Upcoming Stuff!

Lots of great events are coming up this spring in the Southeast Pennsylvania area. Here is a quick look at some, and also additional thoughts for the day.

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2012 is the 70th anniversary of the release of Casablanca (1942), one of the greatest films ever made, and THE greatest romance film. Turner Classic Films has put together a screening of Casablanca at theaters around the country to celebrate the event. There will be one (sometimes two) showings on March 21, 2012 at a theater near you, but only on that date.

Robert Osborne will present a behind the scenes look at the film, which promises to be well worth seeing. This is your chance to see Casablanca on the big screen. More info can be found here and you can also pre-order tickets at that link. I already have mine! I hope Victor Laszlo and his wife Ilsa make it to Lisbon this time.

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The Two Tars Tent of the Sons of the Desert will hold their next banquet on Friday, April 20, 2012. We will have as our guest Pretty, Perky Peggy King, which is what George Gobel used to call her.  Peggy was a singing star on Gobel's TV show, and also appeared in such great films as Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) and Zero Hour (1957).

George Gobel and Peggy King

Two Tars banquets are held at The Cannstatter Club in Northeast Philadelphia, and event details can be found at the Two Tars Oasis 14 web site. The food is great, the entertainment is fun, and the bar is close by.

Peggy will talk about her career and maybe sing a few songs for us. She has some stories about her friends, Liberace, George Gobel, and Abbott and Costello to share.

We will also be showing Blotto (1930), one of the funniest Laurel and Hardy shorts ever made. Blotto also features Anita Garvin as Stan's wife. This event is an intimate gathering of movie buffs, not fans, and a great opportunity to learn about the movies, while having a good time.

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Then, on May 12, 2012, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Betzwood Studio and ranch of silent movie mogul Siegmund Lubin. Come to Montgomery County Community College in Bluebell, PA for the Betzwood Silent Film Festival. The Betzwood Ranch was the largest movie studio in the country in 1912. Lubin created some great westerns and other movies here, and the story of his rise and decline is interesting to any film buff.

Betzwood Glass Studio c. 1915

A few years ago, Betzwood was featured on the PBS program, "History Detectives," to find info about some photos of the studio. The show is available on the PBS web site, and offers some great background on Lubin and Betzwood if you want to attend the festival. Click this link to go to that show.

Professor Joseph Eckhardt is the driving force behind the festival and will introduce the films. Talented organist Don Kinnier is amazing as he accompanies the films. And once again, the theater at the college allows an intimate experience where you can approach Prof. Eckhardt and Mr. Kinnier for a chat.

The Betzwood Studio was sold by Lubin in 1917 and later produced the Toonerville Trolley series before closing forever in 1923.

The Toonerville Trolley

The Philadelphia area was not only the starting point for the USA, but also one of the starting points for the movie industry. If you are interested in this kind of history, I suggest you look for Prof. Eckhardt's book, King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin. And bring it to the festival for an autograph!

I'll be at all three events. Look for me at a table near Sam, the pianist. I'll be drinking a Cointreau.

More Casablanca

I might as well go back to one of the best films ever made, Casablanca from 1942, simply because of it's masterful use of bit actors to completely set the tone of the movie.  As much as an artistic director is responsible for designing sets to go with a director's idea of the story, bit actors and actresses create the feel and add color to the production.

Casablanca is full of great people to write about.  We covered Cuddles Sakall yesterday.  Dooley Wilson was the famous piano player/singer at Rick's Cafe Americain.  As everyone knows, he really couldn't play the piano (he was a singer and a drummer) but that didn't stop him.  He played an accordionist in his next film, Two Tickets to London in 1943, and a piano player again in 1949's Knock on Any Door, also with Bogart.  Dooley only made 19 films, but was popular on the stage.

Ludwig Stossel was always one of my favs in Casablanca.  He played Mr. Leuchtag who was preparing to leave for America with his wife.  They are having a drink with Cuddles, rather Carl the waiter, while practicing their English.  Leuchtag, "Vhat Vatch, liebchen?"  Wife, "Ten Vatch."  Leuchtag, "Such Vatch!"  I love it!  Then Carl says, "You will do beautifully in America."  Stossel played 130 roles, including Great Guns with Laurel and Hardy in 1941, and became the Little Old Winemaker in Italian Swiss Colony ads.

John Qualen was Berger, the Norwegian freedom fighter who came to Rick's to assist Victor Laszlo in his escape.  Here is an actor!  In his 88 years he played 209 roles in film and TV, from 1931 to 1974.  Over 50 movies in the decade 1931 to 1939.  Do you remember him in The Grapes of Wrath in 1940?  Qualen also played in a huge list of TV shows from the early 1950's teleplays, up to 1974 and "Streets of San Francisco."

There are too many great stories in the cast list of Casablanca, so I will save some for later.  Or I guess I could just write all day!

Cuddles

I was e-mailing with another film blogger, and she happened to mention her favorite Bit Actor, S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, so let's see what we can find.  And Thanks to Brandie at The ABCs of Classic Film blog for a great suggestion and a great blog site. 

I would venture to say that Cuddles Sakall is one of the better known bit actors, simply because of his role in one of the greatest films every made, Casablanca in 1942.  Carl the waiter at Rick's Cafe had an important role, not only setting the tone of the cafe, but also supporting Rick in everything he did. 

Sakall was born in 1884 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary.  He made about 60 films in Germany, Hungary and England from 1917 to 1937, then there is a noticeable 3 year gap in his work.  His next film was called It's a Date in 1940, starring Deanna Durbin.  Apparently Cuddles left Europe as Hitler rose to power.  It is mentioned in the IMDb trivia that his three sisters died in Nazi concentration camps.

My guess is that his long resume of films in Europe was helpful in getting roles in Hollywood.  Over the next few years he worked with Robert Young, Olivia De Havilland, Jean Arthur, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, and in a larger role, with James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy released in 1942 just before Casablanca. 

After Casablanca he worked again with Humphrey Bogart in a war musical called Thank Your Lucky Stars in 1943, and in 1946 a "B" movie called Two Guys from Milwaukee included Cuddles, plus a cameo with Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Another twenty films followed, including In the Good Old Summertime with Judy Garland in 1949 and Lullaby of Broadway with Doris Day in 1951.  His character was well defined over all those years and a total of over 100 films.  Can you imagine making a career out of one type of character?  Whether it was a waiter, a baker, a butler, or a grandpa, Cuddles Sakall always played the same character.

Cuddles left us in 1955 after having a heart attack.  Surely he was one of the best Bit Actors ever.