Toby Townly Story In DICK TRACY Pt.2

The Dicky Tracy story with the Toby Townly character continues in POPULAR COMICS.

The way black people were depicted in comics in this period has since been criticized.

Toby Townly would eventually regain her eyesight in DICK TRACY. But at this point the focus switches away from her to other characters in the strip. 

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Toby Townly Story In DICK TRACY Pt.1

Toby Townly was a girl character in DICK TRACY who was inspired by Toby Wing. The story was reprinted in POPULAR COMICS, which is available on the internet at the Comic Book Plus site.

The problem of getting at the gangsters in their seemingly impregnable hideout is solved by

 the use of carbon monoxide gas* , which can be seen as a throwback to the gas warfare of the first World War.

This episode introduces Toby Townly.

*This story appeared in the papers in May 1935, only months before the death of Thelma Todd. The claim that Thelma Todd did not know about the dangers of carbon monoxide gas seems doubtful because it was something that had been in the news.

Toby Wing, Toby Townly, and Dick Tracy:

http://bennypdrinnon.blogspot.com/2013/06/toby-wing-in-dick-tracy.html 

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Toby Wing In Dick Tracy Comics

Thirties blonde Toby Wing inspired a character in thirties Dick Tracy comics.


                                                                     Toby Wing

 

 

 

 

 

Toby Townly

Toby Townly first appeared in DICK TRACY in the Sunday strip for May 26th, 1935, as a cashier working for Mary Steele, who was the recently introduced mother of "Junior". Toby's boyfriend is a bank teller who "borrows" money from the bank to bet on horses without bothering to make the proper arrangements. When he gets in trouble, he shoots the bookie who'd taken his bets and is killed by the other gangsters in revenge, who then frame Toby for shooting a cop. She gets sent to prison*, but is finally freed because Dick Tracy learns the truth by giving the killer a lie detector test. But right before she can be released there is a riot in the prison and she is blinded by tear gas.

Junior trains his dog to be a "seeing-eye dog" for Toby and for some time she is led about the strip

 

by the dog. Eventually she recovers her eyesight and no longer needs the dog. Toby Townly continued as a character for several years, even after Toby Wing had retired from the movies in 1938. But eventually Toby Townly was retired from the strip and Chester Gould went on to something else.

 

In 1982, the character was revived after a long absence by writer Max Allan Collins, who ignored the marriage the character originally had in the story to have her marry Dick Tracy's friend Pat Patton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The marriage of Toby Townly and Pat Patton can be seen as related to developments in the original DICK TRACY, where the two characters were shown as going around together, leading Tracy to comment, "You know- you two look terribly suspicious to me, terribly suspicious." ( March 4, 1936 )

Toby Wing in real life was alleged to have been involved with Pat DiCicco's cousin Cubby Broccoli, who was alleged in turn to have underworld connections. But at least she didn't have to go to prison like the comic strip version.


* Writing in THE COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD'S DICK TRACY: 1935-1936, Max Allan Collins remarked that the prison sequence "recalls Barbara Stanwyck's 1932 Pre-Code feature, LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT."


Dick Tracy Comicooky Baking Set ( Includes Toby Townly as a character ):
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/dick-tracy-comicooky-baking-set-129635967

Toby Wing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Wing

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0934976/

http://operator_99.blogspot.com/2010/12/toby-wing.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1329690/Toby-Wing.html


Toby Wing in Dick Tracy:
http://books.google.com/books?id=AKjjceXSgB4C&pg=PT6&lpg=PT6&dq=dick+tracy+toby+townley&source=bl&ots=QYa755RDnS&sig=FJSp15WR7ib0fOcjphO-iDXBsBQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OdLNUcX9JofVyAH9noH4CQ&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBg


http://dicktracy.info/comic-strip/storylines/dick-tracy-stories-1983/



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MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS ( 1940 )

MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS had Harry Langdon in it. And a blonde dummy named "Carole".

But which Carole was it?

Was it Carole Lombard?

Or Carole Landis?

Misbehaving Husbands

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Misbehaving Husbands
Henry (Harry Langdon) and "Carole" (1940), in Misbehaving Husbands
Directed by	William Beaudine
Produced by	Jed Buell
Written by	Cea Sabin (story) Vernon Smith (screenplay) and Claire Parrish (screenplay)
Starring	Harry Langdon Betty Blythe Ralph Byrd Esther Muir
Cinematography	Arthur Reed
Editing by	Robert O. Crandall
Distributed by	Producers Releasing Corporation
Release date(s)	December 20, 1940 (1940-12-20)
Running time	65 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Misbehaving Husbands is a 1940 American film directed by William Beaudine.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast 3 Trivia 4 Quotes 5 References 6 External links

Plot summary

Absent-minded department store owner Henry Butler, Harry Langdon, ends up working late, and missing the surprise anniversary party thrown by his wife, Effie, Betty Blythe.

Trying to get away from work, he ends up being seen with a mannequin, which he is trying to get repaired. Their friends who see it, think it’s a blonde girl. Others call the police, reporting a murdered woman.

Henry gets picked up by the police; but, his troubles are just starting. Effie has overheard the gossip; and, files for a divorce, urged on by her friend, Grace Norman, Esther Muir, and her unscrupulous lawyer, Gilbert Wayne, Gayne Whitman.

When Effie decides to stop the divorce, a little scene staged by the lawyer, with his girlfriend, Nan, Florence Wright, posing as the blonde, Henry was supposedly seeing, convinces her otherwise.

It is only then, that her niece Jane, Luana Walters, and her friend, Bob Grant, Bob Byrd, notice that the shoe Henry brought back that night is about a size four. Henry drags the mannequin, Carole (for Carole Lombard), all over town; only to meet the police, and Effie, waiting for him; and, her lawyer, at Home.^[1]

Luana Walters and Ralph Byrd (1940), in Misbehaving Husbands

Cast

• Harry Langdon as Henry Butler
• Betty Blythe as Effie Butler
• Ralph Byrd as Bob Grant
• Esther Muir as Grace Norman
• Gayne Whitman as Gilbert Wayne
• Florence Wright as Nan Blake
• Luana Walters as Jane Forbes
• Frank Jaquet as Wilbur Drake
• Charlotte Treadway as Clara Drake
• Gig Young as Floor Walker
• Frank Hagney as Gooch Mulligan
• Hennie Brown as Opal
• Billy Mitchell as Memphis
• Fred Kelsey as Sergeant Murphy
• Mary MacLaren as Gossiping Friend
• Gertrude Astor as Gossiping Friend

Trivia

Harry Langdon, Betty Blythe, and Esther Muir, among others in the cast, were stars, in silent films; and, this is a fun chance to see them working.
Some of the material might be considered slapstick; and, dated; but, it’s still fun; and, these old pros know how to handle it.^[2]

Quotes

Effie to Jane: "I'm going to get tight!" ^[3]
Bob to Jane: "You've been reading too many detective stories." (Ralph Byrd played Detective Dick Tracy, in four movie serials and two feature films, from 1937 to 1947, and on television.)^[4]
Henry: "All this, fuss, over one, little shoe!"

References

1. ^ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/83590/Misbehaving-Husbands/
2. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/mobile/m/misbehaving_husbands/
3. ^ http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tight
4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032799/

External links

• Misbehaving Husbands at the Internet Movie Database
• Misbehaving Husbands is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

Esther Muir more or less replaced Thelma Todd with the Marx Brothers in the movie A DAY AT THE RACES. But she doesn't seem to have been in silent movies. Just a mess.

Esther Muir in frame enlargement from MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS.

                

                                                        

Ralph Byrd in MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS. Ralph Byrd is best known for playing "Dick Tracy" in movies and on television. Another element that might be related to mystery stories is the use of the name "Effie" for Betty Blythe's character. Sam Spade's secretary was named Effie.

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Betty Bythe was a star in the silent era and starred in SHE, based on H. Rider Haggard's classic story.

                                                                         

And I think the "Carole" business might be because of Carole Landis, rather than Carole Lombard. The dummy looks tall, and Carole Landis was taller than Carole Lombard.

 Harry Langdon had been working at the Roach studio as a writer, and Carole Landis was also at that same studio prior to the release of MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS.

So I would tend to associate Harry Langdon more with Carole Landis than Carole Lombard. Of course, calling the dummy "Carole" could have been somebody else's idea. But Harry Langdon did have a history of contributing ideas to other films prior to this one.

Harry Langdon's work as a writer in this period, mostly at the Roach studio:

Show

1941Road Show

1940Saps at Sea(original story and screenplay)

1940Goodness, a Ghost (short)

1940A Chump at Oxford(original story and screen play)

1939The Flying Deuces(original story and screen play)

1938Sue My Lawyer (short) (story)

1938Block-Heads(original story and screen play)

ROAD SHOW was actually a Carole Landis movie, but it wasn't made until after MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS.

There have been allegations that there was some sort of  rivalry between Carole Lombard and Carole Landis, one version having it that they were fighting over Clark Gable. A niece of Carole Landis had this to say:

No, they never met. Carole Landis was a huge Lombard fan and had her picture plastered all over her bedroom wall when she was a child. That’s why she chose the stage name Carole. Some sources say she actually chose Carol out of a phone book and then added the “e” to be like Lombard. There is a quote Carole gave when a reporter told her they looked alike – “If I look like Miss Lombard – and I don’t – please spare her the humiliation.”

SCREEN GUIDE, April 1941

Hide

Watch MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS on the internet:
http://archive.org/details/misbehaving_husbands


Official Site For Carole Landis:
http://carolelandisofficial.com/


Landis Versus Lombard ( Carole Lombard Site ):
http://carolelombard.org/landis-versus-lombard


My Fan Club For Carole Landis:
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Carolers/


Official Harry Langdon Site:
http://www.silent-movies.com/Langdon/

Esther Muir at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Muir

Dick Tracy And Madonna

Madonna played "Breathless Mahoney" in the movie DICK TRACY. Madonna usually tries to be like Marilyn Monroe. But there's a story she tried to be Thelma Todd in this one.

From http://madonnarevelations.blogspot.com/2008/07/thelma-todd-shes-not-me-shes-copy.html

Another rip off: this time Madonna targeted it to Thelma Todd. Thelma Todd was a popular American actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s - so during those very "handy" decades Madonna loves so much. During her career, Thelma appeared in over 40 films (between the years 1926 and 1935) but Madonna put her on only for one: Dick Tracy and the role of Breathless Mahoney.

Now one could speculate that her look was spontaneus and it came together because it was a typical look of the time period Dick Tracy was portraying... However when you think about it a moment longer and put it in line with Madonna's rip off behaviour - the possibility of mere coincidence taking place turns into an unlikely scene. Madonna has been able to influence her movie roles especially through fashion and look and she has admitted it in interviews. She has been allowed that freedom because "she knows about those things". Obviously she is listened very, very carefully!



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She got to be breathless from all the cigars.

"And I say SHE'S Flat Top!"

 

That's Thelma, all right!

The joke was that Robert Woolsey ordinarily had the glasses and the cigar.

*                                     *                                      *

The Dick Tracy comic strip's "Tess Trueheart" can be seen as a typical thirties blonde. In the pulps, "Sally the Sleuth" had adventures with characters who resembled Dick Tracy and Junior, while resembling Thelma Todd somewhat in that she frequently happened to lose some of her clothing as part of the story.

 

 

Sally's supporting cast bore a remarkable resemblance to Dick Tracy and Junior.

 

Sally Rand was popular at the time, leading us to suspect that Sally the Sleuth could actually have been named after her.

The fan dance already existed before Sally Rand made it famous at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Here we see an early portrait of Thelma Todd that shows her doing a fan dance.

Loni Anderson made the movie WHITE HOT, which was based on the book HOT TODDY by Andy Edmonds. According to the internet movie database:

The costumes used in the film are mostly re-used Giorgio Armani originals from The Untouchables (1987).   

I would tend to think of "The Untouchables" as being similar to Dick Tracy and the comic strip Dick Tracy was actually inspired by the real-life fight against prohibition-era crime.

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Here is an autographed picture that Loni Anderson sent me.

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Writer Max Allan Collins, who at one time wrote the Dick Tracy comic strip, wrote a murder mystery with Thelma Todd as the victim - THE PERFECT CRIME, which is one of the stories included in his book KISSES OF DEATH.

I haven't read this book, just the idea of it sounds awful. Not being an expert and not wishing to rely solely on my own biased opinion, I tried asking a number of others for their opinion of Max Allan Collins. Here is one reply I recieved from a professional writer and editor:

"I keep remembering him as a comic strip scriptwriter whose work I didn't care for --Ted White"

I mentioned that Collins had been writing Dick Tracy and that I felt he hadn't been doing a good job, and that eventually he'd been taken off of it. Ted White replied, "Exactly."

I guess that will do.



My Fan Club for Dick Tracy:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DickTracyTheFailedCollinsPlot/