A look at Eugene Pallette, the heavyset character actor with the gravelly voice. Did he retire due to ill health or did charges of racism run him out of the movies? A brief biography includes a look at Pallette’s ranch in Oregon.
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Movie Star Biographies
Milton Sills, The Mighty Two-Fisted He-Man of the Silent Screen
A biography of Milton Sills, stage and silent film actor with a philosophy background. Poised to make a hit in talkies when he died in 1930. Article also includes a synopsis of Sills’ most famous film, The Sea Hawk.
Bonita Granville Bullet Bio
Biographical information about Bonita Granville, Oscar nominated child star of These Three and later Nancy Drew on screen. Also personal observations of Granville’s appearances opposite Mickey Rooney in two Hardy series entries.
Dolores Costello – Her Career plus Can You Help Identify This Painting?
A biography in brief of child star and later screen beauty Dolores Costello, who would later marry John Barrymore. Also a reader contributes an image of a painting of Costello and asks for some help in identifying it.
Stuart Erwin, Biography of ’30s “Comic Valentine” Turned Early TV Star
A biography of Stuart Erwin, best known for portraying comic bumblers on screen and later starring on TV with his wife, June Collyer, in The Stu Erwin Show.
Paul Cavanagh – Case No. 9840 Fills in Actor’s Early Biography
Paul Cavanagh was an actor from 1926 until 1960 including time as a Hollywood featured player from 1930 onward. But who was he before 1926? U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case No. 9840 fills in those details.
Movie Reviews & Articles
John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) Starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor
The classic John Ford western Stagecoach (1939) is a movie for everybody. Forget genre prejudices and thrill to John Wayne, Claire Trevor and all of the rest of one of the richest supporting casts you’ll ever encounter.
Lady by Choice (1934) Starring Carole Lombard and May Robson
Columbia attempts to repeat May Robson’s success in Lady for a Day the following year in Lady by Choice with Carole Lombard. Without Frank Capra or Damon Runyon it’s not as colorful. Production Code enforcement pales it a bit more. Well acted and worth catching despite its flaws.
‘One Sunday Afternoon’ With Cagney & Co. in ‘The Strawberry Blonde’
One Sunday Afternoon made over in Old New York for The Strawberry Blonde. From director Raoul Walsh for Warner Bros. from a script by the Epstein brothers. Starring James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Rita Hayworth, and Jack Carson.
Kind Lady (1935) Starring Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone
A look at Kind Lady from origins as Hugh Walpole story The Silver Mask, through Edward Chodorov’s stage adaptation and both film versions, especially the earlier 1935 film starring Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone.
Snowed Under (1936) Chemistry Highlights Hilarious Warner Farce
Looking at Snowed Under, a 1936 Warner Bros. farce directed by Ray Enright and starring George Brent, Genevieve Tobin, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Patricia Ellis and John Eldredge. With a focus on “Lawrence Saunders,” who wrote the original story that was serialized in Liberty magazine.
Secret Service (1931) – William Gillette’s Civil War Melodrama Comes to RKO
Digging deep into RKO’s 1931 adaptation of William Gillette’s Secret Service starring Richard Dix and Shirley Grey. Comparing the movie to the 1896 play. What was added and what was kept and how classic scenes were interpreted on film.