One of everyone's favorite W. C. Fields movies is The Bank Dick from 1940. This was the second to last Fields movie and by this time his popularity allowed him do whatever he wanted. The story seems a little disjointed by today's standards, but each part is so much fun that it doesn't matter. Don't be a moon-calf, don't be a jabbernow, you just have to enjoy it as it unfolds.
Fields came from vaudeville, so he could put on an act all alone on stage. In his movies he surrounded himself with character actors like Grady Sutton, (Og Oggilby) Una Merkel (Myrtle Souse), Shemp Howard (the bartender, Joe Guelpe) and Franklin Pangborn (J. Pinkerton Snoopington, bank examiner). These people have wonderful comedic timing, and Fields used them to great effect.
Russell Hicks played J. Frothingham Waterbury. Hicks started his film career in the silent classic The Birth of a Nation in 1915. He had 316 roles in movies and TV over 42 years. His deep voice and ability to project it, and his perfect diction was great in the talkies. Look for him in You Can't Take it with You (Directed by Frank Capra), Buck Privates Come Home (Abbott and Costello), The Big Store (Marx Brothers), Great Guns (among other films with Laurel and Hardy), Dark Alibi (A Sidney Toler - Charlie Chan film)...it's another endless list by a great bit actor! For most of his career on the screen he averaged 13 films a year.
One of my favorites in this film had a small part. David Oliver was the bank teller with the straw hat. Billy Mitchell comes in and wants to withdraw his money because the teller with the hat makes him nervous. He made ME nervous with his nervous little voice and that sneeze! Billy Mitchell was a tenor sax player with Dizzie Gillespie and Count Basie. David Oliver also appeared in Fields' You Can't Cheat an Honest Man a year earlier, and I also noticed him in Pot O' Gold (1941) with Jimmy Stewart and Paulette Goddard.
I guess its time to watch some more W. C. Fields movies. I had the pleasure of meeting his grandson, Bill Fields, at one of our Sons of the Desert meetings quite a few years ago. I believe he still lives in the Philadelphia area.
Showing posts with label Bank Dick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bank Dick. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Franklin Pangborn
To really see bit actors en masse, you have to go back to the days of two-reel comedies. Here we find the likes of James Finlayson, Edgar Kennedy, Billy Gilbert, Charlie Hall, Tiny Sandford, and of course, Franklin Pangborn.
Pangborn was born in 1889 and lived until 1958. He started acting in plays and went on to silent films. It takes years to develop a persona for an acting career (if you want one) and he started out doing some very serious parts in dramas. No one will remember them because he so effectively became a comedian.
Think about almost all of the Pangborn films. He mostly played a man in some type of authoritarian position who gets flustered with the situation. In his frustration to keep everything going on his terms, he lets his comic genius escape. He usually is cast as the hotel manager, store clerk, butler, salesman, and as the bank examiner, J. Pinkerton Snoopington in The Bank Dick. I loved watching him drink with Fields in that movie.
He started in films after WWI in 1926 and made over 200 movies. He worked with most of the greats including Bing Crosby, Mack Sennett, Fred Astaire, Our Gang (where he played Otto Phocus, a photographer), with William Powell and Carol Lombard in My Man Godfrey, and so many others. He was in quite a few films with his friend Edward Everett Horton.
There is a lengthy biography of Pangborn found on IMDb. Of course, anything you read on the web could be less than accurate (including my blog, but I try to check things out) so check the details if you need to. This one is worth it.
Watch for him in a more dramatic role in Now, Voyager with Bette Davis. I have seen that film, but it was a while ago. I will watch it again and pay more attention to the bit parts! Later Franklin played a few small cameos on TV. I guess his character worked well for quite a while, but audiences got more sophisticated and he got older. It is sad to think about how that happens, and it probably happens to most of us. Franklin Pangborn will be remembered.
Pangborn was born in 1889 and lived until 1958. He started acting in plays and went on to silent films. It takes years to develop a persona for an acting career (if you want one) and he started out doing some very serious parts in dramas. No one will remember them because he so effectively became a comedian.
Think about almost all of the Pangborn films. He mostly played a man in some type of authoritarian position who gets flustered with the situation. In his frustration to keep everything going on his terms, he lets his comic genius escape. He usually is cast as the hotel manager, store clerk, butler, salesman, and as the bank examiner, J. Pinkerton Snoopington in The Bank Dick. I loved watching him drink with Fields in that movie.
He started in films after WWI in 1926 and made over 200 movies. He worked with most of the greats including Bing Crosby, Mack Sennett, Fred Astaire, Our Gang (where he played Otto Phocus, a photographer), with William Powell and Carol Lombard in My Man Godfrey, and so many others. He was in quite a few films with his friend Edward Everett Horton.
There is a lengthy biography of Pangborn found on IMDb. Of course, anything you read on the web could be less than accurate (including my blog, but I try to check things out) so check the details if you need to. This one is worth it.
Watch for him in a more dramatic role in Now, Voyager with Bette Davis. I have seen that film, but it was a while ago. I will watch it again and pay more attention to the bit parts! Later Franklin played a few small cameos on TV. I guess his character worked well for quite a while, but audiences got more sophisticated and he got older. It is sad to think about how that happens, and it probably happens to most of us. Franklin Pangborn will be remembered.
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