In The Spotlight Redux

[mongoII]

In the Spotlight: ALICE FAYE

The blonde songbird was born Alice Jeanne Leppert in New York City's Hells Kitchen on May 5, 1915, the daughter of a New York police officer of German descent and his Irish-American wife.

Alice as a chorus girl

Faye's entertainment career began in vaudeville as a chorus girl (making herself 3 years older when auditioning), before she moved to Broadway and "George White's Scandals" in 1931.
By this time, she had adopted her stage name and first reached a radio audience on Rudy Vallee's hit show.

Faye got her first major film break in 1934, when Lilian Harvey abandoned the lead role in a film version of "George White's Scandals", in which Vallee was also to appear.



Alice in "She Learned About Sailors" (1934)

She became a hit with film audiences of the 1930s, particularly when Fox mastermind producer Darryl F. Zanuck made her his protege. He softened Faye from a wisecracking show girl to a youthful, yet somewhat motherly figure such as she played in a few Shirley Temple films.

[on Shirley Temple] She was a nice kid, with a really wonderful mother and father. We all liked her. But she was brilliant. She knew everyone's dialogue and, if you forgot a line, she gave it to you. We all hated her for that.

Faye also received a physical makeover, from being something of a singing version of Jean Harlow to sporting a softer look with a more natural tone to her blonde hair and more mature makeup.


Cast in musicals most of all, notably "Alexander's Ragtime Band" with Tyrone Power, Faye introduced many popular songs to the hit parade. Considered less than serious as an actress and more than serious as a singer, Faye nailed what many critics consider her best acting performance in 1937's "In Old Chicago", again with Power.


She more than held her own, in spite of a mild speech impediment, with co-stars such as Rudy Vallee, Al Jolson, Charlotte Greenwood, and Edward Everett Horton, as well as leading men such as Don Ameche, Tyrone Power, and John Payne.
[on Tyrone Power] He was the best looking thing I've ever seen in my life. Kissing him was like dying and going to heaven.



Alice Faye as "Lillian Russell" (1940)

Color film flattered Faye enormously, and she shone in the splashy musical features that were a Fox trademark in the 1940s.

Alice Faye, beautiful in technicolor.

Films such as "Week-End in Havana" and "That Night in Rio" made good use of Faye's husky singing voice, solid comic timing, and flair for carrying off the era's starry-eyed romantic storylines.

1943's "The Gang's All Here" is perhaps the epitome of these films, with lavish production values and a range of supporting players (including the memorable Carmen Miranda in the indescribable "Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" number) that camouflage the film's trivial plot and leisurely pacing.

Other Faye films include, "King of Burlesque", "On the Avenue", "You're a Sweetheart", "Hollywood Cavalcade", "Rose of Washington Square", "Little Old New York", "Lillian Russell", "Tin Pan Alley" with friend Betty Grable, etc.

Alice and Betty Grable in "Tin Pan Alley" (1941).


Faye and Betty Grable both at 20th Century Fox in the 1940s.

Faye's career continued until 1944 when she was cast in "Fallen Angel". Designed ostensibly as Faye's vehicle, the film all but became her celluloid epitaph when Zanuck, trying to build his new protege Linda Darnell, ordered many Faye scenes cut and Darnell emphasized.
When Faye saw a screening of the final product, she drove away from the Fox studio refusing to return, feeling she had been undercut deliberately by Zanuck.

Zanuck hit back by having Faye blackballed for breach of contract, ending her film career. Released in 1945, "Fallen Angel" was Faye's last film as a major Hollywood star.

But seventeen years after the "Fallen Angel" debacle, Faye went before the cameras again, in 1962's "State Fair" with Pat Boone. While Faye received good reviews, the film was not a great success, and she made only infrequent cameo appearances in films thereafter.
She was not happy with the way the studio system had changed.

Alice with first husband crooner Tony Martin

Faye's first marriage, to crooner Tony Martin in 1937, ended in divorce in 1940. A year later, however, she married hipster-comic/bandleader Phil Harris.

The couple had two daughters, Alice (b. 1942) and Phyllis (b. 1944), and began working in radio together as Faye's film career declined. First, they teamed to host a variety show on NBC.
Originally conceived as a music showcase as well as a haven for Harris and Faye's tart comic style, the show came to center more on the couple and, by 1948, the show was revamped entirely into a situation comedy called "The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show".

Faye singing ballads and swing numbers in her honey contralto voice was a regular highlight of the show, as was a knack for tart one-liners equal to her husband's. The show's running gags also included barbs by Faye aimed at her rift with Zanuck, usually referencing "Fallen Angel" in one or another way.

Faye and Harris continued various projects, individually and together, for the rest of their lives. Faye made a return to Broadway after forty-three years in a revival of "Good News", opposite her old Fox partner John Payne.

In later years, Faye became a spokeswoman for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, promoting the virtues of an active senior lifestyle.

The Faye-Harris marriage endured (54 years) until Harris's death in 1995; before that, the couple donated a large volume of their entertainment memorabilia to Harris's hometown Linton, Indiana.

Three years after her husband's death, Alice Faye died in Rancho Mirage, California from stomach cancer at the age of 83.
Her ashes rest beside those of Phil Harris at the mausoleum of the Forest Lawn Cemetery near Palm Springs, California. The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show remains a favorite of old-time radio collectors.

Alice & Phil's final resting place


Alice Faye senior citizen

The lady has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of her contribution to Motion Pictures.

[sandykaypax]

mongo, thank you for the lovely tribute to Alice Faye.

Sandy K

[mongoII]

Sandy, I'm glad that you enjoyed the profile of one of my favorite stars.

[mongoII]

According to a famous and often printed quote, Irving Berlin once said, “I’d rather have Alice Faye introduce my songs than anyone else.” This was because no one could match the warm sentiment she put in her songs, and no one could be so expressive. Songwriter Jule Styne tried to explain some years ago Alice’s superb vocal appeal: “[With] Alice Faye ... You’d move the camera in on a close-up and you’d imagine she was the greatest singer in the world. You know, Alice Faye at that time, she’d sing a song on the screen, and the next morning it sold a million copies. Technically, she wasn’t a particularly good singer, but she was one of those unusual song salesmen on the screen, she knew how to sing the song to sell it.”

[mongoII]

In the Spotlight: JAMES GLEASON

One of the most recognizable and popular of the old character actors, James Austin Gleason was born on May 23, 1882 in New York City, the son of parents, William Gleason and Mina Crolius, who operated a theatre stock company.
He was carried on stage at the age of two, then performed around the country with numerous touring and stock companies, so he was destined to become an actor.
After returning as a veteran of the Spanish-American War he took up the profession but was again interrupted by World War I.

A dapper James Gleason

He then returned to Broadway and in the mid-20s began writing a number of plays and musicals which were actually produced.
Gleason co-wrote "The Broadway Melody", the second film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and had a small uncredited role in it. He also co-wrote and briefly appeared as a hot dog vendor in the 1934 Janet Gaynor vehicle "Change of Heart". He was also a dialogue coach.

Affectionately called Jimmy Gleason, with his New York accent, lean and wiry physique and wisecracking style, he most often was cast as a tough but warm-hearted type. Almost always sporting a suit and a fedora and with his flatly toned voice, he was a gem among character actors. He was most often a good guy; a reporter, detective, cab driver or Runyonesque type.

Gleason at the keys while Gloria Swanson sings a tune

Early boardmembers of SAG (Screen Actors Guild, which Gleason helped found).

Gleason (rear left) in white suit, wife Lucile is seated between
Alan Mowbray and Boris Karloff

He made his film debut in 1922 and in 1928 starred regularly in films. Always the tough, but lovable, New Yorker, he appeared in an impressive listing of films including:
"Meet John Doe", "Babes on Broadway", "A Guy Named Joe", "Once Upon a Time", "Arsenic and Old Lace", "The Bishop's Wife" as a cabbie, "When My Baby Smiles at Me", "Key to the City", "Come Fill the Cup" with Cagney, "Suddenly" with Sinatra, "Loving You" with Elvis", "The Last Hurrah" with Spencer Tracy.


Gleason at bottom right.


Gleason appeared in two of the "Joe Palooka" movies as a recurring character, Knobby Walsh.



With Terry Moore and Glenn Ford in "The Return of October" (1948).



Gleason with Cagney in "Come Fill the Cup"


Gleason with Jane Wyman in "The Story of Will Rogers"

Gleason discovers Shelley Winters in "Night of the Hunter"

He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as boxing manager Max 'Pop' Corkle in the 1941 film, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" with Robert Montgomery.


Gleason (restrained on left) with Robert Montgomery (seated on right)

Gleason being consoled by Judy Garland and Robert Walker in "The Clock."

He also played a milk cart driver who gives lessons in marriage to Judy Garland and Robert Walker in the 1945 film, "The Clock", while Lucile Gleason played his wife. In the same year he played the bartender in the film adaptation of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".

Gleason is also remembered for playing police Inspector Oscar Piper in a series of Hildegarde Withers mystery films during the 1930s (which first starred Edna May Oliver in the role of the schoolteacher detective in three films. Helen Broderick starred in one, and Zasu Pitts finished out the series with two movies.

Gleason with Edna May Oliver in one of the Hildegarde Withers mysteries.


Gleason and Zasu Pitts in "The Plot Thickens" (1936)

He was married to actress Lucile Webster in 1905 and they had a son Russell also an actor. The trio appeared in a comedy series of movies about the adventures of the Higgins family.

Jimmy dining out with wife Lucile


Their son actor Russell Gleason

Sadly their son Russell died from an accidental fall from a hotel window in 1945 at age 37, leaving behind a wife and a child. Lucile Gleason passed away in 1947.

We lost Jimmy on April 12, 1959 in Woodland Hills, California of complications of asthma at age 76. He was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.


The grand character actor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

[mongoII]

In the Spotlight: VIRGINIA WEIDLER

The delightful, talented moppet was born March 21, 1927 in Eagle Rock, California. She was one of six children born to Alfred Weidler, an architect, and Margaret Theres Louisa, a former opera singer.

Cast at age three in "Moby Dick" (1930) starring John Barrymore. She was assigned to play a tiny tot who had to remove her dress in front of the camera. Refusing to do so, she was replaced in the role. A year later she scored her first small movie bit in Warner Baxter's "Surrender" (1931) and was on her way.

Over the next few years, she played minor roles in films for RKO and Paramount Studios.
She was ably cast as rural tomboy types in "Laddie" (1935) and "Freckles" (1935), the latter film allowing her to do a dead-on parody of Shirley Temple.




Ginny on the lot with Leif Erikson & Elizabeth Russell while filming "Girl of the Ozarks" (1936)

She earned her first lead in "Girl of the Ozarks" (1936) and showed she could easily hold her own. After a rather unimpressive stint with Paramount where they tried to groom her as a rival to Fox's bratty Jane Withers, Virginia was finally picked up by MGM and her film career blossomed.

Her first film for MGM was opposite their leading male star Mickey Rooney in "Love Is a Headache" (1938). The film was a success and over the next few years, Weidler was regularly employed by the studio, usually playing precocious tom-boys. She proved a natural young comedienne and precocious scene-stealer in such films as "Out West with the Hardys" (1938), again with Rooney, and "Too Hot to Handle" with Gable and Loy. She could also shine in dramatic outings as she did with "The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt" (1939) and "Bad Little Angel" (1939).
She was one of the all-female cast of the 1939 film "The Women", as Norma Shearer's daughter, a role that was uncharacteristically sentimental for her.




Ginny with John Barrymore in "The Great Man Votes" (1939)



Ginny as Little Mary with Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen in "The Women"



Her next major success, and the film for which she is perhaps best remembered, was "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) in which she played Dinah Lord, the wise-cracking younger sister of Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn). Her tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" at the piano is just one of many memorable highlights from this vintage classic.



Ginny as Dinah with Katharine Hepburn as her sister Tracy (1940)


Ginny with Mickey Rooney in "Young Tom Edison" (1940)


Ginny (left) with Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland in "Babes on Broadway" (1941)

She continued acting but by this time was maturing, and as a teenager was less popular with audiences. Virginia's career started to slip away from her when the teenage Shirley Temple signed with MGM, with "Plain-Jane" Virginia abruptly bumped back to secondary status.
After rather disappointing receptions to "Born to Sing" (1942), "The Youngest Profession" (1943) and "Best Foot Forward" (1943), the awkward teen had to face the music.
Her career at MGM was also stymied by Louis Mayer who refused to renew her contract. In the revealing biography "Picture Perfect" cameraman John Slokum revealed that Louis B. Mayer said Virginia's breasts looked like a couple of prunes and she would never have a career as an adult at MGM because of that.

Virginia left films and turned to vaudeville as a song-and-dance comedy performer, utilizing her full-scale talents as a mimic.
She graduated from Hollywood Professional School in June, 1944.

By her retirement at the age of 17, she had appeared in more than forty films, and had acted with some of the biggest stars of her era, including Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, Bette Davis in "All This, and Heaven Too" as one of Charles Boyer's children, and Judy Garland in "Babes on Broadway".

Ginny with her mom at the premier of "All This, and Heaven Too" (1940)


Ginny in next to her final film "The Youngest Profession" (1943)
surrounded by Robert Taylor, William Powell, Walter Pidgeon, & Greer Garson.


Ginny with co-star and lifelong friend Jean Porter in "The Youngest Profession"

Virginia, a lovely young lady just prior to leaving the screen in 1943


Ginny on the beach with her red setter

In 1947, Weidler married naval officer Lionel Krisel and had two sons named Ronnie and Gary.

Virginia had suffered from rheumatic fever as a child which resulted in a heart condition for many years.
On July 1, 1968, Weidler suffered a heart attack in Los Angeles, California and died. She was 42 years old. She was cremated and her ashes put out to sea.

"[When asked about her career in later years,] Virginia would always change the subject as quickly as possible without being rude. She never watched her old movies or replied to requests for interviews. Although she was never one to criticize, I think our boys got the impression that their mother didn't think very much of the motion picture industry." -- Lionel Krisel, Weidler's husband

[klondike]

Mongo, to this day Ms. Weidler is the foremost reason that I try to catch The Philadelphia Story every time it's broadcast; she cracks me up throughout the film, small though her part was - and Dinah's exchange with her Mom about what's sticking up "in the back" never fails to slay me!

[jdb1]

I like Weidler especially in The Great Man Votes, where she plays John Barrymore's more sensible, capable, and mature daughter (more than his character, that is). A very wry performance from someone so young.

[mrsl]

Hey mongo:

I asked about Virginia 'way back in the days I attended TCM. I don't know if this is in answer to that request, or another one, but it was worth waiting for. It's such a shame that many early H'wood people didn't realize physical beauty is the only thing worth giving a person any recognition for. Virginia was a fine little actress in her own right and should have been accepted as such.

Anne

[mongoII]

I appreciate the good vibes regarding Virginia Weidler. The kid was unique in her own way.

Anne, I recall your interest in Miss Weidler, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the profile.

[Ayres]

Mongo, to this day Ms. Weidler is the foremost reason that I try to catch The Philadelphia Story every time it's broadcast; she cracks me up throughout the film, small though her part was - and Dinah's exchange with her Mom about what's sticking up "in the back" never fails to slay me!
:P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P

Lydia
Oh, Lydia
Oh, have you met Lydia?
Lydia the TAAAT-tooed lady...

[klondike]

Mongo, to this day Ms. Weidler is the foremost reason that I try to catch The Philadelphia Story every time it's broadcast; she cracks me up throughout the film, small though her part was - and Dinah's exchange with her Mom about what's sticking up "in the back" never fails to slay me!

Lydia
Oh, Lydia
Oh, have you met Lydia?
Lydia the TAAAT-tooed lady...

Oh, Ayres, mi amigo, that really LIFTED my day!
What a PRIZE Miss Virginia was in that film!
And grateful I am that we have it preserved forever!!

[Ayres]

Anytime, pal!

Only Virginia and Groucho can sing it.

[mongoII]

This question was presented to me on the TCM boards regarding the pofile of Virginia Weidler:

Thanks Mongo for another fine profile. You said that Virginia was one of six children. Doris Day`s second husband was George Weidler a musician. My question is were Doris and Virginia sister-in-laws?

Come to find out that they were indeed sister-in-laws. The information was not provided in any of the research I did.

[mongoII]

In the Spotlight: BUSTER CRABBE

The adventurous actor was born Clarence Linden Crabbe II on February 2, 1908 in Oakland, California.
In 1910 the family was living in a boarding house in Oakland and Edward senior was working as a real estate broker.

Raised in Hawaii, Buster graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu. He excelled as a swimmer and participated in two Olympic Games: 1928, where he won the bronze medal for the 1,500 meter freestyle, and 1932, where he won the gold medal for the 400 meter freestyle.

He attended the University of Southern California, where he was the school's first All-American swimmer (1931) and a 1931 NCAA freestyle titleist. He also became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity before graduating from USC in 1931.

In 1933 he married his college sweetheart Adah Virginia Held, and gave himself one year to either make it as an actor or start law school at USC. He began his movie career in 1930 in bit parts.

His role in the 1933 Tarzan serial "Tarzan the Fearless" (also issued as a full length movie) launched a successful career in which he starred in over one hundred movies. It would be the only movie in which Crabbe starred as Tarzan.

Buster as Tarzan with Julie Bishop (1933)

He also starred in the first international film "Search for Beauty" (1934), "Thrill of a Lifetime" (1936) with Betty Grable, etc.

Buster with Ida Lupino in "Search for Beauty" (1934)


Buster with Betty Grable in "Thrill of a Lifetime" (1937)

His next major role was in 1936 as Flash Gordon in the popular Flash Gordon serial, which he reprised in two sequels, released by Universal in 1938 and 1940.

Buster as Flash with Jean Rogers as Dale & Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkov.


As Flash Gordon.


The three serials were later shown extensively on American television during the 1950s, then edited for release on home video.
Other characters he portrayed included Buck Rogers, and in numerous westerns as Billy the Kid, and Billy Carson. His sidekick in most of his westerns was the actor Al 'Fuzzy' St. John. In some of his movies he is credited as Larry Crabbe.



Buster with his Palomino horse Falcon.


Buster (left) in westerns of the 1940s with sidekick Al 'Fuzzy' St. John (right)


Buster (seated), surrounded by bad guys.

Crabbe is the only actor who played Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers — the top three pulp fiction heroes of the 1930s.
He also starred at the Billy Rose Aquacade at the New York World's Fair in its second year of 1940, replacing Johnny Weismuller.
He co-starred in two films with Weissmuller including "Swamp Fire" in in 1946.




Buster fighting with Richard Denning in "Caged Fury" (1948)

Crabbe starred in the television series, "Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion" (1955 to 1957) as Captain Michael Gallant; the adventure series aired on NBC. His real-life son, Cullen Crabbe, appeared in this show as the character "Cuffy Sanders".

Buster with son Cullen on the TV series "Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion"

Crabbe made regular television appearances, including one on an episode of the 1979 series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", where he played a retired fighter pilot named "Brigadier Gordon" in honor of Flash Gordon.


Ace swimmers Johnny Weissmuller, Eleanor Holm, Esther Williams & Buster.

Crabbe's Hollywood career waned somewhat in the 1950s and 1960s. The ever-industrious Crabbe became a stockbroker and businessman during this period. He even owned a Southern California swimming pool building company in later years.

The Buster Crabbe swimming pools are still in business today.
In 1971 Crabbe broke the world swimming record for the over sixties in the 400 meters free style.

Buster promoting his swimming pools in the 1970s

In the mid-1950s, Crabbe purchased the campus of a small defunct prep school near the hamlet of Onchiota, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains. Renamed Buster Crabbe's Meenahga Lodge the camp advertised itself as swim camp for youngsters age 8-14, with at least one swim instructor from Hawaii.

Though he followed other pursuits, he never stopped acting. From the 1950s forward he appeared in numerous lower budget films including the 1982 feature, "The Comeback Trail" which was his final film.

Buster signing autographs along with co-star Jean Rogers (Dale Arden)


Buster at a film convention

Despite his numerous film and television appearances, he is best remembered today as one of the original action heroes of 1930s and 1940s cinema.

Buster and Virginia remained together for 50 years. They had two daughters, Sande and Susan and a son, Cullen. Sande died of anorexia.

He died on April 23, 1983, aged 75, from a heart attack in Scottsdale, Arizona and was laid to rest in the Green Acres Memorial Gardens Cemetery (Heritage Gardens vault, not accessible to public view).

Buster has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Quoted: If you can believe it, we started my last movie for low end studio PRC on Monday and had it in the can on Thursday! That's when I decided I'd had enough and quit. I went in and told them I was through. They didn't even bat an eye. The next thing I knew they replaced me with Lash La Rue.