Eve Arden

I remember "Our Miss Brooks" on television. I was only 2 years old when it came on, and 6 when the show ended, but I remember. My guess is that Eve Arden (1908 - 1990) had such an unforgettable voice that I didn't forget her. Even though her voice was quite low, she had a lilting quality in it that was wonderful to hear. It also would have helped in her acting career, both on the stage and screen.

TCM just ran Stage Door (1937) which was Eve's fourth movie.  It would be a good start. Stage Door starred Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, and included Ann Miller who was only 14 years old, and Lucille Ball in the main cast. Grady Sutton, Franklin Pangborn and Jack Carson also show up in small parts. It was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture. One biographer on IMDb said that Eve's wise-cracking character would be forged in Stage Door and she would use it throughout her career. The only thing I didn't like about the movie is that whenever Miller and Rogers were dancing, they didn't show their feet!

Eve would make two more films with Ginger. Having Wonderful Time (1938), and We're Not Married! (1952) which also included Marilyn Monroe.

There were a lot of films made in the 1930s. Eve made her share, but most were not noteworthy. The stars were, though. She got to work with Fred MacMurray, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Clark Gable.  In 1939 she worked with the Marx Brothers in At the Circus. She worked with Gable again in Comrade X (1940).

In Ziegfeld Girl (1941) she worked with James Stewart, Judy Garland and Hedy Lamarr. She worked again with Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and Lamarr was in Comrade X.

One of the better movies of the 1940s was Joan Crawford's Mildred Pierce (1945) with Eve in a substantial role. This one got Eve her only Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, and Crawford won for Best Actress.

By the end of that decade, television was beginning to take hold. "Our Miss Brooks" came along in 1952 and stayed for four years. Do you remember Gale Gordon as the principal, Mr. Conklin, or the squeeky voiced Walter Denton played by Richard Crenna?

At the end of the final season there was a movie made by the same name. The next year Eve tried another series called "The Eve Arden Show" but it didn't last.

Now we will see Eve and other stars in the same boat making movies together, all while working on TV. Gale Gordon and Eve are featured in a Frankie Avalon film called Sergeant Dead Head (1965). And Eve is with Joe Flynn and Phil Silvers in The Strongest Man in the World (1975).

Also look for Eve playing a charm school teacher in a recurring part on "The Red Skelton Hour." She then gets another series, this time co-starring with Kaye Ballard, called "The Mothers in Law."

Amid the TV movies and other guest spots, Eve gets a great role, fitting the character she used and worked all of her life, as the principal in Grease (1978). She would reprise this role in Grease II (1982) her final movie. Grease was set in the 1950s, and Eve Arden was the perfect choice as Principal McGee. All of the Baby Boomers remembered her as a teacher!

Some of the character names she used over the years show her comedic style.

• Peerless Pauline
• Olive Lashbrooke
• Miss 'Woodie' Woods
• Clara Appleby (with Red Skelton)
• Harriet Crumply
• Clarissa 'Wedgie' Wedge

Her last role, of 97 titles on IMDb, was on "Falcon Crest" in 1987. But I will always remember her as Connie Brooks.

B4 They Were Stars - Ginger Rogers

I thought it would be fun to look at famous stars, before they got that way.  Of course, most started out as extras or Bit Actors.  Ginger Rogers (1911 - 1995) was no exception. 

Ginger has 90 titles listed on IMDb.  Of that, 25 appear before her first pairing with Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio (1933).  It was that pairing that made her a real star, and since over 1/4 of her movies were released before that, it could be said she was a Bit Actress.  (Or am I stretching the point?!?)

In 1925 Ginger won a Charleston contest at the age of 14, and that was really her start in show business.  She toured for a short time with the dance show, and then went to Broadway.  Ginger started making movies in 1929.  Her first time on screen was in A Day of a Man of Affairs a short that no one remembers.

Two more shorts in 1930.  A Night in a Dormitory with Thelma White (1910 - 2005) who later appeared in Tell Your Children (1936) also known as Reefer Madness.  Then, Campus Sweethearts starring Rudy Vallee (1901 - 1986). 

In Young Man of Manhattan (1930) she co-stars as a flapper with Claudette Colbert (1903 - 1996).  Also in 1930 she was in The Sap from Syracuse with Jack Oakie (1903 - 1978).  These were already pretty big parts for Ginger...the problem was they were in pretty small movies.  Ginger made seven films in 1930.  That year she also worked with Charlie Ruggles, Frank Morgan, Ed Wynn and Ethel Merman. 

In 1931 she works with William Boyd (1895 - 1972) in Suicide Fleet, just two films before he became Hopalong Cassidy in 1935.  In the next few years she works with Joe E. Brown in two films, and with Joan Blondell, before their first Busby Berkeley film together.

Two great musicals are up next, 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933, both released in 1933.  Gold Diggers of 1933 started Ginger on her real climb to stardom.  The opening number is "We're in the Money" with Ginger taking the lead.  There is a closeup of her singing the song in pig-latin, and even though it is a distorted shot due to being too close for the lens, it endears Ginger to the audience.  She really didn't have a lead part in the film, but she was on her way none-the-less.

Ginger made six more films before Flying Down to Rio with Fred.  She had the lead in all of them, and got to work with more stars like Zasu Pitts, Lew Ayres (her husband from 1934 to 1940), Charley Grapewin, Joel McCrea and Jack Haley. 

After Flying, she was in ten films with Fred Astaire and could now be considered one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.  She won just a single Oscar for her work, and it wasn't with Fred.  It was for Best Actress in Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman (1940). 

Ginger's last film was Harlow in 1965 starring Carol Lynley (b. 1942) in the title role, and she continued acting on TV until 1987.  But she'll always be remembered as the girl who did everything Fred did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.

A Swing Time Christmas

Any time is a good time for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, especially if its Christmas time and the movie is Swing Time (1936).  Swing Time won an Oscar for best music, and Hermes Pan was nominated for another for best dance routine.  Plus, Ginger was never prettier!  Even with whipped cream in her hair.

The best Christmas scene in this movie is the snow scene.  It was shot on a sound stage, which is obvious, but you do get a little cold watching it, especially when Fred gets a face full of snow as Ginger starts the car!  The song, A Fine Romance, sung during the snow scene really helps warm you up.

Alas, the rest of the cast never comes to mind when you think about Fred and Ginger.  Their ten films together include some of the finest dancing you will ever see, so why remember the cast, or even the story line?

Well, there were others in the cast.  Who can remember Betty Furness (1916 - 1994) on "What's My Line" in the 1950s and "To Tell the Truth" in the 1960s?  She was there, in one of her 45 movie and TV roles.  Betty was also in Flying Down to Rio (1933) with Fred and Ginger.

Victor Moore (1876 - 1962) appears as well.  He has 71 roles to his credit, including 23 silent short films in 1917 alone.  He also made two movies with Bob Hope, Louisiana Purchase (1941) and Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) also with Bing Crosby.  Look for Moore in This is the Army (1943), a Ronald Reagan movie starring George Murphy (1902 - 1992).  Moore's last film was The Seven Year Itch (1955) with Marilyn Monroe.

Here's a Bit Actor to know...Helen Broderick (1891 - 1959).  Swing Time is one of her 35 movies.  She was also the mother of Broderick Crawford (1911 - 1986) who has 140 titles listed.  And I didn't know they were both born in Philadelphia, just like this Blogger!

Two more and we'll call it a day.  Eric Blore (1887 - 1959) has 86 wonderful titles.  I think I may come back to him in another post.  Blore was in The Lady Eve (1941), among his other work from 1920 to 1955.  And let's not forget Georges Metaxa (1899 - 1950) who only made 12 films, but did a great job at Ricky Romero, the band leader who gambles with Fred for his band.

I hope everyone reading has a wonderful Christmas.  I appreciate all the comments and e-mails I have received since I started this project, and several of you have become regular correspondents.  That's what makes this fun...sharing and discussing the great moments and great personalities in film.

I will not be writing tomorrow, but keep watching for more Bit Part Actors.  There are a lot of them!  Spend some time with Fred and Ginger over the holidays.

Busby Berkeley

Bit Actor Busby Berkeley was in three films.  Of course, they were really cameo roles for him, since he was also the choreographer for those films, Palmy Days (1931), Gold Diggers of 1933, and Footlight Parade (1933).

Gold Diggers of 1933 is one of the best of the Berkeley films.  He didn't direct, but he was the choreographer.  I own the five DVD set of Berkeley films shown at left, with that one and other great movies.

A young Ginger Rogers has a good supporting part, in her 18th film.  She and Ruby Keeler bring a lot of beauty to this film, and Dick Powell's voice is wonderful in the Dubin and Warren tunes that I think are timeless.  But who else was in it?

At the very bottom of the list on IMDb sits Tammany Young.  The next year he was in It's a Gift with W. C. Fields as his store clerk Emmett, playing with Baby Leroy.  He died in 1936, but he started working in films in 1914 and had 126 roles.

Jane Wyman can be seen in her third movie role as one of the gold diggers.  This was 7 years before she married Ronald Reagan.  He was her third husband and she was only 33 when they married.

Sometimes I see a name and I need to write it down for further research.  This movie has a bit actor named Fred "Snowflake" Toones, who lived from 1906 to 1962 and appeared in 209 movies.  There has to be a story to his life.  It turns out he was in Way Out West in 1937 with Laurel and Hardy, his only film with the great comedy team.

Last, I can't skip Charles Lane and Billy Barty.  Both had long careers as bit actors.  Take a look at Lane's filmography here.

Busby Berkeley did his best to make the great depression a little brighter.