sound crazy but his mouth is the clue.....it immediately struck me as familiar but I have yet to pin it down.

Obviously he didn't look quite as dashing in later life.

Gale Gordon from "I Love Lucy"?

Jill gets the big win this time. It is indeed. Gale Gordon. Whew!!

Just search for his images online and you will see how startling the transformation is. He was a handsome devil in his early days.

I know him for his deep, booming voice in many a radio serial.

I just used 'young Hollywood' as a very loose way to conveniently lump the above photo into some kind of pre-war timeframe. Because I have no idea when it was taken. 20's? 30s? Gordon was a regular castmember of the 'Fibber McGee/Molly' radio show in the 30s; among many other serials. I imagine he was born sometime in the early 'Oughts.

Anyway, congratulations to Jill. That was a tough one. 'Mister Mooney' from 'The Lucy Show'. About as unsmiling a villain as ever aired!

That's great, Jill. What movie was this I wonder?

Now, we need to figure out #21

If I had mentioned that in his later career he 'always wore a bowtie', it would have given the game away.

Here's a brunette vamp who enjoyed a lively career between '27 and '43. Name her if you can!

Quiz #26