George O'Brien and The Lone Ranger Mystery

Seems I have a photograph in my archives that remains a mystery. Correctly dated 1936, cowboy actor George O'Brien posed outside the Strand Theatre, in East Los Angeles, California. The actor was playing cowboy heroes on the big screen so it seems unlikely he played the role of the famed radio masked man on stage, but rather one of his movies was being screened at the theater that week. But the mystery resolves about who played the role of The Lone Ranger on stage. Was this a performance? Was this a brief stage play? 

It is a known fact that had producer George W. Trendle, back in Detroit, learned about this, he would have thrown a fit. He was adamant about having anyone masquerade as The Lone Ranger on stage without his permission. The Lone Ranger on stage was more than likely unauthorized and slipped through the cracks without being observed by Trendle.

So... who was that masked man? 

ORCHIDS AND ERMINE (1927) Movie Review

A number of years ago I saw a 1927 silent comedy, Orchids and Ermine, starring Colleen Moore as a 1920s flapper girl, “Pink” Watson, a switchboard operator at the Ritz Hotel, who abandons her dream of wearing orchids and ermine after numerous disappointing experiences with real and fraudulent millionaires. Richard Tabor, an unassuming but wealthy young oil tycoon, arrives at the hotel and switches identities with his valet Hank to avoid notoriety. Richard and Pink proceed to fall in love, while Hank wins the heart of Ermintrude, a gold-digging flower girl who believes him to be the real millionaire. After a series of amusing misadventures, each lands in jail. When all is resolved, Pink finds herself married to a real millionaire.

 

While the plot sounds cute (and perhaps zany) I have to admit the film not only had charm (thanks to the performance of Colleen Moore) but was highly entertaining. Now, I do not watch a lot of silent films but I manage to view about half a dozen every year and after decades of movie watching I can say this film is easily on the top ten list of must-see silent classics. So entertaining that this film made it on the American Film Institute’s 2000 list of the “Top 100 Funniest American Movies.” 

 

Exteriors for the film were shot on location in New York City, helping to preserve what was part and parcel of the roaring twenties on camera. Shortly after the arrival of the troupe in the city, from Los Angeles, the weather turned cold and rainy. This gives the film the distinction of being one of the first major motion pictures to show the streets of New York in the rain (the studio, making the most of a bad situation, chose to say they had planned for it to rain, and it was the lack of rain that had kept the troupe from returning to Los Angeles from New York on schedule). Cameras were placed in hidden locations so scenes could be shot with unsuspecting pedestrians, however when viewing the rushes of scenes just show, one news boy was seen staring directly into the camera in every shot; the sharp-eyed boy had noticed the hidden cameras in every instance.

 

But the child who really steals the film is Mickey Rooney, at the age of four. A number of reference guides and websites will claim this was Rooney’s film debut, but he did appear in a short subject prior. Naturally, this film pre-dates his popular Mickey McGuire series. And Rooney has a larger-than expected role as a millionaire midget.

 

I recommend you do yourself a favor and find this movie to watch. 

 

 

 

FOUR BOOK REVIEWS: Peter Mark Richman, Peter Marshall

Once again I feel obligated to provide a number of brief book reviews for a box that arrived on my front door, from Bear Manor Media publishing. I am posting stars to rate my opinion of the books, from one star to four stars, but do not let my opinion sway your purchase decisions. If the subject matter is what suits you, consider one of these as beach reading material. I know I took all four with me to the beach last week to read.

GOMER SAYS HEY!  **

By Denny Reese

While several books have been written on The Andy Griffith Show where the Gomer character premiered, this is the first tome devoted to the spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Here is an insider’s look at the sixties’ TV show from creation to analysis. Marine history is provided and the author’s viewpoint of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.ranked high with the service. The book also includes in-depth reviews of select episodes. There is career-spanning bios of the show’s main stars, recurring characters are featured, and there is a bounty of hand-picked photos throughout.

 

Included is an exclusive interview with one of the last remaining stars of Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., Ronnie Schell. The Mayberry franchise is extremely popular to this day. Now here’s a humorous and informative record of the years a hayseed recruit went toe-to-toe daily with his sergeant—invariably saving the day—and enriching the lives of everyone around him through side-splitting, sometimes heart-tugging life lessons.

 

 

 

DEANNA DURBIN: A HOLLYWOOD FAIRY TALE  *

By William Harper

Never has a “star” blazed more brightly across the Hollywood silver screen world as did Deanna Durbin. Without any stage or movie experience she flashed on the screen with a box office smash in 1936, at the age of fourteen, and continued with financial successes year after year – movie after movie to become Hollywood’s highest paid actress. In 1949, at the age of 28, she walked away from all of it too take up housekeeping and raising children with her third husband in the environs of Paris, France - stepping out of the spotlight into anonymity. However, when she died April 17, 2013 obituaries from around the world loudly proclaimed – Deanna Durbin was not forgotten.

 

In the pages of this book you will find biographical information as well as a look at every movie she starred and co-starred. 

 

I have a policy not to review a book if it is bad, avoiding the uncomfortable means of writing a negative review. But Bear Manor Media sent this to me and I feel obligated so I do want to put this out. I read the book in two hours. I truly expected a lot more about Deanna Durbin, and I suspect spending a few hundred hours browsing newspaper archives online, cinema magazines and even Variety’s online database would have provided me with so much more about the singer-actress. That is not to say this is a bad book, but when an entry for a movie devotes more time providing me with a plot summary than the behind-the-scenes trivia related to background production, adding newspaper reviews of the movies, I was slightly disappointed. A good read? Yes. Could there have been a lot more? Yes. If I spent money buying this book, I would have really been disappointed.

 

 

BACKSTAGE WITH THE ORIGINAL HOLLYWOOD SQUARE  ****

By Peter Marshall and Adrienne Armstrong

With a Foreword by Alex Trebek, this is one of those books that is quintessential for fans of television quiz programs. Peter Marshall, influenced by brother-in-law Dick Haymes, started his career as a big band crooner. Shortly thereafter, he hooked up with Tommy Noonan to form the comedy team of Noonan and Marshall. They appeared in major nightclubs and theatres throughout the country and made a number of appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show which established them with television viewers nationally. 

 

Later, Peter starred in Bye-Bye Birdie on stage in London and Skyscraper on Broadway. He has returned to the stage many times during his long career in such shows as The Music Man, 42nd Street and La Cage Aux Folles among many others. Peter has starred in films, television series (dramatic, variety and game shows), nightclubs and concerts. He now hosts a top radio show on The Music of Your Life radio network, and continues to perform in concerts all over the world and has released two acclaimed CD's. 

 

This is his book, Backstage With the Original Hollywood Square, is certain to be a big hit with game show afficionados and fans.

 

 

I SAW A MOLTEN WHITE LIGHT…  ****

By Peter Mark Richman

Peter Mark Richman is a true Renaissance man: actor, writer, director, producer, and painter. He is also one of those character actors that did almost everything. A star of film (William Wyler's Friendly Persuasion), theatre (A Hatful of Rain, Albee's The Zoo Story) and more than 500 guest star roles on TV including The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, The Love Boat, Mission: Impossible, Three's Company, Dynasty, and many others. He is instantly recognizable to millions, but his legion of fans haven't heard his extraordinary life story… until now.

From his childhood in South Philadelphia, to leading roles on Broadway and in Hollywood, Peter Mark Richman took time to tell many stories about the luminaries he encountered during his six decades in show business and about the spiritual quest that was the main influence in his life as a father of five, grandfather of six, and as a husband married to the love of his life for 65+ years. He recounted the production of a fantastic film often overlooked, The Dark Intruder (1965), how the cast and crew caught walking bronchitis during filming of an episode of The Outer Limits, and other fascinating recollections.

I SAW A MOLTEN WHITE LIGHT… is not just another celebrity autobiography but a highly personal work from a very public figure. This is his story.

 

 

Green Hornet Joke of the Week

The "Lost" Radio Adventures of THE LONE RANGER

Just as "Nitrate won't wait" became the rallying cry for film archivists, "Acetate won't wait" has become the mantra for collectors of old-time radio. Widely used for three decades (1930s through the 1950s), then slowly replaced with magnetic tape and other formats, radio broadcasts featuring comedy, music and drama were preserved for both commercial and historical purposes. Fans of old-time radio programs, and fans of The Lone Ranger in general, are fully aware of the 2,600 radio broadcasts from 1938 to 1954 that were preserved thanks to this format. Over 2,000 of those radio episodes have been released commercially thanks to companies like Radio Spirits, which commercially releases CD sets periodically through the months through licensing agreements.

 

The Lone Ranger was not recorded on a regular basis until February of 1938. Prior, the program aired live over the Michigan Radio Network, the Don Lee Network, and the Mutual Broadcasting System. Therefore, Lone Ranger radio broadcasts prior to February 1938 should not be considered “lost” because they were never recorded in the first place. Thankfully, almost every radio script exists from the series so we have an opportunity to fill the gaps with plot summaries. 

 

Following completion of The Lone Ranger: The Early Years, 1933-1937, which included plot summaries for radio broadcasts pre-1938, Terry Salomonson and I have been routinely reading radio scripts to fill in the gaps beyond (and for a second volume to be published in the near future, spanning the years 1938 through 1942). The following are some of those missing adventures for which recordings are not known to exist.

 

Small note of interest: It was not until early 1940 that the radio scripts were titled. Therefore, any titles for Lone Ranger radio broadcasts prior are “collector titles,” and therefore not appropriate for historical documentation. This is why the entries below state “Title Not Given” instead of a script title as many collectors of old-time radio programs would come to expect.

 

Episode #814-39 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast April 15, 1938

Copyright Registration #56,504, script received at Registration Office April 20, 1938.

Plot: Ever since Grant Thorndyke opened the bank in San Carlos, the community prospered. Men were taught to save instead of squander, and there was capital available for those who wanted to run an honest business in an honest way. The Lone Ranger whisks away the bartender to have a private chat, verifying the bartender is responsible for the rumors that are circulating about town, how the bank is not a safe place, dissatisfied because the men did not have money to spend in the café. The masked man explains how the deposits are used to pay for the mortgages on the homes, and the calamity that would befall the town should multiple parties start closing their accounts and withdrawing hefty funds. When appealing to the bartender’s loyalty fails, the masked man breaks into the home of Abe Forman, the wealthiest man in town, to deposit his money into the bank. Meanwhile, the bartender continues to convince all the men in town that the bank was not a safe place for their money and everyone plans to withdraw their savings as soon as the bank opens in the morning. Knowing all of the men have withdrawn their funds from the institution, Scar and his gang, camped outside town, spend the next evening cleaning houses – literally. One house after another as attacked by the outlaws, and in every case the men and women were robbed of their savings. Tonto apprehends the outlaws and ropes them, guarding them in the woods while The Lone Ranger returns the money with stern advice: the security of San Carlos depends on everyone trusting Grant Thorndyke and his bank. Having seen the errors of their ways, all of the men are glad to see their money returned and promptly make deposits. 

 

Episode #843-68 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast June 22, 1938

Copyright Registration #57,734, script received at Registration Office June 27, 1938.

Plot: Chet Goulding planned to marry Patricia Mayfair, the daughter of one of the biggest ranchers in the territory, for the money her father would leave her. Mayfair, learning through The Lone Ranger of Goulding’s criminal background, ordered him out of the house by the next morning. Patricia, however, did not know the truth. Goulding lead the girl to believe that her father had agreed to the marriage and when the next morning came, announced that Mayfair, during the night, had been killed. Patricia at once suspected the masked man with whom her father had talked the previous day. Hank, the impetuous foreman, would have shot and killed The Lone Ranger at Chet’s insistence, had it not been for Tonto arriving to save the day. The Lone Ranger tells Patricia her boyfriend is really Dan Chester, wanted in many states for stage coach hold-ups, murder and robbery. The deputy from Eagle Pass arrives, finding the masked man tied to a chair in the house, as every person tells their version of the story – with The Lone Ranger’s accusation the only one conflicting. The protective guard dog, Sandy, was rigged with a booby trap that would shoot the man who released the dog, The Lone Ranger explains, followed with the suggestion to release the dog and see who he goes after. Chet, scared of the vicious animal, panics as The Lone Ranger forces a confession in front of witnesses. To cinch his story, The Lone Ranger reveals a surprise – Mr. Mayfair is alive and well. But he would have been dead from the trap had the boy’s barking not attracted the masked man who kept watch on the house last night.

 

Trivia, etc. This episode was recycled from the broadcast of January 24, 1936, with but subtle changes such as the addition of the deputy and foreman Hank, and “Colonel Mayfair” in the 1936 version was murdered. For the most part, the remainder of the script, including dialogue and names of characters, remained the same. 

 

Episode #849-74 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast July 6, 1938

Copyright Registration #57,901, script received at Registration Office July 11, 1938.

Plot: On the outskirts of the Western Frontier, people living around the town of Clayville cultivated land handed down from pioneers and settlers who had lived under the Spanish Crown, before the territory had become part of the United States. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are keeping tabs on John Wesley, recently released, who five years prior was sent to prison for stealing money. Judge Barrow was his accomplice and upon learning Wesley is in town, fears retribution. Wesley forces the Judge to grant him land under the Homestead Act, which contains salt deposits, with plans to fence it in and charge settlers for access. The Judge, threatened with exposure of his past, reluctantly agrees to the task. After a few weeks a mob is formed, men working themselves into a high pitch of excitement and shouts of defiance. Deciding to do the right thing, encouraged by the masked man, the judge cuts the wire and tells everyone that the salt is free. Angry, Wesley tells everyone that the judge stole money and was sentenced to jail, escaped and came here to pose as an honest man. Before the judge can return to prison, The Lone Ranger rides up with a full pardon from the governor – courtesy of The Lone Ranger who felt an honest man should receive a second chance.

 

Episode #893-118 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast October 17, 1938

Copyright Registration #59,717, script received at Registration Office October 19, 1938.

Plot: Having tried two other trails leading to Beaver Falls and forced to turn back at each one by armed men, The Lone Ranger and Tonto break through a third trail in the dead of night. The cattlemen in town have been plagued with rustling and cattle theft. The sheriff employed a desperate act to send deputies to lookouts to eliminate potential cattle rustling. In spite of the sheriff’s precautions, however, more cattle were stolen. The ranchers, believing the sheriff to be behind the rustling of their stock, threw him in jail and took the administration of the law into their own hands. The Lone Ranger and Tonto race into town to rescue the sheriff before the townsfolk take justice into their own hands. With the lawman’s cooperation, the three ride off to catch the train and force the conductor to back the locomotive back into town. Back in town, The Lone Ranger explains how the scheme was pulled off. Lee Dixon, a local rancher who sought to increase his stock, supervised the loading of others’ cattle into cars drawn up on a spur of the newly built railroad. Abe and Jed were hired by lee Dixon to commit the thefts. The cattle were not rustled from the fields as everyone suspected, but directly from the train that was stopped outside town. The guilty culprits quickly confessed and Lee implicates himself by venting anger at Abe and Jed.

 

Trivia, etc. This same radio script was recycled from the broadcast of July 17, 1936.

 

Episode #947-172 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast February 20, 1939

Copyright Registration #62,028, script received at Registration Office February 23, 1939.

Plot: At the opening of the Oklahoma territory for the homesteaders, Government troops guard the line over which none may step until the cannon on the morrow booms the signal that will start the great wagons thundering to drive their claim stake over their homestead. Homer Phelps and his wife Hester, emigrants from Illinois, followed Red’s lead into Grizzly Valley, but the prime acres of real estate that was promised were already taken. Red’s business associate, Bat, offers to sell what was staked for $1,000. The land was magnificent, as promised, but Homer and Hester were about to be conned out of their money. The Lone Ranger and Tonto intervene, preventing the transaction of cash, and while Tonto keeps everyone at bay, the masked man raced away to bring the marshal. Bat and Red insist they only heard of the property prior, but when The Lone Ranger reveals the location of a garden, the marshal realized Red and Bat were sooners in the territory, hoping to pocket extra cash in the process. After the marshal escorts his prisoners away, The Lone Ranger confesses the garden was not there prior, not planted – just transplanted – to give the sooners a position to incriminate themselves.

 

Trivia, etc. This episode opens with the narrator stating the year was 1889. This episode recycled the radio plot from the broadcast of December 12, 1934.

 

Episode #950-175 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast February 27, 1939

Copyright Registration #62,179, script received at Registration Office March 1, 1939.

Plot: It was pure luck that The Lone Ranger and Tonto happened upon the Flynn brothers, Earl, Ted and Chuck, convicted of the murder of Sam Harper, who fled the law. Tonto investigated the crime scene and found evidence to suggest the men were innocent. To find proof that Banker Kline of Fairmont was responsible for the crime, The Lone Ranger visited Clay Buhler, a former employee of Kline’s, who lived with his wife and daughter on a small farm a good six hours ride from Fairmont. Clay’s daughter, Alice, was suffering from fever so The Lone Ranger, Tonto and the Flynn brothers created a litter to carry the girl to Fairmont to see a doctor. The trip took a few hours but the men eventually reached the doctor. The sheriff wanted to jail the Flynn brothers, but The Lone Ranger insisted to Clay that the men were volunteers and never forced to oblige. Alice needed medical aid and in a sense of guilt, Clay confessed that he had a sense of loyalty at the time to his employer and lied under oath. Banker Kline caught Clay stealing and held it over his head, threatening jail. With a dislike towards Sam, Kline committed the crime and forced Clay to lie under oath. During this testimony, Tonto went out to apprehend, tie and bound Banker Kline, leaving him on the doorstep for the sheriff.

 

Episode #974-199 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast April 24, 1939

Copyright Registration #63,200, script received at Registration Office April 26, 1939.

Plot: Abe and Limpy, notorious gunmen who were led by Two-Gun Haley, send a false telegram to arrange for the Eastbound and Westbound to crash into each other. The former carried a gold shipment. The Lone Ranger and Tonto, arranging for an old woman to board one of the trains bound for Sierra City so she can visit a doctor, inadvertently discover Haley’s ruse. With the trains due to collide on the other side of Valley Junction, The Lone Ranger raced from Grantsburg in an attempt to intercept one of the trains. The sheriff in Grantsburg is unable to prevent the disaster from his end because Two-Gun cut the telegraph wires. With the guards firing at the masked man for assuming he was a gold robber, The Lone Ranger braves the terrain and the bullets to alert the conductor. When the train is halted, Two-Gun Haley boarded to force the trains to wreck in despite of recent developments. In the meantime, Tonto returned to Grantsburg, alerting the sheriff who called on a group of men to race for the point where they felt a collision was inevitable. While the masked man and the train guards cut off the flight of Two-Gun and his men in the one direction, the sheriff swept down upon the outlaws from the other. The outlaws, turning in desperation, attempted to deal with this new threat. But, hopelessly outnumbered, it did not take them long to realize the futility of resistance. They threw down their arms and yelled for surrender.

 

Episode #976-201 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast April 28, 1939

Copyright Registration #63,202, script received at Registration Office April 26, 1939.

Plot: Sam Wheeler was one of those unfortunate men consistently pursued by bad luck. He and his wife, Bertha, and his crippled daughter, Molly, occupied a small shack on a poverty-stricken homestead. But the day came when Sam Wheeler, brooding over the poverty from which there seemed no release, made an important decision. Having learned crooks committed a robbery and made off with a ton of cash, Sam covered his face with a crude mask and clothes that would keep him from being identified, and robbed Jeff Higgins, a store-keeper. The Lone Ranger, however, pays Sam a visit three days later, takes the money and promises to return it – with complete understanding that not everyone who steals is an evil person. A couple days later, Jeff figures out it was Sam Wheeler who robbed him. The sheriff quickly discovered to his distaste that his party had been swelled to the size of a posse when the news rapidly circulated through town that Sam Wheeler was to be arrested. The Lone Ranger called on an old friend, Martin Whitby, a public figure in town who commanded respect. The posse, however, dies down moments after they arrive at the Wheeler homestead. Whitby hands Sam a check for $300 and informs him that they can pay it off with a job on one of his ranches. Such charity extinguished the fire in the eyes of the posse members, especially when they learn at the same time that the money stolen from Jeff was returned. Sam had his punishment – the fear of punishment that he must have suffered since the day he stole.

 

Episode #977-202 [TITLE NOT GIVEN]

Broadcast May 1, 1939

Copyright Registration #63,326, script received at Registration Office May 1, 1939.

Plot: Glen Jordan was found guilty of the murder of Asa Sampson, a wealthy resident of Santa Rosa who was murdered recently. While sweating behind bars, Jordan awaits the tenth of August where he will be hanged by the neck. He is promised by The Lone Ranger to have faith until he brings Tonto back with evidence that will clear him of the crime he was falsely accused. Two criminals, Turk (a redskin), and Sig, were hired by Lefty Sampson, son of Asa, to catch and kidnap Tonto, who has evidence against the crooked Lefty. Arizona’s dog picked up the trail of the outlaws into a valley and a camp in the hills. The sheriff followed and during a confrontation the masked man explained how Lefty killed his father, making it look as though Glen Jordan was guilty. Pike Nugent was a witness to the crime. Pike was sent south of the border but Lefty wanted him killed because his silence could be bought cheaper. Tonto was kidnapped because he knew this. The Indian was freed and verified The Lone Ranger’s story, with the promise to bring Pike back across the border to testify in person, clearing the name of Glen Jordan. 

 

 

THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIDER MAN, starring Bela Lugosi

I know very little about this. While digging through some archival collections, I came across a television script for "The Spider Man," which clearly indicates the lead was meant for Bela Lugosi. I don't have a ton of books about Bela Lugosi, nor have I taken the time to do some digging to learn more about this, but for fans of Bela Lugosi, this television script may be of fascination. Good news: we scanned it into PDF for digital preservation.

If you come across some info about this, please drop me a line. I would like to add that info to this blog post.

ZANE GREY AND THE HORSE THIEF

It can be debated among literary connoisseurs whether Zane Grey was truly a legend of the Western story genre, but few can debate his stories of the American frontier did not leave behind a strong influence towards the writers that followed (including Max Brand and Ernest Haycox). His novels and short stories were given new life with motion-picture adaptations, and his name now command respect in the field where he dramatized through prose the adventures of cattle rustlers, ranchers and love on the plains. 

Every year I manage to find time to read one or two Zane Grey stories. The primary reason is because Fran Striker, who created The Lone Ranger radio program, could not have written so many western stories without having read some himself. His high school yearbook discloses The Desert of Wheat (1920) as his favorite novel, hence the connection. Curiosity has always been my vice, eagerly hoping to find some plot or character that Striker may have “borrowed” for the radio dramas, but to date I have found very little of anything beyond flimsy coincidence.

 

Personally, I found the writing of Zane Grey to be hit or miss. Sometimes the prose was magnificent (suggesting he took time to re-write and polish his novel or story multiple times) while other stories are written hap-hazard as if he was facing a strict deadline. Sometimes he wrote stories with Indians as the principal characters (Blue Feather, which I found intriguing at first and then dragged during the second half) while others were essays (Quaking-Asp Cabin which devoted too much time setting up the story before the story truly began). 

 

Recently, however, I discovered The Horse Thief (originally published as Outlaws of Palouse in Country Gentleman in 1934). This was not only one of the last of the magazine serials that Zane Grey published due to the Great Depression (magazines could no longer afford his prices, even though he agreed to take a lot less money than he had been being paid), but the best story I read in the last few years. This was a wonderful story set in the “Northwest,” the region of Washington/Oregon. Dale Brittenham was a young ranch hand who took it upon himself to fetch a number of prized horses that were stolen by horse thieves, ultimately killing the men responsible. This led to the revelation that one of the ranchers in the area was quietly hiring horse thieves to steal prime stock. Through a clever means of selling off the stolen goods from both sides of a valley, selling east to west and then west to east, Dale leads the charge against the guilty culprits – but not before being accused of the crime by the very individuals who (as respected citizens of the community) are stealing the horses. 

 

It turns out this story was adapted into a 1936 motion-picture, End of the Trail, starring Jack Holt, through Columbia Pictures. I have not yet watched the movie but I will place this Zane Grey story on the top of the list for good reads. All of which is a long-winded way of saying how it is a darn shame Zane Grey’s writing was all over the map and – like television anthologies – one has to go through four or five dismal stories to enjoy a great one. But that great one certainly made up for the time I spent reading the others.

 

My next venture will be Riders of the Purple Plains (1912), considered one of his best novels, and historically his best-selling novel.

 

BEAR MANOR MEDIA BOOK REVIEWS: From Dorothy McGuire to Betty Lynn

A box of books arrived on my doorstep from Bear Manor Media, a publishing house that is cranking out a number of great books, almost the equivalent of one a week. A few of them in the box warrant mention just in case these books slip under the radar. All four of these, in my opinion, are worthy of purchasing if the subjects are of interest to you.

ADAMANT: The Life and Pursuits of Dorothy McGuire

By Giancarlo Stampalia

Dorothy McGuire remains one of the most beloved stars of Hollywood. An actress of sincerity, dignity and natural beauty, she graced film, radio, television and theater for nearly half a century, delivering unforgettable performances in such classic movies as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the suspense thriller, The Spiral Staircase. Yet no biography has been written about her—until now. Adamant is intended not as a definitive biography, but rather as an attempt, which investigates, reveals and examines, with microscopic tenacity, the many facets of McGuire’s personal and professional history, drawing on a wide range of sources, including personal reminiscences of friends, colleagues and family and the author’s own frequentation of the actress.

 

The reasons for the author’s self-deprecating definition of Adamant as an attempt hinge on the definition of exactly what one is attempting when one writes a biography. The loose strands of philosophical, literary and spiritual Leitmotifs that are woven through the book’s exploration and culminate in its unusual conclusion make it less a biography than a moral, or alchemical, study of Dorothy McGuire. This loving tribute takes the metaphysical route and makes observations not only about its immediate subject but also about the art of acting, personal evolution and virtues, and, most importantly, the act itself of writing a biography.

 

 

BECOMING THELMA LOU

By Betty Lynn and Jim Clark

Long before becoming beloved by generations of Mayberry fans for her portrayal of Thelma Lou, the ever-patient sweetheart of Barney Fife, Kansas City native Betty Lynn lived a life filled with interesting adventures and fascinating people. Her role on television’s The Andy Griffith Show was cemented as a television icon because of her numerous appearances at film festivals and conventions, including her annual return visit to the Mayberry Days festival.

In her own words, augmented by 140 rare photos, Betty Lynn shares the sometimes bittersweet, often surprising, and always inspiring story of her remarkable life. From her wartime service in India and Burma to sharing the spotlight with entertainment royalty from New York to Hollywood, Betty always remained grounded in her Midwestern values and strong faith.

Her 26 appearances on The Andy Griffith Show are not the only thing documented in this book. The actress who played roles in Sitting Pretty (1948), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), and performed on tour for the USO, is also remembered as Viola Slaughter on Disney’s Texas John Slaughter (1958-1962). This is her story. Fans of The Andy Griffith Show will want to have a copy of this book.

  

 

IDA LUPINO: Beyond the Camera

By Mary Ann Anderson

Ida Lupino did not want to be an actress; composing and writing were her major interests. The actress branched out into film directing and producing in 1949, becoming one of two women to enter the male dominated field. She was the only woman ever to direct an episode of The Twilight Zone, among other television programs. While her feature films were primarily aimed at a female audience, other films such as The Hitch-Hiker, based on the spree killer Billy Cook, written, directed and produced by Ida Lupino, has become a classic film noir. Life Magazine did a piece on the 60th Anniversary. "No one ever asked me to direct a love story!" Ida Lupino once remarked. 

 

There is not much available on the actress and this book helps contribute to her legacy. Mary Ann Anderson has written about Lupino multiple times and this book adds to that ever-growing library.

 

 

ELISSA LANDI: Cinema’s Empress of Emotion

By Scott O’Brien

I could not provide better praise for a biography than Scott O’Brien’s latest entry, a biography about Elissa Landi. If you were to ask me which Hollywood actresses needed a book documenting their personal life and screen career, Elissa Landi would have been on the top ten list. (Also on the list would be Helen Twelvetrees and Ruth Chatterton.) 

 

Cecil B. DeMille boosted the career of Elissa Landi in The Sign of the Cross (1932). Her leading men included Laurence Olivier, Fredric March, Cary Grant, and then Robert Donat in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934). After 33 films, Landi gave up on Hollywood, to focus on her career as a novelist. Did not know she wanted to write novels? Neither did I. 

 

Allegedly the actress was born the illegitimate granddaughter of the tragic Empress Elisabeth of Austria (a fact or fiction still in debate). She receive co-star billing in such films as The Masquerader (1933) with Ronald Colman, Enter Madame (1935) with Cary Grant, and After the Thin Man (1936) with William Powell and James Stewart. Because she was offered more trivial films than A-pictures during that decade of her career, Landi eventually abandoned Hollywood and returned to the stage where she starred in innumerable plays on Broadway, in London, and on tour. Far too young, she tragically died in 1948 from cancer.

 

Scott’s books have garnered positive reviews in such publications as Classic Images, Sight & Sound, and SF Gate. Three of O’Brien’s books have made the Huffington Post’s “Best Cinema Books of the Year.” And deservingly so. 

The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Restoration Project

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, was a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954 starring Alice Faye and Phil Harris. Harris had previously become known to radio audiences as the band-leader-turned-cast-member of the same name on The Jack Benny Program  while Faye had been a frequent guest on programs such as Rudy Vallee’s variety shows. After becoming the breakout stars of the music and comedy variety program The Fitch Bandwagon, the show was retooled into a full situation comedy, with Harris and Faye playing fictionalized versions of themselves as a working show business couple raising two daughters in a madcap home. But what few do not know is that the comic adventures were – in some aspect – based on their real-life family adventures. The season opener of 1952-1953 had the narrator open with an explanation that Phil Harris had just returned from England with his new automobile and was working on the engine in the drive-way. Turns out Harris really was in England that summer and he did buy a roadster.

 

A few years ago over 2,000 photographs were scanned from an archive containing Phil Harris and Alice Faye’s family and publicity photos, including awards and achievements. We have been digitally restoring the images for a future book project. Below, for your amusement, are a few of those photos chosen at random. (Almost random. I did select the one with the roadster so you can see what it looked like.) The photos, by the way, were the initial scan and not the digitally restored renditions.

I am trying to identify the man on the far right. Help!

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Rare Old-Time Radio Photographs

Over the past two decades, I made it a habit of scanning photographs of old-time radio personalities from every archive I had access to. Recently cataloging the tens of thousands of photographs, labeling each photo accordingly, I came across a number of them that are truly rare and more than likely never seen in decades. So I wanted to take a moment to share them with you. 

Ben Bernie and Lupe Velez

Victor Moore

Virginia Jones

Hildegarde

Edgar Bergen

A young Gale Gordon.

John Houseman

Jackie Kelk

Mel Allen

Raymond Edward Johnson

Poison Gardner

Nila Mack of Let's Pretend

Shirley Temple

The "LOST" SERGEANT PRESTON OF THE YUKON Adventures

Initially titled Challenge of the Yukon, the Sergeant Preston radio program started out in 1939 as a 15-minute series with massive epics in serial format. By 1940, the series evolved into single adventures (and sometimes two-part adventures). Broadcast "live" over the Michigan Radio Network, the program could be heard in Chicago, northern Indiana and Ohio, and certain sections of Canada where radio receivership (and superb weather conditions) could allow someone with a superb radio set to pick up the broadcasts. The program never went national until 1947. It was not until 1943 that the radio broadcasts were recorded on transcription discs. All of which makes these 1940 plot summaries treasured. Over the years I have been reading those pre-1943 radio broadcasts to fill in the gaps, progressing to a complete broadcast log of each and every radio adventure. The plots below are from radio scripts where recordings do not exist. (The plots are rough draft, not final draft.)

By the way, it would not be until the broadcast of May 30, 1940, that Tom Dougall began assigning script titles. 

Episode #121 [NO TITLE LISTED]

Broadcast March 7, 1940

Copyright Registration D-69068, script received at Registration Office March 18, 1940.

Written by Tom Dougall.

Plot: Sergeant Preston and Pierre drove South on the Yukon from Lamont, on the trail of three men named Bart Hayden, Scar Reynolds and Lefty Mike who robbed a company store. Stopping at a cabin along the wide expanse of Lake Bartlett, they meet an old time named Pop Hanson. 

The old man helped guide our heroes to Windward Pass, where they could cut off the path, then asked for a favor. Mike is his son and the crime accused was the boy’s first. Mike loved a girl named Sally and her father was very ill. It was quite possible the boy stole the money to help the girl. Pop asked Preston to not hurt the lad. The criminals, however, attempted to thwart their pursuers by pushing a boulder off the cliff and starting an avalanche that roared down the steep side of the bluff. Before it reached bottom, Preston, Pierre and Pop found shelter. Risking his life, Preston climbed the bluff to reach Mike, who was alone fetching firewood. Upon learning the boy was a witness to the crime but never committed the act, and was forced to go along with the criminals, Preston handed Mike a gun to help assist with the capture. The confrontation led to a broken wrist and a wounded shoulder, but the Mountie got his men. As for Lefty Mike, he would receive the reward money – and the boy wanted to help Sally’s father.

 

Episode #122 [NO TITLE LISTED]

Broadcast March 14, 1940

Copyright Registration D-69284, script received at Registration Office March 26, 1940.

Written by Tom Dougall.

Plot: Sergeant Preston was working in Dawson for nearly six months when he returned to Beaver City, where he was assigned a new case from Inspector Conrad. Shortly after Preston left for Dawson, the Yukon Trading Company sent a new man to take charge of their post in the Lost River district. He was a crook. He robbed the company and he robbed the Indians. It was not until his assistant quit and came back to Beaver City that the Inspector learned what was going on. Miaku, the chief of the local Indians, however, did not like the idea of being cheated and the tribe went on the warpath. Manson managed to escape his post and fled, was arrested, tried and convicted. Miaku and his tribe were still on the warpath, a party of trappers were captured, and Miaku sent a warning: the next white man to cross Stormy Ridge will die. Preston and Pierre were the first white men to defy the new law. Miaku would not believe Preston’s insistence that the white man who cheated them is facing the law and our heroes are tied up. Condemned to die by fire, Preston asks for water as a last request and instead of drinking it, he used it to put out the fire. Further discussion convinced Miaku that the white man wanted to be friends. 

 

Episode #123 [NO TITLE LISTED]

Broadcast March 21, 1940

Copyright Registration D-69280, script received at Registration Office March 26, 1940.

Written by Tom Dougall.

Plot: While stationed in Beaver City, Sergeant Preston learned that the manager of the Yukon Trading company branch roused the post. Robbers had broken into his store during the night and stole $20,000 in gold dust, waiting for shipment to White Horse. Inspector Conrad put Constable Edwards on the case, to question all suspicious characters in town, check on all the trails and way cabins, etc. Preston was sent to Bitterroot Valley to deliver supplies and a bag of mail. The Sergeant and Pierre set out on the windswept trail for the north and along the way he stopped to deliver a letter to Matt. Outside the cabin, Matt insisted no one came through in the last few days, but takes a moment to read the letter from his friend. After Preston and Pierre leave and continue on their way, Matt returns to his cabin to face the two criminals who were hiding inside. Moments later, the door was busted open and King attacked one of the men while Preston handled the other. The crooks were Canora Pete and Al Maitland, both of whom have records. Matt tipped off the Sergeant not by what he said when he read the letter, but because he was blind and could not read – an oversight the criminals were not aware of.

 

Episode #124 [NO TITLE LISTED]

Broadcast March 26, 1940

Copyright Registration D-69403, script received at Registration Office April 6, 1940.

Written by Tom Dougall.

Plot: Sergeant Preston and Pierre were on the trail from Bitterroot Valley. They were forced to take shelter in an isolated cabin during a blizzard. After a few minutes, Preston discovers the two residents of the cabin, prospectors Jerry Carr and Slim Brandon, do not acknowledge each other’s existence. It seems they lived together for so long that even a whistle or a sneeze is a deliberate intent to be annoying to the other. In an attempt to cure them, Preston creates a scenario whereby he decides to abuse his position and orders the men to decide who goes out to fend for themselves. There is not enough food for the four of them and the blizzard rages on. He suggests they settle the dispute with a game of cards. The men, panicking, insist they have the right to stay – even crediting the good each has done for the other, reinforcing their friendship. When the prospectors discover the ruse, they laugh and shake hands.

 

Episode #125 [NO TITLE LISTED]

Broadcast April 2, 1940

Copyright Registration D-69439, script received at Registration Office April 10, 1940.

Written by Tom Dougall.

Plot: Information reached police headquarters at Dawson that a criminal who was wanted for a bank robbery in Regina was somewhere in the Yukon. Sergeant Preston and Pierre were sent North to Forty Mile to investigate. One the day they arrived they rented a cabin and while Pierre made the rounds of the cafes in town, the Sergeant treated one of the dogs who had gone lame on the trail. Pierre found Dan Morgan, the man they were seeking, in the Lady Luck café. Dan admits he was wanted in Regina, but asked Preston for the opportunity to teach young Tim a lesson. The youth just married and struck it rich with a vein and is gambling. Tim is striking good fortune and Dan fears the boy will go from a miner to a gambler. Preston agrees to a parlay and lets Dan teach the boy a lesson at the table. Tim returns home penniless whiel Preston agrees with Dan that he will find a way to get the money returned, knowing Tim and Sally have a future. Dan promises to take the difference in winnings and return it to the bank he stole it from, in the hopes that the courts will be lenient.