Betty Mack And Charley Chase Ad

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Betty Mack with Charley Chase. She was one of the girls who replaced Thelma Todd in his series.  .

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Roach Ad

Ad for Hal Roach comedies.

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1923 Pathe Ad

Roach's films were distributed by Pathe in the 1920's.


Jorge Finkielman: This is from CINE MUNDIAL (taken from Lantern), from May 1923, published in New York but intended for Latin American exhibitors. The Hal Roach and Mack Sennett productions are featured and the players are pictured. Notice that the Spanish language title for SAFETY LAST! (EL HOMBRE MOSCA) was already chosen by Hal Roach Studios and was later used in Spain when Paramount released the film in 1927. However, the title for DR. JACK (EL DR. TRIPITAS) was changed by Max Glücksmann (the exhibitor, among other things) to EL DR. SALAMIN for Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile; I think that in Spain, when Paramount released it in 1927, they simply used the same title as in English.

Thanks go to Jorge Finkielman for providing us with this picture.



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Hal Roach 20th Anniversary Celebration

From the Hal Roach studio group on facebook:

March, 1934. Cine Mundial. Will Rogers, Theda Bara and Charley Chase help Hal Roach celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio.

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Hal Roach 20th Anniversary Party - Radio Broadcast

Dec. 12, 1933. VARIETY article on a radio broadcast of the celebration.

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Hal Roach Studios 20th Anniversary Party

This is a Spanish language magazine article about Hal Roach studio's 20th anniversary party, which I found on the Hal Roach studio group on facebook when I went back to look at the translation for it, which I already had on the blog. I don't recall seeing the article before, just the translation.

Posted by Jorge Finkielman in Hal Roach Studios on Dec. 18, 2014

This is more of a chronology of the studios than a review of the 20th anniversary party

Hal Roach Studios' 20th anniversary by Gilberto Souto - (page 1) - CINEARTE, March 15, 1934. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The translation that Jorge Finkielman posted on facebook: 


Hal Roach Studios' 20th anniversary party by Gilberto Souto - CINEARTE, March 15, 1934. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This is a partial translation of the article dealing with the party, omitting the opening dealing with the history of the studio. The grammatical structure of the original text was not really good but I tried to keep it anyway. Apologies for mistakes and necessary changes to make this as comprehensible as possible in English


In the meantime all of you, my dear readers, do you want to know a bit about the party isn't that true? I will drop here a few of my own impressions.

The first to come to talk with me, giving me a cordial and kind salute, was the delightful Florine McKinney. She, in person, is more beautiful and more interesting than in her Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films. She danced all night with W.S. Van Dyke, the Metro director. And he was very apprehensive, looking at us laughing and lively talking, so she herself took me to him and officially introduced us... Now, Mr. Van Dyke!

Jean Harlow was brilliant. What a difference with the Jean that had spoken with me one year ago. She wasn't that mischievous child in pajamas... She had a very elegant outfit and was the attention of all eyes. She was the most fascinating, until Thelma Todd appeared with an even more elegant dress!

By the way of her hairstyle, everything in small pieces I think that she had to spent more than five hours to get ready for the big night!

And her dress, really, was giving the perfect impression of a fishing net... and how many people would not let caught... if it wasn't that there was also Pat de Cico, her husband, a taller guy than a goal-keeper and as strong as George O'Brien.

But, in truth he spent a long minutes in intimacy like Patsy Kelly, Thelma's new comedy partner and... in person the greatest person I met! You should see Patsy Kelly at a short distance. She is stupendous and really funny, specially, due to her way to say and describe misadventures.

Theda Bara and her husband, Charles Brabin, the famous director... Ruth Roland and Ben Bard, always kind and friendly to me. What a happy couple and since Ruth is still lovely despite the many years we saw her in serials. Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davies were seated in the same table with Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels. It could be that Harold remembered his times when Bebe was his partner and both worked in that same studio?

Bebe changed a lot. She is still nice, a beauty -especially due to here very black and fascinating eyes... Ben Lyon looked like a college boy. He was always laughing and seemed to have a nice disposition. Bebe and Mildred, for a while, talked a lot -like any mother of this world- about their own kids and their things!

But - the highlight of the party arrived when Will Rogers and Groucho Marx decided to join a Hawaiian trio and perform old songs. A circle was formed around them!

Will is the most natural creature and without Hollywood stereotypes. Everybody was wearing a tuxedo - Will appeared with his blue coat and a black tie! It seems that he never combs his hair - just like Stan Laurel in his comedies; although off screen he spends a lot of grease to comb himself!

Kent Taylor, whom you'll see soon in Paramount's CRADLE SONG, is in person a nice and elegant guy, he was very happy. He partnered with a group and keep up with fashion. And today he is famous, nice and sentimental. The Last Round-Up, a typical western song, was performed by a trio to which everybody joined in the chorus. Laughter increased and the party turned more animated.

It wasn't a few more minutes when Stan Laurel joined a group headed by Will Rogers. He was enthusiastic and was asking to the circle what song did they wanted...

Stan Laurel was laughing hysterically. I have never such a happy comedian: he seemed to be dismissing the legend that said that comedians were serious gentlemen, devoted students of philosophy...

How many film celebrities... Raymond Griffith (remember him? what a great comedian?) danced several times with a wonderful blonde girl. I tried to figure out who was she. Finally, I found it - it was Sally Rand! That Sally was involved in several trials in Chicago due to her famous fan dance. Maybe you know about it... She danced but that meant nothing. The thing was that the puritan societies felt that the big feather fans that she used, hardly (ah!) as a dress, didn´t cover her enough!

But, looking at her so beautiful and elegant, who would not defend Sally Rand against any puritan society of this world?

Mother Harlow was as "platinum blond" as her daughter, that dangerous Jean, and - do you know how she treats to the beloved star? - Just by the name of Baby! O more than BABY! There were speeches! But, since Hollywood speeches are different - all with flair of jokes and good humor! Nobody attempted to say great sentences or to quote Latin or Greek writings! Will Rogers, who many people misunderstand the way he talks to the highest and more respected citizen, being sarcastic with Louis B. Mayer.

Louis B. Mayer is very tied with American politics. He was a friend and promoter of Hoover and his own friends are always politicians... Will talk, then, on the radio and said: "Oh, my dear listeners, what a great party we have here! Just movie people - the best simple people! Imagine that there is not among us a senator nor a representative. My friend, Louis B. Mayer, throws big parties. Just a few days ago, he made homage to Marie Dressler - but there were two senators, a governor... and another political figure... Here, no - just people and simple people like all of you! A splendid party! I came here to frankly talk many who are here, just to eat the desert of this feast... I may not have the guts to admit it! I came, also, because I was a Hal Roach employee... Yes, I made some films for him and I could still be here working if he would have not, one day, seen one of my films...

Polly Moran. Believe me, she never stopped for a second - and she was sad in the place when nobody talked to her. Polly was the first to push for conversation. She talked since she sat on the table. She laughed a lot and liked to tell her more or less peppered anecdotes! When they brought the big piece of the anniversary cake, she made a racket and screaming to the other side of the immense hall - she protested to Hal Roach because instead of cake they should have brought a "pie"!

Her husband does not laugh and talk much. Both were in front of my place. Among them, Ruth Roland, Ben Bard, Stan Laurel and other friends were seated. Mr. Malone is a nice guy. He possess as Polly's son, who should be by now forty and makes no secret of that. He seems to be the one who enjoys the most her jokes and feminine good humor. I was even thinking that he should have been a Polly Moran "fan" and in order to not spend money buying movie tickets to see her, he solved the issue in the best way - he married her!

Polly is one of the most popular figures among Hollywood professional photographers - since nobody else than her is in all of the nightly places of the movie city. Photographers, one by one, came to our table asking her to pose. Polly gets ready for the pose and - when one of them is about to shoot - she screams: "And be certain that my brilliants are appearing... I want my friends to see that I am making money now with my films...! And so, this is the way Polly Moran is, wild, talkative and inimitable in her pranks.

And the dances continued... with the sound of several orchestras that followed one to another, cocktails reached to the top of the heads... the laughter was prolonged... and the happiness reached its top... and the night was slowly ending... to give its place to a new day!

And the Hal Roach party left unforgettable memories, memories for all of those who were there...

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BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY Photo

From Jorge Finkielman:

Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts with director Charley Chase during the making of BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY ( 1933 ).

A different version of this photo which has the background painted out.

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Patsy Kelly Photos

Patsy Kelly

                         SING, BABY, SING with Ted Healy.

Reblogged from http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/patsykelly.html

With series star Cara Williams in a 1962 episode of the CBS situation comedy Pete and Gladys titled The Case of the Gossipy Maid

The old Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly series moves to features, with Pert Kelton and Charley Chase.




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Thelma Todd And Charley Chase Photo

Thelma Todd and Charley Chase in a publicity picture from the Hal Roach studio that dates to the early days to the talkies.

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Thelma Todd And Charley Chase

From the Hal Roach Studio on facebook.

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YOU SAID A HATFUL Script

Dialogue continuity script for YOU SAID A HATFUL with Charley Chase and Dorothy Appleby.

Ebay seller's description:

This script is for the 1934 Comedy film short,

 

You Said a Hatful!

 

When he learns the secret news that it will be sold today at 4pm in Kansas City, international banker J.P. Anderson sets in motion a plan to purchase the Tippycanoe Tuckahoe & Tehachapi Railroad. He will arrive in Kansas City prior to the meeting with an offer the current owner can't refuse. He will go with his hapless secretary, Charley Chase, with the two switching places - Charley will pretend to be J.P., and J.P. will pretend to be Charley - so that J.P. can maneuver into the deal without attracting the attention of the other buyer who may want to kill him. They will take the TT&T train for the trip. Complications ensue when a series of events happen on the train. First, Charley passes himself off as the railroad owner to train employees even before they arrive at the meeting. Second, J.P.'s daughter Dorothy arrives on the scene, Charley who has to pretend to be her father when in reality he is in love with her. Third, Charley's banker's hat, which is really a magician's hat.

Director:

Charley Chase (as Charles Parrott)

Stars:

Charley Chase, Dorothy Appleby, Oscar Apfel

Cast

	Charley Chase	...	Charley Chase
	Dorothy Appleby	...	Dorothy Anderson
	Oscar Apfel	...	J.P. Anderson

 

It's in GREAT shape for it's age!!!

 

Shop with confidence! This is part of our in-store inventory from our shop which is has been located in the heart of Hollywood where we have been in business for OVER 40 years!

Finding anything ORIGINAL on CHARLEY CHASE or from the Hal Roach Studios is extremely RARE so don't let this one pass you by! A Fantastic find for the TRUE Chase or Hal Roach collector!

MORE INFORMATION ON CHARLEY CHASE: Brother of James Parrott Entered films in 1912. In an interview with Hal Roach on the David Letterman show Hal said that Chase auditioned for him by saying he could play ANY part. Chase then proceeded to do his impression of a lighthouse by turning his head around in a circle, stopping straight forward with his eyes wide open after each rotation. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 102-103. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 2 daughters - Pauline (Polly) and June Directed short comedies under his birth name, Charles Parrott.

 MORE INFO ON HAL ROACH: Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York in 1892. After working as, among other things, a gold prospector, he wound up in Hollywood and began picking up jobs as an extra in comedies, where he met comedian Harold Lloyd. He began producing, directing and writing a series of short film comedies starring Lloyd around 1915. These were quite successful, and Roach started his own production company and eventually bought his own studio. By the early 1920s he had eclipsed Mack Sennett as the King of Comedy and created many of the most memorable comic series of all time, even by today's standards. These include the team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase and The Little Rascals. By the late 1930s Roach's formula for success was jeopardized by audience demands for bigger, feature-length productions, and he was forced to try his hand at making full-length screwball comedies, musicals and dramas, although he still kept turning out two-reel comedies. By the 1950s he was producing mainly for television. In 1983 his company developed the first successful digital colorization process. Roach then became a producer for many TV series on the Disney Channel, and his company still produces most of their films and videos.

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Ann Doran With Charley Chase

From the Laurel And Hardy Archive on facebook.

PIE A LA MAID (1938). With Ann Doran.

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Hal Roach 20th Anniversary Poster

A poster proclaiming the 20th anniversary of the Hal Roach studio and depicting the stars of his different comedy series, each of which is named.

Thelma Todd looks pretty, Patsy Kelly looks green, and everybody else looks kind of funny.



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Joyce Compton was one of Hollywood's favorite dumb blondes.

Joyce Compton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    

Joyce Compton
Born	Olivia Joyce Compton (1907-01-27)January 27, 1907 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	October 13, 1997(1997-10-13) (aged 90) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active	1925–1961
Spouse(s)	William Francis Kaliher (1955-1956) (divorced)

Joyce Compton (January 27, 1907 – October 13, 1997) was an American actress.
She was born Olivia Joyce Compton in Lexington, Kentucky and not "Eleanor Hunt" as is frequently erroneously stated.^[1] (She had appeared in the film Good Sport (1931) with Hunt and this confusion in an early press article followed Compton throughout her career.) After graduating high school she spent two years studying at the University of Tulsa, studying dramatics, art, music and dancing. She won a personality and beauty contest and spent two months in a film studio as an extra.
Compton first made a name for herself when she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926, alongside Mary Brian, Dolores Costello, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Janet Gaynor and Fay Wray. Compton appeared in a long string of mostly B-movies from the 1920s through the 1950s. She was a comedy actress and protested at being stereotyped as a "dumb blonde".^[2]

Compton and Robert Benchley in Bedtime Story

Among her over two hundred films^[3] were Imitation of Life, Magnificent Obsession, The Awful Truth, Mildred Pierce, and The Best Years of Our Lives.^[4]
A devout Christian, on her gravestone, just beneath her dates of birth and death, is written "Christian Actress".^[5] She died from natural causes, aged 90, and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.

Partial filmography

• Broadway Lady (1926)
• Dangerous Curves (1929)
• The Wild Party (1929)
• The Sky Hawk (1929)
• The Three Sisters (1930)
• Up Pops the Devil (1931)
• Annabelle's Affairs (1931)
• Under 18 (1932)
• Unholy Love (1932)
• Sing, Sinner, Sing (1933)
• Imitation of Life (1934)
• The White Parade (1934)
• King Kelly of the U.S.A. (1934)
• Magnificent Obsession (1935) unbilled
• Trapped by Television (1936)
• Country Gentlemen (1936)
• Murder with Pictures (1936)
• Sitting on the Moon (1936)
• The Awful Truth (1937)
• Sea Racketeers (1937)
• Small Town Boy (1937)
• Wings Over Honolulu (1937)
• Going Places (1938)
• Rose of Washington Square (1939)
• Reno (1939)
• Escape to Paradise (1939)
• I Take This Oath (1940)
• They Drive by Night (1940) (uncredited)
• Let's Make Music (1941)
• Bedtime Story (1941)
• Thunder Birds (1942)
• Hitchhike to Happiness (1945)
• Mildred Pierce (1945)
• Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• Dark Alibi (1946)
• Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
• A Southern Yankee (1948)

References

1. Jump up ^ Compton, Joyce & Ankerich, Michael (2009). "The Real Joyce Compton: Behind the dumb blonde movie image". BearManor Media, p.286-7.
2. Jump up ^ Compton & Ankerich, (2009), p.12.
3. Jump up ^ Lamparski, Richard (1982). Whatever became of-- ?: eighth series. Crown Publishers. 
4. Jump up ^ Compton & Ankerich, 2009.
5. Jump up ^ Find a Grave

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joyce Compton.

Biography portal

• Joyce Compton at the Internet Movie Database
• Joyce Compton at Find a Grave
• The Joyce Compton shrine

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Joyce Compton made a career out of playing dumb blondes. She made two-reel comedies for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, but it better known for her work in feature films. She made some television programs, including THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW. When her acting career slowed down in the fifties she also had a career as a nurse.

Joyce Compton appeared in several movies with Dorothy Appleby and so they are seen in publicity pictures together. They were both associated with comedy films, although they didn't actually play the same type. Joyce Compton played a dumb blonde and Dorothy Appleby tended to be a wise guy.



Joyce Compton and Clara Bow in THE WILD PARTY ( 1929 )

Joyce Compton, Loretta Young, and Joan Marsh in Three Girls Lost (1931)

Cheesecake shot for Mack Sennett, 1933.

With Charley Chase in MANHATTAN MONKEY BUSINESS ( 1935 ).

Eric Linden and Joyce Compton in the film Let 'Em Have It (1935)

 

 

 

Autographed picture of Joyce Compton from THE AWFUL TRUTH ( 1937 )

 

 

 

 

 

Dorothy Appleby, Douglas "Wrong-Way" Corrigan, and Joyce Compton in THE FLYING IRISHMAN ( 1939 ).

 

This film was based on aviator Corrigan's real-life exploits.

 

 

 

With Buster Keaton in THE VILLIAN STILL PURSUED HER ( 1940 )

 

 

 

 

 

Joyce Compton testifying in the trial of George Raft in THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT ( 1940 ).

 

 

 This movie also featured Ida Lupino. It reused some elements from BORDERTOWN ( 1935 ) which had starred Bette Davis and Margaret Lindsay.


MANPOWER ( 1941 )

Dorothy Appleby at left with Barbara Pepper, Lucia Carroll, Marlene Dietrich, and Joyce Compton. Eve Arden is visible in the rear.




Joyce Compton, Roy Rogers, and Phyllis Brooks in Silver Spurs (1943)

Molly Lamont, Joyce Compton, and Douglas Fowley in Scared to Death (1947)

With Red Skelton in A SOUTHERN YANKEE, 1948.

Joyce Compton with Abbott and Costello on an episode of their tv show in 1953, "Las Vegas".

Robert Paige, Ruth Warrick (center) & Joyce Compton in the NBC-TV series Fireside Theater, episode The Gift Horse

                                                                             POSTERS


SUICIDE SQUAD ( 1935 ) - With Norman Foster

SMALL TOWN BOY ( 1937 ) with Stuart Erwin and Dorothy Appleby.

MANPOWER  ( 1941 ) Left to right- Lucia Carroll, Eve Arden, Marlene Dietrich, Lynn Baggot, Joyce Compton.

SILVER SPURS ( 1943 ) With Roy Rogers and Smiley Burnette.

SCARED TO DEATH ( 1947 ) With Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, and Nat Pendleton

GRAND CANYON ( 1949 ) With Richard Arlen and Mary Beth Hughes.

I think Joyce Compton is the girl with the two guys at lower left on this poster.



                                                                                     COVER GIRL


PICTUREGOER ( 1932 )

WILFRED WAVES ( Sept. 1940 )

THE AWFUL TRUTH - MY DREAMS ARE GONE WITH THE WIND:



HOLLYWOOD HOBBIES:




SCARED TO DEATH:




Joyce Compton Shrine:
http://scrubbles.net/joyce.html

Joyce Compton:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0174049/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


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THE ISLAND OF LOST HEELS Clipping

From The Laurel and Hardy Archive on facebook.

South-American Magazine clipping
September 1933

The title spoofs the 1932 horror movie THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, but the title they actually used was THE BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY. Charley Chase directed this film.


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Thelma Todd And Charley Chase Photo

Thelma Todd and Charley Chase frequently worked together in two-reel comedies at the Hal Roach studio. Here we see them in a publicity picture from Chase's 1929 short SNAPPY SNEEZER.

Special thanks to Jorge Finkielman for providing us with this picture.



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THE HONESTY RACKET Item

Another item for the unrealized Hal Roach studios film project THE HONESTY RACKET.

Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga, NSW  1911 - 1954), Monday 19 August 1935

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