A Blog For Thelma Todd
Thelma Todd was a star of silent movies and later the talkies. She is remembered as much today for her mysterious death as she is for her films. In this blog, we take a look at Thelma Todd, her movies, and various commentaries.
Showing posts with label Jaqueline Wells. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jaqueline Wells. Show all posts
Thelma Todd and Antonio Moreno in a scene that was cut from the film.
This is a reissue herald, which is why it has the "Film Classics" banner on it, and was used for a post World War II release of the film, which is why there is a line about it being an "atomic" comedy - it's a topical reference. The postwar period was called "The atom age" and you come across many references to things atomic in that era.
This particular herald was being used to promote the movie in India. American movies were very popular in India at the time, as well as in other foreign countries.
Note that Jimmy Finlayson is listed as "Captain Finn". Some people like to call him "Fin" now, but it doesn't seem he was commonly called "Finn" when he was working in the movies. .
Antonio Moreno was in Thelma Todd's last movie, THE BOHEMIAN GIRL. And years before, he was associated with William Desmond Taylor shortly before Taylor's death.
Antonio Moreno
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antonio Moreno
Born
Antonio Garrido Monteagudo (1887-09-26)September 26, 1887 Madrid, Spain
Antonio "Tony" Moreno (September 26, 1887 – February 15, 1967) was a Spanish-born American actor and film director of the silent film era and through the 1950s.
Biography
Born Antonio Garrido Monteagudo in Madrid, Spain, he emigrated to the United States at the age of fourteen and settled in Massachusetts, where he completed his education. After attending the Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts, he became a stage actor in regional theater productions. In 1912, he moved to Hollywood, California and he was signed to Vitagraph Studios and began his career in bit parts and as a movie extra.
In 1914, Moreno began co-starring in a series of highly successful serials opposite the enormously publicly popular silent film actress Pearl White. These appearances helped to increase Moreno's popularity with the nation's nascent film-goers. By 1915, Antonio Moreno was a highly regarded matinee idol and appearing opposite such successful actors as Tyrone Power, Sr., Gloria Swanson, Blanche Sweet, Pola Negri and Dorothy Gish. Moreno was often typecast in his earliest films as the "Latin Lover", as were other actors of the era with Latin roots, such as Ramón Novarro and Rudolph Valentino.
By the early 1920s, Antonio Moreno joined film mogul Jesse Lasky's Famous Players and became one of the company's most highly paid performers. In 1926 Moreno starred opposite Swedish acting legend Greta Garbo in The Temptress and the following year followed up with a starring role in the enormous box-office hit Clara Bow vehicle It.
Moreno married American heiress Daisy Canfield Danziger, in 1923, and the couple moved to an estate known as Crestmount, now known as the Canfield-Moreno Estate. The union lasted ten years and ended shortly before Canfield Danziger was killed in an automobile accident on February 23, 1933.
With the advent of talkies in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Moreno's career began to falter, in part because of his heavy Spanish accent. While still acting in English language films, Moreno also began taking parts in Mexican films. During the early 1930s, Moreno directed several well-received Mexican films, among them is the 1932 drama Santa, which has been hailed by film critics as one of the best Mexican films of the era. By the mid-1930s, Antonio Moreno began rebuilding his faltering Hollywood career by taking notable roles as a character actor. By the mid-1940s and throughout the 1950s, Moreno appeared in a number of well received roles, most notably, his 1954 role in the classic horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon and his 1955 role as Emilio Figueroa in film director John Ford's influential western epic The Searchers opposite John Wayne and Natalie Wood.
Moreno retired from film in the late 1950s and died of heart failure in Beverly Hills, California, in 1967, and was laid to rest in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery in Glendale, California. His film career spanned more than four decades.
In 1994, the Mexican magazine Somos published their list of "The 100 best movies of the cinema of Mexico" in its 100th edition and named the 1931 Moreno directed Santa its 67th choice.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Antonio Moreno was given a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6651 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California, USA.
Of note is that Moreno was the half-brother of Alfred Moreno Monteagudo, who took over management of the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel in the 1940s. Antonio Moreno is the granduncle of horror/fantasy author Nicholas Grabowsky, to which a related biography is slated for late 2009/early 2010 in conjunction with the release of the Creature From the Black Lagoon remake by Universal Pictures.
References
"Antonio Moreno," The Clearfield Progress, August 26, 1920, page 15.
"Antonio Moreno, Silent-Film Star," The New York Times, February 16, 1967.
Bodeen, Dewitt. "Antonio Moreno," Films in Review, June–July, 1967.
Menefee, David W. The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era. Albany: Bear Manor Media, 2007.
"Public Pleased by Vitagraph’s Move to Return Antonio Moreno to Feature Films," The Moving Picture World. New York: Chalmers Publishing Company. December 25, 1920.
Virginia, Violet. "Antonio Moreno of the Vitagraph Players," Motion Picture Magazine, December 1914. Pages 103-105.
Famous director William Desmond Taylor was murdered on the first of September, 1922. Antonio Moreno called Taylor the night of the murder and was talking to him when Mabel Normand got there ( she was the last person to see him alive before he was murdered ). Moreno had been with Taylor several times during that week prior to his death.
Although Antonio cooperated with the investigation of Taylor's death and it was said that he provided them with much information, the investigators ultimately failed to solve the case. To this day it remains one of Hollywood's Unsolved Mysteries.
MY AMERICAN WIFE ( 1922 ) with Gloria Swanson
TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE ( 1923 ) with Mary Miles Mintner, who had also been involved with William Desmond Taylor.
Filming THE SPANISH DANCER ( 1923) with James Wong Howe
THE EXCITERS ( 1924 ) with Bebe Daniels
LOVE'S BLINDNESS ( 1926 ) with Pauline Stark
IT ( 1927 ) with Clara Bow
THE BOHEMIAN GIRL
Antonio Moreno's star had faded by the time this movie was made, something that was also true of fellow cast member Mae Busch, who had been a star in the silent era. It has also been said that Thelma Todd's career was not what it had been after the coming of sound, which is less obvious. Certainly her last feature film was a hit, even if little of her part remained when it was finally released.
Laurel and Hardy are a hen-pecked pair of Gypsies in 18th Century Austria. When Oliver is out pickpocketing, fortune-telling or attending his zither lessons, his wife (Mae Busch), has an affair with Devilshoof (Antonio Moreno). A cruel nobleman, Count Arnheim, persecutes the Gypsies, who are forced to flee, but Mrs. Hardy kidnaps his daughter, Arline (Darla Hood), leaves Hardy holding the baby, and elopes with Devilshoof.
12 years later, the Gypsies return to Arnheim's estate. When grown up Arline (Jacqueline Wells) trespasses in Arnheim's garden, she recognises the place, but is arrested by a constable (Jimmy Finlayson) and sentenced to a lashing. Stan and Oliver try to save her, but Stan is too drunk and both are arrested. Just as Arline is stripped in order to be lashed she is rescued in time by Arnheim, who recognises a medallion she wears and a family birthmark, and both try to rescue Stan and Oliver. It is too late though: Laurel and Hardy end up in the torture chamber, resulting in one of the team's best sight gags.
Todd died on 16 December 1935 at age 29. She had been found in the garage of her home, poisoned by the fumes of her own car. Stan Laurel received a Christmaspresent from her soon afterwards. The jury brought out a verdict of suicide, but this came under heavy suspicion.
Three films starring Todd were released after her death. In The Bohemian Girl, Todd had played the Gypsy Queen, a very substantial role. All of her scenes were re-shot and her character was renamed as the Gypsy Queen's Daughter, and Zeffie Tilbury playing the Queen, and with a vampish Mae Busch character replacing her in the narrative. One scene of Todd's was kept in as a tribute to her: a musical number where she sings "Heart of a Gypsy".
Quotes
Meta-reference: James Finlayson, well- known for his comical squinting, gets poked in the eye at one point and cries: "Oh! My good eye!"
Casting and production details
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer wanted to cast a talented newcomer as Arline. Hal Roach cast Darla Hood, who had just begun appearing in Roach's Our Gang comedies, as young Arline and Julie Bishop as adult Arline.
After THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, Jacqueline Wells was considered for the feminine lead in WAY OUT WEST, but the part eventually went to Rosina Lawrence, who had dubbed in her singing voice in THE BOHEMIAN GIRL. Rosina Lawrence would also be included in the cast of the later films in what would have been the Thelma Todd series, with Lyda Roberti in place of Thelma Todd.
Stan Laurel feared that adverse publicity would hurt the picture and as a result Thelma Todd's scenes were all cut except for a brief scene early in the movie where she sings "The song of the gypsies". The rest of her scenes were all replaced.
During the investigation of the death of Thelma Todd, the grand jury at first looked into the possibilty of murder, but later the focus was more on the suicide theory. However, they were unable to reach a decision and the case ended with a hung jury. The story that they brought in a verdict of suicide is incorrect.
People would say that Hollywood's Unsolved Mysteries went unsolved for a reason, that the people who ran the movie business wanted it that way. They pointed to similarities in the way that the various investigations seemed to rack up failure after failure without really getting anywhere. But nobody ever seems to remark that one of the last people to associate with William Desmond Taylor was one of the last people to work with Thelma Todd in a feature film.
I'm sure that was probably a coincidence, but there it is nonetheless.
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mae Busch, Antonio Moreno
Behind the scenes photo of Stan Laurel, Mae Busch, Antonio Moreno
Stan’s father Arthur Jefferson and his wife, Venitia, visit the set of The Bohemian Girl.
Thelma Todd in a publicity photo that might not have been widely used after the decision to minimize her involvment in the movie.
Antonio Moreno as "Devilshoof"
Mae Busch used to know Mabel Normand when they both worked for Mack Sennett.
Darla Hood of "Our Gang" as the little girl in the story.
Jacqueline Wells, who played the same character as a big girl. She became a bigger star under the name of Julie Bishop.
Paulette Goddard's part in this movie is not well known, like her association with Thelma Todd. This was to be her last film at the Roach studio, but soon she would star with Chaplin in another feature film that would be considered a classic, MODERN TIMES.
This foreign poster appears to have a charicature of Thelma Todd as well as Laurel and Hardy. I doubt if they used any posters that showed Thelma Todd for the US release.
Watch Thelma Todd's remaining scene in THE BOHEMIAN GIRL:
Rosina Lawrence may be best known as "Our Gang's" schoolteacher
and for working with Laurel and Hardy in WAY OUT WEST.
They also put her into what had been the Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly series towards the end, after Thelma Todd had been replaced by Lyda Roberti.
The most detailed account I have for the life of Rosina Lawrence is this obituary from THE INDEPENDENT:
Rosina Lawrence was an actress, singer and dancer in many films of the 1930s, primarily for Fox and Hal Roach studios.
Two of Roach's biggest names were Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy: Lawrence gave her best-remembered performance, as the heroine, Mary Roberts, in Laurel and Hardy's 1937 vehicle Way Out West. This is the film where the comedians perform a duet to "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" with, at its conclusion, a gag in which Lawrence's soprano voice is dubbed over that of Stan Laurel. The recording was issued on disc in 1975 (reaching No 2 in the UK charts) but without label credit to Lawrence.Lawrence was born in Canada to British parents in 1912; her childhood was spent variously in Canada, Boston, Great Britain and Los Angeles, where her father, George F. Lawrence, worked as a builder of film sets. The young Rosina learnt dancing as part of a then revolutionary means of combating a leg injury. She performed in stage productions during school holidays, and then sought professional tuition, taking singing lessons and studying under the renowned Shakespearian actor Joseph DeGrasse.Lawrence made her film debut at the age of 10 in Lady of Quality (1923), starring Virginia Valli; subsequent stage musicals and vaudeville work led to a second screen role, in Angels of Broadway (1927). In addition to her dancing in the film, her hands were used to double in close-ups for those of the star, Leatrice Joy (the first of several such jobs Lawrence was to perform). Her other early films include Paramount on Parade (1930), Will Rogers's A Connecticut Yankee (1931), Dance Team (1932), with Sally Eilers, Disorderly Conduct (1932), with Spencer Tracy and Reckless (1935), starring Jean Harlow.During a return to vaudeville in 1934, Lawrence had met a father-and-daughter act called the Dancing Cansinos, the younger of whom became known later as Rita Hayworth. Both she and Lawrence were signed by Fox, where Lawrence appeared in five films: Ten Dollar Raise and Your Uncle Dudley (both 1935), with Edward Everett Horton; Welcome Home (1935); Music is Magic (1935), with Bebe Daniels and Alice Faye; and Charlie Chan's Secret (1936).Her career at Fox was terminated when the studio's merger with 20th Century ended all existing contracts. Her luck did not improve when, in 1936, MGM excised her two best production numbers from their overlong biopic The Great Ziegfeld. She may still be glimpsed in the final cut, as Sally Manners, the character based on the stage star Marilyn Miller.Her fortunes improved when, the same year, she was signed by the producer Hal Roach. Lawrence joined his "Our Gang" comedies (known later as "The Little Rascals") as the schoolteacher; she may be seen in several of these, including the series' only Oscar-winner, Bored of Education (1936), and the Gang's feature-length General Spanky (1936). Also at Roach, she appeared in Mr Cinderella (1936) with Jack Haley, and played the wife of the star comedian Charlie Chase in two 1936 shorts, Neighborhood House and On the Wrong Trek. She worked with Chase once more in the feature-length Kelly the Second (1936). The "Kelly" of the title was Patsy Kelly, with whom Lawrence also appeared in a short subject, Pan Handlers (1936), and the feature films Nobody's Baby (1936) and Pick a Star (1937, to which Laurel and Hardy contributed two guest sequences).In 1938, Roach sent her to Italy to star in a planned co- production of Rigoletto; when this fell through, a different Italian studio cast her as a visiting American girl in a 1939 film In Compagne e Caduta una Stella (released in the United States in 1947 as In the Country Fell a Star). On its completion, war broke out in Europe and she returned to the United States.Lawrence retired from show business on her marriage to a Brooklyn lawyer and judge, Juvenal Marchisio, with whom she had three children. Following her husband's death in 1973, she became one of the most sought-after guests of a world-wide society of Laurel and Hardy admirers, the Sons of the Desert. It was at one of their gatherings, in England during 1984, that she became close to John McCabe, an actor and college professor who is the authorised biographer of Laurel and Hardy. Lawrence married McCabe in New York in 1987.Rosina Lawrence never quite reached major stardom, despite her great beauty and considerable talents, both as a singer and dancer. It is possible that this gentle, soft-spoken woman lacked the aggression to promote herself fully within a notoriously hard-boiled industry. Her attitude was, however, sanguine: "It was all fun," she recalled in later years, "and I loved every minute of it."Rosina Lawrence, actress: born Westboro, Ontario 30 December 1912; married first Juvenal Marchisio (died 1973; one son, two daughters), 1987 John McCabe; died New York 23 June 1997.
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Rosina Lawrence had dubbed in the songs for Jaqueline Wells in THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, which was Thelma Todd's last feature film appearance.
Jaqueline Wells
Jaqueline Wells was also considered for WAY OUT WEST, but eventually the part went to Rosina Lawrence. Again Rosina Lawrence dubbed in a singing voice, this time for Stan Laurel in one of the gags.
Hal Roach evidently expected big things for Rosina Lawrence. But somehow, she never became a big star.
With Frances Lee and Louise Green
Rosina Lawrence
second from left, with Frances Grant, Rita Hayworth, and Barbara Blane
03 Nov 1937, Los Angeles, California, USA — Original caption: Actress Celebrates “Discovery” At Soda Fountain. Anne Shirley (Mrs. John Payne), Carol Stone, Rosina Lawrence, Lana Turner, Vicki Lester and Natalie Draper (Mrs. Tom Brown) are pictured (left to right) as they sipped a “pumpkin soda” at the party given by Miss Turner in the Hollywood, California, soda fountain where she was “discovered” and given a movie contract a year ago. Miss Turner was sitting in the same spot when she was approached with film offer.
Anne Shirley, Carol Stone, Rosina Lawrence, Lana Turner, Vicki Lester and Natalie Draper drink soda out of a pumpkin.
WAY OUT WEST, foreign poster.
PICK A STAR, foreign poster.
Rosina Lawrence's last film, made in Italy.
In 1979, Rosina Lawrence attended a Sons of the Desert meeting and was photographed with Anita Garvin and Red Stanley ( Garvin's husband ).
Watch Rosina Lawrence in a Charlie Chan movie
THE BOHEMIAN GIRL - Jacqueline Wells' singing voice was dubbed by Rosina Lawrence.
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