Marie Dressler Day: August 4, 2008

[moira finnie]

I'm pretty happy to see that Marie Dressler has a day devoted to her in August as part of the Summer Under the Stars on TCM. There are some rarely seen movies among those chosen, though I can only take so much of Polly Moran and even less of Rudy Vallee. I wish that Tugboat Annie were on earlier in the day, and that her last movie, Christopher Bean (1933) were among the movies, but hey, a bit of time with Marie is usually a real tonic for the spirit. Are there any of your favorites among this lineup?


Here's the rundown of films:
4 Monday 6:00 AM
The Hollywood Revue (1929)
Sketches and songs give MGM's silent stars a chance to show their stuff in talking pictures. Cast: Jack Benny, Buster Keaton, Joan Crawford. Dir: Charles Riesner. C-118 mins, TV-G

8:00 AM
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)
In this silent film, a con man dupes a wealthy country girl into marriage. Cast: Marie Dressler, Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand. Dir: Mack Sennett. BW-72 mins, TV-G

9:30 AM
The Divine Lady (1929)
Lady Hamilton's love affair with Admiral Nelson rocks the British Empire. Cast: Corinne Griffith, Victor Varconi, Marie Dressler. Dir: Frank Lloyd. BW-99 mins, TV-G

11:15 AM
The Vagabond Lover (1929)
A small-town boy finds fame and romance when he joins a dance band. Cast: Rudy Vallee, Marie Dressler, Sally Blane. Dir: Marshall Neilan. BW-65 mins, TV-G

12:30 PM
The Girl Said No (1930)
A college sports star surprises everyone with his money-making schemes. Cast: William Haines, Leila Hyams, Marie Dressler. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-90 mins, TV-G

2:15 PM
Let Us Be Gay (1930)
A visit to Paris brings divorced spouses back together. Cast: Norma Shearer, Rod La Rocque, Marie Dressler. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. BW-79 mins, TV-G

3:45 PM
Reducing (1931)
A beauty-parlor manager brings in an old friend to help her with disastrous results. Cast: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Anita Page. Dir: Charles F. Reisner. BW-77 mins, TV-G

5:15 PM
Politics (1931)
Two women take on small-town racketeers. Cast: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Roscoe Ates. Dir: Charles F. Reisner. BW-73 mins, TV-G

6:30 PM
Prosperity (1932)
Feuding mothers almost wreck their children's marriage. Cast: Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Anita Page. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-87 mins, TV-G

8:00 PM
Dinner At Eight (1933)
A high-society dinner party masks a hotbed of scandal and intrigue. Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow. Dir: George Cukor. BW-111 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

10:00 PM
Min And Bill (1930)
Two crusty waterfront characters try to protect their daughter from a terrible secret. Cast: Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Dorothy Jordan. Dir: George Hill. BW-66 mins, TV-G

11:15 PM
Emma (1932)
A housekeeper faces unexpected snobbery when she marries her boss. Cast: Marie Dressler, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-72 mins, TV-G, CC

12:30 AM
Anna Christie (1930)
Eugene O'Neill's classic about a romantic prostitute trying to run away from her past. Cast: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, Marie Dressler. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-90 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:15 AM
Tugboat Annie (1933)
A lady tugboat captain tries to help two young lovers come together. Cast: Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Robert Young. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-86 mins, TV-G, CC

3:45 AM
That's Entertainment! III (1994)
Classic musical numbers and rare behind-the-scenes footage show how MGM created the screen's greatest musicals. Featuring clips with Gene Kelly, Lena Horne and Debbie Reynolds. Cast: June Allyson, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Howard Keel Dir: Burt Friedgen, Michael J. Sheridan. C-120 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

[charliechaplinfan]

Min and Bill is the one I've heard the most about but not seen.

[silentscreen]

Ditto Alison! Marie was a Pip and I think a lot of her. So did Fances Marion, who credited her with her career, and remained faithful to her till the end.

[mongoII]

I for one will be watching the one and only Marie Dressler work her movie magic. She was/is a natural gem.

[srowley75]

I'm very glad that TCM is devoting a day for Marie during the normally unintriguing "Summer Under the Stars" month. I've never seen Divine Lady, Vagabond Lover or The Girl Said No, but I'm eager to get recordings of all three (especially Divine Lady, for which Frank Lloyd won a Best Director Oscar).

Though I also consider myself a fan of Dressler, I neglected Min and Bill for a long time because given what I'd seen of other early Oscar winners, I expected it to be an unimpressive performance (though had the category existed, Marie could've easily won Best Supporting Actress for Anna Christie in 1930 or Dinner at Eight in 1933). I finally broke down and watched it a few years ago, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Marie rises far above the material (her best scenes are her confrontations with co star Wallace Beery and one-time-friend Marjorie Rambeau) - it's no wonder that the movie was a hit and that she and Beery were paired again.

It would seem that this is the year for Marie: The Canadian Postal Service announced that she'd be honored with a postage stamp (along with other fellow Canadian actors Norma Shearer, Raymond Burr and Chief Dan George): http://www.canadapost.ca/personal/colle ... etail=2567

[moira finnie]

Here's a favorite clip of Marie Dressler and Lionel Barrymore from Dinner at Eight (1934). She's full of rueful honesty and nostalgia for her past--and, one suspects, for a sweet affair she once had with Lionel's character. I hope you enjoy it and the rest of today's glimpses of Marie:
Marie and Lionel reminisce here

[jdb1]

I recorded Tillie's Punctured Romance yesterday morning, and watched it last night. This 1914 silent stars Marie Dressler, Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. I was very curious to see this movie, because in my early youth I remember that "Tillie's Punctured Romance" was still referred to; it was still in the public consciousness. If not the actual film, at least the title. When someone referred to a failed love affair, or a flat tire, someone else would pipe up "Tillie's Punctured Romance." From what I've read about Dressler, it seems that the Tillie character and her manic adventures were performed by Dressler in vaudeville, and were very popular. So this Tillie movie series was sort of a spin-off.

I did enjoy this movie, although it was more than a little -- frenetic, shall we say? No character ever missed an opportunity to kick or knock someone else down. Chaplin plays a con man, not the Little Tramp, and Normand is his accomplice - Dressler is the mark.

I thought all the lead players were very good, and Normand and Dressler were particularly delightful. I did notice something very interesting about Dressler that I hadn't thought of before:

Her Tillie was very physical - of course, this was that kind of movie, and Dressler was much younger and a bit thinner than we are used to seeing her. The thing is - she reminded me of someone, and it took a while for me to place who I was thinking of. The lightness on the feet of a heavy person; the grimaces; the arm flaps when she moved around or danced; the ducking forward of the chin, with pursed lips; the pratfalls; the sheepish and outraged expressions -- they all made me think of Jackie Gleason.

Those of you old enough to remember the pre-dignified-actor Gleason, that is, the broad comedy and mime Gleason of early television, will understand what I'm referring to. I'd hazard a guess that it isn't at all unreasonable to assume that they heavyset Gleason used the heavyset Dressler as one of his role models.

[knitwit45]

Lightbulb moment!!!! I also watched Tillie last night, and found it very funny. It was a bit long for me, the dock/rescue scene was much too long, but such a funny movie. I kept thinking "who does Marie Dressler remind me of?" and couldn't figure it out. You're right, Jackie Gleason used the same chin jut, expressions, arm flapping.

Were the Castles the dancers in the ballroom scenes? The woman wore a little Dutch hat, I remember that discussion of her hat in the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie of their life together.

[jdb1]

Lightbulb moment!!!! I also watched Tillie last night, and found it very funny. It was a bit long for me, the dock/rescue scene was much too long, but such a funny movie. I kept thinking "who does Marie Dressler remind me of?" and couldn't figure it out. You're right, Jackie Gleason used the same chin jut, expressions, arm flapping.

Were the Castles the dancers in the ballroom scenes? The woman wore a little Dutch hat, I remember that discussion of her hat in the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie of their life together.

I don't see the Castles listed in any credits for the movie. I was wondering too, because of the dance the guests were doing at the party -- was that the Castle Walk or the Peabody? They are both kind of gliding, broadstepped dances. Maybe we were just supposed to think that Tillie could afford to hire the Castles for her party. I just looked on IMDb, and I did see Milton Berle, or all people, in the credits as "Child (Uncredited)."

I also noticed the female dancer's ensemble, and thought it was a little odd for the dance that the couple was performing. But then, all the clothes the women were wearing looked rather ill-fitting and uncomfortable. I guess Keystone Studio payed more attention to the Kops' outfits.

[moira finnie]

I didn't see the silents included in yesterday's tribute to Marie Dressler, but from past viewings I think I see the Jackie Gleason resemblance you mentioned, Judith. I'm not crazy about Tillie's Punctured Romance, but think that it is remarkable that such a seemingly broad knockabout farceur as Dressler could become the often subtle, psychologically complex actress of the early talkies. Object lesson #199 in why I shouldn't judge actors based on their early work, I guess!

I saw a few minutes of Prosperity (1932) and, while I loathe Polly Moran more each time I see her, and think that the script was too broad, slapdash and rushed in parts (without being charming, as some early talkies can be at times), Marie's moments alone with the camera and the underlying seriousness of the story's themes made it all worthwhile. Here's a little Disney tribute to the Oscar nominees for 1932. See if you can spot Wallace Beery, (The Champ), Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne (for The Guardsman), and Helen Hayes (for The Sins of Madelon Claudet). I don't think you'll have any problem seeing which character is Fredric March and a regal Marie is at the end (nominated for Emma). Enjoy!
[youtube][/youtube]

[charliechaplinfan]

I've seen a bad copy of Tillie's Punctured Romance. To date it is the only film I've been able to see Mabel Normand in, I wish more of her films remained. Charlie's character is a revelation, he was known for playing the same character most of his life yet that character evolved quite radically, some say because of Edna's influence.

The biggest surprise to me was Marie Dressler, so different to her later films with MGM. What an actress.

[knitwit45]

I wonder if Milton Berle was the poor newsboy who got slapped by Chaplin? Violence was so casual, I couldn't believe he hit that poor kid. All the kicks and slaps were kind of frightening to me. Since I've come very late to the Silents table, I'm not sure, is this the norm for these movies?

[jdb1]

I wonder if Milton Berle was the poor newsboy who got slapped by Chaplin? Violence was so casual, I couldn't believe he hit that poor kid. All the kicks and slaps were kind of frightening to me. Since I've come very late to the Silents table, I'm not sure, is this the norm for these movies?

I think it is, especially in the earlier films (pre- and just post-WWI). What we were seeing, in large part was, I think essentially filmings of burlesque and vaudeville, which could be pretty rough-and-tumble. In addition, I think what people wanted to see on the screen was action, and plenty of it, because the allure of moving pictures in and of themselves was part of the attraction, so they'd better have lots of motion. Factor in the lack of dialog, and you had to have movement, gesticulation, running around, etc. to fill in what dialog might have described or implied.

This Tillie did seem to me to be especially full of commotion, and a lot of the hitting and kicking struck me as gratuitous and improvised. Certainly Chaplin became a bit more subdued in that area as he developed his screen persona. I really liked Normand, whom I haven't seen all that much of. She had a very nice flair for the comedic, and kept her end of things relatively calm, but still amusing. I had the impression that she would have done well in the screwball talkies that followed.

By the way, Nancy, I don't think Berle would have been old enough to be the newsboy, as his birthdate is listed as 1908, which would have made him only 6 when Tillie was made. That slap that Chaplin gave the newsboy was out of line, wasn't it? I didn't find that funny.

[charliechaplinfan]

I didn't find Chaplin that funny in Tillie, quite cruel.

I don't know a great deal about American vaudeville but reading Buster Keaton's memoirs and realising just how violent that act was, it's difficult to call it entertainment, it's more like abuse. Yet the act was popular and he worked with his father for years afterwards. I suppose different times judge things very differently.