The Silver Screen Oasis

Hello, all. Try this one, if you please:

Do you know me?

I started as a dancer, but became a studio contract player in the early days of sound. I had great success early in my career, but things seemed to sputter out by the 1940s, and I then played smaller and smaller roles, many times uncredited. I did a lot of TV in the 50s and 60s, always in supporting roles, and by the early 70s my career was over.

I've been menaced by monsters, assaulted by gangsters, and hired by curb crawlers. I was one of two in a scene with which every movie lover is familiar; I got the worst of it, and wasn't even credited, but everyone knows my poor face because of it.

Who am I?

Mae Clarke?

nightwalker wrote:Mae Clarke?

Yes - Miss Grapefruit in the Kisser herself. Well done.

I didn't really know much about her or her career, but I was very impressed with her performance in the recently aired 1931 Waterloo Bridge. If you look at her listing on IMDb, you can see that after the 30s, many of her screen appearances are uncredited. I wouldn't even have known her in her TV appearances, but I suspect they were very small parts. Wikipedia doesn't help much. Did she have personal troubles? Did she antagonize her studio in some way? Does anyone know her story?

Who's got another?

There's not much out there on her. Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia says that a combination of "bad luck and personal problems" led to her career decline, but he doesn't elaborate further. Possibly Mongo or Larry can add something.

nightwalker wrote:There's not much out there on her. Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia says that a combination of "bad luck and personal problems" led to her career decline, but he doesn't elaborate further. Possibly Mongo or Larry can add something.

I hope so. But I think I'll dig a little myself -- this is one of those intriguing Hollywood stories that bears investigation.

The elusive Mae Clarke

Mae gets on Cagney's nerves

Agreed. I'll be interested to see what you can find out.

BTW, nice pics!

Love that yellow grapefruit in the Public Enemy photo.

A new Mystery Guest has arrived:

Do you know me?

I was born on the other side of the Atlantic, and never really lost my accent, although English was my native language. It didn't matter, because I started my film career in silents. I made over 350 movies, and worked in radio as well. I appeared in hundreds of comedy shorts, some for a series of my own. In most of my movies I was an old codger, even when I was still a young man. I was in dramas as well as comdies. I was a cowboy's sidekick, both in films and on the radio. That cowboy wore a black hat, but rode a white horse. I appeared on TV with another, more famous old codger, who had eyes for my TV sister.

Who am I?

Andy Clyde?

nightwalker wrote:Andy Clyde?

Yes, that's the one. You are smokin'

Thanks.

It was the Hoppy reference that gave it away to me. I've taped most (if not all) of his movies off the Westerns channel in recent years. I haven't watched them all yet, but I have enjoyed the ones I've seen.

Clyde was a real hoot in Million Dollar Legs. He's the character who had the legs in question - his character was the fastest man alive and competed in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics for his country, Klopstockia.

Got one for us?

Sure. I didn't go all the way back to see if anyone's done this one before, but I hope not.

Do you know me?

Although I wasn't born in the US, my family moved here when I was quite young.

I'm not really known as a singer, but in my youth I sang in the chorus of the New York Metropolitan Opera Company. I also sang and danced in vaudeville and appeared in several well-known stage musicals.

I made my first film appearance with the man you love to hate, and played largely bit and uncredited parts at first. Eventually I became an established character actor, appearing in some 90 films before my premature death on New Year's Eve, following complications from an emergency appendectomy.

Who am I?

Are you Donald Douglas?