Thelma Todd Photo

Thelma Todd with Chester Morris on her right, and husband, Pat DiCicco (1930s).

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CORSAIR Photos

CORSAIR was the movie Thelma Todd made as "Alison Loyd". The movie was produced by Roland West and costarred Chester Morris.

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Bicycles In The Movies

Bicycles and the people who ride them.


Reblogged from http://ridesabike.com/


                                  Molly Picon, Jay Velle and Vitaphone showgirls ride bikes.

1929 Chester Conklin, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Chester Morris, Gertrude Olmstead, Sally Eilers, SHOW OF SHOWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey

 

 

 

 

The Three Stooges

 

 

 

 

W. C. Fields and Bathing Beauties

 

 

 

Fay Wray

 

 

 

 

 

Shirley Temple

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martha Raye

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rita Hayworth

 

 

 

 

 

Anne Gwynne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joan Davis and Constance Moore

 

 

 

 

Gil Perkins, Lou Costello, Judith Brian, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DOCTOR JEKYL AND MR HYDE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Betty Garrett, Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Jules Munshin, TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

 

 

Rosalind Russell

 

 

 

 

 

Kathryn Grayson

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE TOY TIGER

 

 

 

 

 

Ann Miller

 

 

 

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CORSAIR Poster

CORSAIR was the movie Thelma Todd made under the stage name of "Alison Loyd". Here is an original 1931 release poster.

Notice how big Roland West's name is and how small "Alison Loyd's" name is.


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Cover Girl Thelma Todd

On the cover of this Spanish magazine is a picture of Thelma Todd ( as Alison Loyd ) and Chester Morris in the movie CORSAIR.

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Chester Morris was in the movie CORSAIR with Thelma Todd ( as "Alison Loyd" ). Among other things.

Chester Morris

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      

Chester Morris
in Corsair (1931)
Born	John Chester Brooks Morris (1901-02-16)February 16, 1901 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	September 11, 1970(1970-09-11) (aged 69) New Hope, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1917–1970
Spouse(s)	Lillian Kenton Barker (1940-19??; 1 child) Suzanne Kilborn (1927-1939; 2 children); divorced

Chester Morris (February 16, 1901 – September 11, 1970) was an American actor, who starred in the Boston Blackie detective series of the 1940s.

• 1 Career
• 2 Personal life
• 3 Partial filmography
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Career

He was born John Chester Brooks Morris in New York City, the son of Broadway stage actor William Morris and the performer Etta Hawkins. He made his Broadway debut at 17 in Lionel Barrymore's The Copperhead. At 17, he billed himself as "the youngest leading man in the country". His film career began in 1917 in An Amateur Orphan. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Alibi (1929) directed by Roland West. He also starred in The Bat Whispers (1930) and Corsair (1931), both directed by West.
He starred in the early prison film The Big House (1930). His career gradually declined in the late 1930s, with roles in B-movies such as Smashing the Rackets with Edward J. Pawley (1938) and Five Came Back (1939). His career revived when from 1941 to 1949 he played the character Boston Blackie in 14 low-budget movies produced by Columbia Pictures, starting with Meet Boston Blackie, and one season of radio shows.
Morris was also well known as a stage magic enthusiast. He often performed as a magician during the personal appearance tours in theaters promoting his latest films. Unlike many stars who simply greeted audiences with a few words before the screening of their film, Morris was comfortable on stage and presented an entire vaudeville magic act, featuring live animals and larger stage feats such as nearly severing an audience volunteer's head in a prop guillotine*. During World War II he performed hundreds of free magic shows for the U.S.O. at army and navy camps, war bond drives and hospitals. In 1944, a B-24 "Liberator" airplane was christened "The Chester and Lili Morris" in honor of him and his wife, and their contributions to the United States war effort. Morris also contributed original tricks to magician's journals and often incorporated magic into his film performances, including "Boston Blackie and The Law" (1946.)
Through the 1950s and 1960s, Morris worked mainly in television, with a recurring role as detective Lieutenant Max Ritter in the CBS summer replacement series, Diagnosis: Unknown, which aired from July to September 1960. He also made occasional forays into regional theatre, and a few films, notably a role in the science-fiction film The She Creature, where he played Dr. Carlo Lombardi. It was reported in Variety that Morris's Brylcreem expenses exceeded any other item in the film's budget.^{[citation needed]} After his last Boston Blackie movie, he performed in only three more films, including his final role in The Great White Hope (1970) which was released after his death.

Personal life

Morris was married to Suzanne Kilborn from September 30, 1927 to their divorce in November 1939. They had two children, Brooks and Cynthia. He married Lillian Kenton Barker on November 30, 1940. They had a son, Kenton.
Morris was dying of cancer when he committed suicide in room 202 at the former Holiday Inn of New Hope by taking an overdose of barbiturates in 1970.^[1] At the time of his death, he was appearing in a stage production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania.^[2]

Partial filmography

• Alibi (1929)
• Woman Trap (1929)
• She Couldn't Say No (1930)
• The Divorcee (1930)
• The Big House (1930)
• The Bat Whispers (1930)
• The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1930)
• Corsair (1931)
• The Miracle Man (1932)
• Red-Headed Woman (1932)
• Blondie Johnson (1933)
• Infernal Machine (1933)
• Tomorrow at Seven (1933)
• The Gay Bride (1934)
• Public Hero No. 1 (1935)
• Three Godfathers (1936)
• Flight From Glory (1937)
• Smashing The Rackets (1938)
• Blind Alley (1939)
• Five Came Back (1939)
• Thunder Afloat (1939)
• Pacific Liner (1939)
• Meet Boston Blackie (1941)
• Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941)
• No Hands on the Clock (1941)
• Alias Boston Blackie (1942)
• Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)
• After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943)
• Aerial Gunner (1943)
• Tornado (1943)
• The Chance of a Lifetime (1943), a Boston Blackie film
• Gambler's Choice (1944)
• Double Exposure (1944)
• One Mysterious Night (1944), a Boston Blackie film
• Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (1945)
• A Close Call for Boston Blackie (1946)
• Boston Blackie and the Law (1946)
• Blind Spot (1947)
• Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949)
• Unchained (1955)
• The She Creature (1957)
• The Great White Hope (1970)

References

1. ^ Veteran Actor Chester Morris is Found Dead UPI. The Times-News - Sep 12, 1970
2. ^ Veteran Actor Chester Morris is Found Dead UPI. The Times-News - Sep 12, 1970

Boston Blackish and the Law 1946

External links

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chester Morris.

• The Chester Morris Web
• Chester Morris at the Internet Movie Database
• Chester Morris at the Internet Broadway Database
• Chester Morris at Find a Grave

* I would assume that this was a magic trick, although they made it sound as if an actual guillotining had somehow been unsuccessful.        *                          *                          *

Chester Morris had made ALIBI and THE BAT WHISPERS for Roland West, and they were hits, but when they made CORSAIR it was not a success. Not only that, but because Roland West would not allow him to make DRACULA for Universal, he missed out on a chance to be in one of the most famous classic movies of all time. But Boston Blackie was one of Columbia's most profitable movie series during the period it was in production. So Chester Morris' place in movie history is assured, even if he is primarily associated with B movies.


                                                                     CORSAIR

 

 

 

 

With "Alison Loyd", as Thelma Todd was billed in this movie.

With Thelma Todd and Frank McHugh.

 

 

 

 

 

With Thelma Todd

 

 

 

 

 

With Thelma Todd

 

 

 

 

With Mae Busch in ALIBI ( 1929 )

 

 

Note whose name was actually on the bottom of the picture.

 

 

 

 

With Fay Wray in THEY MET IN A TAXI, 1936

 

 

 

 

With Victor McLagen and Jean Rogers in ROUGH, TOUGH, AND READY. 

 

 

 

 HIGH EXPLOSIVE

 

Jean Parker worked with Laurel and Hardy.

 

 

 

 

Boston Blackie

 

 

 

 

BOSTON BLACKIE:
http://bostonblackie.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Blackie

https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Boston_Blackie_Singles


CORSAIR:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/corsair.html

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/11/corsair-items-from-fan-magazines.html

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2014/02/corsair-herald.html

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/11/corsair-promotion.html


DRACULA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_(1931_film)


Chester Morris:
http://bostonblackie.com/morrisbio.html


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CORSAIR Photoplay

There was also a photoplay edition of CORSAIR, in 1931. The art on the dust jacket is intended to represent a scene from the movie. They got Chester Morris right, but "Alison Loyd" ( as Thelma Todd was called in this movie ) doesn't look right. Art is by Nathan Machtey.

Reblogged from http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.com/2013/04/blog-post_18.html

Again we see Roland West's name prominently displayed, as well as that of Chester Morris, but no mention of Thelma Todd by any name whatsoever. This was actually a recurring thing in the promotion of this movie.


Here we see a picture from the movie along with the title at the front of the book.

CORSAIR:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/corsair.html

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/11/corsair-items-from-fan-magazines.html

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2014/02/corsair-herald.html

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/11/corsair-promotion.html


Alison Loyd:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/alison-loyd.html


Roland West:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2014/02/roland-west.html


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FILM SELECTOS - April 9, 1932

Spanish movie magazine FILMS SELECTOS for April 9, 1932. Thelma Todd ( as Alison Loyd ) on the cover with Chester Morris.

 

 

 

There is also an article about Laurel and Hardy in this issue.

 

 

 

 

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CORSAIR Herald

This is a herald for the movie CORSAIR, where Thelma Todd was billed as "Alison Loyd". Note how large and how prominent Roland West's name is on this herald. He thought he was practically the whole show, but this would be his last film.

 

 

 

 

And after this movie, Thelma Todd went back to being Thelma Todd.











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CORSAIR Items From The Fan Magazines

More CORSAIR related items.




Ad from the original release sounded optimistic.

 

 

 

 

 

An item mentions that Hal Roach complained about Thelma Todd using another name in this movie, "Alison Loyd". 

An ad for CORSAIR that sought to attract attention with a contest.

 

 

 

 

After it's initial release, CORSAIR was released to the nontheatrical market on 16 mm film.

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