Spooktober 28: The Terror (1928)

 

Warner Brother's The Terror is without a doubt the world's very first "all talking" horror feature film; released in 1928 when most theaters were in no way equipped for sound (even synchronized sound from disc as was the case here). As a result, this widely distributed crime thriller based on an Edgar Wallace play was also, and primarily, released as a silent film. Warners gave the film two separate release/premiere dates, with the sound version premiering a month and a half before the silent version. Directed by Roy Del Ruth, it starred May McAvoy and Edward Everett Horton, with the sound version utilizing the clunky Vitaphone on disc sound system, and the discs are the only portion of the film known to survive, despite it's wide distribution. UCLA's Film and Television Archive houses the only known copies of said discs that are thought to be in relatively good condition, though they do not seem to have been restored and released (UCLA is also rumored to have a copy of the print in some condition...though the condition of the print, if it exists at all, is not known). There are plenty of stills and lobby cards that do still exist and give a general idea of the creepy nature of the film. Basically an "old dark house" affair (of which Wallace excelled), the film was quite similar in story to other crime horrors of the 1920's such as The Bat and The Cat and the Canary, with the notable exception of the inclusion of a creepy old organ--making it the source of the old haunted house film trope of adding organ music adding to the scary ambience of the whole. 

 

Born Today June 9: John Howard Payne

1791-1852

American writer and actor John Howard Payne was born on this date in New York City area (East Hampton). He was the one of nine children and spent his childhood in Boston, where he was educated (some sources cite Boston as his birth place-appears not to be correct). He apparently showed prowess and skill in dramatic acting from an early age (another story of parental disapproval of such talent--as he was set up with an apprenticeship at an accounting firm at the age of 13 by his father--possessing no head for figures, he had trouble concentrating on tasks at hand). His love for theater attendance--in any capacity--was an early passion and only grew stronger with age. He started his own published journal of theater criticism at the very young age of just 14!  In this regard, he got lucky. A very well off business man from New York who saw some of Payne's published work and offered to pay for him to attend college. While at college, he started yet another published paper, but this and his college attendance were cut short by the death of his mother and the failure of this father's business--he deteremined that the best way to assist his family would be to quit his education and started a career as a professional stage actor (this most probably was the excuse he had been waiting for--though Payne was one of the older children in the family--as working as an actor to support them was probably not the most lucrative avenue...). Payne made his professional stage debut on the 24th of February in 1809 in New York City.  It was a resounding success and soon sent him on tour, much to his and audiences delight. Ever the literary sort, Payne took a small amount of time to also establish a celculating library and reading room he called the Athenaeum.  Around this time, his father passed away and he gained the interest of a famous British actor who was known for his leading roles in the plays of Shakespeare: George Frederick Cooke (whom Payne appeared with in King Lear in New York at the Park Theater). This was the catalyst that took Payne across the Atlantic to London, which is where he eventually took up writing plays of his own. He was a success in Drury Lane, and spent time in France--picking up the French language quickly and compently enough to be paid to translate French plays to English back in the U.K.  He also tried his hand at theater mangament, which did not go well (perhaps his struggles with accounting contributed).  In 1823, he penned a play based on a proposal by the theater manager at Covent Garden, but issuses with the selling and production of the play necccesitated that it be altered for production--the result of this was an opera.  Turns out, Payne also possessed a talent for writing songs, along with the other copious writing skills that he began to explore. The end product was titled Clari; or the Maid of Milan. Within this work was a song entitled "Home, Sweet Home"--which was set to an old Italian folk song by English composer Sir Henry Bishop. I am going into all of this rather labourious detail, because, despite all of his written accomplishments in his life (he was also a very talented artist in drawing), it is for this one song that he remembered today. In fact, it was all he was remembered for by the year 1916, when the song was first used in a movie. To be fair, the song was an instant success and became known the world over whereever there was an English speaking population. 100, 000 copies were sold instantly upon publication.  It certainly made him a household name in the U.K. and back at home in the U.S. As mentioned, it is this work that was used in a film in 1916--a title directed by it's star...a woman no less (!), Cleo Madison: Eleanor's Catch, a short comedy produced by the Rex Motion Picture Co. (the film not only survives, but has been restored by Kino--nearly 20 years ago--and has also been screened on TCM).  The song would feature in one additional silent film, The Chechahcos (or The Cheekchakos), a feature length adventure drama filmed on location in what is now Denali National Park in 1923 (what a feat!) [the film is included in the National Film Registry].  This would be the last fully silent motion picture to feature the song; the song would show up in three more productions in the 1920's, only one of which was a feature. The first was the experimental all sound short from the company that made sound an early specialty: Warner Brothers. The Wild Westerner was a short comedy (8 minutes) that utilized the Vitaphone sound machine dating from 1928. The song next shows up in an early Mickey Mouse cartoon (it's first use in any animation): When The Cat's Away (1929) [incidently, since we are talking sound, the animation uitilized the Powers Cinephone Sound System]. High Voltage (1929) is a parital silent crime drama, while So This Is College (1929) is a full on musical comedy centered around college football. The song was next used in an early incarnation of Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the 1930 short Believe It or Not #3.  The song made it's television debut in 1952 in the episode Huntin' For Trouble of The Roy Rogers Show. It's most recent use came in a made for television feature length documentary in 2013 entitled Secret Voices of Hollywood. After living for some 20 years in the UK, Payne returned to the United States in 1832. He became interested the Cherokee (Tsalagi) people through following their legal battle in the U.S. court system. He was eventually invited by Chief John Ross to his home in north Georgia and became a vocal opponent of the removal forced upon them. That leads to the next thing that he is remembered for, though these days it is most likely only recalled in Cherokee or other southern Native communities, that of coming up the theory that the Cherokee peoples were actually a lost tribe of Israel (rolls eyes, but seriously this was a "thing" in the 19th century that was applied at various times to native groups, espcially those forced onto the Trail of Tears). In 1842, he was appointed American Consul to Tunis, he served two separate terms there, eventually dying in Tunis on the 10th of April (some sources cite 9, but his memorial marker in Washington D.C. is engraved with the 10th) at the age of 60. He was buried at what was then just a cemetery called St. George's Protestant Cemetery--a church has since been built there--making it a graveyard.  Please follow the links below to a post by Matteo Giunti to view this remarkeable place. In 1883, his ashes were shipped from Tunis to New York and reburied at Oak Hill cemetery in Washington, D.C. (it's near Georgetown).  For me, the most intriguing part of Payne's life was his friendship Sam Colt (you know...the Colt Revolver). Payne became embroiled in Colt's brother's murder trial, conviction and imprisonment--the whole case was the "O.J. case" of it's time--follow the link for John Colt below to read all about it--facinating stuff! Payne is also cited as the great grandfather of actor and musical specialist John Payne--even though the elder Payne never married (I've tried to find information about children out of wedlock and came up goose-eggs--it is pure speculation that possibly the younger Payne was actually a great, great grand nephew??). 

His memorial marker at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington D.C.

Wikipedia

Official Website of St. George's Anglican Church, Tunis

Matteo Giunti--Tunis--St. George

John C Colt

IMDb

Songwirters Hall of Fame

Find A Grave entry

Born Today June 7: Albert Duvaleix (Not So Silent edition)

1893-1962

French actor Jean Albert Duvaleix was born on this day in the Bordeaux region of the country.  His career in film spanned between the years of 1928 and 1956; and in France is well remembered for his character roles in the 30's, 40's and 50's. He did make one appearance in a film in the 1920's, though it was an early short full sound film by directed Jacques Séverac.  Les rigolos was both Duvaleix and Séverac's debut into film and was one of the first fully talking films produced in France; it was released on the 24th of February, 1928. He did not appear in another film for some four years, when, in 1932, he acted in his first feature length film--Beauty Spot--a comedy based on a play by Georges Dolley.  His last film appearance also came in a comedy: The Whole Town Accuses (1956). That film marked the directorial debut of Claude Boissol.  Albert Duvaleix died in Paris on the 21st of December in 1962 at the age of 69. He is reportedly buried--along with his son, actor Christian Duvaleix--at the Cimetiere des Garches in Garches, Hauts-de-Seine in the Île-de-France region of the country. For much of his career he was credited simply as "Duvaleix." He, and his son, both were specialist in comedy extraordinaire. 

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Born Today June 24: Irvin S. Cobb

1876-1944

American humorist, author, columnist and occasional actor Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was born on this day in Paducah, Kentucky.  Cobb was known to be the "epitome" of the southern "character."  He had a number of wild stories about his family history that were clearly contrived, often ignoring real accomplishments of his ancestors.  For example, his maternal grandfather is credited with the discovery that the use of the mixture morphine-atropine with a hypodermic would stop cholera.  True as it is, such facts were apparently of no interest or use to the man who would later in life be dubbed the "Duke of Paducah."  Ironically, he would have to relocate to New York City to find the beginnings of success with his writings (I say ironically, because as southerner myself, I am familiar, even in my lifetime, of southern "views" of "yankee" cities like New York).  By 1911, he was working at the Saturday Evening Post.  He was their principle reporter covering World War I, marking one of the only times in his career that his writing turned deadly serious.  In what would be another irony, for someone who was considered toward the end of his life to inappropriately using racial humor (one of the reasons he fell very out of fashion in the 1940's), many of his articles covering The Great War for the Post centered on Harlem Hellfightters in a positive light (his book The Glory of the Coming was born out these published articles). Even before this period in his life, producers of motion pictures were using his writing for scenarios in film; a fact most certainly not lost on Cobb!  Never to be left out of any endeavour, when the films came looking for source material, they got more than just ideas for scripts...they got Cobb himself.  The first film (as far as anyone knows) to bear his name was a scenario that he penned in 1914 for Our Mutual Girl, No. 30 was indeed the 30th installment of a short melodrama series produced by Reliance Film Co. for actress Norma Phillips  aka Margaret, Our Mutual Girl. He, in fact, penned No's 31, 32 and 33 in the series as well. The first credit that appears for an actual adaptation of his work appears in the writing for the 1915 serial Graft, a Universal Manufacturing production; Cobb also appeared in a film for the first time in 1915 as well--taking on the role of "American tourist" in the Cecil B. DeMille directed The Arab (it would be the first of several acting appearances for Cobb during his life, most made in the sound era featuring him in shorts produced for him...sort of as himself--he only made one other film appearance in the silent era in 1920 Go and Get It--a horror mystery knock-off in the general vein of Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue). It should be pointed out that Cobb first began making appearances in film in early 1914 starting episode 24 of Our Mutual Girl in what would later be known as "cameos."  Throughout the silent era, several of his stories were adapted to the screen, especially years 1916 to 1920. Just a sampling of actors that appeared in films based on his work include: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Irene Rich and Will Rogers. For a short period in 1921, he spent time writing directly for films. By the late 1920's the use of his stories had fallen out of favor and only two films were produced based on his work, the last of which was an early talkie by Paramount: Walls Tell Tales in 1928 (the last silent film produced from his work was Turkish Delight, produced by DeMille Pictures in 1927). It would take until 1933 for his work to appear in a production in the new era of sounded films; that came with The Woman Accused.  From there, only six more films have been produced adapting his writing, four of them in 1934, one in 1938 and the last in an 1953 anthology. The last time his work was adapted for a script, was also the first time and only time--to date--that it has been used for television in a 1955 episode of the CBS series Danger: The Belled Buzzard. Despite all of his southern bluster, Cobb spent the vast entirety of his career in New York City, which is where he died on the 11th of March in 1944. His cremated remains were returned to Kentucky, where they were buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Puducah.

[Source: Find A Grave]

[Source: Find A Grave]

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Born Today September 27: Olive Tell

1894-1951

Olive Tell was born in New York City probably on this date in 1894--though some records either record her birth as unknown during that year or another date altogether.  Olive graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1915, and, along with her acting sister Alma, began appearing on stage as a duo.  They frequented Broadway with their act, and became quite well known.  She was accomplished enough to be recognized as a "bankable" talent in film from the start.  She made her film debut in 1917 in The Silent Master, a film made for the Robert Warwick Film company and distributed by the new Selznick Distribution.  At first, Tell despised movie acting--a not uncommon sentiment amongst actors of the stage at the time--but unlike many stage actors who opted out of that line of work after their first taste of it, she continued to take roles in films.  In fact, she had steady film work through the first World War, but her appearances began to slow considerably after that.  Her last film before a multi-year hiatus was World's Apart in 1921.  She wouldn't appear in another film until 1925 with Chickie.  One of the reasons for her absence was that her first husband was killed in the war.  In 1926 she married for the second time, this time to a movie producer--Henry Hobart--who moved the couple out to Hollywood.  While there, her film career was revived, though was never prolific.  Possibly because of her husband's connections, she also never acted in a silent film after 1928.  She appeared in 3 films and 1 short in 1929, starting with The Trial Of Mary Dugan; all of them had full sound.  During the taking era of the early 1930's, her on-screen appearances picked up considerably, especially in 1931.  She had a goodly number of roles between 1930 and 1936; after this, however, she only made two more film appearances, the last of which was in an uncredited part in the 1938 George Cukor film Zaza.  Sometime after this point, she returned to New York, where she would remain until her death at the age of 56 on the 6th of June 1951.  Her burial is unknown.  

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Born Today May 21: Lola Lane (Not So Silent Edition)

1906-1981

American singer, actress and member of the Lane Sisters, Lola Lane was born on this day in Macy, Indiana.  Her birth name was Dorothy Mullican.  She was the second eldest of the Lane Sisters.  In all there were five sisters, but one--Martha--did not enter show business.  Their father was a doctor, and the family grew up in Indianola, Indiana.  Her first job that had anything to do show business, was a job playing piano in the local silent film house.  She was then sent to Des Moines to study music at Simpson College, but was expelled for cutting classes--this was fine with her, as she had not wanted to go in the first place.  There are two versions of what happened next, so there is no need to speculate; suffice to say that somehow she and her older sister wound up in New York.  Still using her birth name, she was given a $450 a week vaudeville contract there.  It was at this time that she and her sisters decided to change their surname to "Lane," and the Lane Sisters were born. Not liking her first name, she chose to change that as well. She then went a the tour circuit with Gus Edwards "Ritz Carlton Nights" and made her Broadway debut in 1928.  She caught the attention of film director Benjamin Stoloff and he gave her a part in his up coming talkie Speakeasy (1929) [yet another lost film :-(].  She would appear in two more films in 1929, both of them talkies.  The first of these was a exhibition reel from Fox to taut the MovieTone sound system that they had decided would be there choice for bringing full sound to their films:  Fox Movietone Follies Of 1929 is unfortunately also lost.  She next appeared in another Stoloff film The Girl From Havana, which is, you guessed, another lost film. All of these were victims of the tragic 1937 Fox film vault fire.  The first film that she had a role in that is not lost is The Big Fight (1930).  Though not as famous as an actress as a couple of her other sisters, Lola did, none the less, have steady work in films until she decided to retire in 1946.  The last film she appeared in was They Made Me A Killer (1946).  Lola Lane died of arterial disease at the age of 75 in Santa Barbara, Ca. on the 22 of June 1981.  She is buried there in Calvary Cemetery, along with her 5th husband of many years under her married name Lola Hanlon.

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Born Today April 18: Franz von Suppé

1819-1895

Opera composer Franz von Suppé was born on this day in Spalato, Dalmatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of Croatia) as Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere di Suppé-Demelli; this is why outside the German and English speaking world he is often credited Francesco Suppé Demelli.  His actual ethnicity was Italian-Belgian on his father's side, and Austrian on his mother's side.  He grew up in the then Dalmatian town of Zara (Zadar, Croatia).  His music education started very early and he was already composing before the tender age of 10.  Though his actual father gave no support for his interest in music, he had a sort of surrogate father in a local choirmaster that filled that role.  He also gained the interest of popular local band master.  He studied both flute and harmony.  The debut of his work came in 1832 with  Missa dalmatica, a Roman Catholic Mass that was performed at a Franciscan church in Zara.  At the age of 16, he relocated to Padua to study law, probably at the insistence of his actual father, but refused to give up the further study of music in addition to his legal studies.  There, he also began to perform as an opera singer.  Eventually he was invited to Vienna by a theater manager there, where he continued his music studies.  He was also invited to conduct in the theater as well.  He began to compose light operettas, and it these works that he is remembered for today.  He also became a producer of operas, at one point staging a successful production featuring opera sensation Jenny Lind.  His music has been featured in a surprising number of films, including the likes of Beetlejuice.  But the first time his work was featured in a film came in a "silent musical" from 1908.  Trio de Boccaccio was a Brazilian short that featured lyrics from one of his operettas on the title cards.  The first film to actually feature his music in sound was a very early talking musical short dating from 1927 in Bernado De Pace, a Warner Brothers film featuring sound by Vitaphone.  The first full length film that featured his compositions came in 1933 with the Swedish film Kära släkten.  The latest production to feature his music came in the Austrian television series Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker that features performances by the Vienna Philharmonic; televised in 2015.  Franz von Suppé died in Vienna on the 21st of May 1895 at the age of 76.  He is buried there in the Vienna Central Cemetery.

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Born Today April 15: Heinrich Kley (Not So Silent Edition)

1863-1945?

German illustrator and artist Heinrich Kley was born on this day in Karlsruhe, Germany.  He studied what was known as Practical Arts in his home town, finishing his art education in Munich.  His first works of art spanned a wide breadth of subjects.  He settled into the use of watercolors and oils and began producing what people called "industrial art."  He was also a biting cartoon editorialist.  It was these works that gained a big fan in Walt Disney.  He was such a big fan, that it is thought his collection of Kley's work was by far the largest in the world.  As a result of that, Dover issued a book of Kley's art that became popular amongst admirers of Disney, and this is the reason that the U.S. is really the only place that he is remembered today.  In his native Germany, he has all but been forgotten.  This reason for his inclusion here, comes from just 1 film from the late 1920's.  He is credited with "Art Director" on one of Rex Ingram's films The Three Passions, which was a very early talkie from 1928.  There is some confusion as to when Kley died.  Most sources cite the 2nd of August or 8th of February in 1945 at the age of 81; but there is enough doubt to seriously question that year, others claim the 8th February in 1952, in which case he would be been a very old man for the time.  What is known, is that he died in Munich.  Obviously, with this amount of confusion as to death year, it goes without saying that no one knows how his remains were handled after his death.

One of Kley's editorial cartoons on the subject of Napoleon.

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The Art Of Heinrich Kley

IMDB (note the database spells his name wrong)

Born Today April 9 (Not So Silent Edition): Ward Bond

1903-1960

American character actor Ward Bond, birth name Wardell Edwin Bond--was born on this day in Benkelman, Nebraska.  His family later moved to Denver, Co. (this move has lead to some confusion as to when and where he was actually born, but the information above has been corroborated as correct).   Bond grew up in Benkelman; the move to Colorado came in the year 1919, where Ward attended and graduated high school.  He then attended the University of Southern California, where he played football; one Marion Michael Morrison (AKA John Wayne) was also on the team.  Bond would never appear in a fully silent film, and he is often credited with making his movie acting debut in 1929.  However, somewhere along the way, he had gotten into acting as an extra in a couple of Hollywood's biggest films of the late 1920's.  This was probably as a result of his friendship with Wayne, who had been acting in films since 1926.  The first of these was Noah's Ark, a Darryl F. Zanuck written, Michael Curtiz directed multiple time line epic that was an early talkie (sound by Western Electric Apparatus).  He next had a bit part in the 1929 Words And Music, which had both a mono and a silent edition.  His first credited role also came in 1929 with Salute, a film at least partially directed by John Ford.  In fact, the entire  U. of So. Cal. football team was hired for this film--as the film culminates with an Army/Navy football game.  It would be, though the Wayne/Bond/Ford trio who would go on to have serious careers in Hollywood and the three would remain life-long friends.  Having caught the acting bug with these early experiences, he would go on to be one the best character actors of Hollywood's golden age--making a career out of playing hard boiled types, despite the genre.  Though he had roles in earlier blockbusters, such as Gone With The Wind and Sergeant York, he is probably best remembered for his role in the Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life.  During the 1950's he also got into television work as well, with his last role being Major Seth Adams in Wagon Train--a major character in the show.  Bond died prematurely at the age of 57 from a massive heart attack on the 5th of November in 1960 in Dallas, Texas.  His old friend John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral, he was then cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.

Seen here on the left in It's A Wonderful Life

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Born Today February 19 (Not So Silent Edition): Merle Oberon

1911-1979

Merle Oberon was a woman with secrets. She went to great lengths to obscure her origins, the history of which was so convoluted that she herself may not have known all of the details until later in her life.  She is listed in most sources as an "Anglo-Indian actress," but her background was more complicated than that description belays.  Her birth name was Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson. She was born Mumbai, India (then Bombay).  She spent most of her life and career trying to flee even these basic facts, claiming that she was, in fact, born in Tasmania and spent her formative years there.  When reporters, sensing a story, dug they found the basic facts of her true origins; but when it came to who her parents were, things got considerably more complicated.  The woman that for years was thought to be her mother, Charlotte Shelby (who was mixed race: Sri Lankan/Maori/Anglo), was, in fact, her grandmother.  Her eldest "sister" Constance, was actually her birth mother, who gave birth to her at the shockingly young age of 12.  For this reason, her grandmother decided to raise her as her daughter.  Who her birth father was does not seem to be known. Oberon went to great lengths throughout her life to keep all of this secret; so much so that she tried and failed to keep away from being honored in Tasmania--she, in fact, seems to have only visited Australia twice in her life.  She also frequently told people that her "mother" who lived with her was actually her housekeeper, to keep people from realizing that she was not 100% Anglo.  She claimed that at the age of 17 she left India for Great Britain; the year was 1928.  She got work as a hostess at a club under the name Queenie O'Brien ("Queenie" being her childhood nickname); it here that she got into acting by accepting bit-parts in dinner theater there.  This was later proven to be part of a concocted story--at least in part.  She was reportedly given a bit part in an early talkie directed by Rex Ingram:  The Three Passions (1928).  Her career took off in the 1930's when she was noticed by director Alexander Korda, who gave her the name "Merle Oberon."  By the mid-1930's she was in Hollywood under partial contract to Samuel Goldwyn.  This made  her a huge star; by 1935 she was nominated for an Academy Award.  In 1937, she was in a very bad car accident, that could have ended her career as she was left with some facial scarring; but fortunately it only resulted in one film project being shelved. Oberon acted steadily right through the 1950's, even getting into television work.  But by the 1960's she was, for all intense and purposes, in retirement.  She accepted only two roles in the 1960's and only 1 in 1970's.  Oberon died on the 23rd of November 1979, following a massive stroke.  She is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.  

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Born Today February 12: Wallace Ford (Not So Silent Edition)

1898-1966

Born Samuel Jones Grundy in Bolton, England into a working class family; at the age of 3 he was placed with an aunt and uncle because his family low fortunes would not allow them to keep children.  They in turn could not keep him and several other children; so they were placed in an orphanage.  At the age of 7, he got caught up in a program by the British Empire to help populate the Canadian territories.  They did this by shipping orphans from the UK to foster homes in the wilderness there.  He was adopted into a family in Manitoba, but they did not treat him well and he subsequently ran away several times.  He was then passed from foster home to foster home, until he ran away permanently at the age of 11 and joined a touring vaudeville act called "The Winnipeg Kiddies."  This is where is acting career began.  In 1914, when he was 16, he and another kid around the same age named Wallace Ford, decided to travel south, illegally, to the US to seek their fortunes.  Ford, however, was killed when he fell from the train they were hitching a ride on, and was run over by it's wheels.  Gundy then decided to assume his companions name; this is where is came by his stage name.  In the US, he served in the Calvary during World War I and continued in vaudeville.  In 1919, he landed a role in major play in Chicago that wound up being a packed house success; the play then made a successful debut on Broadway.  He then went on to star in many successful Broadway productions throughout the 1920's; after which he made his way out to Hollywood.  His film debut came in 1929 with a bit part in an early talkie, Married in Hollywood; even the poster touted "All Talking."  It wasn't very long before he got noticed.  By 1931, he was in a film with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford:  Possessed.  In 1932, he got a role in a very early film noir starring Jean Harlow:  The Beast of the City.  He had the staring role Tod Browning's infamous Freaks, also in 1932.  By the 1940's he had transformed into a character actor who would go on to make appearances on television--with one notable performance on The Andy Griffith Show.  His last role came in 1965 in A Patch of Blue, as "Ole' Pa."  Following the death of the wife in 1966, to whom he had been married since 1922, he checked himself into living facility for retired actors of film and television; the facility included a hospital.  He died there a few months later of heart failure.  He is buried in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery.

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Born Today January 31: Tallulah Bankhead

1902-1968

Born Tallulah Brockman Bankhead in Huntsville, Alabama to a wealthy and influential political family.  Her mother died three days later of septicemia; Tallulah was baptized next to her mother's coffin.  This sent her and her older sister Eurgenia's father, William, into a depression that he could not over-come; he then began to self medicate with alcohol.  The two were basically raised by his mother, Tallulah James Brockman Bankhead--for whom little Tallulah had been named.  They lived in extremely high style on the family estate in Jasper, AL, in a house they called Sunset.  Bankhead developed an interest in performance when she was quite young.  It is said, a great deal of this came with attention seeking behavior on her part, especially in regards to her father.  She supposedly attended a circus revue that was passing through her part of Alabama and caught the performance bug from this.  She was then said to have taught herself cartwheels, which she would do mostly inside; and would also sing and recite copious amounts of literature that she had memorized.  Part of her attention seeking behavior apparently came down from that fact that she was a child, she was perceived as fat and homely, next to her older more slender sister.  Tallulah, claimed that her first judged performance came at the party that her aunt was throwing for the Wright Brothers, and that it was none other the Orville and Wilbur who judged her imitation of her kindergarten teacher to be the best of the gathering.  Who knows if it was true...  As the girls reached that double digits in age, they became too much for their grandmother to handle.  It was decided that they be sent off to convent school; and where thus enrolled in the prestigious Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, NY.  Tallulah was just 10 years of age at the time.  Their father's political career eventually brought him to Washington D.C., and the girls were enrolled in series of boarding schools; each one closer to Washington.  At the age of 15, her aunt encouraged her to diet, improve her appearance and take more pride in herself--advice that she headed.  By this time, Tallulah's sister Eugenie, at 16, ever the southern belle, got engaged; Tallulah had her head stuck firmly on an acting career instead!  At time, she submitted her photo to a contest run the magazine Picture Play, but forgot to include her return address.  The contest promised a trip to New York free of charge and bit parts in a motion picture being shot in the area to 12 winners.  She won one of the parts, and luckily found out about it when reading a edition of the magazine, where she saw her photo published, with the caption "Who is she?"  Her father immediately contacted the magazine and she set off for New York.  When she arrived she found the contest win was true to it's word, but flimsy at best.  She was paid $75 for about three weeks work  on Who Loved Him Best?  in 1918.  The film was set in, and shot on location in, Manhattan and was produced by Mutual Film. A copy of the film survives at the Library of Congress. The part was very small, but it marked her formal entrance into acting.  She wound up in the Algonquin Hotel and, despite her age (which she may have lied about), she quickly charmed her way into the (in)famous, and newly formed, Algonquin Round Table, where she quickly discovered drugs and bisexuality.  She would go on to have very small bit parts in three more silent films in the late 1910's before making her stage debut in New York in 1919.  She would not return to film work until the late 1920's.  She starred in several plays in New York for the next 5 years.  Though her performances were praised; the material wasn't up to par, so her star had yet to rise.  Frustrated, she left for the London stage.  While there she finally found fame, with the play They Knew What They Wanted in 1925 winning a Pulitzer.  She was known (as she had been as an un-famous actress back in New York) for making the absolute best out of inferior material.  Much of this was down to her "mezzo-basso" deep voice, which she always ascribed to frequent childhood bouts with chronic bronchitis.  She returned to film work while still in the UK, starring in His House In Order, a melodrama, in 1928 (it now amongst the films listed as lost).  Her first sound film was made in the UK as well, the following year:  a comedic short entitled Her Cardboard Lover, sound by British Photophone.  This would be the last film that she made in the 1920's and wouldn't appear another film until 1931, when she returned to the United States. Upon her return to the U.S. she booned straight for Hollywood, where had limited success in film acting; but, again, wild (and I mean wild) social success, with numerous parties thrown at her rented Hollywood home.  This is when her supposed "libertine" morals began to leak out in the press.  She was known for very "free behavior" in almost every way:  "Sex, Drugs...and...Acting."  This made her rather infamous. It also made many people think she had a much bigger silent film career; especially since a good deal of the 1920's she had lived in London.  She found movie acting boring and returned to the stage.  She did not return to film acting until 1943.  She is, perhaps, best known in the world of film for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat in 1944.  From there, she skipped about from stage to film and even turned in a few television performances.  She was well known for being a hedonist from early on.  When asked about drug use amongst the Algonquin Round Table, she once jokingly quipped "Cocaine isn't habit-forming and I should know because I've been taking it for years."  When she made fast friends in Hollywood with Irving Thalberg, she asked him "How do you get laid in this dreadful place?"  After complaining a great deal about film acting to fellow players in the 1930's, she was asked why she stuck around and accepted a role in Devil and the Deep (1932), which had a crazy triple billing of Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant. She simply replied "Dahling, the main reason I accepted [the part] was to fuck that divine Gary Cooper!"  She once quipped to a reporter, "I'm as pure as the driven slush!"  So, when she was offered a chance to play a religious fanatic by Hammer Horror in the 1965 Die! Die! My Darling, she jumped at it.  At the end of her career, she even got a little voice work in; voicing the "Sea Witch" in the 1966 The Daydreamer--which her very gruff voice by that time, lent itself to well.  Her last acting appearances came as the character "The Black Widow" in the original Batman series in 1967.  She wasn't all jokes, and didn't joke about her politics, however!  She had come from what might be called southern aristocracy in the Democratic party; they were privileged white, rich people who supported segregation and Jim Crow laws.  She was unaplogetically a liberal Democrat at time when this was unheard of; especially from a member of such a prominent political family.  She was an outspoken supporter of the civil right movement and equal rights for all.  This put her at open odds in the public eye with her family....did she care: NO!  She died on 12 December 1968 in a New York hospital.  The official cause of death was double pneumonia that was seriously complicated by emphysema.  The hospital also noticed that she appeared to suffering from malnutrition, but that is thought to have been previously brought by a serious bout of the flu, which probably gave rise to the pneumonia.  She was 66.  She is buried in St. Paul's Churchyard, near Chestertown, Maryland.

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Born Today January 21: Rudolph Maté

1898-1964

Born Rudolph Mayer in Krakau, Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (in what would now be Poland), to Jewish parents.  He went into the film business following his graduation from the University of Budapest.  Though he started out using his birth name when credited, he later changed his last name in order to get more work--as the prejudice against Jews in Europe was already intense.  He first went to work as an assistant cameraman--he would go on to be one the greatest early cinematographers in Hollywood history; but he had to get there first.  Before making that leap, he worked on films all over Europe, including:  Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and the U.K.  In Europe he would often work with his directorial friend Karl Freund.  His first film credit comes in 1919 with Kutató Sámuel.  From then on, he would go on to have steady work throughout the 1920's, as mentioned above all over Europe.  His crowning achievement for that decade came when he was hired as DP on Carl Theodore Dreyer's La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc) in 1928.  The last film that he photographed in the 1920's was the short La manque de memoire.  To the best of my knowledge, the first film that he is credited as "R. Maté" was Prix de beauté (Miss Europe) in 1930; this was a film with both a silent version and full talking mono version (for many years the silent version was not available--not lost, but of no interest, but renewed interest prompted viewing at silent film festivals, and finally a full restoration debuted in 2013).  This was the last silent version film that he photographed.  He went on to be the cinematograher for another well known Dreyer production, the horror film Vampyr in 1932.  He made his US debut in 1935 working for the Fox Film Corporation as DP on Dante's Inferno in 1935.  He would go on to work with several famous Hollywood directors (many originating in Europe); the list includes:  Ernst Lubitsch, Alfred Hitchcock, René Clair, and Orson Welles.  The later of which was the last time he worked in cinematography on Welles' The Lady From Shanghai (1947).  He wanted to switch to directing and his first credit in the category also came in 1947, just before his job with Welles on It Had To Be You on which he was the DP and shared a directing credit with Don Hartman.  Once he switched to directing, he did not go back to cinematography.  Amongst his directing credits are D.O.A. (1950)  and When World's Collide (1951).  He even managed to get in a little television directing on The Loretta Young Show.  On the 27th of October 1964, he died suddenly from a heart attack in his Beverly Hills home.  He is entombed at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City--a Catholic burial place.  In his lifetime, he was nominated for 5 Oscars.

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Born Today January 20 (Not So Silent Edition): George Burns

1896-1996

Born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City to immigrate Jewish parents who came from Romania; he was one of 12 children born to them.  He claims to have been "discovered" while working in a chocolate syrup factory at the age of seven, along with several other kids who worked in the basement with him. He claimed that they were discovered by the company's letter carrier who came down to deliver, well, a letter.  The carrier was a fan of harmony singing, and the kids were in the habit singing harmonies to cut the boredom of making syrup.  He heard singing and complimented them; and stayed for a song or two.  By the end of this little "recital," several other company employees had joined the carrier, who threw some pennies down at them.  Burns related in his own words, "So I said to the kids I was working with, no more chocolate syrup for me.  It's show business from now on."  They formed a group and called themselves the "Pee-Wee Quartet."  They began to perform anywhere that they could, from street corners & ferryboats, to saloons and even brothels.  At this time he still going by "Nate."  He was drafted into the Army during World War I, but his extreme near-sightedness caused him to fail the physical.  Intent of staying in show business permanently, he adopted the stage name "George Burns" in order to hide his Jewish ancestry.  He claimed to have gotten the name from two major league baseball players, George H. Burns and George J. Burns (no relation to each other), who were well known at the time.  Other sources cite that he got the name "George" from his brother Izzy, who hated his first name and changed it to George; and the Burns, from the Burns Brothers Coal Company, whose trucks he used to steal coal from.  He then started partnering with girls for song and dance numbers, with some comedic banter thrown in between the songs.  One of these was with Hannah Siegel (who performed under the name Hermosa Jose); the two wished to take their act on the road, but their parents would not allow it unless they were married--so they married and did the tour.  The marriage was never consummated and they divorced after the tour was over.  In 1923 he met Grace "Gracie" Allen.  The two formed a performance duo as "Burns and Allen," and the act became of huge success.  As they toured the vaudeville circuit, Burns found himself falling in love with his already engaged stage partner, and tried several times to win her over.  Finally succeeding, the two were married on the 7th January 1926 in Cleveland--against the norms of the time given his Jewish ethnicity and her being a an Irish Catholic.  Together they starred in one short comedy in 1929 and that was an early talkie to boot.  That film was Lambchops.  It ran only 8 minutes.  The rest, as they say, is history!  While Allen passed away at age 69, after a long illness with heart problems; Burns is famous for living to 100 years of age, despite his lifelong love of cigars.  He passed away from natural causes in his Beverly Hills home on 9 March 1986, 49 days into 101st year of life.  He is entombed next to his wife, in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.  

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