The Great Ziegfeld

Here is a movie that, somehow, I had missed seeing.  The Great Ziegfeld (1936) was recently on TCM, so I put it on the DVR.  My wife and I just watched it.  This movie has a huge cast for 1936, and a huge price tag.  It cost $2,000,000 to make, but it took in $40,000,000 and won an Oscar for Best Picture.

No, I won't talk about William Powell, Myrna Loy, or Frank Morgan.  If you are reading a classic movie blog, you already know those names.  Let's look at some smaller parts.

In some very small parts we find Rosina Lawrence (1912 - 1997) and Mae Questel (1908 - 1998) who are both acquaintances of mine.  Rosina played in several Laurel and Hardy films and Little Rascals shorts for Hal Roach.  I attended Sons of the Desert banquets and conventions with her.  A wonderful lady--first class.  Mae was the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl and entertained us at one of the Sons of the Desert conventions.

Look quickly for Vivian Vance (1909 - 1979) in the audience of Anna Held.  It was her second film, and years before "I Love Lucy."  There is also an appearance of William Demarest (1892 - 1983) who has 167 titles on his list, including "My Three Sons."

Another Hal Roach actor in Ziegfeld is Mickey Daniels (1914 - 1970) who was in quite a few of the Little Rascals silent films. 

Nat Pendleton (1895 - 1967) played Sandow the strong man.  Pendleton has over 110 movies on his filmography.  He was in five with William Powell, including the first two Thin Man movies.  He was a strong man in real life and may be the first to display his body as art.  He was an Olympic wrestler for the United States in 1920, winning a silver medal.  In his later career he was in Buck Privates (1941) and Buck Privates Come Home (1947) with Abbott and Costello.

Reginald Owen (1887 - 1972) is cast as Sampston in one of his 142 titles.  Of course, Owen was Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 film, A Christmas Carol.  He was also the captain of the ship in White Cargo (1942) with Hedy Lamarr (1914 - 2000).  That must have been a steamy adventure!

Finally Ray Bolger (1904 - 1987) appears as Ray Bolger; and Fanny Brice (1891 - 1951) appears as Fannie Brice, but is credited as Fannie Brice.  Well, that's what IMDb says.

If you are new to classic films, this one is certainly worth viewing.  You can also catch the incredible staging of the song, A Pretty Girl in That's Entertainment (1974).  Could Ziggy have really done that on a theater stage???

Christmas Vacation

I know, it isn't really a classic.  But you have to admit, this Chevy Chase (b. 1943) film has some good lines, good slap-stick, and the most important thing, it has Mae Questel (1908 - 1998).

Christmas Vacation (1989) was Mae's last film, in a career that includes 382 titles starting in 1930.  Mae is best known as the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl in cartoons.  Her Betty Boop voice is a copy of the original Boop-Boop-A-Doop girl, Helen Kane (1904 - 1966). 

I had the pleasure of meeting Mae twice, while I was a bored member in The Sons of the Desert.  The first time was at a banquet in New York City, and then she came to the Philadelphia SoD convention in 1986.  She was fun, and always ready to tell a story about the old days.

Mae entertained us on banquet night, singing with Vince Giordano's Nighthawk Orchestra.  You can see some of her performance in the Emmy award winning TV documentary "The Revenge of the Sons of the Desert" filmed by Sandy Marshall at the convention.  (You'll see me in it as well!)

Mae's later films included a voice part in Bells Are Ringing (1960), Funny Girl (1968), Zelig (1983) a Woody Allen film where she did the voice of Helen Kane, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) again as Betty Boop. 

I'd also like to recognize Doris Roberts (b. 1930) who played the lush (used as a noun) mother-in-law.  Doris is a perfect Bit Actor.  She has 127 titles listed, starting in 1952.  She was in A New Leaf in 1971 and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three in 1974, among a lot of other work.  She also made a lot of TV remakes of famous movies, like "Bell, Book and Candle," "It Happened One Christmas" a remake of It's a Wonderful Life, and "The Diary of Anne Frank."

And we can't forget William Hickey (1927 - 1997).  I have written about him in my post on The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Check out my archives. 

The rest of the cast does a great job supporting this Chevy Chase showcase.  Beverly D'Angelo (b. 1951) is charming as always.  Juliette Lewis (b. 1973) plays Chase's daughter.  She is now making quite a name for herself as an actress with 56 titles.  Johnny Galecki (b. 1975) was the son, and he now has 46 titles.

Veteran actors, E. G. Marshall (1914 - 1998), John Randolph (1915 - 2004), Miriam Flynn (b. 1952), and the ever strange Randy Quaid (b. 1950) all add their magic to the film, without interfering with Chase's antics. 

As I said, for a real classic movie fan, this will probably never be a classic.  But if you are in the mood for something lighter than A Christmas Carol, this just might be perfect.

Bells are Ringing

I had the chance to watch Bells are Ringing last night.  An MGM musical from 1960 starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin.  I first saw this film when it premiered at Radio City Music Hall in NY.  What a place!

A quick look at the cast listed on IMDb sends you to bit part Heaven!  So many actors and actresses were tapped for this film.  It was a little surprising to see so many familiar TV faces, especially in the street scene where Dean and Judy are saying "Hello" to everyone.  Many of theses actors and actresses were working in TV and also doing some movie parts.  I bet you will recognize most of the faces, but never knew their names.  I'd like to scan the faces later in that scene where Dean is singing while walking through the crowd.

Bells are Ringing includes the talents of Herb Vigran who has 324 roles listed to his credit from 1934 to 1987, Frank Richards (143 roles), Milton Parsons (155 roles), and Len Lesser (165 roles).  Of special note we heard Mae Questel as the voice of Olga on the phone.  Mae was also the voice of Olive Oyl and Betty Boop in cartoons.  In his first movie, Hal Linden was the nightclub singer who performed the classic tune, The Midas Touch.  Hal didn't even get screen credit.

One thing that looked like it really didn't belong in the film were the prat falls of Gil Lamb.  I can see one fall, tripping over Judy's removed skirt, but then he kept upstaging everyone to show how flexible he is.  It didn't work for me.

I hope you saw Leonard Bremen!  He was the man on the street who almost gets run over.  Of course, he is one of my choices for all time best bit actor.  His voice is very distinctive...in a character actor sort of way.

I must also mention the dentist/composer, Bernard West.  His was a small, but important part.  He didn't do much acting in his career, but he was a writer and producer of note.  In fact, he was the producer for "All in the Family" and of course, Jean Stapleton was in that and Bells are Ringing.  See how everything fits together?

If you've never seen Bells, please go rent or buy it.  Some reviews on IMDb have trashed it a bit, but this is a very entertaining film.  How can you beat the great musical numbers and orchestrations, the singing of Dean Martin, the comedy of Judy Holiday in her only color film, plus the wonderful character portrayals of Jean Stapleton and Eddie Foy, Jr.?