The Grauman Stage — A Who's Who
Biographies of Personalities Who Appeared in the Grauman Prologues
Sid Grauman built his Chinese Theatre to be a deluxe film presentation house. Over his career as an exhibitor, he had adopted the format of fashioning a “prologue” — a stage presentation to support the atmosphere of the feature film — at his Grauman’s Theatre (The Million Dollar), the Metropolitan (later the Paramount Downtown) and the Egyptian.

The Sid Grauman Prologues held at the Chinese have long been famous and esteemed for their lavishness and artistry — and sometimes length. Grauman knew of all of the best stage performers, both on Broadway and in vaudeville, and he always attempted to give the public a little “something special” in his presentations.

We have attempted to provide biographical information on all of the performers and others mentioned by name in the surviving programs and descriptions of both the Grauman-produced Prologues and the occasional stage presentations produced during Grauman’s tiffs with Fox West Coast Theatre management.

We encourage readers to contribute information which may add or correct facts for the figures we have on this roster.

  Renée Adorée

Born: Jeanne de la Fonte, September 30, 1898, in Lille, France
Died: October 5, 1933, in Tujunga, California

Renée Adorée was an exotic dancer film star from France, whose career found her playing second tier roles in M-G-M productions.

Born into a family of circus performers, Adorée was acting as a dancer with her parents from a very early age. The family was performing in Russia when the World War began, so they fled to England. Touring in the UK and Australia brought her much attention.

In 1919, she was cast in a Shubert musical revue which toured the U.S. before opening as Oh, What a Girl! on Broadway. The Shuberts put her in another touring show in 1920 called The Dancer. She broke into films by appearing in The Strongest in 1920, which had been based on a novel written by George Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France. She became a Fox contract player after this, playing opposite John Gilbert in an adaptation of (The Count of) Monte Cristo in 1922.

After making a couple of films for Louis B. Mayer Productions, she became an M-G-M contract player, and was subsequently selected by director King Vidor to play the female lead in The Big Parade opposite John Gilbert, in 1925; it became one of the greatest commercial and artistic successes of the silent era. Her appearance in Howard Hughes' production of The Mating Call in 1928, became controversial due to Adorée's performing a nude swimming scene.

Adorée was a "guest of honor" at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, March 16, 1929.

Although she was a major star, she was beginning to slow down. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She made her final film (and only real sound picture) Call of the Flesh with Ramón Novarro in 1930, against doctor's orders. Upon completeting the picture, she was packed off to a sanitarium in Arizona, where she spent the next two years. Thought to be well enough to return to the cameras, she returned to Hollywood, but her condition relapsed. She died in the modest home she had created in Tujunga in 1933.

  Adrian

Born: March 3, 1903, in Naugatuck, Connecticut
Died: September 13, 1959, in Hollywood, California

Costume designer Adrian was born Adrian Adolph Greenburg to Gilbert and Helena Greenburg. He began his design education at the New York School for Fine and Applied Arts in 1920. In 1922, he tranfered to the school's campus in Paris, France, where he was tapped by Irving Berlin to design costumes for his Music Box Revue, which would tour Europe.

Rudolph Valentino's wife Natacha Rambova hired Adrian to design costumes for A Sainted Devil in 1924, beginning his film career, eventually becoming head costumer for Cecil B. DeMille, and would design costumes for his film King of Kings in 1927.

So it was natural that when the film was chosen to open Grauman's Chinese, Adrian would be asked to contribute; his credit in the program says that the costumes for the prologue's finale, "The Spirit of Faith" were "concieved and supervised by Adrian."

DeMille took Adrian with him to make films as M-G-M, but when DeMille went back to Paramount, Adrian stayed at M-G-M, where he would design for a staggering collection of influential films, such as Mata Hari in 1931, Grand Hotel in 1932, Dinner at Eight in 1933, The Great Ziegfeld in 1936, The Wizard of Oz, The Women and Ninotchka, all in 1939, The Philadelphia Story in 1940 and more. All of these films listed played Grauman's Chinese.

Adrian had married Janet Gaynor in 1939, and in 1941, left M-G-M to establish his own colthing company. A heart attack in 1952 brought an end to that dream, however. He and Janet bought a ranch near Brazilia, Brazil; Adrian would accept the occasional film or stage assignment. While working on the original staging of Camelot, he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1959.

  Slayman Ali Clowns

Slayman Ali appears to have been a circus fanatic. He formed a troupe of tumbling acrobatic clowns who delighted circus crowds for years. It is known that they played the bigtime as early as 1917 (pictured) when they were on the bill for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Circus. They appeared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Ballyhoo" for the film The Circus in 1928.

Slayman Ali was so devoted to the circus arts that after his clown troupe broke up on account of World War II, he went on to manage and represent circus acts, and to recruit new ones, very often from Morocco, which had a rich tradition of thumbling, acrobatics and so on.

  Lou Alter

Born: June 18, 1902, in Haverhill, Massachusetts
Died: November 5, 1980, in New York, New York

Songwriter and pianist Louis Alter began playing piano in nickelodeons at the age of 13. The next year (!), he snagged a replacement gig as Kelly in the Broadway musical The Show of Wonders in 1916. While studying with Stuart Mason at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, Alter wrote a few songs for the Broadway musical A la Carte, which flopped in 1927. In the meantime, he toured extensively with vaudeville star Nora Bayes from 1924 until her death in 1928. Alter got a couple of his songs into the Broadway revue Earl Calloll's Vanities, which ran for six months beginning in August 1928.

Before long, Alter was in Hollywood, where his songs found their places in films, beginning with his working on arrangements used in The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Sid Grauman asked Alter to appear onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, September 7, 1929. Alter shared the bill with Carlotta King, The Rounders, and Basil Rathbone.

That November, Joan Crawford warbled Alter's tune "That Wonderful Something Is Love" in her first talkie called Untamed. Alter kept himself busy: he contributed songs to the Broadway shows Sweet and Low (with Fanny Brice, George Jessel and Borrah Minevitch!) in 1930 and Ballyhoo of 1930 (featuring Chaz Chase as "A Gourmand" and W. C. Fields in December 1930; meanwhile, Alter was closely associated as piano accompanist to singers Beatrice Lille and Helen Morgan.

During World War II, Alter was busy arranging shows on the West Coast while serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces. After the war, Alter continued to work in an assortment of films. He also composed some concert music.

Alter's most famous song seems to be the title song for the M-G-M Technicolor short musical Manhattan Serenade, released in December 1929. The song has been used in a few films, from Broadway Rhythm (which played the Chinese in April 1944) to The Godfather (released in 1972). More recently, his song "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?," written for the 1947 musical New Orleans, has been appearing in a number of projects as well. Another popular tune of Alter's is "You Turned the Tables on Me" from the comedy Kiss Them for Me (played the Chinese in December 1957).

Alter, who became a tried-and-true New Yorker, died of pneumonia in Manhattan at the age of 78.

  Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

Born: March 24, 1887, in Smith Center, Kansas
Died: June 29, 1933, in New York, New York


Roscoe Arbuckle was a pioneer of the screen. Becoming a major draw in the nickelodeon days, he was embroiled in the first huge cinema scandal. Acquitted after three trials, it ruined his life.

Born (at 13 pounds!) in a very small town in Kansas, Roscoe's birth broke his mother Mary's health. With the family moving to Santa Ana in 1889, by the time Roscoe was eight, he managed to perform with the Frank Bacon company as it blew through town.

Roscoe was 11 when his mother died. After his father refused to "support" him, Roscoe got odd jobs in a local hotel. After singing badly at an amateur talent show, he accidentally somersaulted into the orchestra pit; the crowd loved it and physical comedy became Arbuckle's bread-and-butter.

Now an act in vaudeville, Sid Grauman had Arbuckle appear at his Unique Theatre in San Francisco sometime in 1904; they became great friends. After joining the Pantages vaudeville circuit, Arbuckle teamed up with Leon Errol, then toured all over America.

After marriage to Minta Durfee in 1908, Arbuckle joined up with the Morosco Burbank stock company and toured China and Japan, returning in 1909. Arbuckle joined the Chicago-based Selig Polyscope Company to make short comedy films. Working out of their new Edendale studio in Los Angeles, Arbuckle's first film for them was a western drama entitled Ben's Kid. Despite his vaudeville props, Selig kept Arbuckle in minor roles.

Producer Mack Sennett placed Arbuckle as a lead player in a series of his Keystone Cops comedies, beginning with the three-reel, Henry Lehrman-directed The Gangsters, released in May 1913. Right away Sennett teamed Arbuckle up with his biggest star, Mabel Normand; their first film together was The Waiter's Picnic, released in June 1913. By September, Arbuckle's movie nickname became part of the title: Fatty's Day Off.

Having proved successful, Arbuckle was hired away by the Paramount combine. Directing as well as creating the scenarios, Arbuckle's first Paramount film was The Butcher Boy with Buster Keaton, released in April 1917. He continued to make very popular two and three-reelers until The Garage, released in January 1920.

After completing the five-reel comedy Crazy to Marry in August 1921, Arbuckle and some pals drove up to book some rooms at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel (now known as the Westin St. Francis). After inviting some people over, a party began.

Invited to the party was director Henry Lerhman's wife, a young actress named Virginia Rappe. She was found in a bedroom having a bad reaction to the alcohol served at the party due to her having chronic cystitus, a urinary tract infection. Examined by Dr. Arthur Beardslee, the hotel doctor on the night of the party, Rappe was given morphine for her pain, but was not hospitalized until two days later.

It was at the hospital that Rappe's friend, Bambina Maude Delmont, placed the blame for Rappe's condition on Roscoe Arbuckle's having raped her. Doctors examined Rappe at the time, but did not find evidence of rape. Rappe died the next day from peritonitis caused by a rupured bladder.

Delmont told the police Arbuckle had raped Rappe, who then began an investigation. Rappe's manager, Al Semnacker, began describing Arbuckle's actions — but varied many details. Delmont was found to be extorting Arbuckle's defense team. William Randolph Hearst's style of yellow journalism sensationalized the events and gave so much exposure to the subsequent trial, that it became impossible for Arbuckle to receive a fair hearing at the bar of justice.

Arbuckle's first trial ended with a hung jury; it was declared a mistrial as did his second. His third trial began in March 1922. By this time, Arbuckle was public enemy number one; his films could not get playdates; he was not working on any new projects. The jury acquitted Arbuckle, deliberating for only six minutes. In November 1923, wife Minta Durfee divorced Arbuckle. He would remarry to Doris Deane in 1925.

The rest of the Arbuckle story is not very pretty. Unable to find work, Arbuckle turn to alcohol for solace. There is eveidence to suggest that Buster Keaton used him on some of his films during this timeframe.

Using the alias of William Goodrich, Arbuckle found work as a director (he had directed many of his short films), beginning with 1924's His First Car. "Goodrich" directed a number of two-reelers until he directed the Marion Davies feature The Red Mill in 1927 (was Hearst feeling remorseful?). He also directed the Eddie Cantor feature Special Delivery for Paramount that year.

Sidelined for the next two years, Arbuckle's second wife Doris filed for divorce on September 9, 1929. Perhaps in sympathy, Grauman invited his old pal to appear at the Chinese Theatre for the last "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. Also on that night's bill was the comedy song duo Van & Schenck with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Bessie Love, Anita Page, Jack Benny, Lew Cody, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, Georges Carpentier, Mike Donlin, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

As William Goodrich, Arbuckle contued to directed short comedies for Educational Pictures up through 1932. After that, he appeared in four short films for Warner Bros. in 1932-33. Arbuckle married for the thrid time to Addie McPhail during this time.

After signing a contract to appear in a feature film for Warners, Arbuckle suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep. He was 46.

  Armida

Born: Armida Vendrell, May 29, 1911, in Aguascalientes, Mexico
Died: October 23, 1989, in Victorville, California

Armida was a popular star of vaudeville, who worked her way into the movies. Her Spanish father was a magician who went by the name of "The Great Arnold." The Great Arnold took over a vaudeville house called the Princess Theatre across the border in Douglas, Arizona, and started showing films and doing his magic tricks, which is where Armida and her two sisters Lydia and Lola, leaned to sing, dance and hold an audience.

With another sister Delores, Armida performed at the Teatro Hidalgo on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles. She was offered a slot on the vaudeville circuit. Her performances led to her being taken on by Gus Edwards, who specialized in kiddie shows. Armida fit in, since she was only 4 foot 11 inches. After a grueling schedule in New York, Edwards moved to Hollywood to work at M-G-M; he featured Armida in an early sound color revue Gus Edwards' International Colortone Revue, released in April 1929. In May 1929, Armida headlined in a feature for the Tiffany Studio: Border Romance, with Don Terry.

Armida appeared at the Chinese Theatre at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 14, 1929, where she shared the stage with her mentor Gus Edwards, Anita Page, Gwen Lee, Charles Kaley, Edward Lankow, Jack Stanley and Cecil Cunningham. By this time, Armida had signed a contract with Warner Bros.

She sang a duet with her sister Lola for a moment in the revue film Show of Shows released in December 1929; in Janaury 1930 General Crack was released. The John Barrymore film had Armida fourth billed as a gypsy whose unfaithfulness sets the plot in motion. She got to sing a song or two in Rin Tin Tin's first talkie On The Border in March 1930; she was among a bevy of Chinese Theatre Who's Who people like Raquel Torres and Myrna Loy, competeing for romance with Frank Fay in Under a Texas Moon, released in April 1930.

Taking a break from Hollywood, Armida was featured on Broadway in the Sig Romberg show Nina Rosa in September 1930. She made a couple shorts in 1933, then came back to the Fox lot to sing in Under the Papas Moon with Warner Baxter (which played the Chinese in June 1935).

Armida was on Broadway once more in the Gus Edwards production Broadway Sho-Window in April 1936, but the show flopped. By 1937, she was the female lead in the Gene Autry / Smiley Burnette cowboy musical Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm. At R-K-O, she got third billing in a B-western musical starring Harry Carey, Border Café, also released in 1937.

The war years saw her doing various numbers in odball musicals, like Universal's La Conga Nights, starring Hugh Herbert (1940) and Warners' Always in My Heart with Kay Francis (1942). She headlined in producer Jack Schwarz' Machine Gun Mama in 1944.

Armida continued to work in films after World War II, such as playing a jungle tribe leader in Jungle Goddess with George Reeves; she has a small bit part in the Columbia serial Congo Bill starring Don McGuire in 1948. Her last film had her doing a dance number in Ryhthm Inn in 1951. She was 40.

Nothing is known of her life beyond her Hollywood years. She died of a heart attack in Victorville at the age of 78.

  George K. Arthur

Born: Arthur George Brest, January 27, 1899 in Littlehampton, Sussex, England
Died: May 30, 1985, in New York, New York

George K. Arthur was an English actor, who had been appearing in films since 1919, primarily in comedies.

Born into hardscrabble circumstances, George ran off to join the Bugle Corps at the outset of World War I, where he learned to entertain his fellow troops. After the war, he studied with Sir Frank Benson. Before long, he changed his name, and began appearing in small roles in the West End.

When Arthur discovered that an American director was in London to make a film of H.G. Wells' Kipps (1921), he campaigned for the lead role of a store clerk who inherits a bundle and got it, making the film a success. Mae Marsh made a couple of films in England with Arthur, who began to envision himself as an American movie star.

The problem was that none of the Hollywood studios wanted the odd-looking fellow. Friend Charles Chaplin got him some work, which led to a meaty role in James Cruz's film Hollywood (1923). Arthur was signed to a five-year contract with Pat Powers, who was then beginning his "Powers Studio"; Arthur moved his entire family to Hollywood from England, then the Powers Studio folded. Arthur worked odd jobs to make ends meet, but the desire to show 'em was strong in this one.

With funds begged, borrowed or stolen, Arthur made a film from a script he had written, and got the fledgling Josef von Sternberg to direct it with himself as the star. The result, The Salvation Hunters (1925) was shown to Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, who arranged to have it released through United Artists. Von Sternberg was on his way, and Arthur was signed to a contract at M-G-M.

Arthur had supporting roles in a number of M-G-M silents, like Lights of Old Broadway (1925) with Marion Davies and Conrad Nagel, The Exquisite Sinner (1926) with Conrad Nagel and Renée Adorée, and Lovers? (1927) with Ramon Novarro.

Teamed with Karl Dane, "Dane and Arthur" made a number of feature-length silent comedies: Rookies (1927), Circus Rookies (1928), Detectives (1928), Brotherly Love (1928), All at Sea (1929), and China Bound (1929). Sound put an end to this: Dane had a very thick Danish accent.

Arthur was billed as the "Master of Cermonies" at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 30, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. He also was in the cast of the all-star revival of Gus Edwards' School Days along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler), at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 at the Chinese on Saturday, July 6, 1929.

No longer able to make films, Dane and Arthur toured the vaudeville circuit for a while, and made shorts at Paramount and R-K-O. After the act broke up, Arthur was on his uppers; he opened a "Grand Guignol" theatre in Hollywood, which flopped, but 1935 was a busy year; Arthur produced a trio of short horror-themed plays on Broadway, called Grand Guignol Horror Plays, and co-wrote the book for the musical Provincetown Follies.

Now a U.S. Citizen, Arthur joined the Army Air Corps during World War II. He entertained troops of course, but spent much of his time providing logistical support for the shows.

Arthur became a producer later on, winning (with Jack Clayton who produced and directed) the Oscar for live action 2-reel short in 1956 for film The Bespoke Overcoat. He continued to produces short films for television until he retired in 1959. He died in New York City at the age of 86.

  Leilihua (Aggie) Auld

Born: March 3, 1905, in Honolulu, Hawaii
Died: November 1, 1983, In Orange County, California

Aggie Auld was one of the most famous and revered hula stylists. Born to a family active in Hawaiian politics, she studied ballet and dance at an early age. Leilihua developed a strong ability to perform the Hawaiian hula dance, and while in her teens, she performed before Prince Kuhio and Princess Kalanianaole.

Joining Prince Leilani's tour in 1924, she traveled widely as the group became popular on the vaudeville circuits. She appeared with Prince Leilani and his Samoan Chiefs in the Sid Grauman Prologue "The Tropics" for the film White Shadows in the South Seas at the Chinese Theatre in 1928.

During the 1930s, Leiihua and Prince Leilani married and spent much time in Honolulu, where she introduced her signature dance "Lovely Hula Hands" at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. She appears on the original sheet music for the song which was written to accompany her dance.

Like Prince Leilani, Aggie Auld appeared in only a few films. She was a dancer as well as the dance director for Hawaii Calls in 1938, and danced in Rainbow Island in 1944, the musical short The Moon of Mona Koora in 1945, and finally, in Around the World in Eighty Days in 1956.

During World War II, Leilihua entertained toups in Los Angeles, where she had opened a hula dance studio. Aggie later was remarried to Norman Hendershot, with whom she composed the popular song "Hula Lo-Lo."

  Constantin Bakaleinikoff

Born: April 26, 1896, in Moscow, Russia
Died: September 3, 1966, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Composer / conductor Constatin Bakleinikoff was born into a large Russian musical family, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Traveling to America with his brother Vladimir and the Moscow Art Theatre, he led concerts given by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He accepted the task of becoming the orchestra conductor for the premiere of both the Chinese Theatre and Cecil B. DeMille's film King of Kings in 1927. Bakaleinikoff conducted the score for the film written by Hugo Reisenfeld and Josiah Zuro, and probably composed and arranged the music for the "Golries of the Scriptures" prologue. Brother Vladimir was the choral director.

While Vladimir went east to meet his destiny with Fritz Reiner in Cincinnati, Constantin remained in Hollywood; he was on hand to open the Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre in April, 1928, but by August of 1928, Grauman had coaxed him back to conduct the orchestra for "The Tropics" prologue for the film White Shadows in the South Seas at the Chinese.

The Hollywood studios beconed, and Constantin answered the call, going to work first at Columbia, then Paramount, then at M-G-M. He composed, conducted and oversaw the work of others in the music departments. He wrote the scores to many "B" films and shorts. He caromed around a bit until settling in for a long stint at RKO Pictures, most notably conducting Roy Webb's score for Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film Notorious.

Other films Bakaleinikoff conducted scores for include the Val Luton classic's Cat People from 1942, and I Walked with a Zombie in 1943; all of RKO's series films, such as the Gildersleeve, Falcon, Mexican Spitfire, Dick Tracy and Tarzan movies, Murder My Sweet in 1944, The Spiral Staircase in 1945, Out of the Past in 1947, I Remember Mama and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (which played the Chinese) both from 1948, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon in 1949, Stromboli in 1950, and many, many others.

  Vladimir Bakaleinikoff

Born: October 3, 1895, in Moscow, Russia
Died: November 5, 1953, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Vladimir, older brother to Constantin, was a violinist, who, like his brother, studiied at the Moscow Conservatory. Throughout the 1910s to the mid 1920s, Vladimir became a well-known member of several string quartets while also being the conductor of the Moscow Art Theatre. A busy guy, he was also professor of viola at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.

When he and his wife toured America with the Moscow Art Theatre in 1925-26, he was invited by conductor Fritz Reiner to be his assistant at the Cincinnati Symphony. During this period, Vladimir served as chorus master for the Sid Grauman Prologue to the film King of Kings along with brother Constantin, who conducted the orchestra.

Bios conflict, but it seems that Vladimir left to work with Fritz Reiner in Cincinnati. He might have come back to Hollywood to work, but he has no film credits of any kind. Moving back to Pittsburgh to work with Reiner with that city's symphony orchestra, Vladimir began a long teaching relationship with future conductor Lorin Maazel.

While with the Pittsburgh Symphony, he composed a fairly large body of works, including a concerto for viola and orchestra in 1937. He wote his autobiography Notes of a Musician in 1943.

He remained with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra until his death in 1953.

  Jack Benny

Born: Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894, in Chicago, Illinois
Died:
December 26, 1974, in Los Angeles, California

One of the first films Jack Benny starred in wasThe Hollywood Review of 1929; he co-m.c.'ed the film with Conrad Nagel. When the film was booked into the Chinese, Benny appeared onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, July 27, 1929. The show also included Charles Bickford, and Raymond Hackett, with Benny's pal, Benny Rubin as master of ceremonies.

He also appeared at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the Hollywood Revue run on Saturday, September 21, 1929. Benny shared the stage with the comedy song duo Van & Schenck with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Lew Cody, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, George Carpentier, Mike Donlin, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

Jack Benny was a great radio personality and film star. More information on his life may be found on his Forecourt Honoree page.

  Charles Bickford

Born: January 1, 1891, in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Died:
November 9, 1967, in Los Angeles, California

Charles Bickford is one of the most unforgettable supporting players in Hollywood's history. Craggy and gruff, he played significant roles in a number of major films.

Born into a large family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Charles was an unruly child, influenced by his ship captain maternal grandfather. At age nine, a trolley struck and killed his pet dog, so Charles attempted to shoot the driver; he was acquitted.

Leaving home at age 15, Bickford drifted about the country, doing all sorts of manly things, including enlisting in the U. S. Navy during World War I. While there, a buddy goaded Bickford into auditioning for a burlesque company. He did, and started his showbiz career. He made his Broadway debut in the chorus of the musical The Baroness Fiddlesticks in late 1904. His most successful role was as a reporter in Chicago, with Francine Larrimore as Roxie Hart, in the 1926-1927 season. Bickford even co-wrote a play, a comedy call The Cyclone Lover, which played for 31 perfs in mid 1928.

Director Cecil B. De Mille is credited with plucking Bickford from the obscurity of Broadway, getting the actor to sign a contract at M-G-M. While appearing in De Mille's first talkie, Dynamite released in December, 1929, Bickford appeared onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, July 27, 1929. The show also included Jack Benny, and Raymond Hackett, with Benny's pal, Benny Rubin as master of ceremonies.

Working on Dynamite, however, was a raucous affair, with Bickford punching De Mille during an argument over how he should play his character. Despite playing Greta Garbo's lover in Anna Christie in 1930, Bickford constantly fought with M-G-M execs, so he quit his contract, and became a freelancer.

While filming East of Java for Fox in 1935, Bickford was mauled by a lion, ending his chances of becoming a leading man. Character parts would be his specialty in countless westerns, but also in bigger films: in De Mille's The Plainsman in 1936, Of Mice and Men in 1939, De Mille's Reap the Wild Wind in 1942, The Song of Bernadette in 1943, Duel in the Sun in 1946, The Farmer's Daughter in 1947, Johnny Belina in 1948, A Star is Born in 1954, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell in 1955, The Big Country in 1958, and The Unforgiven in 1960.

Bickford did a fair amount of television: Schlitz Playhouse over CBS, in 1953, 1954, and 1956, Climax! over CBS in 1957, and Wagon Train over NBC in 1958. By guest starring repeatedly on Playouse 90 on CBS, Bickford first etched a role he would become well-known for: playing the nurseyman father of the female lead (Piper Laurie) in Days of Wine and Roses, airing on October 2, 1958. Bickford would reprise the role when it came time for director Blake Edwards' film of the story, Days of Wine and Roses, where he played Lee Remick's father. The perfect role for Bickford.

Bickford published his autobiography, Bulls Balls Bicycles & Actors in 1965. He died of pneumonia in 1967 at the age of 76.

    Arnold Bob Blackner

Arnold Bob Blackner was a "cowboy tenor," given several songs to sing in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 in 1928.

  Al Boasberg

Born: December 5, 1891, in Buffalo, New York
Died: June 18, 1937, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Al Boasberg was a successful writer for both comedians and comedy films. Working extensively with Jack Benny, he also worked with Bob Hope, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Burt Wheeler and Robert Woolsey and Leon Errol.

Born to a Jewish family in Buffalo, Al drifted into vaudeville, where he worked with Jack Benny on his act. Going to Hollywood, Boasberg did not mess around; his second film credit is for adapting the scenario for Buster Keaton's masterpiece, The General, in 1926. He worked on Harold Lloyd's film Speedy in 1928, Keaton's The Cameraman in 1928, and wrote dialog for The Hollywood Revue of 1929.

Boasberg also knew how to handle himself on stage. He appeared as Master of Ceremonies at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, along with Carlotta King on Saturday, June 29, 1929.

Boasberg was asked to write the scenario for M-G-M's next revue film, Chasing Rainbows in 1930. He worked on the early Marion Davies' talkie The Floradora Girl that year as well. He wrote additional dialogue for Tod Browning's Freaks in 1932. He was brought in to add additional material for A Night at the Opera (which played the Chinese in November, 1935), but had a falling out with the Marx Brothers over his original script for A Day at the Races (played the Chinese in June, 1937).

Boasberg also directed a number of comic short films for M-G-M and R-K-O, such as Jailbirds of Paradise in 1934, The Fuller Gush Man in 1934, Salemanship Ahoy in 1935, and Down the Ribber in 1936.

Boasberg died of a heart attack in 1937, and was buried in Buffalo. In 2009, the Buffalo International Film Festival established an annual comedy award in honor of Al Boasberg.


  Stewart Brady

Born: June, 1915, in Reno, Nevada
Died: ?, in San Francisco, California

Boy sorprano Stewart Brady was born to George and Margaret Brady, who were vaudevillians. Making appearances at the age of six, by his eighth year, he was studying with Catherine B. Swint in San Francisco. He could sing in five languages and could also play the piano.

Brady made an apperance on Oakland radio station KGO in August of 1925. He was given the role of "Youth" in a performance of Meddelssohn's Elijah given in San Fransico with the San Francisco Symphony in 1926. He was championed by songwriter / performer Gus Edwards, who introduced the boy to Sid Grauman.

Stewart's account of his audition for Grauman during the rehearsals for the "Glories of the Scriptures" prologue mentions that Grauman asked the boy if he knew any religious songs. So before the entire cast and crew, he sang his favorite: "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)." Grauman thought it was too dour a number. He asked, "Don't you have anything that's bright and cheery?"

So Stewart and his mother went out and got the sheet music for "The Holy City" and he sang it for Grauman the next day — and was hired.

His appearance in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Glories of Scriptures" for the film King of Kings in 1927, was Brady's first engagement in Hollywood. A scout for Warner Bros. saw the lad at the Chinese and offered him a contract. He has been credited with participating in the Sid Grauman Prolgue for Noah's Ark, in November, 1928.

Brady made a Vitaphone short, production number 2745, called Stewart Brady, The Song Bird, which was released in August of 1928, where he sang three numbers. According to Ron Hutchinson of The Vitaphone Project, the picture has survived, but the sound is currently missing.

In his later years, Brady settled in San Francisco and taught voice and piano. He became the vocal coach for the American Conservatory Theatre there as well. Interviewed late in life, Brady spoke of his appearances in the Grauman prologues as being the pivitol time in his life.

Fanny Brice as her Baby Snooks character. Unknown date.
  Fanny Brice

Born: Fania Borach, October 29, 1891, in New York City, New York
Died: May 29, 1951 in Hollywood, California

Fanny Brice was a very well-known Broadway star, famous for her singing and self-affacing comedy. She became popular nationwide with her Baby Snooks radio program.

Born into an immigrant family who owned a saloon in New York City, Brice quit school at age 17 to work in a burlesque show called The Girls from Happy Land Starring Sliding Billy Watson. After touring in a show called College Girl, she appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1910 and 1911, and returned to the show in 1916 and 1917, and was in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic in 1919, and Ziegfeld Girls of 1920, March to May, 1920. She returned to star in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920, but in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921, she introduced two songs which will forever be associated with her: "My Man" and "Second Hand Rose." Her recordings of these songs and others were big sellers. She starred in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923 also.

Brice would continue with the Ziegfeld brand for some time, after starring in Irving Berlin's Music Box Revue for producer Sam Harris in 1924.

In 1928, Brice made her first movie, a part-talkie for Warners' called My Man, but this film is now considered "lost." In February, 1929, Brice was in the cast of Earl Carroll's first "book" musical, Fioretta. Carroll cast his girlfriend, Dorothy Knapp in the title role, although the critics all said she couldn't sing. It flopped.

Brice was in Hollywood shooting Be Yourself! (released in February, 1930), when she appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, July 6, 1929. She was in a star-studded micro version of Gus Edward's School Days. The cast included Gus Edwards himself along with Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler.

Brice then returned to Broadway, starring in Sweet and Low in 1930, Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt in 1931, and the Zielgfeld Follies of 1934 and 1936, which ran for the entire year of 1936 at the Winter Garden Theatre.

But radio became Brice's medium, beginning with the Chase & Sanborn Hour on NBC, beginning in 1933. She then transformed the "Baby Snooks" sketch she had done in the Follies show, and rolled it into her radio show, first on The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air on CBS in 1936, then on the Good News show on NBC in late 1937, then on the Maxwell House Coffee Time on CBS in 1937, where her co-star was Frank Morgan. The Baby Shooks Show was launched on CBS in 1944, then moved to NBC in 1948. The show ran until 1951. Brice played Snooks on televiion only once in 1950, but she didn't like the way it came off.

Fanny Brice is one of a small group of performers who appeared as themselves in the M-G-M biopics of Florenz Ziegfeld, The Great Ziegfeld (which played the Chinese in November, 1936), and Ziegfeld Follies in 1946.


In 1939, the Fox musical Rose of Washington Square was based on her life — but without her permission. Brice sued for invasion of privacy and won, forcing the studio to make cuts of the songs she was famous for.

Brice died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1951 at the age of 59. In 1964, a Broadway musical based on some of her life called Funny Girl opened with the unknown Barbra Streisand, which in turn became a popular film in 1968. A sequel was made called Funny Lady (which played the Chinese in March, 1975).

    Ada Broadbent

Ada Broadbent was a member of the Albertina Rasch Dancers. She was given three solos to perform in the Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody: as the "Spirit of Jazz" danced to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue;" the "Tap and Rhythm" number, and in the "Romantic Ballet" section with music by Rasch's husband, Dimitri Tiomkin.

While out on the coast, she and several other Rasch dancers were in a 2-color-Technicolor short film for M-G-M called A Night at the Shooting Gallery (also with music by Tiompkin) in 1929.

  Joe E. Brown

Born: July 28, 1891, in Holgate, Ohio
Died: July 6, 1973, in Brentwood, California

Who doesn't like Joe E. Brown? Best known for his turn as Osgood Fielding III in the comedy Some Like it Hot (which played the Chinese in 1959), Brown was asked to be "guest of honor" (along with "Mystery Mistress of Ceremonies") at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 20, 1929. Brown was the Master of Ceremonies at the "Hollywood Midnite Frolic" performance of both the Grauman Prologue and the film The Cock Eyed World on Saturday, October 26, 1929.

Brown was asked to leave his imprints in Grauman's forecourt in March, 1936, and more information on his life may be found on his Forecourt Honoree page.

Lorraine, Bobbie and Patricia Brox in 1923.
  The Brox Sisters

Lorayne (Eunice Brock) Brox
Born: November 11, 1900, in Riverton, Iowa
Died: June 14, 1993, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Patricia (Kathleen Brock) Brox
Born: June 14, 1904, in Union City, Indiana
Died: August 27, 1988, in New York, New York

Bobbie (Josephine Brock) Brox
Born: November 28, 1902, in Memphis, Tennessee
Died: May 2, 1999, in Glens Falls, New York

The Brox Sisters were an amazing singing / hamonizing singing trio. Cute and charming stage performers, once heard, never forgotten.

Born to a showbiz family, they were performing together in vaudeville by 1910 or so. Somehow, they formed a stong relationship with Irving Berlin, who wrote the song "Everybody Step" for them to sing in the first of his annual Music Box Revues in 1921. The Brox Sisters appeared in the Music Box Reviews of 1923, and 1924. They made many recordings of both Berlin songs and those of other Tin Pan Alley composers.

Continuing to hitch their wagon to Berlin, the Sisters were on Broadway with the Marx Brothers in the second brief run of The Cocoanuts (music by Berlin) in May, 1927, then appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 (music by Berlin) from August, 1927, to January, 1928. Then, they embarked on a national tour of the The Cocoanuts with the Marx Brothers, Playing the Biltmore Theatre in Los Angeles in 1928.

Sid Grauman signed the Sisters up to appear in his Prologue "The Tropics" for the film White Shadows in the South Seas at the Chinese Theatre from August to October, 1928. Grauman also had them appear at the "Midnight Matinee" performance of both the prologue "Broadway Nights" and the film The Broadway Melody on Saturday, April 13, 1929.

Their incredible singing style, perky personalities, and Los Angeles location enabled the Brox Sisters to glide into the movies easily, making some Vitaphone Shorts before appearing in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which played the Chinese in June, 1929. The Brox act played at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, on Satuday, August 17, 1929, where they were featured in a stage show along with Joey Ray, Frank Richardson, The Rasch Ballet, Karl Dane, Bobby Dolan and Walter O'Keefe.

The Brox Sisters also appeared in King of Jazz with Paul Whiteman in 1930. The act broke up by the mid 30s.

Lorayne married jazz trumpeter Henry Busse in 1935. They lived together until his death in 1955. Lorayne then married Joseph D. Hall, who died in 1983. Lorayne died in 1993, at the age of 93.

Patricia married a man named Gerstenzang. She died in 1988, at the age of 84.

Bobbie married her agent, William Perlberg in 1928, who later became a producer. They divorced in the 1960s. She married songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen in 1969, who passed away in 1990. Bobbie died in 1999 at the age of 96.

    Andy Byrne

Andy Byrne was a conductor who led the Grauman's Chinese Symphony orchesta in the "Broadway Nights" prologue for the film The Broadway Melody in 1929.

  Leo Carrillo

Born: Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo, August 6, 1880, in Los Angeles, California
Died: September 10, 1961, in Santa Monica, California

Leo Carrillo was an actor with considerable connection to the political past of California, with his great-great grandfather having served with Portolá on his California expedition in 1769. His father was cheif of police and later, the first mayor of Santa Monica.

After University, Carrillo worked as a cartoonist at the San Francisco Examiner before heading off to act on the Broadway stage, where he landed his first role as Sir Giovanni Gasolini in the musical revue Fads and Fancies in 1915, at the age of 35. Two years later, he was the star of Lombardi, Ltd., which had a successful run in the 1917-1918 season, and was revived with Carrillo in the title role in 1927.

Carrillo made his first film, a Vitaphone short called At the Ball Game in 1927. After a start like that, right? Carrillo was asked to be "honored guest" (along with director Fred Niblo as master of ceremonies) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 20, 1929.

Carrillo made a specialty of playing various ethnic types during his fruitful career, including playing Kurt Webber in Parachute Jumper (1933), Rodolfo Fierro in Viva Villa! in 1934, Father Joe in Manhattan Melodrama (1934) Mickey "The Greek" Mikapopoulis in The Gay Bride (also 1934), Mike Rossini in If You Could Only Cook (1935), Dr. Zodiac Z. Zippe in Hotel Haywire (1937), Piute Pete in 20 Mule Team (which played the Chinese in 1940), Amalfi in Tight Shoes (1941) — the list goes on and on.

Carrillo is best remembered as Pancho, TV sidekick to Duncan Renaldo's The Cisco Kid a syndicated television show which ran from 1950 to 1956.

Carrillo was active in Republican politics in California, and was a member of the California Beach and Parks Commission for 18 years —  Leo Carrillo State Park, a beach in Malibu, California, is named in his honor. He owned a huge ranch in Carlsbad, California, which is a historic site today.

Carrillo published his memiors, The California I Love, just shortly before his death in 1961.

  Georges Carpentier

Born: January 12, 1894, in Liévin, France
Died:
October 28, 1975, in Paris, France

Georges Carpentier was a very well-known professional boxer from 1908 to 1926. He was in town to try and make it in American movies.

Boxing since he was 14, Carpentier worked his way up through the weight classes, becoming the European champion in each one; welterweight in 1911, middleweight in 1912 and light heavyweight in 1913. In June that year, he beat Billy "Bombardier" Wells to become the heavyweight champion of Europe. The next year, he fought and won over Pat O'Keeffe and Ed "Gunboat" Smith to become the "White Heavyweight Champion of the World."

Charpentier was also a boxing referee, performing this role during the world title bout between Jack Johnson and Frank Moran in June 1914. Becoming a fighter pilot in the French Air Force during World War I, he was awarded the top military honors: the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Millitaire.

After defending his heavyweight title twice in 1919, Carpentier dopped down to the light heavyweight class and knocked out Battling Levinsky in the fourth round in Jersey City, New Jersey. In 1914 he squared off against heavyweight Jack Dempsey in boxing's first $1 million dollar purse in Jersey City. Carptentier was knocked out in the fourth. After that, he fought and lost against a Senegalese fighter named Battling Siki in 1922. He was now loosing his titles in many of the classes in which he had fought.

With his boxing career over, Carpentier did the only sensible thing — he bacame a song and dance man! Touring on the vaudeville curcuit in the US and England led Carpentier to dabble with films. In 1920 French director Felix Léonnec headlined the boxer in a eight part serial Le Trésor de Kériolet - The Treasury of Kériolet. 1920 also saw the release of The Wonder Man, made for the newly-formed British-based Robertson-Cole Company.

Now a well-known vaudvillian, Carpentier appeared onstage at the Chinese at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. He shared the stage with the comedy song duo Van & Schenck along with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, Mike Donlin, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful! Carpentier sang the song "If I Could Learn to Love" in the Warner Bros. musical revue film Show of Shows, released in December 1929.

Warner's gave Carpentier a supporting role in their musical comedy Hold Everything, released in March 1930. Carpentier returned to Europe, making one more film in 1930 before taking a few years off before making the French film Toboggan - AKA: Battling Geo, released in March 1934.

Giving up on movie stardom, Carpentier opened a swanky bar in Paris called Chez Georges Carpentier. Despite having to change locations, he would keep this bar going until his death
from a heart attack in 1975 at the age of 81. A sports arena in Paris is named after him, the Halle Georges Carpentier.

    The Carsons

The Carsons were billed as "Texas Tommy dancers" in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 in 1928.

  Walter Catlett

Born: February 4, 1889, in San Francisco, California
Died: November 14, 1960, in Woodland Hills, California

Walter Catlett was a leading supporting player during the early sound period and beyond. His thin frame and sometimes twangy voice made him a perfect small-town sherrif, doctor, newspaperman, or shyster lawyer.

Born in San Francisco, Catlett ventured into showbiz via vaudeville. Making his Broadway debut in So Long Letty with Charlotte Greenwood in the 1916-17 season, he got a part in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1917, and introduced the Gershwin standard "Oh, Lady Be Good!" in Lady Be Good! with Adele and Fred Astaire in the 1924-25 season. His final Broadway credit is the Gershwin's Treasure Girl with Gertrude Lawrence and Clifton Webb in the 1928-29 season.

Having been making films out in Fort Lee, New Jersey, since 1924's feature Second Youth with Lunt and Fontanne, Catlett made the trek to Hollywood, to make films out where the action was.

He was shooting Married in Hollywood at Fox when he appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, July 13, 1929. Fittingly, he was the master of ceremonies during a performance "dedicated to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks," who were having their annual Convention in Los Angeles that year.

Catlett had supporting parts in many films, standouts of which are: as Murphy in The Front Page (released in April, 1931), Bingy in Platinum Blonde (released in October, 1931), Bates in Rain (which world premiered at the Chinese in September, 1932), Barsad in A Tale of Two Cities (which played the Chinese in January, 1936), Morrow in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (released in April, 1936), Slocum in Bringing Up Baby (released in February, 1938), did the voice of J. Worthington Foulfellow in Pinocchio (released in February, 1940), as a theatre manager in Yankee Doodle Dandy (released in June, 1942), Joe Brooks in Dancing in the Dark (played the Chinese in February, 1950), Colonel Castine in The Inspector General (released in December, 1949), and Professor Quigley in Friendly Persuasion (released in November, 1956).

Catlett died of a stroke at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, in 1960 at the age of 71.

  Chief Caupolican

Born: October 11, 1876, in Temuco, Chile
Died: January 31, 1968, in Seattle, Washington

Born Emile Barrangon, Chief Caupolican is credited with being the first Native American to sing major roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His debut on March 9, 1921 was in the role of "Hans" in The Polish Jew, composed by Karel Weis-Leon. In a review in the New York Times, it was related that Chief Caupolican was half Chilean Indian of the Araucarias tribe. Educated in Europe to develop his musical gifts, he was said to have appeared in American vaudeville, and had been a lecturer on the Chatauqua circuit. He could converse in Spanish, English, French and German.

Caupolican appeared as the final act in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 at the Chinese Theatre in 1928. He made his Broadway debut in taking the role of "Black Eagle" in the Eddie Cantor show Whoopie! in December of 1928. He would make his one and only film appearance in the film version of Whoopie! in 1930.

Chief Caupolican began to lose his voice in the early 1950s, and had formed a frienship with music critic and author Anthony Boucher and was living in San Francisco. In 1959, when Caupolican was 83 years old, he married again and moved to Seattle.

  Charlie Chase

Born: Charles Joseph Parrott, October 20, 1893, in Baltimore, Maryland
Died: June 20, 1940, in Hollywood, California

Charlie Chase was a very active performer on both sides of the camera, closely associated with Hal Roach.

Performing in vaudeville since he was a teen, Charlie made the trip to break into pictures out in Hollywood fairly early — he started at the Christie Film Company in 1912, then skipped along to Keystone, being directed by Mack Sennett and appearing with Charles Chaplin.

Chase was so good, that he was allowed to direct films with Chaplin impersonator Billy West; some of these films also featured Oliver Hardy.

By 1920, Charlie was working with Hal Roach, where he became instrumental in producing the first of the Our Gang comedies. He rose to head the entire Roach outfit (with the exception of Harold Lloyd). By 1923, he had had enough paper-pushing; Roach allowed him to do his own short comedies as Charlie Chase.

Expanding from one-reelers, Chase did two-reelers, and the occasional trhee-reeler, working a good deal with director Leo McCarey. Some of his highpoint films are Mighty Like a Moose in 1926, Crazy Like a Fox in 1926, and Fluttering Hearts in 1927.

Chase was asked to play master of ceremonies with Hal Roach, and Gus Edwards at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, June 8, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. Young star Raquel Torres was the "star guest of honor" that evening.

Chase easily made the transition to sound, singing his own songs in short films, which became one of the key series (along with Laurel and Hardy and the Our Gang films) for the Hal Roach studio. Some of the better Chase shorts during this time include The Pip from Pittsburg in 1931, and On the Wrong Trek in 1936, which had bit parts for Laurel and Hardy. Chase had a part in the Laurel and Hardy feature Sons of the Desert in 1933.

With Roach concentrating on feature-length films, Chase attempted to do one which was to be called Bank Night, about Bank Night giveaways at a movie theatre, but due to problems selling it to movie theatres, it was edited down to a two-reeler and released as Neighborhood House in 1936. After that, he was let go from the Roach studio.

Chase went on to make 20 or more short films for Columbia with director Del Lord, and most of them co-starring Ann Doran: From Bad to Worse, The Wrong Miss Wright, The Big Squirt, all three in 1937, Many Sappy Returns in 1938, The Heckler, and South of the Boudoir, both in 1940.

Chase also directed shorts on the Columbia lot, including the famous Three Stooges short Violent is the Word for Curley in 1938.

Chase had worked a good deal with his younger brother James, who died of drug addiction in 1939. Chase, who had alcohol and depression problems of his own, felt responsible, becoming even more depressive than normal. Throwing himself into his work caught up to him; he suffered a fatal heart attack in June, 1940.

His final film, His Bridal Fright, was released in July, 1940.

  Chaz Chase

Born: March 6, 1901, in unknown location, Russia
Died: August 4, 1983, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Billed as an "International Comedy Star," Chaz Chase had made it into the big time with a comedy act with featured the comedian wearing big loose clothes and eating anything and everything imaginable — from flowers and cardboard, to fully lit books of matches.

Chase appreared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 at the Chinese Theatre in 1928. Variety mentioned that "They (Los Angelinos) had not seen this comic out here, so it was a push-over."

Chase appeared in a Vitaphone short Chaz Chase: The Unique Comedian in 1928, and played a waiter in The Man on the Eiffel Tiower with Charles Laughton in 1949. He made several appearances on Broadway as well. He was an immense hit on the USO Tours in both the European and Pacific theatres during World War II.

Chase was an unstoppable performer, continuing in nightclubs in New York and Paris (he played the Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris for eight years in the 1950s), and on television long after vaudeville was dead. In his later years, he was in the cast of the Mickey Rooney / Ann Miller stage revue Sugar Babies in 1979, and did a guest appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on March 29, 1983, when the show was about to go on the road with Carol Channing and Robert Morse. He died later that year.

  Lew Cody

Born: Louis Joseph Côté, February 22, 1884, in Waterville, Maine
Died:
May 31, 1934, in Beverly Hills, California

Lew Cody was an actor who made a career of playing men with "bad intentions." Occasionally a romantic lead, Cody was vey busy in the silent era, and made the transition to sound.

French Canadian on his father's side, the family moved to Berlin, New Hampshire, where they ran a drug store. Young Louis was a soda jerk. After deciding not to seek a degree in medicine at McGill University in Montreal, he appeared in a student play there and got the acting bug. Initially hooking up with a stock theatre company in North Carolina, Cody studied acting in New York in a school run by Stanhope Wheatcroft. By 1907, Cody made his Broadway debut in the musical The Hired Girl's Millions. While flirting with the movies, Cody also appeared on Broadway in the musical revue The Whirl of the World in the 1914 season.

Cody married actress Dorothy Dalton in 1910; they divorced after a year, then remarried in 1913. Divorcing once more in 1914, Cody moved to Los Angeles to make it in the movies. His first role was as the "be mine or I'll evict you from your home" heavy in the two-reeler Harp of Tara, released in January. After falling in with director / producer Thomas Ince, Cody got to play a college football star with the unlikely name of "Bullet Dick" Ames in The Mating, released in July 1915.

By playing the second-banana heavy or hero in over 30 films brought Cody to the attention of director Cecil B. DeMille, who cast him in a triangle with Elliot Dexter and Gloria Swanson in her first big hit Don't Change Your Husband in 1919. Despite this, stardom eluded him. Cody was working for Louis B. Mayer as the third or fourth-banana in 1924's Husbands and Lovers, but once M-G-M was formed in 1925, Cody was headlining in the rom-com Monte Carlo in 1926. Cody continued as a top star at Metro through the release of the silent comedy A Single Man in 1929. In September 1926, Cody impetuously proposed to and married Mabel Normand. They remained together until her death from tuberculosis in February 1930.

Cody appeared onstage at the Chinese at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. He shared the stage with the comedy song duo Van & Schenck along with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, Georges Carpentier, Mike Donlin, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

Cody's first sound film had him playing an alloholic laywer in the shipboard romance What a Widow!, with Gloria Swanson, released in September 1930. Cody was in the cast for director Josef von Sternberg's Dishonored with Marlene Dietrich in April 1931. Cody starred or co-starred in ten features in 1931, including A Woman of Experience with Helen Twelvetrees and the crime movie X Marks the Spot. He made nine more films in 1932, culminating with Under-Cover Man with George Raft.

Plagued with heart troubles Cody slowed down in 1933, appearing in supporting roles in four films. In May 1934, Cody died in his sleep at his home in Beverly Hills at the age of 50. His last film was the Jack Oakie musical Shoot the Works, released posthumously in July 1934.

    Jerry Coe

Jerry Coe was a stand-up comedian who was "a little different, that's all." He appreared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody at the Chinese Theatre in 1929. Variety mentioned Coe and the other acts on the bill were all "show stoppers."

  Lester Cole

Born: June 19, 1904, in New York, New York
Died: August 15, 1985, in San Francisco, California

Lester Cole is known for being one of the "Hollywood Ten" who were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about their political beliefs before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.

Cole was the son of Polish immigrants in New York City. His father was a garment industry union organizer, and was raised in an atmosphere of socialism and politics from an early age.

Somehow, Cole became interested in the theatre and the movies, becoming an assistant on Max Reinhardt's staging of The Miracle in 1924. Touring the country with it, the play stopped in Los Angeles to play the Shrine Auditorium. According to Cole, the producers had scheduled a last-minute rehearsal before an audience of Hollywood's elite to see if any big director would buy the film rights; to have his revenge, a furious Reinhardt turned the rehearsal over to a bewildered Cole, who got through it regardless.

Later, a friend told Cole about the Chinese Theatre opening, so he went to see Grauman at his office at the Egyptian Theatre. Grauman had attended The Miracle rehearsal and liked the way Cole had handled the situation. Cole was hired to be Grauman's assistant director. Pay: $75 per week!

Cole worked on
the prologues for King of Kings in 1927, and The Gaucho in 1928. When Cole told Grauman he was underpaying the Latino second-string performers in the "Agrentine Nights" prologue, relations between the two men became frosty, and after The Gaucho opened, Cole quit. He never saw Grauman again.

Breaking into screenwriting in 1932 on If I Had a Million, Cole must have found working for the studios to be inequitable, because only one year later, he helped establish the first union of Hollywood writers, the Screen Writers Guild.

In 1934, Cole officially became a member of the American Communist Party, and susequently found himself being summond by HUAC. For his refusal to incriminate himself for his right of free association, he was fined $1,000 and spent 10 months in jail. When he got out, he found himself "blacklisted," unable to find work at the studios.

Undaunted, he wrote scripts anyway, having friends "front" for him. His most famous script was for the film Born Free, which was credited to his front, Gerald L. C. Copley. In 1981, he published Hollywood Red: The Autobiography of Lester Cole. He died of a heart attack in 1985.

    Senorita Cordova

Senorita Cordova was a castanet dancer, performing a solo number in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Argentine Nights" for the film The Gaucho in 1927.

    Corinne

Corinne was a costume designer, working primarily in the theatre, where all details tend to disappear. She is credited with designing the costimes for the Sid Grauman Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody in 1929. She also did the costume design for the Sid Grauman Prologue "Studio Life" for the film The House of Rothschild in 1934, which is the last of the real Grauman prologues. She has only one credit on the Internet Movie Database: doing the costumes for a 1954 television production of Mandrake the Magician, starring Coe Norton as Mandrake and Woody Strode as Lothar.

  Edna Covey

Edna Covey appears to have been a fairly well-known dancer. There are no other details about her, except that she appeared in the Sid Grauman Prolgue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 at the Chinese Theatre in 1928, but she was not on the program for the "Yukon Nights" prologue, which was introduced mid-run of the film.

  Lynn Cowan

Born: June 8, 1888, in Iowa Falls, Iowa
Died: August 29, 1973, in Pensacola, Florida

Lynn Cowan was another all-round entertainer from the glory days of vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley. A composer as well as a performer, Cowan appeared in a number of films.

Cowan intended to become a civil engineer, graduating with his bachelor's degree from Iowa State College. The stage beckoned however, with Cowan teaming up with Bill Bailey to tour the vaudeville circuit. Somewhere along the line, he began to write music for songs, including "Kisses" and "Just Give Me a Week in Paris in 1918 and "Dream House" in 1926.

Cowan found himself a small role in the John Ford directed The Fighting Heart, released in October, 1925, and dabbled in short films.

Cowan was riding high though, having contributed music and lyrics to the song "Then I'll Know Why" to the Chester Morris crime / musical (and Best Picture nominee) Alibi, released in April, 1929, and the songs "I'm in Love with You," "That New Step" and "Web of Love" in what has to be the oddest early sound musical — starring Erich von Stroheim of all people — The Great Gabbo, to be released that September.

it was during this time that Cowan was asked to play master of ceremonies onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, August 3, 1929. The stage show also included "Guest of Honor" Marion Harris, with Raquel Torres, Gwen Lee. and Josephine Dunn.

It appears that Cowan's stage personality got him a gig as M.C. at the St. Louis Fox Theatre, for which he composed the song "Ain't Got the St. Louis Blues No More" in 1930. His final film credit is in a bit part as a reporter in I'll Fix It with Jack Holt for Columbia in 1934.

During World War II, Cowan became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers, earning a Legion of Merit medal, which is pretty amazing, considering the guy was in his 60s. He spent some of his twilight years in Kauai, Hawaii, but died in Pensacola, Florida at the age of 85.

Joan Crawford in the lobby of Grauman's Chinese Theatre during the premiere of Grand Hotel, on Friday, April 29, 1932.
  Joan Crawford

Born: Lucille Fay LeSueur, March 23, 1903 or 1908, in San Antionio, Texas
Died: May 10, 1977, in New York, New York

M-G-M star Joan Crawford had been cast in the the film Our Modern Maidens, and began dating her co-star, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; they appeared together at the "Midnite Matinee" for The Broadway Melody on Saturday, March 30, 1929, where they were "star guests" along with Anita Stewart, and George Sidney. Crawford and Fairbanks married later that year in June.

Crawford was asked to leave her imprints in Grauman's forecourt in September, 1929, and more information on her life may be found on her Forecourt Honoree page.

  Cecil Cunningham

Born: Edna Cecil Cunningham, August 2, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri
Died: April 17, 1959, in Woodland Hills, California


Cecil Cunningham was a multi-talented supporting player on Broadway and in the movies from the late 1920s to the 1960s.

Learning to sing and perform at her local church, Cunningham started out with a job as a switchboard operator at a bank. After doing some modelling, she developed a comdy act which became successful in vaudeville.

Her rise in showbiz combined a mixture of Broadway shows like The Greenwich Village Follies of 1919; singing on tour with the Boston Opera, and doing comedy at the Palace Theatre; anywhere her bubbly personality could boost a show.

Newly arrived in Hollywood to work as a supporting "Aunt" in the Norma Shearer talkie Their Own Desire (which would be released in December), Cunningham appeared at the Chinese Theatre's "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 14, 1929. She shared the bill with Gus Edwards, Anita Page, Gwen Lee, Armida, Charles Kaley, Edward Lankow and Jack Stanley.

Cunningham went on to appear in almost 90 films, usually playing small roles. 1932 seems to have been a banner year for her; she played a "Gambler Selling a Ring" in Mata Hari (which played the Chinese in January), a "Laundress" in Love Me Tonight in August, a "Woman Manager" in Blonde Venus in September and "Emily's Friend" in If I Had a Million in November.

She had parts in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in 1936, The Awful Truth in 1937, Kitty Foyle in 1940 and Du Barry was a Lady (which played the Chinese in July 1943).

After World War II, Cunningham's career thinned considerably. She had some scenes in The Bride Goes Wild in 1948, but she was cut from the picture. She acted in only two television shows in the 1950s. Her final effort was a television movie of the Nativity story, Joyful Hour aired in syndication in December 1960.

In 1988, Cunningham died of heart disease at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills. She was 70 years old.

  Lili Damita

Born: Lilianne Marie Madeleine Carré, July 10, 1904, in Blaye, France
Died: March 21, 1994, in Palm Beach, Florida

Lili Damita was a French film star, who was brought out to Hollywood at the close of the silent era. She is most famous for having been married to Errol Flynn during his salad days of the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Globtrotting from an early age, Lili was enrolled in the ballet school at the Paris Opera in 1918, when she was 14 years old. In 1921, she was awarded a role in a film as the grand prize in a beauty magazine contest, which led to roles in other silent films.

Given a starring role in the Austrian film Das Spielzeug von Paris (Red Heels) in 1925, she married the film's director, Michael Curtiz, but the marriage (surprise!) did not last. By the time Curtiz was brought to Hollywood by Warner Bros., and Damita was brought over by Sam Goldwyn, the two were divorced already.

Once in the Goldwyn stable, Damita made her American film debut in The Rescue with Ronald Coleman in 1929. Damita appeared as a "guest artist" (along with Camilla Horn) at the "Midnite Matinee" performance of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 6, 1929.

A great box-office success for Damita was her co-starring with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe in The Cock Eyed World, which she made at Fox on loanout from Goldwyn (which played the Chinese in 1929). She continued to make films in Hollywood through the 1930s: Fighting Caravans (1931), This is the Night (1932), Goldie Gets Along (1933), Brewster's Millions (1935). It was while working at Warner Bros. on Frisco Kid in 1935 that she met and married then-unknown Errol Flynn, with whom she had a son. They would divorce in 1942.

Damita retired from the screen in 1938, residing in Palm Beach, Florida, where she would remarry in 1962. Damita succumed to Alzheimer's disease in 1994.

  Karl Dane

Born: Rasmus Karl Therkelsen Gottlieb, October 12, 1886, in Copenhagen, Denmark
Died: April 14, 1934, in Los Angeles, California

Karl Dane was a key supporting player in the silent era, instantly recognizable for his great stature and goofy manner. He did not make it into the sound period.

Dane's father had built a toy theatre, which got Karl interested in performing. But acting doesn't pay the bills, so young Karl studied to become a machinist. He served in the Danish Army. By 1912, Dane had a wife and two children. In 1914, he was called up to serve in World War I.

Joining many others seeking to escape war-torn Europe, Dane, with no money and no English, arrived at Ellis Island in 1916. He lived in Brooklyn and Lincoln, Nebraska, then moved back to New York, working as an auto mechanic for $3 per week.

In 1917, Dane found himself doing extra work at the Vitagraph studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, making $3 per day! Soon, he was playing German military types in films: My Four Years in Germany (1918), To Hell with the Kaiser! (1918), and The Great Victory, Wilson or the Kaiser? The Fall of the Hohenzollerns (1919).

In 1921, Dane married again, quit the movies, moved to Van Nuys and ran a chicken farm. Tragically, his wife Helen died in childbirth in 1923. Friends from the film biz rescued him from his doldrums, eventually landing him a role in King Vidor's whopping hit film The Big Parade in 1925, which starred John Gilbert and Renée Adorée. For the next several years, Dane was everywhere.

He had signifigant roles in La Boheme (1926), The Son of the Sheik (1926), The Scarlett Letter (1926), The Red Mill (1927). M-G-M teamed Dane up with George K. Arthur, and the pair made several successful comedies together: Rookies (1927), Circus Rookies (1928), Detectives (1928), Brotherly Love (1928), All at Sea (1929), and China Bound (1929).

After Rookies, M-G-M put Dane under contract, but while filming The Trail of '98 (which played the Chinese in 1928), Dane broke his shoulder; his recovery was protracted and difficult.

Karl Dane was asked to be an "honored guest" (along with Anita Page, Bessie Love, and Mary Doran) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 11, 1929. He was also on the card at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, August 17, 1929, with The Brox Sisters, Joey Ray, Frank Richardson, The Rasch Ballet, Bobby Dolan and Walter O'Keefe.

But there was another problem — Dane's thick Danish accent. Despite appearing in sound films like The Big House (1930), Billy the Kid (1930), and some short films, work for Dane slowed to a trickle. M-G-M broke his contract. Paramount sent him out on the vaudeville circuit with George Arthur, but it wasn't exactly a roaring success. Dane lost all of his money in a mining failure. He impulsively proposed to a telephone operator and married her, only to divorce her a few weeks later. Desparate, he bought into a hamburger stand in Westwood, but it too was a failure. While meeting a young lady for a movie date, Dane was pickpocketed and lost all of his money. When he was late for the date, the young woman went to Dane's apartment only to find that he had shot himself in the head.

Since Dane had no realatives, actor Jean Hersholt stepped up and insisted M-G-M pay for Dane's funeral, which was immediately held. 50 people attended.

    William Davis

Marice Morgan was an organist, who played during the engagement Sid Grauman's Prologue "Argentine Nights" for the film The Gaucho in 1927.

    Mariano Del Gado

Mariano Del Gado was a musician who made a name for himself by becoming a master player of gourds. He performed several solo numbers in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Argentine Nights" for the film The Gaucho in 1927.



  Dixie Jubilee Singers

The Dixie Jubilee Singers were an African-American choral group, founded by a woman who would become known for organizing, training, arranging and composing for chiors, Eva Jessye (1895-1992).

Jessye was born in Kansas, studied music at Western University in that state, and Langston University in Oklahoma. She took a chior directorship in Baltimore, Maryland in 1919, then worked in Oklahoma again, then back to Baltimore by 1926. She began concertizing under the name "Dixie Jubilee Singers" the name under which they appeared at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. The group appeared on the radio, and made recordings for Brunswick.

It was only natural that director King Vidor would want to use the group in his Afro-American musical, Hallelujah in 1929. At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 23, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, the cast of Hallelujah were presented and performed. The Dixie Jubilee Singers appeared with Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, as well as director King Vidor.

Eva Jessye thought working at M-G-M was a discrimitory experience, and said so to the press; thereafter, she concentrated on working in the concert music world; she was the choral director for the original production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess in 1935. She also composed original spirituals and arrangements of traditional songs. She became involved in the civil rights movement, having her chior perform at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. She taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for many years.

    Dizzy Dumb Doras

We feel that the "Dizzy Dumb Doras" listed as being the "Masters of Ceremonies" in the "Broadway Nights" prologue for the film The Broadway Melody were a one-time only act performing only on the opening night of the picture, Friday, February 1, 1929. Their identities are alas, lost to history.

A "Dumb Dora" was slang at that time for a dim-witted female.

Music director Robert Emmett Dolan in 1947.
  Bobby Dolan

Born: Robert Emmett "Bobby" Dolan, August 3, 1908, in Hartford, Connecticut
Died: September 26, 1972, in Los Angeles, California

Robert Emmett Dolan was a conductor, arranger and songwriter. He did a lot of work at Paramount in the 1930s and 40s.

Born the eldest of 12 children, Dolan learned piano at his mother's knee. He drifted into playing piano in showbiz, playing in dance bands, vaudeville and the like. Dolan was asked to play at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, August 17, 1929, with The Brox Sisters, Joey Ray, Frank Richardson, The Rasch Ballet, Karl Dane and fellow Hartfordian Walter O'Keefe. with whom Dolan would write several songs, including songs for the Pathé comedy The Sophmore, released the following week. They would also collaborate on songs for the musical Red Hot Rhythm with Alan Hale, released in November, 1929. Both films were directed by Leo McCarey.

After doing "musical effects" for Sweet Kitty Briars at Warners' in 1930, he and
O'Keefe wrote a song included in Little Caesar ("You, I Love But You) released in early 1931.

Dolan made his Broadway debut as the piano player in the show East Wind in 1931. He quickly became a reliable musical director on The Great White Way, working on Cole Porter's Leave it to Me! in the 1938 season. He also conducted all performances of the Kern/Hammerstein show Very Warm for May in the 1939 season.

After working as musical director for Irving Berlin's Louisiana Purchase in 1940, Dolan accepted a job as musical direction man at Paramount, where his first assignment was Bing Crosby's Birth of the Blues in 1941. Big films Dolan worked on include Holiday Inn (1942), Going My Way (1944), Road to Utopia (1945), Road to Rio (1947), and The Great Gatsby (1949).

In 1945, Dolan wrote a nonsense song for the Fred MacMurray comedy Murder, He Says, called "Honor Flysis," which has since become the theme for National Public Radio's All Things Considered program.

With Johnny Mercer on lyrics, Dolan did the music for Texas, Li'l Darlin' which ran for 293 perfs, from November, 1949 to September, 1950. He also wrote the music for Not for Children, which flopped in 1951.

Dolan returned to Hollywood to be the producer on White Christmas in 1954. He produced The Girl Rush with Roz Russell in 1955, and was the producer of the 28th Annual Academy Award broadcast in 1956. Dolan did the score for The Three Faces of Eve in 1957.

Dolan worked as musical director on a pair of Broadway shows in 1959, then, in 1964 and working with Johnny Mercer again, wrote the music for Foxy, starring Bert Lahr, which flopped. His last credit was being musical director for the show Coco, which opened in 1969. Also at this time, Dolan taught mucis at Columbia University in New York. He published a guide to his process as Music in Modern Media in 1967. Dolan suffered a heart attack while sleeping and died in 1972 at the age of 64.

  Mike Donlin

Born: May 30, 1878, in Peoria, Illinois
Died:
September 24, 1933, in Hollywood, California

Mike Donlin was a Major League Baseball player, who, as an outfielder and first baseman, played with the New York Giants as they won the World Series in 1905. After baseball, Donlin hung out in Hollywood.

Born in Peoria Illinois, Donlin's family moved to Erie Pennsylvania. When still a young boy, his father and mother were killed in a train accident. Forced to hustle for survival, Mike did a number of odd jobs until, at the age of 15, he got a job selling candy on a train bound for California. He never looked back.

Beginning his baseball career in 1899 with the St. Louis Perfectos (later the Cardinals), Donlin got the nickname "Turkey Mike" because of the unique strut he used when approaching the plate.

Playing for thr Baltimore Orioles in 1901, then the Cincinnati Reds in 1902-1904, Donlin joined the New York Giants in 1904, and remained with the tearm until 1906, played for them again in 1908 and 1911. During the "dead ball" era with larger playing areas, home runs were more difficult. Over his career, Donlin had a batting average of .333, making him #28 of all time. He slugged 51 home runs, and had 543 runs batted in, changing his nickname from "Turkey Mike" to "The Baseball Idol of Manhattan."

An overwhelmingly outgoing personality, flamboyant clothes and theatrical style atracted the attention of vaudeville comedian Mabel Hite, with the two marrying in 1906. The two of them toured in a baseball-themed play Stealing Home for several years. Mabel got Mike a part in the Broadway musical A Certain Party in 1911. Mabel (who penned some of the songs) was the star of the show. It flopped.

Donlin played with the Boston Rustlers, then the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1912. In October of that year, Mabel died of intestinal cancer. Pittsburgh put Donlin on wavers and was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. Donlin refused to go. He was able to return to the New York Giants in 1914, but it wasn't the same. Despite getting married again to actress Rita Ross in October 1914, Donlin's alcohol use was getting the better of him; baseball was out, but acting was fun.

Drinking pals with John Barrymore, Donlin used his entrée with the actor to get into pictures, first appearing in a supporting role in Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman, released in December 1917. After taking parts in a couple of films, Donlin headed for Broadway, where he had a part in the drama Smooth As Silk in 1921. The show closed after 50 perfs.

Donlin was able to land roles in a number of films after returning from New York. He played third mate Flask to Barrymore's Ahab in The Sea Beast, releaed in January 1926; he played a Union General in Buster Keaton's masterpiece The General, released in December 1926.

These are decidedly small roles —  walk-ons, really. But when it came to make a movie musical about baseball starring the comic songsters Van & Schenck called They Learned About Women, Donlin took a role. In order to plug the film and contribute to a baseball-themed show, Donlin appeared onstage at the Chinese at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. He shared the stage with his They Learned stars Van & Schenck along with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

After this, Donlin returned to Broadway; he got a role in the drama This One Man in 1930 (with Paul Muni in the cast), but it flopped. Hollywood became his bread and butter, where he took quite a number of bit parts in films, notably Arrowsmith in 1931, Madison Square Garden, starring Jack Oakie, where he played a referee named Mike Donlin (!) and he played an inmate in 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (with Paul Muni) and She Done Him Wrong with Mae West all in 1932.

In 1933, Donlin died in his sleep from a fatal heart attack at the age of 55. His last film Swellhead with Wallace Ford was realeased posthumously in May 1935.

  Mary Doran

Born: September 8, 1910, in New York City, New York
Died: September 6, 1995, in New York City, New York

Mary Doran emerged from obscurity in New York City, became a Ziegfeld Girl, came to Hollywood, and became a reliable player in films into the mid-1940s.

Doran trained at the Ned Wayburn (Ziegfeld's choreographer) Dancing Academy; she must have done well, for by the time she was only 16, she was dancing in Ziegfeld shows.

Sent out to Hollywood at the age of 18, Doran had a supporting part in Lucky Boy with George Jessel (1928). Her fourth film was as an uncredited "Flo" in The Broadway Meoldy, so she was asked to be an "honored guest" (along with Anita Page, Bessie Love, and Karl Dane) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 11, 1929.

Doran quickly gained more prominent roles in films such as The Trial of Mary Dugan (with Norma Shearer in 1929), The Girl in the Show (with Bessie Love in 1929), The Divorcee (with Norma Shearer and which played the Chinese in 1930), and Movie Crazy (with Harold Lloyd in 1932).

But toward the middle 1930s, Doran slipped back into the chorus, not even receiving a screen credit for Naughty Marietta (which played the Chinese in 1935). Her last films are from 1936; nothing is known of the 60 years of life remaining to her in New York City.

  Louise Dresser

Born: Louise Josephine Kerlin, October 17, 1878, in Evansville, Indiana
Died: April 24, 1965, in Woodland Hills, California

Louise Dresser was a well-known supporting player on Broadway and in films right from the start. With her large frame, warmth and personality, she played loving mothers, and wicked mothers-in-law with equal aplomb.

Louise's father was a train conductor, who died when she was only 15 years-old. As a tribute to a songwriter she knew, she changed her last name to "Dresser" and went right out to make it in vaudeville as a singer.

She made her Broadway debut at the age of 28 in the musical revue About Town, running from August to December, 1906. She fared somewhat better in the musical The Girl Behind the Counter, playing the matron of a large department store, which ran for 282 perfs, from October, 1907 to June, 1908. She had a supporting role way down the card in the long-running hit look at the Jewish side of the garment industry, Potash and Perlmutter from August, 1913 to September, 1915 for 441 perfs. Her last Broadway apperance was in Rock-a-Bye Baby in 1918. (How could it miss? it had Alan Hale Sr. and Frank Morgan!!) It flopped.

Her first film was The Glory of Clementina, in 1922. She co-starred with Edward Everett Horton in the silent version of Ruggles of Red Gap in 1923, and finally got to have the lead in the title role of The Goose Woman at Universal in 1925. Also that year, Dresser put the moves on Rudolph Valentino in The Eagle. Dresser was nominated as Best Actress Oscar for A Ship Comes In at the first Academy Awards in 1929 (she lost out to Janet Gaynor).

So Dresser was out in Hollywood making pictures when she appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, July 6, 1929. She was in a star-studded micro version of Gus Edward's School Days. The cast included Gus Edwards himself along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, and Marie Dressler.

Dresser was a very busy actor. She played Al Jolson's mom in Mammy in 1930, played Calamity Jane in Caught in 1931, played Janet Gaynor's mom in State Fair in 1933, and was in the cast in the role of Empress Elizabeth in Paramount's The Scarlett Empress in 1934. Her last film was Maids of Salem, playing Claudette Colbert's aunt, in 1937.

A great and long-standing friend to Buster Keaton, Dressler appeared on the This is Your Life episode devoted to the comedian, broadcast over NBC on April 3, 1957.

Dresser retired from show business to have more time with her second husband, Jack Gardner, until his death in 1950. Alone now, she carried along for another 15 years before she died of an intestinal ailment in 1965, at the age of 86.

  Marie Dressler

Born: Lelia Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868, in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
Died: July 28, 1934, in Santa Barbara, California

When The Hollywood Review of 1929 played the Chinese, Marie Dressler appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show on Saturday nights on July 6, 1929 (where a star-studded micro version of Gus Edwards' School Days was performed by Gus Edwards along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, and Louise Dresser.

Marie Dressler is one of the greats. More information on her life may be found on her Forecourt Honoree page.

Vivian and Rosetta Duncan circa late 1920s.
Program for Grauman's Egyptian Theatre during the run of both the film of Topsy and Eva, and the Duncan Sisters appearing in Sid's Prologue, "Plantation Memories," beginning in July 1927.
  The Duncan Sisters

Rosetta Duncan
Born: November 23, 1894, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia
Died: December 4, 1959, in Berwyn, Illinois

Vivian Duncan
Born: June 17, 1897, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia
Died: September 19, 1986, in Beverly Hills, California

The Duncan Sisters were sisters who became a success on the vaudeville circuit with an act they called "Topsy and Eva."

Born to a violinist father turned salesman, the Duncan Sisters aimed for the stage at a very young age. Rattling about Los Angeles, the Duncans were featured in the 1911 edition of Gus Edwards' Kiddies Review. After their debut at the Los Angeles Pantages Theatre in 1914, they developed their act with Rosetta as the comic, with Vivian as a "dumb blonde" straightman, as it were. On the vaudeville circuit, they called themselves "The Song and Patter Kids."

The duo made their Broadway debut as part of the huge cast of the musical revue Doing Our Bit starring Ed Wynn at the Winter Garden for 130 performances from October 1917 to February 1918. They had a solo song called "I'm So Glad My Mamma Don't Know Where I'm At."

By May of 1919, the Duncans were in a Jerome Kern musical set in a girl's school "Down South" called She's a Good Fellow starring female impersonator Joseph Santley for 120 perfs. The show closed in August 1919. The Sisters had parts on Broadway in Tip Top, which ran for 246 perfs, from October 1920 to May 1921.

Although the origins are contradictory, Duncans enjoyed their greatest success by lifting some characters from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, starring in and writing the music and lyrics to the show they called Topsy and Eva, which opened in San Francisco in July 1923. Although Eva dies in the novel, the Duncan's resurrected her for "further adventures," with Eva, a white girl played by Vivian, and Topsy a black girl played by Rosetta in blackface.

The Duncan's very much wanted to bring the show to Broadway, but had to tour with it first, in Los Angeles and Chicago. Finally bringing the show to Gotham, Topsy and Eva ran for 159 performances, from December 1924 to May 1925.

The film of Topsy and Eva was beset with troubles, budget overruns and a change of directors and studios (!). When it was finally premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in July 1927, the Duncan Sisters appeared onstage at all performances in Sid's Prologue entitled "Plantation Memories." One presumes that the Duncan Sisters gave it plently of slapstick, although accounts suggest that they both played it without blackface. The Topsy and Eva film, shorn of its music and dialog, flopped.

Sid Grauman asked the Duncan's to perform at at the Chinese at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, August 24, 1929. By then, M-G-M had decided to place the Duncan Sisters in their own musical-revue style film, which they were in town to shoot; the Sam Wood directed It's a Great Life (even with Technicolor scenes and a script by Al Boasberg) flopped upon release in December 1929.

A third staging of Topsy and Eva opened in Los Angeles in 1931. There was a revival in 1942 also. Some of their act was filmed for the short Surprise! released by Warner Bros. in July 1935. The Duncan Sisters became somewhat notorious for performing as children up into the 1950s, appearing on Liberace's television show in 1954.

There was a third Duncan Sister, named Evelyn, born in 1883; she was ten years older than Rosetta and Vivian, and so, she made her way into showbiz via a different (and obscure) path, and who is thought to have gotten her younger sisters the job in Doing Our Bit in 1917. She is credited with only one film, playing Virginia Thorne in the 1915 film of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, starring Cyril Maude in the title role.

Rosetta and Vivian apparently continued to write songs into the 1940s. Rosetta died in 1959 from injuries sustained in an automobile crash in Berwyn Illinois, outside of Chicago, at the age of 65. Vivian held on until Alzheimer's disease got the better of her in 1986 at the age of 89.

  Josephine Dunn

Born: Mary Josephine Dunn, May 1, 1906, in New York, New York
Died: February 3, 1983, in Thousand Oaks, California

Josephine Dunn was a supporting player in Hollywood from the late silent period and into the 1930s. Versitle in comedy as well as drama, Dunn had quite a ride.

Dunn found her way into the chorus of the Jerome Kern Broadway musical Dear Sir by late 1924. It only ran for two weeks. She would occasionally return to Broadway.

Signed on with Paramount, Dunn made her film debut in Fascinating Youth, released in March, 1926, where she played the girl who Charles "Buddy" Rogers is supposed to marry. All the players in this film are billed as "Paramount's Junior Stars."

After a few bit parts, Dunn was given a supporting role again in Love's Greatest Mistake, released in February, 1927, with William Powell, but seems to have worked at all the studios, looking for a good fit.

At M-G-M, Dunn got second billing with William Haines in the comedy Excess Baggage, released in September, 1928, and did her first talkie at Warner Bros., where she got got third billing as the heart-breaker, below Al Jolson and Betty Bronson, in The Singing Fool, released in September, 1928. Returning to M-G-M, Dunn got to play the romantic interest role in the Karl Dane / George K. Arthur comedy All at Sea, released in February, 1929.

Dunn was also voted a WAMPAS "Baby Star" in 1929. From what we can tell, the "Baby Stars" who had contracts with M-G-M at the time were asked to participate in the "Ambassador Fur Revue" at the "Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, May 18, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. The women who participated in this is speculative, but might have included Gwen Lee and Anita Page.

Dunn was probably at M-G-M shooting the William Haines comedy A Man's Man when she appeared onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, August 3, 1929. The stage show also included "Guest of Honor" Marion Harris, Raquel Torres, and Gwen Lee, with Lynn Cowan as master of ceremonies.

Dunn co-starred at Universal with Eddie Leonard in the musical Melody Lane, released in October, 1929, and was in the cast, along with Anita Page, in the Joan Crawford picture Our Modern Maidens, released in September, 1929. She rattled about the studios again in less than stallar films until she was cast in a supporting role in the Maurice Chevalier / Jeanette MacDonald musical, One Hour with You, released in March, 1932.

Dunn kept at the picture game, but she didn't even get on the poster for her last film, Birth of a Baby, released in 1938. Married, since 1935 to Carroll Case (who would become a film and television producer), Dunn died of cancer at the age of 76.

Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards in the film Paramount on Parade (1930).
  Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards

Born: June 14, 1895, in Hannibal, Missouri
Died: July 17, 1971, in Hollywood, California

Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards is the most famous ukulele player, who introduced the instrument to American audiences at the dawn of the sound age. A performer and songwriter, he made many influential recordings and films.

Leaving home at the age of 14 to sing in the saloons of St. Louis, Cliff chose the ukulele because it was the cheapest instrument and was portable. In 1918, he popularized a song called "Ja-Da" on the vaudeville circuit. He was incorporated into the act of vaudeville headliner Joe Frisco, with whom he played the Palace in New York.

Beginning a long recording career in 1919, hit records for Ukulele Ike included "California, Here I Come," "Yes Sir, That's My Baby." "I'll See You in My Dreams," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," and "Singin' in the Rain."

Edwards appeared on Broadway in the shows The Mimic World in 1921; co-starred with Adele and Fred Astaire in the George and Ira Gershwin musical Lady, Be Good! in the 1924-1925 season; and performed in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 in the 1927-1928 season.

Edwards was playing the Los Angeles Orpheum Theatre when M-G-M executive Irving Thalberg caught his act, and signed him up to appear in The Hollywood Revue of 1929. He sang his hit tune "Singin' in the Rain" along with six other songs, including the wonderful "Charlie, Ike and Gus" with Charles King, and Gus Edwards, in the film.

Edwards made an appearance with Rube Wolf, Polly Moran and Bobby Watson at the "Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, June 22, 1929, along with the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929.

"Ukulele Ike" became a specialty player in films and appeared in many of them: Way Out West (released in August, 1930), Hell Divers (which played the Chinese in December, 1931), George White's 1935 Scandals (played the Chinese in May, 1935), Saratoga (played in July, 1937).

Edwards even had a bit part in Gone with the Wind (released in December, 1939). He played the soldier in the hospital in Atlanta who tells Melanie and Scarlett about his family back home: "Did I tell you about my brother Jeb, Ma'am?" Unmistakeable voice.

After playing the reporter Endicott in His Girl Friday released in January, 1940, Edwards climbed to even great heights, by providing the voice of Jiminy Cricket in the animated film Pinocchio, released in February, 1940. No one can forget his vocal for the song "When You Wish Upon a Star."

Edwards formed a backup band and did a short called Cliff Edwards and His Buckaroos, released in March, 1941. He then did the voice of the lead crow in Disney's Dumbo, released in October, 1941, where he sang "When I See an Elephant Fly."

During World War II, Edwards was featured in a number of "B" Western musicals with his Buckaroos, then voiced Jiminy Cricket again in Disney's Fun and Fancy Free, released in September, 1947. Edwards would provide the voice for this charming character up through the episode "This Is Your Life Donald Duck" on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in March, 1960. He appeared on The Mickey Mouse Club show, and had his own show on CBS, The Cliff Edwards Show three afternoons a week on CBS in 1949.

A profligate spender and continual smoker, Edwards had blown through all his money by divorcing each of his three wives. Felled by a cardiac arrest while living in a home for indigent actors, his body was claimed and buried by both the Actor's Fund America and the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund. His grave marker at Valhalla Memorial Park in Burbank, California, was paid for by the Disney studio.

  Gus Edwards

Born: Gustav Simon, August 18, 1879, in Hohensalza, Prussia (now Inowroclaw, Poland)
Died: November 7, 1945, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Gus Edwards was a pereminent vaudevillian, songwriter, music publisher, producer, and eventually, musical movie star.

Moving with his family to America in 1885, he got a singing job in showbiz as a young lad. He began as a "song plugger" at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City. By age 17, he was touring with an act called The Newsboys Quintet. Despite not being able to make musical notation, he wrote a song with Tom Daly for May Irwin called "All I Want is My Black Baby Back," and his songwriting career commenced. In this song, a "Black Baby" refers to a boyfriend stationed at Camp Black, which was on Long Island between March and September 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Oh.

It was while entertaining troops at Camp Black that Edwards met his longtime collaborator Will Cobb; the pair would write many songs together while Edwards traveled the vaudeville circuit with his own company. Several prominent performers Edwards has been credited with discovering include: Walter Winchell, George Jessel, Eddie Cantor, the Marx Brothers, Eleanor Powell, Ray Bolger, and the Lane Sisters. His reputation was such that an industry nickname for him was "The Star Maker."

Edwards even owned his own theatre in New York City: the Gus Edwards Music Hall in 1908. Edwards wrote the music for many Broadway shows. He wrote music for the first musical staging of The Wizard of Oz in 1903, and worked on the Ziegfeld Follies of 1907, 1909, and 1910. His most enduring composition is the music, with Will Cobb's lyric, of "School Days" which goes: "School days, school days, good old golden rule days. . ." This guy was everywhere. He even wrote a tune for The Jazz Singer in 1927 called "If a Girl Like You Loved a Boy Like Me" but didn't get any screen credit. Not a big deal.

Gus Edwards was lured out to Hollywood in order to write virtually all the music and to star in M-G-M's big musical The Hollywood Revue of 1929. While out on the coast, he made an appearance at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, March 9, 1929. Edwards was asked back to appear at the "Midnite Matinee" again on Saturday, June 8, 1929.

When The Hollywood Review of 1929 played the Chinese, Gus Edwards appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late shows on Saturday nights twice: once on July 6, 1929 (where a star-studded micro version of School Days was performed by Edwards along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler), and Edwards appeared again on Saturday, September 14, 1929.

Finally, Edwards made his last appearance at the "Hollywood Midnite Frolic" which accompanied the film Rogue Song, on Saturday, February 1, 1930.

Edwards had a radio program originating in Los Angeles over KFWB called School Days
of the Air. While Edwards was still alive, Bing Crosby portrayed him (sort of) in a musical bio-(sort of) pic called The Star Maker in 1939.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in the lobby of Grauman's Chinese Theatre during the premiere of Grand Hotel, on Friday, April 29, 1932.
  Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Born: December 9, 1909, in New York, New York
Died: May 7, 2000, in New York, New York

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. naturally followed his famous father into the picture business, made several good films during the 1930s, then became a talented naval officer during World War II.

Junior was born to Douglas Fairbanks and his first wife Anna Beth Sully, when Doug was appearing on Broadway frequently. The marriage broke up in 1918, by which time, Fairbanks had become a huge star. Doug Jr. was raised by his mother in Paris and New York.

Given an acting contract at Paramount in 1923, he was only 14 when his first starring role became Stephen Steps Out. He became a supporting player, which was more suited for him, playing in Stella Dallas in 1925, and A Woman of Affairs in 1928.

He was cast in the the film Our Modern Maidens, and began dating its star, Joan Crawford; they appeared together at the "Midnite Matinee" for The Broadway Melody on Saturday, March 30, 1929, where he was a "star guest" along with Anita Stewart, and George Sidney. Fairbanks and Crawford married later that year in June.

Doug Jr. went over to Warner Bros to star in The Dawn Patrol in 1930, and Little Caesar in 1931, He scored a coup by co-starring with Katherine Hepburn in Morning Glory on a loanout to R-K-O in 1933.

Miffed at Warners' asking him to take a pay cut, Fairbanks spent the next couple of years working in England, where he became friends with Lord Mountbatten. Returning to Hollywood, he was put into The Prisoner of Zenda (which played the Chinese in 1937), and co-starred with Cary Grant and Victor McLaglen in the classic adventure film Gunga Din in 1939.

After that, Fairbanks was shoved in one action film after another. When the U.S. entered World War II, Fairbanks immediately enlisted and was assigned to Mountbatten's Commando staff in England. He was later assigned to South America, then witnessed the disaster of the Convoy PQ17 in the North Atlantic.

Fairbanks became interested in Military deception, and was heavily involved in the Beach Jumper program, which divereted attention from defenders by staging misleading offensives. Fairbanks recieved several decorations for his service and remained on duty in the Reserves until 1954, retiring with the rank of Captain.

Returning to Hollywood after the war, he found himself in That Lady in Ermine (which played the Chinese in 1948), but was dissatisfied with the result. He returned to England. Despite what could be seen as indifference to the picture business, he stayed with it, appearing in English films and television. He even toured in My Fair Lady in 1968, and appeared as a guest on The Love Boat with Ginger Rogers, which aired in November, 1979.

He published his autobiography: Salad Days in 1988, and wrote memiors of his military service, A Hell of a War in 1993.

  Fanchon and Marco

Fanchon (Wolff) Simon
Born: September 14, 1892, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia
Died: February 3, 1965, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Marco Wolff
Born: April 21, 1894, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia
Died: October 23, 1977, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Fanchon and Marco created a company which organized and toured stage presentations, called "Ideas" to deluxe movie houses around the country. Fanchon and Marco Ideas were showcased in many prominent theatres during both the silent era and into the sound era, where the economic advantage of mounting one unit and sending it around on the road, allowed the "movie with stage show" to continue, where other theatres dropped them. The idea behind the "Ideas" is more-or-less replicated in the film Footlight Parade from 1933.

Fanchon and Marco broke into showbiz on the vaudeville circuit by the time they were ten years old. Their act was as ballroom dancers with a finale of Marco playing the violin while Fanchon perched on his shoulders. By 1919, they had fashioned the Fanchon and Marco Revues, which then morphed into a dance troupe: The Sunkist Beauties, who went on a national tour in 1921, thereby giving F&M the notion of bicycling shows around the country.

The F&M "Ideas" were underway by 1923. With names such as "The Box of Candy Idea" or "Mickey Mouse Idea" or "All at Sea Idea" or "Top O'the World Idea" or "Gems & Jams Idea" these show names are frequently depicted in photos of theatre marquees during the silent and early sound eras.

Some of the talents who appeared in F&M shows include Ann Miller, Betty Grable, Bing Crosby, Buddy Edsen, Cyd Charisse, Doris Day, Fred and Adele Astaire, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland (The Gumm Sisters), Mae West, Mary Martin, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple.

In the early 1930s, the F&M Studio in Hollywood (where the Home Depot is today) was where all of the costumes and scenery were made for all of the shows. The Fanchon & Marco curcuit was large indeed, spanning the entire country. If you were booked into an "Idea," you could look forward to many grueling weeks on the road. The F&M Studio also contained a school.

After their costume shop made the costumes for Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for The Broadway Melody in 1929, Fanchon & Marco were brought in to provide stage shows at the Chinese when Grauman wasn't doing his own prologues: the "Moorish Melodic Fantasy" for the film Morocco in 1930, "presented" the show "Rhapsodie in Black" for the film Trader Horn in January of 1931, and an untitled "Stage Show Supreme" for the film Dirigible in April of that year.

F&M operated a small chain of "Southside Theatres" in the Los Angeles Market, with their headquarters the Manchester Theatre downtown, but that was all done by 1950 or so.

  Frank Fay

Born: Francis Anthony Donner, November 17, 1891, in San Francisco, California
Died: September 25, 1961, in Santa Monica, California

Frank Fay was a successful comedian on the Broadway stage and in vaudeville. Born to an Irish family in San Francisco, Frank changed his name and lit out for the stage in 1918. He developed a natural delivery method, one which Jack Benny later admitted was an inspiration for his own stage persona. He bacame a very well-known vaudeville headliner, as well as appearing on Broadway — in 1922, he staged, starred, wrote the book and the lyrics for the musical revue Frank Fay's Fables. The huge show flopped.

In 1928, he met a fast-rising starlette named Barbara Stanwyck, who was just recovering from the tragic death of her lover, Rex Cherryman. Fay and Stanwyck married on August 26, 1928.

Fay must have been out in Hollywood to make his first film, The Show of Shows at Warner Bros., when he was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 6, 1929. He was also recruited to vamp onstage when the people trying to attend the world premiere of Hell's Angels on Tuesday, May, 27, 1930 couldn't get to the theatre due to a huge traffic jam — Grauman's Prologue people were still trying to get it together and were grateful for the delay.

Fay had prominent roles in several films in 1930-31: Under a Texas Moon, The Matrimonial Bed, Bright Lights, and God's Gift to Women (all directed by Michael Curtiz) but somehow, film audiences weren't digging him onscreen.

Warners' giving Fay his own production company might not have been the best idea: his next film, the prophetically-named A Fool's Advice from 1932, was such a bad title, they had to re-name it: Meet the Mayor, which is not exactly an improvement.

So Fay drifted in Hollywood while his wife Barabra Stanwyck was becoming a household name. Although the two divorced in 1935, and Frank didn't drown himself, their relationship is widely thought to have been the inspiration behind the film A Star is Born (which played the Chinese in 1937).

In 1944, Fay created the role of Elwood P. Dowd in the original Broadway production of Harvey, opposite Josephine Hull. Reports are that Fay had become an uncontrolable egomaniac, and had to be replaced by Joe E. Brown and others, like James Stewart and Bert Wheeler for a time.

Fay has susequently gone down in history as being a notorious, anti-semitc, pro-Hitler, HUAC-supporting, zealot.

    Alex Fisher

See Ruth Harrison and Alex Fisher

  William Fountaine

Born: August 15, 1897, in Detroit, Michigan
Died: December 6, 1945, in New York City, New York

Not much is known of the life of William Fountaine before he became the "go to" leading man for pioneering film director Oscar Micheaux, appearing in four silent films for the director: The Dungeon and Uncle's Jasper's Will, both in 1922, Deceit and The Virgin of Seminole, in 1923.

Director King Vidor had wanted to make a film featuring African-American's long before making Hallelujah in 1929, and so, must have seen Fountaine's films and kept him in mind to play the "heavy" named Hot Shot in that film.

At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 23, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, the cast of Hallelujah were presented and performed; he appeared with Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, the Dixie Jubilee Singers along with director King Vidor.

Hallelujah was Fountaine's final film; nothing is known of his later life.

  John Gilbert

Born: John Cecil Pringle, July 10, 1897, in Logan, Utah
Died: January 9, 1936, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

John Gilbert rose through the ranks to become one of the most popular leading men of the silent era.

Born to showbiz parents, John's childhood was an unhappy one. Taking his mother's maiden name, Gilbert lit out for Hollywood, where he broke in with the Thomas Ince Studio. His mentor in pictures was leading director Maurice Tourneur, who put Gilbert in his stock company.

By 1919, Gilbert was starring opposite Mary Pickford in films. In 1921, Gilbert signed a three-year deal with the Fox Studio, where he stared in several films which did well, but after the Fox contract was up in 1924, Gilbert was signed by M-G-M, who placed him in higher-profile films, such as His Hour and He Who Gets Slapped, both from 1924, The Merry Widow, the hugely successful The Big Parade from 1925, and La Boheme with Lillian Gish in 1926.

Starring with Greta Garbo in The Flesh and the Devil in 1926, led to an offscreen romace between the two, with Garbo eventually saying that she wanted to be alone. This and other matters put Gilbert on Loius B. Mayer's bad side, with Mayer reported to be highly disgruntled over Gilbert's success. Many historians attribute Gilbert's fall to Mayer's ill-feeling.

John Gilbert was the master of ceremonies on the opening night performance of The Broadway Melody on Friday, February 1, 1929.

Poor scripts and poor acting choices accompanied Gilbert in his transition to sound, with the actor becoming the poster-boy for the silent star who couldn't make it in talkies. Despite help from Irving Thalberg, Gilbert was let go from M-G-M in 1933.

He starred opposite Garbo in Queen Christina (which played the Chinese in February 1934), then made one more film that year at Columbia, The Captain Hates the Sea, then quit making pictures. Longtime alcoholism led to a heart attack in late 1935, while a second in January, 1936, was fatal.

  L. Wolfe Gilbert

Born: Louis Wolfe Gilbert, August 31, 1886, in Odessa, Russia
Died: July 12, 1970, in Los Angeles, California


L. Wolfe Gilbert was a "Tin Pan Alley" songwriter. Active from the early 1910s, he enjoyed several successes and became a wheel in ASCAP during WWII.

Moving to America while still quite young, Gilbert began touring in the company of retired boxing champion John L. Sullivan. While singing with a quartet in a Coney Island café, he was discovered by English producer Albert de Courville. He was set up in London in a group called The Ragtime Quartet.

Teaming up with composer Lewis F. Muir, Gilbert had his first big hit writing the lyrics to "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" in 1912. He worked on a number of Broadway flops and started a music publishing company until Hollywood bekoned to him.

Moving out to Hollywood in 1928, Gilbert was asked to tag along and appear in the cast of the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, September 28, 1929 with the film The Cock Eyed World. Gilbert was there to plug the Fox musical he had written some songs for, Happy Days which had just been released.

Gilbert wrote the score for the Fox picture Nix on Dames with Mae Clark (released in November 1929); then for
Paramount, he wrote music and lyrics for the Clara Bow musical Love Among the Millionaires (released in July 1930). He wrote music and lyrics for a Fred Scott singing cowboy western for Stan Laurel's company Spectrum Pictures called Knight of the Plains (released in March 1938). It is noted that Gilbert worked for some time on Eddie Cantor's various radio programs.

"Wolfie" was active in ASCAP; joining in 1924, he served as director of the outfit from 1941 to 1944, and again in 1953.

Along with composer Nacio Herb Brown, Gilbert wrote the lyrics for the theme music for the television show Hopalong Cassidy starring William Boyd, airing over NBC starting in June 1949.

Some of the Goodrich "Silver Fleet" cars making an appearance at a garage in Pasadena on Thursday, May 2, 1929.
  Goodrich "Silver Fleet"

In 1929, the BFGoodrich Company ran a promotional stunt called the Goodrich "Silver Fleet." Fifteen sedans and one truck were all outfitted with BFGoodrich tires —  all painted silver.

The cars all took off on a cross-country trip in 1929, in order to (drum up interest) demostrate the long-lasting quality of the Goodrich tires.

The exact route of the Goodrich "Silver Fleet" has not been re-created, but we do know that the Fleet was in Southern California at the beginning of May, 1929, where they made an appearance at a garage in Pasadena on Thursday, May 2, with all of the usual publicity and notables on hand.

Just how the Goodrich "Silver Fleet" shared the stage as "personal guests of Sid Grauman" with Anita Page at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 4, 1929 is not known, alas. We imagine that some of them were parked out in the forecourt, while some others might have appeared onstage.

  Vera Gordon

Born: Vera Pogorelsky June 11, 1886, in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
Died: May 8, 1948, in Beverly Hills, California

Vera Gordon played the indomimable Jewish mother in many films during the silent and early sound eras.

On the stage at an early age, she had difficulties in her career due to anti-Semetism rampant in Czarist Russia. In 1904, she married producer / writer Nathan A. Gordon, they had a child, then emmigrated to America, where she performed in New York's Yiddish theatres, while also appearing in vaudeville.

She appeared on Broadway in the farce Why Worry? in 1918, but it was her turn in the play Potash and Pearlmutter in London, where she was spotted to appear as the mother in Paramount's version of Humoresque in 1920. She starred in the film version of Potash and Pearlmutter in 1923, and its sequel, In Hollywood with Potash and Pearlmutter in 1924. She got to play Mrs. Cohen in a series of "Cohen and Kelly" films, played "Mrs. Feinbaum" in Kosher Kitty Kelly in 1926 —  Hollywood kept this Jewish mother busy!

Gordon had just moved her family to Beverly Hills when she was asked to appear as a "guest of honor" (along with actors Charles King and George Sidney) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 6, 1929.

Gordon continued making films, and helping to support Jewish children in orphanages until her death in 1948.

  Portia Grafton

Portia Grafton was a dancer and model, who frequently posed for photographer Edward Steichen. She made her Broadway debut in the ensemble of Rio Rita in the 1927-28 season, then became a member of the Albertina Rasch Dancers. Shipped to Los Angeles, she was given two solos to perform in the Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody: as "Terpsichore" danced to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." and also in the "Romantic Ballet" section with music by Rasch's husband, Dimitri Tiompkin. Quitting the Rasch team, she returned to New York to appear in the Broadway show Princess Charming, with fellow ex-Rasch dancer Nona Otero, but it closed after only 56 performances.

David Wark Griffith at the Chinese Theatre for the premiere of King of Kings on Wednesday, May 18, 1927.
  David Wark Griffith

Born: David Llewelyn Wark Griffith, January 22, 1875, in LaGrange, Kentucky
Died: July 23, 1948, in Hollywood, California

D. W. Griffith is one of the most important figures in film history. Making films from 1908, his wildly creative sense of what could be done in a movie made his name prominent when actors were not billed by name onscreen at all. He had stunning sucesses with the feature film format, but sometimes overeached.

Griffith's father had been a colonel in the Confederate Army, and had been elected to the Kentucky state legislature, but this life of privilege ended when the man died when David was ten years old. The young lad worked odd jobs at age 14 to help support the family.

Wanting to be a playwright, he found more acceptance as an actor. In 1907, Griffith tried to sell a scenario to Edison producer Edwin S. Porter, who gave him a part in the short Rescued from an Eagle's Nest. The following year, 1908, Griffith bagan his association with the Biograph Company, and assumed directing command there, making 48 shorts in his first year alone. In 1910, his film In Old California was the first film to be shot in Hollywood, and from which Griffith would base all of his future operations.

Convinced that audiences would be able to follow longer, more complex stories without suffering eyestrain, Griffith embraced the feature-length film, beginning with Judith of Belinda in 1914.

Resistance to longer films put Griffith on the path of becoming a renegade. Leaving Biograph, he went to work at Mutual, then Mutual-Reliance, then Triangle, which was a forerunner of the later United Artists. Griffith bet the farm on an adaptation of the novel The Clansman, filming The Birth of a Nation in 1915. The two-hour-fifteen minute film clearly demonstrated that a long story — no matter how incendiary — if told with skill, could find an audience. Nation made a ridiculously huge amount of money.

Hurt by criticism of Birth of a Nation, Griffith sought to answer his critics with his next film, Intolerance, in 1916. The three-hour film is a tour de force of cinematic techniques, interweaving four different storylines to demonstrate a single theme. But even today, the picture is too much of a good thing — the film failed to recoup its staggering $400,000 budget.

Griffith, forced to pick up the pieces, worked at First-National, then Artcraft, and finally joining forces with Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, to begin a new studio in 1919, United Artists, which would distribute the films each partner made. His first film for UA, Broken Blossoms, is considered Griffith's masterpiece, closely followed by Way Down East in 1920. These films are dramatically successful without the dubious morality of Birth of a Nation or the needless complexity of Intolerance. His relationship with UA ended in 1924, after Isn't Life Wonderful flopped. Several years of sparse activity followed.

It was during this time that Sid Grauman asked Griffith to participate in the dedication program of the Chinese Theatre on Wednesday, May 18, 1927. Griffith was introduced as the evening's Master of Ceremonies by fellow director Fred Niblo. Griffith introduced Will Hays and Mark Pickford, to begin the first program of Sid Grauman's Prologue "Glories of the Scriptures" for the film King of Kings.

Griffith made a pair of talkies for United Artists, both of which flopped. Although other producers and directors offered assignments to Griffith, none of them amounted to anything much. He was presented with an Honorary Academy Award in 1936, and was made a Lifetime Member of the Director's Guild in 1938. Griffith had maintained a modest family seat in LaGrange, Kentucky, and lived there for many years. While visiting Hollywood in hopes of working on a project, he was found slumped over in a chair in the lobby of the Knickerbocker Hotel on July 23, 1948. He died on the way to the hospital.

  Louise Groody

Born: March 27, 1897, in Waco, Texas
Died: September 16, 1961, in Canadensis, Pennsylvania

Louise Groody was a leading lady on the Broadway musical comedy scene, originating the title role in No, No, Nanette in 1925.

The oldest daughter of a pharmacist, Groody grew up in Houston and Atlantic City. Like so many others, she was drawn to the stage and began dancing in cabarets while still a teen-ager. In 1915, she made her Broadway debut in Around the Map after producer Charles Dillingham saw her dancing.

Groody caught some good roles in several Broadway shows; her hits include as Barbara in The Night Boat in 1920 (with Jeanette MacDonald in the chorus), for 313 perfs, as Rose-Marie in Good Morning Dearie in 1921-22, for 347 perfs, as Nanette in No, No, Nanette in 1925-26, for 321 perfs, where she introduced the standard, "Tea for Two," and as Loulou in Hit the Deck (with Charles King) for 352 perfs in 1927-28. With this sort of Broadway career, Louise headed west to Hollywood to break into pictures.

While there, Louise appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show Saturday, July 6, 1929 as a star-studded micro version of School Days was performed by Gus Edwards along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler.

But for some reason, none of the studios picked Groody up. She was ruined in the stock market crash in October, 1929. She had parts in two Broadway shows, The Metropolitan Players, which flopped in 1932, and A Church Mouse, which flopped in 1933. Groody managed to make a name for herself on radio, and performed with the American Red Cross during World War II.

During the 1950s, it was supposed that she made appearances on television shows, but this remains speculative. She died of cancer at her summer home in Canadensis, Pennsylvania in 1961, at the age of 64.

Lena Malena
  The Gyspy Campers (with Lena Malena)

Lena Malena
Born: Sasha Bragowa, April 14, 1900, in Berlin, Germany
Died: April ?, 1986, in Ohio


The Gypsy Campers appear to have been a small troup of — Gypsy dancers — led by dancer Lena Malena, for director Fred Niblo's Redemption, with John Gilbert and Renée Adorée — and Conrad Nagel too, for that matter. The film was released in May, 1930, and was a flop.

Malena and her dancers were in town shooting Redemption, and were booked into the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, May 25, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. The dancers was featured along with J. C. Nugent, Master of Ceremonies, singer / dancer Cy Kahn, and the songwriters Marcy Klauber and Harry Stoddard.

Not much is known about Ms. Malena — other than she had appeared in a few films prior to Redemption. Her next role was as one of the barmaids carousing with Ben Lyon and James Hall in Hell's Angels which had its world premiere the Chinese in May, 1930.

In addition to having left behind some recordings, Malena seems to have had a lively sense of humor; her last film credits are for the short films Thundering Tenors (1931), Divorce a la Carte (1931), Julius Sizzer with Benny Rubin (1931), and Git Along Little Wifie (1933).

  Raymond Hackett

Born: July 15, 1902, in New York, New York
Died:
July 7, 1958, in Hollywood, California

Raymond Hackett was a child actor who made the transition to adult roles — sort of. He got along in the picture biz, but more-or-less retired in the early 1930s.

Raymond's parents were the theatre troupers Maurice and Florence Hackett. Older brother Albert and Raymond were "stage mothered" into show business; once she had done that, she divorced her husband and began making films for Lubin Manufacturing Company with her new flame and co-star Arthur V. Johnson. Brother Albert went into writing for theatre and film, eventually partnering with his wife Francis Goodrich, and had a rather successful career, writing the scripts for The Thin Man in 1934, and and It's a Wonderful Life in 1946, among other things.

Raymond, on the other hand, went into performance mode. He made his Broadway debut at the age of five in the play The Toymaker of Nuremberg in late 1907. His first film was A Matter of Business with stepfather Arthur V. Johnson for Lubin in 1912.

He continued to appear on Broadway and films on a fairly regular basis into his early 20s. He played Gloria Swanson's brother in The Love of Sunya in 1927, but the picture didn't do well for his career.

In June, 1929, a film Hackett was in opened; The Trail of Mary Dugan was a star vehicle for Norma Shearer, with Hackett playing her brother, trying to defend sis against a murder charge. Hackett appeared onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, July 27, 1929. The show also included Jack Benny, and Charles Bickford, with Benny's pal, Benny Rubin as master of ceremonies.

After Mary Dugan, Hackett was cast in Madame X as — Ruth Chatterton's lawyer, defending her against a murder charge, all the while not knowing she's his mother! Lionel Barrymore directed.

He played brother to Robert Montgomery, who is trying to make it with Joan Crawford in Our Blushing Brides in July, 1930, and he seems to have done pretty well opposite Milton Sills in the first sound version of The Sea Wolf, released that September.

But after Seed at Universal in 1931, Hackett hung the Hollywood bag up. He married silent film star Blanche Sweet in 1935, and presumably, lived happily ever after with Sweet until his death in 1958 at the age of 56. Sweet remained a widow until her death in 1986.

  Edwin "Poodles" Hanneford

Born: June 14, 1891, in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England
Died: December 9, 1967, in Kattskill Bay, New York

Poodles Hanneford is widely considered to be the greatest trick horse rider in history. The Hanneford family had been performing in cicuses in Europe as early as 1690. Organized into a troupe of performers in 1807, they did their shows in traveling tents during the summer, and hardtop theatres during the winter.

The Hanneford Family, including Edwin, were appearing in Spain in 1915 when John Ringling caught their act and invited them to join his circus in America. A long string of appearances followed, with family members combining in different ways, depending on what act was booked where.

Poodles drifted to Hollywood, where, in 1927, he appeared in 3 short films, so he and the Family were in the area, and could be included in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Ballyhoo" for the film The Circus in 1928. He made 7 short films that year — pretty popular.

Poodles Hanneford made many film appearances including Our Little Girl with Shirley Temple (played the Chinese in 1935), San Antionio with Errol Flynn in 1945, and The Red Pony with Robert Mitchum in 1949. Retiring in 1954, he made one last appearance on film with his family in Billy Rose's Jumbo in 1962. Edwin was enshired in the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1968. His family continues performing today as the Royal Hanneford Circus.

  Marion Harris

Born: Mary Ellen Harris, April 4, 1896, probably in Indiana
Died:
April 23, 1944, in New York City, New York

Marion Harris is widely considered to be the first white singer to popularize jazz and blues music.

Nothing is known of her childhood — not even where she grew up — but by 1914, at age 18, she was singing in the movie houses of Chicago; a good place to learn music, if there ever was one. Eventually, Vernon Castle introduced her to Irving Berlin, who put her in a show called Stop! Look! Listen! in 1915.

Harris began recording for Victor Records in 1916, with a big success with the song "I Ain't Got Nobody" in 1917. Victor forebade her from singing the song "St. Louis Blues," so she left and began recording for Columbia in 1920, where she had hits with — "St. Louis Blues," and "I'm Just Wild About Harry." In 1922, Harris jumped ship for Brunswick. While recording for them, her hits were "Who's Sorry Now?," "It Had to Be You," "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?," "Tea for Two," "I'll See You in My Dreams," and "The Man I Love."

Naturally, a singer toured to sell records, so Marion did plenty of that, traveling all over the place. It wasn't until January, 1927, that Marion Harris made her one and only Broadway appearance, in a major role, in a musical called Yours Truly, with Leon Errol, running for 127 perfs. She made a short film at M-G-M called Marion Harris, Songbird of Jazz in 1928.

While shooting her first film, Devil-May-Care at M-G-M, Harris appeared onstage as a "Guest of Honor" at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, August 3, 1929. The stage show also included Raquel Torres, Gwen Lee, and Josephine Dunn, with Lynn Cowan as master of ceremonies.

After Devil-May-Care was released in December, 1929, an illness of some sort prevented her from working in Hollywood. Harris didn't have a part in a film until the 1934 indie, Trouble Ahead (aka: Falling in Love), which was shot in England, where she played a café singer.

Continuing to record for Victor again, Harris made appearances on radio, including The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on NBC. She sang during a long engagement at the Café de Paris in London, England, and she sang on BBC radio. By 1936, she had married theatrical agent Leonard Urry. Their house was destroyed in a German air-raid in 1941. Hoping to find a cure for a neurological problem, Harris returned to New York, obtained treatment, and was discharged, only to die in a hotel fire in 1944.

  Ruth Harrison and Alex Fisher

Ruth Harrison and Alex Fisher were a dance act, active from the 1920s through the 1940s. Ruth had appeared on Broadway in 1925's The Bird Cage where she performed a pantomime as a character called "Fifine." By 1933, she had teamed up with Alex Fisher and they both appeared in the musical revue Strike Me Pink. They closed the first act with a dance they called "Restless."

Harrison and Fisher appeared as dancers in the Grauman prologue to the film Dinner at Eight in 1933.

They went on to perform in the second staging of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York, where they co-starred with Fanny Brice and Gypsy Rose Lee. One of their dance numbers in the show ("Words Without Music") was choreographed by George Balanchine.

Their last Broadway credit was Michael Todd's 1946 revival of Moliére's The Would-Be Gentleman at the Booth Theatre in New York. Ruth played Mademoiselle Valere, while Alex played the role of a dancing master.

  Daniel L. Haynes

Born: June 6, 1889, in Atlanta, Georgia
Died: July 29, 1954, in Kingston, New York

Daniel L. Haynes had travled up to New York City to make his fortune on Broadway, where he appeared in the cast of the musical Rang Tang, in 1927. He was Paul Robson's understudy in the original staging of Show Boat in late 1927. Director King Vidor could not get Robson, so settled for Haynes, casting him for the lead character of Zeke for his film Hallelujah in 1929.

At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 23, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, the cast of Hallelujah were presented and performed; he appeared with Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, the Dixie Jubilee Singers as well as direcrtor King Vidor.

Minor roles followed, but Haynes, despite being a wonderful performer, gave up pictures in 1936. He performed roles in various stage plays in his later years.

Will Hays at the Chinese Theatre for the premiere of King of Kings on Wednesday, May 18, 1927.
  Will Hays

Born: November 5, 1879, in Sullivan, Indiana
Died: March 7, 1954, in Sullivan, Indiana

Will Hays, a successful Indiana layer, became the chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1918, and was the campaign manager for Warren G. Harding in 1920. As a reward, he was appointed Postmaster General of the United States in 1921.

It was not to be, however. In 1924, Hays was lured away from the Harding Cabinet in order to become president of the Motion PIcture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), an industry trade association, who were looking for a way to avoid political action over the content of American-made films and the behavior of the people who made them. The MPPDA paid Hays an extravagant salary, and gave him all of the personal publicity anyone could ask for.

Hays sought to establish a nationwide standard of what could be shown in theatres without having individual states interfere with their own censorship boards, as had been done previously. It goes without saying that what could be presented in both the strictest state and also the most lienient state, was not too risqué.

At first, the code was an informal agreement, but without a formal code controlling content, producers continued to sneak racy content into their films. Prized today, these films are called "Pre-Code" films.

It was during this time that Sid Grauman asked Hays to participate in the dedication program of the Chinese Theatre on Wednesday, May 18, 1927. Master of Ceremonies D. W. Griffith introduced Hays from the stage, who then introduced Mary Pickford, who begin the first program of Sid Grauman's Prologue "Glories of the Scriptures" for the film King of Kings.

The addition of sound to the movies meant that they could be audibly offensive as well as visually. In 1934, Hays formally adopted a set of rules prohibiting just about everything, and set about insisting that all member producers submit their scripts for upcoming films for review by the MPPDA to insure that the "Hays Code" was adhered to. Completed films were reviewed for objectional content as well. If a film failed to receive the MPPDA's "seal of approval," it would be impossible for that film to get theatres to play it, because just about all of the theatres in the country were owned by members of the MPPDA. There was also a list of performers who were "unfit" to appear in films.

Hayes retired in 1945, returning to Indiana, where he died in 1954. The MPPDA has morphed into today's MPAA, which oversees the current Rating Code Administration's system of G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 ratings.

  Wells Hively

Born: November 2, 1902, in Corona, California
Died: June, 1969, in Port St. Lucie, Florida

Musician Wells Hively studied at the Paris Conservatory and the Brussels Royal Conservatory. He also spent some time at the Julliard School. To make ends meet, he became a proficient pianist and organist, accompaning the silent drama. He was the organist for the Sid Grauman Prologue "Ballyhoo" for the film The Circus in 1928. The Hollywood connection lend to appreances on NBC radio productions.

In 1940, he accepted a position as the head of the Graham Eckes Academy School of Music in Palm Beach, Florida. During this period, Hively composed several works for orchestra, the best known is called Tres Himnos. He toured as the accompanist for opera star Lily Pons for six years, beginning in 1954.

In 1962, Hively became organist at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Jensen Beach, Florida, where he remained with his family until his death in 1969. The church installed a new organ dedicated in memory of Wells Hively in 1971.

  Sol Ho'opi'i

Born: 1902, in Honolulu, Hawaii
Died: November 16, 1953, in Seattle, Washington

Sol Ho'opi'i is considered to be the greatest virtuoso of the lap steel guitar. Sol was the 21st child — of a large family. As was traditional with native Hawaiian familes, Sol was taught to sing and play percussion instruments before he could walk, and could play ukulele at age three. By his teens, the lap steel guitar became his focus.

Sol made his debut with Hawaiian music exponent Johnny Noble. There is a wonderful story of how Sol, aged 17, and two friends stowed away on a passenger ship to San Francisco. Upon being discovered, the trio played their music, the hat was passed, and the passengers paid the cost of their fares.

While the other friends returned to Hawaii, Sol moved to Los Angeles in 1924, and formed a new trio with Glenwood Leslie and Lani McIntyre. The Trio performed mostly in nightclubs and made several jazzy/Polynesian recordings by 1928, which is when Sol and "his native comrades" were featured in the Sid Grauman Prologue "The Tropics" for the film White Shadows in the South Seas at the Chinese Theatre.

Sol made many more recordings with various combinations of musicians during the 1930s, and contributed to several film soundtracks. He is well-known for picking up the electric lap steel guitar and developing an original method for tuning the instrument. Confortable with covering standard pop songs with his Polynesean style, his technique was highly infuential — especially in country and western musics.

In 1938, Ho'opi'i joined evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, and went on the road with her Foursquare Church. McPherson had spent several years touring the world, seeking commonatilty among the world's religeons, but she was also trying to raise money for her financially strapped empire.

Sol Ho'opi'i's last days were spent playing for various Christian groups in the Seattle, Washington area. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood Hills.

Sol Ho'opi'i's recording of George Geshwin's tune "Fascinating Rhythm," was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2012.

  Camilla Horn

Born: April 25, 1903, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Died: August 14, 1996, in Gilching, Germany

Camilla Horn was a dancer, who broke into German silent films, was shipped out to Hollywood, made a few films there, but returned to her native Germany, where she continued to act in films.

Raised to be a dressmaker in Erfurt, by the time Camilla was 18, she began dancing in local beer halls and cabarets. She began extra work in films in 1925, and the next year, she was drawn from obscurity to replace Lillian Gish in a big-budget film of the Faust story by the director, F. W. Murnau.

Horn scored such a hit in Faust that she headlined in three prominent German films before being enticed to "come out to Hollywood" by Joseph M. Schenck, who co-starred her with John Barrymore in a czarist story they called The Tempest in 1928.

Horn's second film with Barrymore, Eternal Love was in the can and being readied for release when she was a "guest artist" (along with Lily Damita) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 6, 1929.

It seems that Horn didn't care for Hollywood. She returned to Germany in 1929, and starred in many films in both German and England. Disliking the Nazis, she was hassled by them, but continued appearing in films in Italy during World War II.

When the war was over, she served a three month prison sentance for "travelling without permission." Horn continued to appear in German films, although only sporadically after 1958, then enjoyed a revival in the 1980s.

  George Jessel

Born: April 3, 1898, in New York City, New York
Died: May 23, 1981, in Los Angeles, California


When The Hollywood Review of 1929 played the Chinese, George Jessel appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show on Saturday, August 10, 1929 as master of ceremonies during a "Fox Studio Night."

George Jessel is quite well-known for being Hollywood's Toastmaster. More information on his life may be found on his Forecourt Honoree page.

  Harry Jolson

Born: Hirsch A. Yoelson, January 12, 1882, in Seredzius, Lithuania (Russian Empire)
Died: April 26, 1953, in Los Angeles, California

Harry Jolson was the older (by four years) brother of legendary entertainer Al Jolson. The Yoelson family sent father Moses to America in 1891. Obtaining a position as cantor at the Talmud Torah Synagogue in Washington D.C. allowed him to bring the rest of the family over. For the boys, the shock of their mother Naomi dying the following year was relived by their going into showbiz. It was on the streets of Washington that Harry and Al would sing and clown for spare change on street corners.

Performing as a duo on the vaudeville circuit got them representation by the William Morris Agency, but by 1905, Harry and Al split up. There seems to have been a sibling rivalry between the two men. Occasionally, Al would hire Harry as his manager; rumor held it was to keep him off the stage. Harry's only Broadway credit is for the musical revue imaginatively titled The Revue of Revues at the Winter Garden Theatre in September to October 1911. Ballet maven Albertina Rasch worked on the show also.

Harry Jolson (billed as the "brother of the famous Al Jolson") appeared at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, June 8, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. Jolson appeared on the bill with starlet Raquel Torres, comedian/director Charlie Chase, producer Hal Roach, singer/songwriter Gus Edwards, singer Elsie Lange, and singer / accordionist Earl La Vere.

Harry kicked around Hollywood for a bit, appearing with Lola Lane in the seventh The Voice of Hollywood, a series of shorts put out by the Tiffany/Stahl Studio, but he's not even in the Internet Movie Database at all.

With the death of Al Jolson in 1950, brother Harry did some reassessment; he wrote a memior about his brother, Mistah Jolson, published in 1952, and died in 1953.

    Cy Kahn

Cy Kahn appears to have been a song-and-dance man, who may have appeared in the Irving Berlin musical Yip Yip Yaphank on Broadway in 1918. Kahn did a couple Vitaphone short films for Warner Bros.: Just Crooning Along, released in May, 1928, and Melodious Moments, released in July, 1928.

At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, May 25, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, Kahn was featured along with J. C. Nugent, Master of Ceremonies, Marcy Klauber and Harry Stoddard, and The Gypsy Campers.

In September, 1929, M-G-M would release a two-color Technicolor sound short film featuring Kahn, The Doll Shop, which had a script by Gus Edwards. In December, Kahn appeared in another two-color Technicolor short revue Manhattan Serenade, co-starring The Brox Sisters, Mary Doran and Nina Mae McKinney.

February, 1931 saw the release of Kahn's last credited short film, Penthouse Blues, filmed for Paramount.



  Charles Kaley

Born: June 16, 1902, on Red Cloud, Nebraska
Died: September 7, 1965, in Santa Clara County, California

Charles Kaley is a bit of a mystery. A singer, piano player, violinist, and, we assume, dancer, Kaley shook off the dust of his native Nebraska and lit out for the big time.

The details of how this came about are lost to history, but we do know that he must have had something. in 1922, when bandleader Abe Lyman set up his "California Orchestra" at the Coconut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, he made the strapping 20-year-old was their featured male vocalist. When Lyman began recording for the Brunswick label, Kaley vocalized on a number of tracks, beginning with "No, No, Nora" released in August 1923.

We hear that Kaley was a star of the stage, and that could very well be true, but the record, so to speak, shows that he was kept very busy making records. Beginning in 1926, he did a lot of recordings for Columbia where he was the lead vocal with various bands, such as "I Ain't Got Nobody" with the Art Kahn Orchestra "If I'd Only Believed in You" with the Radiolites, he played piano and sang "Baby Face," "Blue Skies" with The Knickerbockers, "Muddy Water" with Don Voorhees leading the Earl Carroll's Vanities Orchestra and "Ain't She Sweet?" with the Radiolites, to name only a few. He also wrote a song or two, including "Strolling in the Moonlight" in 1928 with Will Waldron and Marty Bloom. The sheet music shows Kaley holding a conductor's baton, but we do not know of any ensemble he formed or led.

But he was reknown none the less. When M-G-M announced that they would be making a talkie musical of the hit novel Lord Byron of Broadway, they thought they would have William Haines in the title role. Turned out that Haines couldn't sing very well, so they cast Kaley for the role.

Kaley was probably shooting the film when he appeared at the Chinese Theatre's "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 14, 1929, sharing the bill with Gus Edwards, Anita Page, Gwen Lee, Armida, Edward Lankow, Jack Stanley and Cecil Cunningham.

When Lord Byron of Broadway (released in February 1930) came out, Kaley enjoyed a couple of hit records to go along with it: "Should I?" and "A Bundle of Old Love Leters," both written by by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Kaley sings these songs in the film with fellow "Who's Who" members Cliff Edwards and Benny Rubin. Gwen Lee is in it too.

Then something must have happened, because after making a couple of musical shorts in 1930, his recording career came to halt. He has what is called a "small role" in the Joe E. Brown starrer Bright Lights (1935) directed by Busby Berkeley.

Kaley's last film credit is his playing the bad guy in the Fred Scott western The Singing Buckaroo (1937). We presume that after this, he got out of the film biz.

But what he did after that — who knows? He died at the age of 63.

Arthur Kay is seen here at the conductor's podium at Grauman's Chinese Theatre during the run of The Gaucho.
  Arthur Kay

Born: January 16, 1881, in unknown location in Germany
Died: December 19, 1969, in Hollywood, California

A classically trained musician, Arthur Kay became well-known for adapting the classical repertory into the realm of operetta and musical comedy. Moving to America in the late 1910s, Kay found himself working in the theatres of Seattle, Washington. By later in 1920, Kay was conducting the popular Sunday morning classical concerts at Sid Grauman's Theatre in Los Angeles (later known as the Million Dollar). Kay was conducting and was musical director for the first show at the Music Box Theatre in Hollywood, Carter DeHaven's Fancies, on October 20, 1926.

In 1928, Kay wrote the score and conducted for the Sid Grauman prologue and the film The Gaucho. Kay's score for this picture was used throughout the country. He was ingested by the Fox Film Corp. at the beginning of the talkie era and conducted the orchestra for The Fox Movietone Follies of 1929. Since everything was recorded at the same time, vocalists call to him by name in the film, and he shouts back (off screen). He was one of several arrangers working with Max Steiner on his score for Gone with the Wind in 1939.

Kay must have had a fine sense of humor. He was seen occasionally onscreen as conductors, most famously in Citizen Kane. For many years he was the voice of Gandy Goose in the long-running series of cartoons with that character for Terrytoons.

In 1946, Kay became involved with the Broadway show The Song of Norway, credited with writing additional lyrics for the show, along with being its musical director, arranger, and choral director. He would also do the orchestral and choral arrangements for the original Broadway production of Kismet in 1953.

Kay was accustomed to filling any role needed on a film. He composed scores for a number of films throughout the 1930s, then switched to arranging and musical direction in film and television until he retired in 1966.

    Julia Keller Harpists

The Julia Keller Harpists gave "pre curtain" music during the engagement Sid Grauman's Prologue "The Glories of the Scripture" for the film King of Kings in 1927.

  Carlotta King

Born: July 30, 1898, in Toledo, Ohio
Died: February 10, 2000, in Hilton Head, South Carolina

Carlotta King was an experienced star of the stage when Warner Bros. production head Jack Warner heard King singing on the radio, tracked her down, liked what he saw, and put her in The Desert Song, which had been released in April of 1929.

In honor of that event, King was asked to be a "star guest" (where she was accompanied by pianist Sidney Russell) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 18, 1929.

She also appeared as a "guest star" at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, along with Al Boasberg on Saturday, June 29, 1929. She also appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee for The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, September 7, 1929.

King signed a contract with M-G-M, but they delayed the start of her being in Rose Marie (finally filmed in 1936 with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy), so she walked out on her contract and returned to the stage.

  Charles King

Born: October 31, 1886, in New York City, New York
Died: January 11, 1944, in London, England

Charles King was a versatile performer in the musical theatre, later becoming among the first performers in early sound film musicals.

Born to Irish immigrant parents, King made his Broadway debut at the age of 22. Possessed of a charming personality and a distinctively reedy tenor with lots of vibrato, King easily became a featured player in musicals on Broadway, apprearing in the George White Scadals in 1921, Little Nelly Kelly in 1922-23, Hit the Deck in 1927-28, and Present Arms during most of 1928. During that time, he also shot the Marion Davies talkie/musical The Five O'Clock Girl in New York. King also made recordings.

From September, 1928 to December, 1930, King was in Hollywood, working on The Broadway Melody for M-G-M, where he introduced the standards, "The Broadway Melody," and "You Were Meant for Me." He also was in the cast of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, where he introduced the song "Orange Blossom Time."

Since both of these films played Grauman's Chinese, he was asked to make appearances at a number of the special "Midnite Matinees" Grauman added on Saturday nights. King made the following appearances:

  "Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Broadway Melody
Saturday, February 9, 1929, as M.C.
Saturday, April 6, 1929, as guest of honor
Saturday, April 13, 1929, as honored guest of screen
Saturday, June 15, 1929, as M.C.

"Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Revue of 1929:
Saturday, July 6, 1929, as a member of "Gus Edwards' School Days"
Saturday, July 20, 1929, in the ensemble
Saturday, September 21, 1929, in the ensemble

"Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Cock Eyed World
Saturday, October 5, 1929, as M.C.

"Hollywood Midnite Frolic" during the run of Rogue Song
Saturday, January 25, 1930, as guest star

King made several other films in 1930 before returning to the Broadway stage for the remainer of the 1930s. King became active in the USO, performing for troops during World War II. He was stricken with pneumonia while in London, and died there, at the age of 57.

  Marcy Klauber and Harry Stoddard

Harry Stoddard
Born: October 30, 1892, in Frýtlant, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Died: May 7, 1951, in Los Angeles, California

Marcy Klauber
Born: November 19, 1896, in Budapest, Hungary
Died: February 11, 1960
, in Los Angeles, California

Marcy Klauber and Harry Stoddard were a team of songwriters. They are best known for writing the standard "I Get the Blues When it Rains" originally recorded in 1928 by Carl Haworth. The song has been covered by countless musicians since, from Big Bill Broonzy to Judy Garland to Guy Lombardo.

Klauber attended the Academy of Music in Budapest, then went to Columbia's School of Journalism in New York. The lyric he wrote for "I Get the Blues" with Harry Stoddard's music brought them to Hollywood, where they were on the bill at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, May 25, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. The duo was featured along with J. C. Nugent, Master of Ceremonies, singer / dancer Cy Kahn, and The Gypsy Campers.

Stoddard got a gig writing some songs on the Douglas Fairbanks talkie Party Girl (released in January, 1930), and did the same on the the Fox musical Happy Days (released in February, 1930), but his career in Hollywood seems to have fizzled by 1934.

Klauber, on the other hand, went on to write the scripts for a ton of shorts for Educational Films, including Way Out West with The Cabin Kids (released in October, 1935), High-C Honeymoon (released in January, 1937), and Jitterbugs with Buster West and Tom Patricola (released in May, 1938). He wrote the script for the Yiddish lanuage film of Sholom Aleichem's beloved Tevya (released in December, 1939, and later, became the basis for Fiddler on the Roof), and the early television show Studio One in Hollywood in 1948. His final effort was for writing an episode of the show Cannonball in 1958.

  Theodore Kosloff and His Dancers

Born: January 22, 1882, in Moscow, Russia
Died: November 22, 1956, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Dancer / choreographer Theodore Kosloff trained at the Imperial Theatre in Moscow, graduating in 1901. He began touring with the Diaghilev Ballet Company, where he had an affair with Natacha Rambova, who later became the wife / nemesis of Rudolf Vanetino.

In 1912, Kosloff became the choregrapher for La Saison Russe, which was an opera company touring America with Russian operas. He, along with his brother Alexis, found ready work on Broadway as well.

Sometime later, Kosoloff had impressed American choreographer Agnes DeMille, who had an Uncle named Cecil B. DeMille. C. B. had a scenarist working for him named Jeanie MacPherson, who convinced the director to hire the darkly handsome dancer. His first role was in The Woman God Forgot in 1917. Kosloff appeared in many of DeMille's productions during the 1920s.

Kosloff opened his "Imperial Russian Ballet Schools" in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City, which were reportedly successful. His students would occassionally appear in stage presentations at Grauman's Metropolitan and Million Dollar theatres. The Dancers he led in the Sid Grauman Prologue "The Glories of Scripture" for the film King of Kings, was undoubtedly a cohort of his best student from his schools, who were probably all delighted for a paying gig.

DeMille cast Kosloff in King of Kings, where he may be seen in the role of Malcus, Captain of the High Preist Guards. He is the one who gets his ear cut off and is healed by Jesus — a big role.

Alas, Kosloff's heavy Russian accent prevented him from breaking into sound films. In his later years, he lived in Paris with ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, and, after doing the choreography for DeMille's Samson and Delilah in 1949, he supposedly advised DeMille on choreographic matters for his later film of The Ten Commandments in 1956.

  Lola Lane

Born: Dorothy Mullican, May 21, 1906, in Macy, Indiana
Died: June 22, 1981, in Santa Barbara, California

Lola Lane was the oldest performer of the Lane Sisters, a talented group of sisters, who made separate paths to movie startdom in Hollywood. They all sang well and made lots of movies — especially the baby, Priscilla.

Born to dentist Lorenzo Muillican, all five daughters grew up in Indianola, Indiana, where they lived in a huge rooming house the family operated. Against her Methodist principles, mother Cora Bell encouraged all her daughters to sing and play instruments. By age 12, Dorothy was bangin' a pianer at the local nickelodeon.

Oldest daughter Leota and Dorothy left for New York, where they were got parts in Gus Edwards' Greenwich Village Follies. Edwards changed their names to Lane. Now Lola, she got a part in Sam and Bella Spewack's first Broadway musical The War Song (written with and starring George Jessel) in September, 1928. It only played 80 perfs. Leota had been cast in a hit, so Lola lit out for Hollywood, snagging a lead part in Speakeasy, with Paul Page, in March, 1929. By May, she had the lead role in the Fox Movietone Follies of 1929.

She was filming The Girl from Havana when she made an appearance in the cast of her mentor's, all-star revival of Gus Edwards' School Days along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler, at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 at the Chinese on Saturday, July 6, 1929.

Meanwhile, younger sisters Rosemary and Priscilla had gotten gigs dancing in the stage show accompanying their sister's picture Good News at the Paramount Theatre in Des Moines, Iowa. Moving to New York with newly-divorced mother Cora, the two sisters were signed by bandleader Fred Waring, where they became famous through his weekly radio programs.

When Waring and band was hired to appear in the Warners' musical Varsity Show in 1937, Pris and Rosemary were brought along and given parts. Meanwhile, Lola was on the Warners lot, appearing in the Bette Davis flick Marked Woman. Warners' signed all three Lane sisters to contracts, but it wasn't until they teamed with Gale Page that they made a film together. Playing the Lemp sisters with Claude Rains as their father, Four Daughters, from 1938, became a hit, and was nominated for Best Picture! They shoved the same sister line-up in another film, Daughters Courageous before the Lemp sisters starred in two sequels: Four Wives in 1939 and Four Mothers in 1941. Priscilla continued to star in Warner Bros.' for some time.

Lola got typecast at the Warners' factory, so after Four Mothers, she went indie, appearing in such films as Miss V from Moscow in 1942, Buckskin Frontier in 1943, Why Girls Leave Home in 1945, and her final film, the classic They Made Me a Killer in 1946, after which she retired.

Leota, after a career in medicine, died in 1963. Rosemary died in 1974. Lola Lane died of arterial disease at the age of 75 in Santa Barbara. Priscilla died in 1995.

    Elsie Lange

Not much is known of Elsie Lange, who was billed as having been in the Greenwich Village Follies, a show produced on Broadway during most years of the 1920s. Elsie had been on Broadway in A Lonely Romeo in 1919, and The Little Blue Devil in the 1919-1920 season, but not as a dancer— not that that matters — she might have been a singer.

Elsie appeared at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, June 8, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. She appeared on the bill with starlet Raquel Torres, comedian/director Charlie Chase, producer Hal Roach, singer/songwriter Gus Edwards, comic and singer Harry Jolson, and singer / accordionist Earl La Vere.

  Prince Lei Lani (Leilani) and the Samoan Chieftans

Born: 1887, in Hawaii
Died: 1971, In the United States

Prince Lei Lani was a major exponent of Hawaiian music and culture to the rest of the world. Born Edwin Kaumualiiokamokuokalani. Rose, he had been made a high chief of the Samoans, due to the occasion of Lani leading a troup of 20 Samoan musicians on a tour of the United States, beginning in 1924. Their featured hula dancer was Leilehua (Aggie) Auld.

Leilani had a rather high singing range, and performed a modified version of what sounded — to western ears anyway — like yodeling. He could play the ukulele and the steel guitar.

The Prince and his Samoan backup singers, made an appearance in the Sid Grauman Prologue "The Tropics" for the film White Shadows in the South Seas in 1928. A premiere dancer in the prologue was Aggie Auld, who was his wife. She lived until 1983.

Prince Lei Lani or Leilani, made only three film apprearances. Waikiki Wedding with Bing Crosby in 1937, Hawaiian Nights with Johnny Downs in 1939, and a remake of Bird of Paradise with Debra Paget and Louis Jourdan in 1951.


  Edward Lankow

Born: 1883, in Tarrytown, New York
Died: January 29, 1940, in New York City, New York


Edward Lankow was a bass singer, whose career is overshadowed by his writings on breath control.

For an opera singer, not much is known about Lankow. He did not make too many recordings it seems, but he must have had a powerful bass voice. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Sarasto in Mozart's The Magic Flute in October 1912, but never appeared with the company subsequently.

He must have drifted into writing about breathing shortly thereafter. How to Breath Right, published in 1917, is filled with advice and photos on breath control for not only singers, but for public speakers, military personnel and others. He published two volumes of The New Science of Controlled Breathing in 1922.

Lankow appeared at the Chinese Theatre's "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 14, 1929, sharing the bill with Gus Edwards, Anita Page, Gwen Lee, Armida, Charles Kaley, Jack Stanley and Cecil Cunningham.

We know nothing of his later life, except that he passed away in New York City in 1940 at the age of 53.

  Alfred Latell

Born: 1880s
Died: 1951, in Park Ridge, Illinois

Alfred Latell was a popular act on the vaudeville circuits as a man who did animal impressions. Wearing meticulously accurate costumes, Latell made much of his long hours of studying the behaviors of various critters, including monkeys and bears, but also parrots and ostriches, and other unlikely creatures for a man to imitate.

Latell began to tread the boards in 1902, always working with a partner, as his animal characters were confined to pantomime. He was in the cast of the Broadway show The Babes and the Baron as early as 1905, and appeared in several shows in the 1910s. His most popular animal character was called "Bonzo, the Bull Pup" and by the early 1920s, was assistend by wife number one, Jane Vokes.

Latell performed his "Bonzo" routine with wife number two, Sylvan Dell, in Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" prologue for the film The Broadway Melody in 1929.

Latell and Dell were able to keep performing this hard-to-imagine but charming act long past the vaudeville era, playing in Australia, where the vaudeville tradition would carry on into the 1950s. He made an appearance in the 1942 Broadway musical Count Me In released in 1942.

  Laurel and Hardy

Stan Laurel
Born: Arthur Stanley Jefferson, June 16, 1890, in Ulverston, Lancashire, England
Died: February 23, 1965, in Santa Monica, California

Oliver Hardy
Born: Norvell Hardy, January 18, 1892, in Harlem, Georgia
Died: August 7, 1957, in North Hollywood, California

Laurel and Hardy are perhaps the most famous comedy duo from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Different paths brought them to the studio of Hal Roach, who created the teaming in the film Duck Soup, in 1927. They never worked separately again. Their films are wistful and incredibly funny.

Stan Laurel was born to theatrical parents who were always on the road, so he grew up with his maternal grandmother. Upon graduating from school, he went to work in a theatre his folks were running in Glasgow, Scotland. He patterned himself after British music hall performers.

Oliver Hardy was born in Georgia, the youngest of five children. His father, who had fought in the Civil War, died before he reached his first birthday. A stubborn child, Norvell was sent to military school, but did not show interest in anything except music and theatre. He ran away from school in order to perform with a singing group in Atlanta. Upon discovering this, his mother relented and got him a singing teacher. Norvell changed his name to Oliver to honor his father.

By 1910, Oliver Hardy had discovered the movies, operating his hometown nickleodeon. Convinced he could do better than the actors he saw on the screen, in 1913 he lit out for the Lubin Company, who were wintering in Jacksonville, Florida. Hardy's first film Outwitting Dad was a one-reeler made in 1914.

Laurel joined the Fred Karno troupe in 1910, and was Charlie Chaplin's understudy. Together, they toured the United States. Excempted from duty during the World War (for slight deafness), he worked with Alice and Baldwin Cooke, were he chanced to work briefly alongside Oliver Hardy. Hardy had become a star in many short films for producers in New York and Florida, but moved to Los Angeles in 1917, where he began working for Vitagraph.

By 1917, Stan formed a relationship with Mae Dahlberg, who suggested his changing his name. Together, they made a short film in Los Angeles called Nuts in May. At Metro, Stan Laurel starred with Oliver Hardy in The Lucky Dog (1921), but it was a chance casting. Laurel and Dahlberg made a send-up of Valentino's Blood and Sand, called, Mud and Sand (1922).

Stan Laurel teamed up with comedian Joe Rock for 12 two-reelers. Thinking that Dahlgren was holding Laurel back, Rock paid Dahlberg to return to her native Australia. She took the money. Most of these Laurel / Rock films survive today. After finishing the Rock films, Laurel went to work as a writer / director for Hal Roach.

The planets were coming into alignment. Hardy had been working under contract at the Roach studio when he had to be hospitalized for having been badly burnt by a hot leg of lamb during the filming of Get 'Em Young in 1926; his director, Stan Laurel, had to take over his role. Roach tapped Laurel to play opposite Hardy upon his return. Thier first official short film was Duck Soup (1927). Often working with director Leo McCarey, these short silents were so successful, that they made 14 of 'em in 1927 alone. In 1928, they had made several films with synchonized music and sound effects, while their first all-talking short Unaccustomed as We Are, was released in May of 1929.

Laurel and Hardy were guests of honor at the final "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, June 15, 1929, along with their boss, Hal Roach, with Conrad Nagel as Master of Ceremonies, with performances by the Melody stars Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love.

They performed a seqment in the next film to played the Chinese, The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (opening in June, 1929). The pair also appeared onstage at the Chinese at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. They shared the stage with the comedy song duo Van & Schenck along with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Lew Cody, Charles King, Georges Carpentier, Mike Donlin, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

Laurel and Hardy also appeared together in a sketch in the film The Rouge Song (which played the Chinese in January, 1930).

Here are some of the best Laurel and Hardy films, some of which played the Chinese: Another Fine Mess (short - November, 1930); the short Our Wife, played the Chinese in 1931, but it is unknown exactly when; Helpmates (short - January, 1932); The Music Box (short - April, 1932, which won the first Oscar given for Comedy Short Subject); Sons of the Desert (feature - December 1933); Busy Bodies (short - October, 1933); Babes in Toyland (feature - December, 1934); The Live Ghost was a short which played the Chinese in December, 1934 (with Evelyn Prentice); Tit for Tat was a short which played the Chinese in March, 1935 (with One More Spring); The Fixer-Upper was a short that played the Chinese in March, 1935 (with Folies Bergere); Way Out West (feature - which played the Chinese in May, 1937); and Block-Heads (feature - August, 1938); and A Chump at Oxford (feature - 1939).

Nothing lasts forever, however. Tensions between Laurel and Hardy and Hal Roach had been simmering for several years. In 1940, they parted company, with the comic duo now producing their films for 20th Century Fox, starting with Great Guns (which played the Chinese in November, 1941), and continuing with A-Haunting We Will Go (played the Chinese in September, 1942), Air Raid Wardens (played in June, 1943), Jitterbugs (played in July, 1943), The Dancing Masters (played in November, 1943), and The Big Noise (played in October, 1944).

When the duo went over to M-G-M to make a pair of films, the studio had moved their Hollywood showcase from the Chinese to the Egyptian: Nothing But Trouble (December, 1944), and The Bullfighters (May, 1945) played there.

Afterwards, Laurel and Hardy went on a music hall tour of Great Britain, which was a huge success, culminating with a Royal Command Performance. Their final film was Atoll K (1951). Laurel and Hardy continued to tour until 1954.

Plans to reteam with Hal Roach to do a television show based on the Mother Goose stories got sidelined when Laurel suffered a stroke in 1955. That same year, Hardy had several strokes, which left him bed-ridden. In August, 1957, he had two fatal strokes and slipped into a coma for a week before dying. Laurel was too sick to make the funeral. "Ollie would understand." he was reported to have said.

In 1960, Stan Laurel was given an honorary Oscar. He spent his last years in a small apartment in Santa Monica. His phone number was listed in the telephone book. Fans could call him. Dick Van Dyke and Jerry Lewis did. He suffered a stroke and died in hospital in 1965.

    Earl LaVere

Earl LaVere was a comedian and accordionist, fairly well-known on the vaudeville circuit. In the early 1920s, he was appearing with a lady named Florence Tivoli in an act they called "A Classy Little Act." He seems to have made a Vitaphone short sometime during the mid-1920s, along with Dorothy Murray, and DeSues, and Murray and Johnson.

Earl appeared at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, June 8, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. He appeared on the bill with starlet Raquel Torres, comedian/director Charlie Chase, producer Hal Roach, singer/songwriter Gus Edwards, comic and singer Harry Jolson, and singer Elsie Lange.

Later, LaVere would tour with an "assistant," Helen Ware. By all accounts, the team was very funny.

  Gwen Lee

Born: Gwendolyn Lepinski, November 12, 1904, in Hastings, Nebraska
Died: August 20, 1961, in Reno, Nevada

Gwen Lee was a supporting contract player at M-G-M from the late silent period and into the 1930s. A flapper of the highest rank, Lee played comedy as well as home-wrecking drama.

Leaning toward the stage as a teen, Gwen began by modeling at the local department store. Director Monta Bell discovered her during a stage appearance, with the studio offering her a contract. Easy-peasy.

Her first M-G-M film was Lady of the Night with Norma Shearer in 1925. That year, she was loaned out to Paramount for a film with rising star Clara Bow: The Plastic Age. She got a role in the Lon Chaney silent Laugh, Clown, Laugh in 1928.

Lee was also voted a WAMPAS "Baby Star" in 1928. From what we can tell, the "Baby Stars" who had contracts with M-G-M at the time were asked to participate in the "Ambassador Fur Revue" at the "Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, May 18, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. The women who participated in this is speculative, but might have included Josephine Dunn and Anita Page.

Lee was probably shooting Untamed with Joan Crawford when she appeared onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, August 3, 1929. The stage show also included "Guest of Honor" Marion Harris, Raquel Torres, and Josephine Dunn, with Lynn Cowan as master of ceremonies.

Lee was also on the bill at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 14, 1929, where she appeared with Gus Edwards, Anita Page, Armida, Charles Kaley, Edward Lankow, Jack Stanley and Cecil Cunningham.

Lee was in the cast of M-G-M's next early sound era musical revue, Chasing Rainbows, rerleased in February, 1930. She played one of a number of mannequins in the Joan Crawford talkie Our Blushing Brides that year, and played Cleopatra opposite Benny Rubin's Julius Sizzer for R-K-O in 1931. Around this time, Lee's mother jumped out of the woodwork and filed a lawsuit against her daughter, claiming she was incompetent to handle her own affairs. The lawsuit was later withdrawn, but it does seem as though Lee had money problems.

Lee continued making films, appearing in A Night at the Opera (which played the Chinese in November, 1935) as Groucho's dining conpanion, and as a switchboard operator in Libeled Lady (played the Chinese in October, 1936), but her roles were becoming smaller and more insignificant. Her last film was Paroled from the Big House a low-budget prison picture, released in 1938, but had some strip tease footage added to it in the 40s, and re-released as Main Street Girl(s). What a world!

Getting out of the picture business at the age of 34, she married a fellow named George Mence, Jr. in 1943. She died in Reno, Nevada in 1961 at the age of 56.

  Eddie Leonard

Born: Lemuel Golden Troy, October 17, 1870, in Richmond, Virginia
Died: July 29, 1941, in New York City, New York

Eddie Leonard was a minstrel man, which is to say, that he performed in "blackface," and sang songs, danced, and told jokes within a minstrel context. Born a Jewish southerner, Leonard joined the Lew Dockstadter minstrels in the 1890s, then performed with the Haverly Minstrel Troupe.

Leonard was considered "the greatest" minstrel performer — by whatever yardstick was used for judging these sorts of things. He was well-known for milking almost everything; a joke, a bow, a farewell. He made several appearances on Broadway, beginning in 1904. Leonard appeared in a Broadway minstrel show produced by none other than George M. Cohan and Sam Harris in 1908. His final Broadway credit is for a 1919 show called Roly-Boly Eyes, for which he wrote several of the songs, including the title tune, which became his signature song.

Leonard was undoubtedly in Hollywood working on his headlining role as Des Dupree in Melody Lane for Universal when he appeared as a "guest artist" at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, March 2, 1929. Melody Lane was released that October.

Leonard continued to perform around the country while also appearing in a pair of films, his last being the Bing Crosby starrer, If I Had My Way in 1940.

    The LeRoy Sisters

The LeRoy Sisters were dancers, given a solo to do in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 in 1928.

  Ted Lewis

Born: Theodore Leopold Friedman, June 6, 1890, in Circleville, Ohio
Died: August 25, 1971, in New York City, New York

Ted Lewis was a very well-known singer and bandleader, whose shows combined music, comedy and nostalgic stagecraft. His trademark cry was "Is Everybody Happy?"

Playing the clarinet from a young age, Lewis was not exactly a virtuoso. When he was only 17, he managed to learn enough New Orleans Jazz licks to sit in with Earl Fuller's Jazz Band and make recordings in 1917. By that time, he began to study with New Orleans clarinetists who had moved to New York.

Lewis and his band soon (1919) began recording for Columbia Records, whereupon he became among the first white musicians to popularize jazz music to white America, the other being Paul Whiteman. Lewis and his band were in many Broadway shows and Ziegfeld projects as well.

Lewis and his band must have been out in Hollywood to make their first film, The Show of Shows at Warner Bros., when he was asked to be "honored guest of stage" (along with "Honored guest of screen" actor Charles King) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 13, 1929 (presumambly with his band).

Lewis was so popular that Warner Bros. gave him his own musical revue film, Is Everybody Happy? in 1929 (the film is lost). It wasn't until 1935 that he starred in the M-G-M picture Here Comes the Band ; but appearances in films were spotty: Hold that Ghost and Birth of the Blues in 1941, another Is Everybody Happy? in 1943, and Follow the Boys in 1944.

Lewis moved from Columbia to Decca Records in 1933. Adopting a battered top hat for his Depression-era shows, Lewis' sense of stagecraft kept his band together long after other 1920s jazz ensembles had folded. Lewis kept his band together into the 1960s.

    Earl Lindsay

Born: ??
Died: May 12, 1945, in ??


Earl Lindsay was a New York-based choreographer, dance director and occasional composer/lyricist, active on the Broadway stage from 1920 through 1931. He is credited with giving Bob Hope and his then partner, George Byrne their oirst break on Broiadway in the show Sidewalks of New York in 1927.

Sid Grauman persuaded Lindsay to come out and do the staging for the "Broadway Nights" prologue for the film The Broadway Melody at his Chinese Theatre in 1929. He wrote the music and lyrics for the "Seasons" section of the show.

While out in Hollywood, Lindsay worked on four films for Fox and Paramount, then, he returned to New York. He choreographed a show in late 1930 called Luana (which flopped), then got onto the musical revue Ballyhoo of 1930 which did OK, after that, Lindsay disappeared.

  Bessie Love

Born: Jaunita Horton, September 10, 1898, in Midland, Texas
Died: April 26, 1986, in London, England

Bessie Love was a charming young actress in silent pictures, starring in several films during the early sound era, and continued as a character actor for many years.

When the Horton family moved to Los Angeles in 1915, Tom Mix suggested to Mrs. Horton that her daughter ought to be in pictures, so mom got her in to see D. W. Griffith, who signed her up and changed her name.

Bessie Love worked on several films for Fine Arts / Triangle, including The Aryan with William S. Hart (1916) before Griffith gave her a role in his magnum opus Intolerance (1916). She became a star, headlining in things like Nina, the Flower Girl by 1917.

Love worked a great deal in the silent era, with notable films Human Wreckage (1923), The Lost World (1925), The King on Main Street (1925), where she became an early demonstrator of the Charleston, and was in an early Frank Capra effort The Matinee Idol (1928).

After starring in The Broadway Melody, Love was asked to be an "honored guest" (along with Melody co-star Anita Page, Karl Dane, and Mary Doran) at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 11, 1929. She also appeared with Charles King and Anita Page at the final "Midnight Matinee" for The Broadway Melody on Saturday, June 15, 1929.

Love starred in several early musicals, including The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (which played the Chinese in 1929), Chasing Rainbows (1930), andThey Learned About Women (1930). During the run of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, she appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, July 20, 1929, with Charles King and Anita Page with Frank Richardson as m.c. She also appeared at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the Hollywood Revue run on Saturday, September 21, 1929. She shared the stage with the comedy song duo Van & Schenck with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Anita Page, Jack Benny, Lew Cody, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, Georges Carpentier, Mike Donlin, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

All of this exposure eroded her as a screen draw, so by 1935 Love had moved to England, where acting gigs were difficult to come by — she worked on a couple of films in England during World War II.

Bessie Love continued acting in many television projects in the late 1940s and 50s, and even into the 1960s. By now, she was playing small roles in projects, but she kept at it, with intersting turns in Isadora (1968), Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971), The Ritz (1976), Ragtime (1981) and Reds (which played the Chinese in 1981). Her last film was The Hunger in 1983. She passed away in 1986.

    Alice Manning

See Harry White and Alice Manning

  Nina Mae McKinney

Born: Nannie Mayme McKinney, June 13, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina
Died: May 3, 1967, in New York City, New York

Nina Mae McKinney's parents migrated to New York City when she was young; they left Nannie to live with an aunt in Lancaster. Here, she began doing stunts riding on bicycles, and taking parts in school plays.

She reunited with her parents in New York City when she was 15. She got in the chorus in the wildly successful Broadway musical Blackbirds of 1928. King Vidor spotted the beauty in the chorus line, and cast her for the lead character of Chick for his film Hallelujah in 1929.

At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 23, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, the cast of Hallelujah were presented and performed. McKinney appeared wit Daniel L. Haynes, William Fountaine, the Dixie Jubilee Singers and director King Vidor.

McKinney was offered a five-year contract with M-G-M, but they did not do much with her, except loan her to other studios. She spent the latter 1930s working in night clubs in Europe, returning to Hollywood to make "race" films, and the occassional role as a supporting character in Hollywood films throughout World War II.

After the war, she lived in Athens, Greece, but moved to New York City in 1960.

Josephine Dunn.
  M-G-M Baby Stars

Between 1922 and 1934, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers anually selected a dozen young starlets and called them "Baby Stars" — stars who were on the brink of stardom. Each year, a party was given to introduce them to the press, then they toured on behalf of the movie business.

From what we can tell, the "Baby Stars" who had contracts with M-G-M at the time were asked to participate in the "Ambassador Fur Revue" at the "Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, May 18, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody.

The women who participated in this is speculative, but might have included Josephine Dunn, Gwen Lee and Anita Page.

    Mills Theatrical Shoe Company

Mills Theatrical Shoe Company had forged a strong relationship with Sid Grauman and his theatres — probably dating back to the opening of Grauman's Theatre (the Million Dollar) in 1917. The company is credited with providing the footwear for the "Broadway Nights" prologue for the film "The Broadway Melody in 1929.

The company had two retail stores; one at 6270 Hollywood Boulevard, and the other at 643 South Olive Street, Downtown; their factory was at 1113 Wall Street in Los Angeles, a street still dominated by shoe makers and sellers.

Charles Chaplin, Borrah Minevitch, and Sid Grauman musicalizing in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese at the beginning of the run of The Circus in 1928.
  Borrah Minevitch

Born: November 2, 1905, in Kiev, Ukraine
Died: June 26, 1955, in Paris, France

Borrah Minevitch is known as the most famous harmonica virtuoso in history. Becoming a music hall performer in Britain, Borrah began developing the chromatic harmonica, which allowed for the reproduction of all 12 notes of the western chromatic scale. Minevitch sold the rights to make chromatic harmonicas to the Hohner Company of Germany for $1,000,000 in 1923 — at age 18!

With that sort of financial security, Minevitch lit out to America, where he was a great success on the vaudeville circuit. His act was filmed and recorded by Lee DeForest and his sound-on-film process in 1923. Before long, Minevich was touring the country with a group of ten harmonica players, known as the Harmonica Rascals.

This act appeared in the Sid Grauman Prolog to the film The Gaucho in 1927. Grauman had renamed the group "Morrah Minnevitch and His Argentine Rascals" to better fit the Argentine theme of the Prologue, "Argentine Nights."

Minevitch went on to give musical performances in various short films, but also got roles in features, including One in a Million and Love Under Fire (both of which played the Chinese in 1937), Rascals (played the Chinese in 1938), and Always in My Heart in 1942. He recorded extensively.

Minevitch retired from performing in 1947, setting up shop in Paris, where he produced films, had a film distribution company and a jazz nightclub "Au Franc Pinot," which is still open today. He is credited with finding U. S. distribution for two of his friend Jaques Tati's films, Jour de Fete in 1949 and Monsieur Hulot's Holiday in 1953.

C. Sharpe Minor at the Robert Morton console of the Garrick Theatre, San Francisco, California, circa 1918.
  C. (Charlie) Sharp Minor

It is probably fair to say that C. Sharp Minor is a stage name for this organist, who had shared duties at the console with Milton Charles at Grauman's Theatre (the Million Dollar) beginning in 1918. Organists, who played along with films during matinees in lieu of an orchestra, were a wondering lot, always switching from one theatre to another. It is very likely that Minor played at all the Grauman houses off and on, but so far has only been documented to have played for the opening of the Lafayette Square Theatre in Buffalo, New York, in February 1922, and at the Chinese for the Sid Grauman Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 in 1928.

  Moran and Mack "The Two Black Crows"

George Moran
Born: George Searchy, October 3, 1881, in Elwood, Kansas
Died: August 1, 1949, in Oakland, California

Charlie Mack
Born: Chales Emmett Sellers, November 22, 1888, in White Cloud, Kansas
Died: January 11, 1934, in Mesa, Arizona

Moran and Mack's "The Two Black Crows" act was a part of vaudeville's "minstrel" tradition, where white performers would wear black makeup called "blackface," and do odious impressions of African-American habits and attitudes.

Charlie Mack had wanted to become a playwright, but chose to begin writing material for himself to perform. Mack fashioned "The Two Black Crows" with actor John Swor as the team's original straight man. George Moran replaced Swor by 1920. Moran and Mack's "The Two Black Crows" appeared on Broadway in the Zeigfeld Follies in 1920, and Earl Carroll's Vanities in 1928-27. So popular was this sort of thing that The Two Black Crows have been credited with being part of the cast of The Majestic Theatre of the Air on Sunday evenings on CBS radio from 1928 to 1930.

Wherever that show originated, Moran and Mack appeared at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, February 23, 1929.

Moran and Mack made recordings for Columbia Records during the 1927 to 1930 timeframe. In 1929, they headlined in the film Why Bring that Up?. The 1930 feature Anybody's War was based on Mack's 1928 novel Two Black Crows in the A.E.F., which placed the duo in a World War I setting.

It seems that Mack ran the show. In 1930, Moran sued Mack for better pay; the judge in the case ruled that Mack owned the show and could pay him whatever he felt like paying, so Moran quit. Mack hired John Swor's brother Bert (who had been performing blackface in vaudeville for years) to be the new "George Moran." Film appreances after 1930 featured Bert Swor as Moran (2.0).

In 1930-31, Charlie Mack returned to Broadway, playing a chauffer (one assumes in blackface) in the Kaufman and Hart play Once in a Lifetime.

Charlie Mack died in a car crash, caused by a tire blowout, while traveling with his wife, daughter, Moran 2.0, and Mack Sennett, in 1934. The others survived the incident. The second Moran attempted to carry on the act after the accident, but the spark had died out. The first Moran died in 1949.

  Polly Moran

Born: June 28, 1883, in Chicago, Illinois
Died: January 25, 1952, in Los Angeles, California

Polly Moran was a physical comedian, closely associated in pictures with Marie Dressler.

Moran hit the vaudeville stage while quite young and toured the world. The Irish beauty signed up to appear as a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty in 1914, appearing in short films such as A Bath House Blunder (1916), and She Loved Him Plenty (1918) with Ben Turpin.

By 1926, Moran had been signed to an acting contract at M-G-M, appearing in the Lon Chaney picture The Black Bird. She had bit parts in all sorts of stuff on the lot, like playing a jeering townswoman tormenting Lillian Gish in The Scarlet Letter in 1926 and being in Rose-Marie in 1928 with Joan Crawford.

Moran rose through the ranks and played Maggie to J. Farrell MacDonald's Jiggs in Bringing Up Father in 1928, where top-billed Marie Dressler played the wife of Dinty Moore. Go figure. She played poor Karl Dane's nagging wife in The Trail of '98 (which played the Chinese in May, 1928), but did not even received screen credit for it.

Besides being in the charming number "Marie, Polly and Bess" onscreen, Moran made an appearance with Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, Rube Wolf and Bobby Watson at the "Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, June 22, 1929, along with the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929. She also made an appearance in the cast of the all-star revival of Gus Edwards' School Days along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler,
at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 at the Chinese on Saturday, July 6, 1929. She re-teamed onstage stage with Marie Dressler that night.

Moran appeared with Dressler in Chasing Rainbows in 1930, but she was actually billed over Dressler in the 1930 William Haines vehicle, The Girl Said No. Moran and Dressler co-starred again in Caught Short (based on an Eddie Cantor story) in May, 1930, and she co-starred in the three one-word title Dressler films, Reducing (1931), Politics (1931) and Prosperity (1932).

After the death of Dressler in mid-1934, Moran sort of lost interest in the pictures. She did a few films like Down to Their Last Yacht for R-K-O in 1934, and Petticoat Politics for Republic in 1940.

Moran retired to Laguna Beach, and ran for mayor as a sort-of practical joke. She remained connected to Hollywood however, and appeared in a small role in the 1949 Hepburn / Tracy comedy Adam's Rib, but did not like the way she looked on the screen, so she hung it up. She died in 1952.

    Maurice Morgan

Marice Morgan was dancer, given a solo "The Dance of the Ebony Slave" during the engagement Sid Grauman's Prologue "The Glories of the Scripture" for the film King of Kings in 1927.

  Pete Morrison

Born: George Morrison, August 8, 1890, in Westminster, Colorado
Died: February 5, 1973, in Los Angeles, California


Pete was an early cowboy star. Born on a ranch in central Colorado, he grew up in the saddle as it were, driving cattle and sheep to mining towns. Eventually he began to work in the mines themselves, performing heavy physical labor in dangerous conditions.

Becoming a fireman on the railroad was easier work, but after working as a stuntman on some Brocho Billy westerns, Morrison decided — like his older brother Chick Morrison — that working in films was far more renumerative. His first known credit is for the 1909 short On the Warparth, produced by the Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago.

By 1911, he was playing The Bad Guy as "George" Morrison for director Allen Dwan in The Outlaw's Trail. 1919 became the big year for Morrison at Universal, where he was stepped up from players supporting Hoot Gibson, to the lead roles. His first saring role was in the John Ford-directed By Indian Post, released in May. Morrison starred in 27 shorts in 1919 alone.

Universal produced a great number of serials in the early 20s; Pete Morrison found himself as the lead character Laughing Larry Newton in the serial The Ghost City, released in 1923. Morrison spent the early part of the 1920s starring in short features. He played parts like "Buck Adams" in Rainbow Rangers in 1924 and "Bud West" in West of Arizona in 1925 (by now, Morrison had his own movie star horse, "Lightning"). All of these films were done on shoestring budgets by independent "Poverty Row" producers.

Things slowed for Morrison in 1926. His last starring role was as "Slim Duane" in Bucking the Truth. After this, he took "sidekick" roles in films like The Three Outcasts with Yakima Canutt, released in March 1929. It's a silent.

Morrison appeared onstage as the Master of Ceremonies at the Chinese at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. He introduced a stageful of talent: Van & Schenck along with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Jack Benny, Lew Cody, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, and The Rounders.

Morrison continued in the picture business, more frequently doing stunts. The best-known film of his from this period would have to be The Big Trail, starring John Wayne (oh, you mean Marion Morrison? No releation). The film played the Chinese in October 1930. He had a bit part on DeMille's remake of The Squaw Man with Warner Baxter in 1931. His last film was the Noah Berry, Jr. western Five Bad Men (but hey, he made the poster), released in 1935.

After 25 years in the picture biz, Morrison had saved up enough dough to buy a ranch outside of Golden Colorado, get married and have two sons. In 1936, Morrison became a deputy sheriff of Jefferson County, a post he held until his retirement in the early 1960s. In 1973, he traveled to Los Angeles for medical treatment; he succumed of an abdominal aneurysm at the age of 85. His effects are on view at the Golden Landmark Association, in Golden Colorado.

  Edith Murray

Edith Murray appears to have been a blues singer. She is listed as having a "Torrid Ensemble" (which we figure was a backup band) and did a number called "Hot! (positively)" during the very early run of the Sid Grauman Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody in 1929.

She seems to have had something of a career (the photo we have posted here is from 1934), but nothing has come to light — so far.

  John T. Murray

Born: August 28, 1886, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died: February 12, 1957, in Woodland Hills, California

John T. Murray was one of those actors who populated comdies in the early days: the crazy professor, the bizarre waiter, the flustered judge.

Originally from Australia, Murray was in Hollywood making films by 1924, usually in supporting roles, but he did star in the occasional short. Working frequently with Vivien Oakland, the two married in 1918.

Murray and his wife appeared as "Guest Artists" along with Arminda at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, March 9, 1929.

Murray had a sizable career as these oddball characters. Many of his films are decidedly small affairs, but some are familiar to us today: He played Don Davis, druggist to the Hardy Family in a pair of their films; Broadway Melody of 1940 (which played the Chinese in — you guessed it — 1940); he had a bit part in Foreign Correspondent, also in 1940; and had a part in Boom Town (played the Chinese in 1940 also).

Murray retired from the screen in 1943. He and Vivien opened a bookshop in the San Fernando Valley until retiring to the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, where he passed away in 1957. His wife Vivien passed away in 1958.

    "Mystery Mistress of Ceremonies"

A "Mystery Mistress of Ceremonies" was promised along with actor Joe E. Brown as a "guest of honor" at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, April 27, 1929. Do you know who it was?

Conrad Nagel at the register during the premiere of Grand Hotel, Friday, April 29, 1932.
  Conrad Nagel

Born: March 16, 1897, in Keokuk, Iowa
Died: February 24, 1970, in New York, New York

Actor Conrad Nagel was a very popular star of the silent era. Born to an artistic, musical, and well-to-do family, after graduating from Highland Park College in Des Moines Iowa, he came to Hollywood, and began receiving roles in films, beginning with playing Laurie Lawrence in a 1918 version of Little Women.

Nagel's easy-going manner and looks made him a staple of all types of silent films. He seemed to fit into almost anything — drama, comedy, period, contemporary — as a contract player at M-G-M, and later at Warner Bros.

Nagel was instrumental in the founding of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with his boss Loius B. Mayer, and director Fred Niblo. Sid Grauman would become a charter member of AMPAS also. Nagel appeared along with Charles Chaplin, Sid Grauman, Constance Talmadge, and Anna Mae Wong at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Chinese Theatre on Tuesday, January 5, 1926.

Nagel made his first appearance on the Grauman's Chinese stage as the opening night Master of Ceremonies for the film The Gaucho on Friday, November 4, 1927. He was Master of Ceremonies at the "Farewell Midnight Matinee" showing of The Broadway Melody on Saturday, June 15, 1929. He was also the man who signed all of the stars in at the desk during the premiere of Grand Hotel on Friday, April 29, 1932. A fascinating newsreel of this premiere may be seen here.

Nagel easily made the transition to sound, and became a sort of character actor, appearing in many films, as well as playing M. C. on a number of radio programs. He appeared in many early television programs as well — usually as Master of Ceremonies.


  Fred Niblo

Born: Frederick Liedtke, January 10, 1874, in York, Nebraska
Died: November 11, 1948, in New Orleans, Louisiana

Fred Niblo was a pre-eminent film director during the silent era, under contract to M-G-M and was one of the four people who put together the notion of a Motion Picture Academy.

Born to French parents, Liedtke changed his name to Niblo (why not?), and developed a vaudeville act where he would proclaim, or he would recite poetry, or he would deliver monologues from plays. He did this for twenty years around the globe. Sounds dreary, but in 1901, he married George M. Cohan's older sister Josephine, so he managed The Four Cohans for a number of years before returning to proclaiming.

By 1916, Josephine had died, but the ever-resourceful Fred was in Australia, and filmed a 40-minute version of a Cohan play called Officer 666; he played the lead in the film opposite Enid Bennet, who would become his second wife.

Niblo did not mess around. He started off making features for Thomas Ince for release through Famous Players Lasky, occassionally directing his wife Enid, who became something of a star.

He directed Douglas Fairbanks in his first production for United Artists The Mark of Zorro in 1920, and the Fairbanks The Three Musketeers in 1921. He directed and produced Blood and Sand with Valentino (a huge hit in 1922), so he kept busy.

He had made a couple pictures for Metro-Goldwyn when they needed a director for their mega-production Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, so that really put Niblo on the map — were could one go after that?

Well, he directed Norma Talmadge in her version of Camille for First National in 1926, then directed Greta Garbo's second U.S. film, The Temptress, then went on to start the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Louis B. Mayer, actor Conrad Nagel and producer Fred Beetson in 1927. Just a couple of weeks later, he participated in the dedication program of Sid Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Wednesday, May 18, 1927. Niblo introduced fellow director D. W. Griffith, who would M. C. the opening presentation of Sid Grauman's Prologue "Glories of the Scriptures" for the film King of Kings.

Niblo undertook the role of Master of Ceremonies at the West Coast Premiere at the Chinese of Charles Chaplin's film The Circus, and the Grauman prologue "Ballyhoo" on Friday, January 27, 1928.

Niblo appeared as the Master of Ceremonies for the "Midnite Matinee" of Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody on Saturday, March 16, 1929.

He directed John Gilbert and Renée Adorée in the disasterous talkie Redemption in 1930, and decided to get out of the directing business in 1934. He died while traveling in New Orleans in 1948.

  J. C. Nugent

Born: April 6, 1868, in Niles, Ohio
Died: April 21, 1947, in New York City, New York

J. C. Nugent takes us way back. Not as far back as Forecourt Honoree May Robson, who is 10 years older, but pretty far back.

He became adept at writing shows that he could perform in, doing both in his 1922 Broadway debut, Kempy, which only ran for two months, but in the next few years, Nugent made Broadway his home: a show in 1924 and 1925, two shows in 1926 and 1927 (including a revival of Kempy), three in 1928, and one in early 1929.

He was the father of Elliott Nugent (1896-1980), who was an actor who appeared as J. C.'s son in Kempy. After coming out to Hollywood, Elliott would eventually fall into directing some of Bob Hope's films.

At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, May 25, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, Nugent was the Master of Ceremonies along with Cy Kahn, Marcy Klauber and Harry Stoddard, and The Gypsy Campers.

In September, 1929, M-G-M would release his first film Wise Girls, which was a filming of Kempy, with both Nugents reprising their stage roles. After this, Nugent had a bit of a film career, appearing in The Big House in 1930, then became very active writing and appearing in his shows on Broadway up through 1934. Back in Hollywood again, Nugent played Chaplin's boss at the department store in Modern Times (which played the Chinese in February, 1936), and Janet Gaynor's father in the original A Star Is Born (which played the Chinese in April, 1937). He remained in Hollywood until 1938.

Nugent returned with his plays in New York, but then starred in the play he didn't write, The More the Marrier as Senator Broderick in 1941; he was starring in a revival of Playboy of the Western World just months before his death in 1947.

  Vivien Oakland

Born: Vivien Ruth Andersen, May 20, 1895, in San Francisco, California
Died: August 1, 1958, in Woodland Hills, California

Vivien Oakland was a stage and screen actor, appearing in countless supporting roles throughout her career. She was under contract with Hal Roach for many years, where she perfected her comic skills.

Born to Norwegian immigrant parents in San Francisco, her father died in 1898. Her mother moved the family to Oakland. Starting out with a vaudeville act with her older sister Edna as "The Anker Sisters," they took the Oakland name when the two joined the Boston Juveniles. Edna changed her name to Dagmar.

After Vivien made one film, Destiny: Or, the Soul of a Woman, in 1915, the two sisters gravitated toward Broadway, making their debut in a musical revue called Over the Top in 1917-18. After marrying fellow actor John T. Murray in 1918, she made appearances on Broadway during the early 1920s, with her final appearance as the lead in The Matrimonial Bed in 1927 (she also appeared in the 1930 film of the play, but in a lesser role).

Returning to films in 1924, she made many silent shorts, starring opposite Charlie Chase, Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel. She would continue working with Laurel and Hardy for many years.

Oakland and her husband appeared as "Guest Artists" along with Arminda at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, March 9, 1929.

Oakland had a huge career, playing in well over 100 films. She worked in pictures as varied as Mutiny on the Bounty (which played the Chinese in 1935), to USS VD: Ship of Shame from 1942 (which did not).

Her husband retired from the screen in 1943, to open a bookshop in the San Fernando Valley, but Vivien continued to work in pictures until 1950. They both checked into the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills. John passed away in 1957, followed by Vivien in 1958.

  Walter O'Keefe

Born: August 18, 1900, in Hartford, Connecticut
Died: June 26 1983, in Torrance, California

Walter O'Keefe was a perennial on the entertainment scene as a song writer, singer, comic, radio personality — and so on.

Born in comfortable circumstances in Hartford, O'Keefe was sent to attend the College of the Sacred Heart in London, before he returned to attend Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, starting in 1916. Graduating cum laude in 1921, O'Keefe, like many others, ran off to become a star on the vaudeville stage.

He broke into songwriting for films with the number "Henry's Made a Lady out of Lizzie" for the Warners' Vitaphone short When East Meets West in August, 1928, then made his Broadway debut in late 1928 by writing the lyrics to the musical Just a Minute starring Eddie Frisco.

O'Keefe was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, August 17, 1929, with The Brox Sisters, Joey Ray, Frank Richardson, The Rasch Ballet, Karl Dane and fellow Hartfordian Bobby Dolan, with whom O'Keefe would write several songs, including songs for the Pathé comedy The Sophmore, released the following week. They would also collaborate on songs for the musical Red Hot Rhythm with Alan Hale, released in November, 1929. Both films were directed by Leo McCarey.

He was in the Broadway musical revue The Third Little Show in 1931, where he got to sing a novelty song, "When Yuba Plays the Tuba." O'Keefe and Robert Dolan wrote a song included in Little Caesar ("You, I Love But You) released in early 1931.

O'Keefe achieved everlasting fame by contributing new words and music for the standard "The (Daring Young) Man on the Flying Trapeeze" (sung by Rudy Vallée) for the George White Scandals on Broadway in late 1935. This became O'Keefe's theme song, used on radio and television. His last Broadway appearance was in Top-Notchers on Broadway in 1942 with Zero Mostel.

He became a fill-in host on radio for the likes of Walter Winchell and Edgar Bergen, and became the host of NBC's daily game show Double or Nothing from 1947 to 1954. He was also a substitute host on the television game show Two for the Money. O'Keefe was asked to be the M.C. for the World Premiere of Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison at the Chinese on Thursday, March 14, 1957. His last film appearance was playing a priest on an episode of Police Woman, airing in December, 1976.

Retired from the business for many years, O'Keefe died of congestive heart failure at the age of 82.

  Nona Otero

Nona Otero was a dancer. She made her Broadway debut with the Albertina Rasch Dancers in the show Rufus LeMaire's Affairs in 1927. She was in the ensemble for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 in the 1927-28 season. In late 1928, she was in the line for a musical version of The Three Musketeers (with Albertina Rasch doing the choreography).

Rejoining the Rasch Dancers, she was shipped to Los Angeles, where she was given two solos to perform in the Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody: in the section called "Tap and Rhythm" and also in the "Romantic Ballet" with music by Rasch's husband Dimitri Tiompkin. While out on the coast, she and several other Rasch dancers were in a short 2-color-Technicolor short film for M-G-M called A Night at the Shooting Gallery (also with music by Tiompkin) in 1929.

Quitting the Rasch team, she returned to New York to appear in the Broadway show Princess Charming, along with follow ex-Rasch dancer Portia Grafton, but it closed after only 56 performances. After appearing in The Great Waltz on Broadway in 1934-35, she disappears from the record.

  Anita Page

Born: Anita Evelyn Pomares, August 4, 1910, Flushing, Queens, New York
Died: September 6, 2008, in Van Nuys, California

Anita Page entered the film business as something of an exotic, and was headlining in The Broadway Melody, released in 1929, by the time she was 19. She retired from acting in 1936, and lived to the ripe old age of 98.

Anita was born of a Spanish father and a American-French mother, and had a friend who worked in pictures, Betty Bronson, who encouraged her to do some extra work, then, make a screen test for Paramount. She also tested for M-G-M. She was offered contracts by both studios! She chose M-G-M, and when she did, she had her mother along as her secretary, her father was her chauffer and her brother became her trainer.

Her second M-G-M film was the silent Our Dancing Daughters with Joan Crawford in 1928, which was a big hit, so she was cast with Charles King and Bessie Love in The Broadway Melody, where she played the younger "prettier" sister.

Anita Page appeared onstage as a "guest of honor" at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, March 16, 1929. She appeared again as a "personal guest of Sid Grauman" sharing the stage with the Goodrich "Silver Fleet" on Saturday, May 4, 1929, was an "honored guest" on Saturday, May 11, 1929; Page very likely was one of the "M-G-M Baby Stars" in the "Ambassabor Fur Revue" on Saturday, May 18, 1929, and joined her Broadway Melody co-stars Bessie Love and Charles King onstage on Saturday, June 15, 1929.

Page was in the cast of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, so during its run at the Chinese, she appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, July 20, 1929, with Charles King and Bessie Love with Frank Richarson as m.c., again on Saturday, September 14, 1929, and the following Saturday, September 21, 1929.

She appeared onstage again with her Broadway Melody co-star Charles King at the "Hollywood Midnight Frolic" with the film Rogue Song, on Saturday, January 25, 1930.

Her M-G-M contract kept Page very busy, and she co-starred in films with some big names: Chaney, Buster Keaton (Free and Easy in 1930), and Clark Gable (The Easiest Way in 1931), she claimed that she was let out of her contract because she wouldn't go to bed with Irving Thalberg. In 1934, she married composer Nacio Herb Brown, but their union was annuled and lasted only a year. She made only one more film in 1936 — Hitch Hike to Heaven for an indie studio.

Page married Hershel A. House, who was a pilot in the Navy in 1937. They lived in San Diego, California and had two daughters. He died in 1991.

In 1961, Page made a low-budget horror movie. After her husband died, she moved in with director Randal Malone. She made some more horror films in the 2000s, which is quite a feat. She was the longest surviving star from the silent era, passing away in 2008 at the age of 98.

She has a website at: http://anitapage.com/

  Pallenberg's Bears

Pallenberg's Bears were a long-standing circus act, featuring "Bruins that dance, skate, walk tight ropes and ride bicycles like humans." Must be seen to be believed. The group was formed in Germany sometime around 1910 with various animals, but focused on bears before long.

Transferring to America in 1914, Pallenber's Wonder Bears toured the vaudeville circuit. When the fortunes of German-sounding acts began to fade during World War I, Pallenberg and his bears worked with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where they remained a staple.

The Pallenberg Bears appeared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Ballyhoo" for the film The Circus in 1928. They appear on film in the Vitaphone Stage Show of 1936, also in Sensations of 1945 (which played the Chinese in, well, 1944), and guested on the Texaco Star Theatre on television in 1945, so that is a pretty long run. The Pallenbergs were enshired in the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1969.

  Pasquali Brothers

The Pasquali Brothers appear to have been a rather well-known and successful strongman act, possibly based in Great Britain — some say they originaled in Belfast, Ireland. They are listed as "dancers" in the broadway productions of Vogues of 1924 in 1924, and The Wild Rose (choreographed by Busby Berkeley) in 1926. They appreared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody at the Chinese Theatre in 1929. Variety mentioned the Pasquali Brothers and the other acts on the bill were all "show stoppers." The Pasquali's moved on from the Chinese before the end of The Broadway Melody run.

  Tom Patricola

Born: January 22, 1891, in New Orleans, Louisiana
Died: January 1, 1950, in Pasadena, California

Tom Patricola was a song and dance man, who was in vaudeville, Broadway and movies. While being a big guy, he danced and played the ukulele, becoming a well-known demonstrator of the Black Bottom dance, along with partner Ann Pennington.

He was featured in the Broadway revue George White's Scandals in 1923 (for five months), 1924 (for five and a half months), 1925 (for five months), 1926 (for an entire year), and 1928 for six months). During this time, Patricola worked with choreographer Buddy Bradley.

Patricola was determined to break into pictures. Relocating to Hollywood, he got a contract at Fox, where his debut film was Words and Music. He was working in the picture when he made an appearance in the cast of the all-star revival of Gus Edwards' School Days along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler), at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 at the Chinese on Saturday, July 6, 1929. Words and Music was released in August, 1929.

Fluent in Spanish, Patricola made several Spanish language versions of Fox films; he was in both Spanish El precio de un beso, and English versions of One Mad Kiss (1930); he made a number of shorts for Educational Films, such as The Tamale Vendor (directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in 1931).

Patricola returned to Broadway in George White's Music Hall Varieties in January, 1932, but the show flopped. He returned to Broadway for Hold Your Horses in 1933.

In 1935, he teamed up with fellow "eccentric" dancer Buster West to make shorts for Educational. Their first short together was Dame Shy; they made ten more in 1936 and 1937. Their last short was Jitterbugs (from a story by Marcy Klauber) in May, 1938.

Patricola must have remained in Tinseltown — he did bit parts in Louisiana Purchase (1941), Secrets of a Co-Ed (1942), and Rhapsody in Blue (1945). He died from complications from brian surgery in 1950. He was 59.

    Samuel Pedraza

Mexican-born tenor Samuel Pedrazza appeard in the Grauman Prologue to The Gaucho in 1927.

Pedraza made several recordings as a vocalist for the Victor Recording Company in 1929 with Manuel Mendoza López. In January of 1931, he sang the song "La Rosita" with Xavier Cugat and His Gigolos, but since Cugat did not have a recording contract at the time, the recording went out under the name of the band Cugat's group did fill-in work for at the Coconut Grove — Gus Arnhein and his Coconut Grove Orchestra.

Pedraza has been credited with providing backing vocals on recordings in Los Angeles in March of 1931 for Calos Melino and His Tango Band.

He also had a lead role in a film directed by bandleader Xavier Cugat in 1930, Charros, gauchos y manolas (Horsemen, cowboys and ranchands), and appeared in a supporting role in the 1931 film Hollywood, ciudad de ensueno (Hollywood, city of illusion).

Pepito the Clown sharing laughs with a Chaplin imitator in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre during the run of The Circus in 1928.
  Pepito the Spanish Clown

Born: February 16, 1896, in Barcelona, Spain
Died: July 13, 1975, in Santa Ana, California

Born Jose Escobar Perez, Pepito "The Spanish Clown" was a well-known fixture on the vaudeville circuit. As a young art student in Barcelona, Jose saw Windsor McKay's Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strip and modeled a clown character after Little Nemo.

By 1914, as "Pepito," he is performing in Havana, Cuba with the Pubillones Circus. He spent a number of seasons with the Circo Parrish in Madrid, Spain, while also appearing in much of the Spanish-speaking world; Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Uraguay, and also Brazil.

Pepito came to America in August, 1922, and immediately began developing his vaudeville act, which featured his driving a small automobile and riding a tiny bicycle. These became his trademarks.

By 1927, Pepito had worked a lion-taming theme to his act (the lions being costumed people). When Pepito was asked to participate in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Ballyhoo" for the film The Circus in 1928, he used this lion-act for his turn during Grauman's "big show."

Chaplin seems to have had a large role in the "Ballyhoo" prologue. When Pepito's on-stage assistant, Peggy Shorey quit, Chaplin suggested that he work with a lady contortionist who had been hired, Margaret Janet Zettler. She joined Pepeto's act in more ways that one: she married the guy, and they became a very successful act in theatres and nightclubs, where she went by the name Juanita Falcy. Her real name was Joanne.

Pepito enjoyed fishing and motorboating, and even appeared in print ads for the Mathews Boat Company. Pepito and Joanne set up house in Los Angeles, close to the studios, as Pepito would appear occasionally in films, including Annabel Takes a Tour in 1938. On this film, Pepito struck up a life-long friendship with Lucille Ball. A couple years later, she introduced Pepito and Joanne to her new husband, Desi Arnez. Pepito and Arnez hit it off, and soon, they had bought a boat together and were off fishing all the time. Knowing both Ball and Arnez, Pepito was instrumental with the long process of getting I Love Lucy on television and made appreances on it as well.

During World War II, Joanne had begun to teach dancing in her garage in Newport Beach; she had so many students, that she opened a dance studio in Santa Ana, California, eventually buying a house there. After retiring from the road, Pepito and Joanne ran the dance studio until his death in 1975, and her death in 2004.

Pepito has a magnificently researched web site on his and Joanne's lives at: www.pepitoandjoanne.com, run by a former pupil, Melani Motzkus Carty.


  Mary Pickford

Born: Gladys Louise Smith, April 8, 1892, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died: May 29, 1979, in Santa Monica, California

Mary Pickford had been asked to oficially begin the career of Sid Grauman's Chinese Theatre, on Wednesday, May 18, 1927. She and her husband Douglas Fairbanks, were involved in the syndicate which owned the theatre with Grauman.

She and Fairbanks were the first celebrities to be imprinted in Grauman's forecourt, and more information on the life of Mary Pickford may be found on her Forecourt Honoree page.

    Will Prior

Will Prior was a conductor. He was called in to conduct for a pair of the Grauman Prologues: "Ballyhoo" for the film The Circus, and "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 in 1928.

    Queen and Harrison

Queen and Harrison were a dancing duo, given a solo to do in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 in 1928.

  Albertina Rasch and Dancers

Born: January 19, 1891, in Vienna, Austria
Died: October 2, 1967, Woodland Hills, California

Albertina Rasch was a well-known dancer and choreographer, who organized traveling dance companies which appeared frequently on Broadway and in films. Born to Russian / Polish / Jewish parents, Albertina was trained at the Vienna State Opera Ballet. By 1911 at age 20, she bacame the primiere dancer at the Hippodrome in New York City, so her gifts were considerable and recognized early.

Rasch formed a troup of female dancers, calling them "The Albertina Rasch Girls" and made an astounding circuit of performances — at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, touring with Sarah Bernhardt, and opening a dance studio and school in New York City in addition to performing in the occasional Broadway production. During this time, she was introduced to composer Dmitri Tiomkin, forming a creative partnership together. They wed in 1926.

Rasch Dancers were trained in the European tradition of great self-discipline and control. Her dance school, overlooking the Hudson River, was so successful, that by 1925, Rasch had formed several ensembles of dancers, who were booked into the deluxe motion picture theatres around the country.

Sid Grauman knew a good thing when he saw it. He booked Albertina Rasch and her dancers for several of his prologues, beginning with the "Broadway Nights" prologue for the film The Broadway Melody in 1929. This was followed by an appearance at the "Billion Dollar Midnight Matinee" for the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929, on Saturday, August 17, 1929; the music for this performance was provided by Rasch's husband Dmitri. The Rasch Dancers appeared in the film as well. Rasch and her dance troup had several scenes in Grauman's prologue for the film Hell's Angels in 1930. Rasch was lured away from the Chinese Theatre by other projects for a few years, but her dancers came back to appear in the "Christmas Prologue" for the film Little Women in late 1933.

Rasch had considerable success on the Broadway stage in the 1930s. In 1931, a revue called The Band Wagon had a number called "Dancing in the Dark." Rasch had Tilly Losch dance a solo to the tune before a huge mirror on a completely darkend stage. The only thing visible were her long gloves, which were painted with blacklight paint. It was a huge hit, solidifying Rasch's reputation for creative inginuity.

Continuing to chroegraph shows on Broadway, Rasch also found great success in Hollywood also, singing a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She was a very busy woman, working on The Merry Widow in 1934, Broadway Melody of 1936 in 1935, Rosalie in 1937, Marie Antoinette with Norma Shearer, as well as The Great Waltz, and Sweethearts — all three in 1938. All of these films played the Chinese Theatre.

Retiring in 1946, Rasch died after a long illness at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills in 1967. Husband Dmitri survived her and passed away after remarring in 1979, in London, England.


We believe that some of the more static, stage-bound portions of The Bishop Murder Case were photographed on stage at the "Hollywood Midnight Frolic" held at Grauman's Chinese on Saturday, November 16, 1929.
  Basil Rathbone

Born: Philip St. John Basil Rathbone, June 13, 1892, in Johannesburg, South Africa
Died: July 21, 1967, in New York, New York

Basil Rathbone. An indelible name. After considerable success on stage, Rathbone made the transition to sound films, rapidly becoming a wildly popular villian. He is, of course, best known for playing Sherlock Holmes in a string of films during the 1940s.

Born to British parents in Johannesburg South Africa, young Philip was pulled in the usual two directions: violin playing mother one way, mining engineer father the other. The family returned to England when he was three. Popular and doing well in sports at school, Philip got a job as a clerk in an insurance company to make dad happy, but made his debut at the age of 19 in his cousin Frank Benson's production of The Taming of the Shrew in 1911.

The following year found Basil touring America with Benson's company and appearing in Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. He made his London stage debut in 1914 in a play called The Sin of David. For a while, Rathbone toured Britain in Benson's company.

During World War I, Rathbone became an intelligence officer and was also the British Army Fencing Champion — twice. After the death of his brother John in combat, Rathbone became unconcerned with his own mortality; he performed dangerous scouting missions during the day — by camouflaging himself to look like a tree — winning the Military Cross for "conspicuous daring and resource on patrol."

Rathbone spent all of the 1920s on the English stage; however, he began working in films — not many, mind you — beginning with 1921's Innocent opposite Madge Stuart. Broadway saw a lot of Rathbone in the 20s including two productions of Molnár's The Swan with Eva Le Gallienne.

Sid Grauman asked Rathbone to appear as the master of ceremonies at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, September 7, 1929. On the bill were singer Carlotta King, the singing group The Rounders, and pianist Lou Alter.

Several months later, while he was starring as detective Philo Vance in a film of the best-selling mystery novel The Bishop Murder Case, someone had the idea of filming "a talkie" onstage at the "Hollywood Midnite Frolic" showing of Sunny Side Up on Saturday, November 16, 1929. We believe that some of the more static, stage-bound scenes for this film were filmed at the Chinese on this date.

Rathbone had something allright, but in Hollywood, he became a very appealing snake, playing a seducer to Billie Dove in A Notorious Affair in 1930, and playing a seducer to Rose Hobart in A Lady Surrenders (taking her away from her husband Conrad Nagel — imagine!) in 1930.

While Hollywood kept Rathbone busy, he skipped out to Broadway to star alongside Katherine Cordell in Romeo and Juliet in 1934. When he came back to Tinseltown, he appeared in a slate of films where he played nasty rotters: as Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield (which played the Chinese in February 1935), Alexei to Garbo's Anna Karenina (which played the Chinese in October 1935), Pontius Pilate in The Last Days of Pompeii in 1935, the Marquis St. Evrémonde in A Tale of Two Cities (which played the Chinese in Janaury 1936).

More bad guys followed, and in short order: Levasseur in Captain Blood (where he was ablle to show off his fencing skills for the first of several films) in 1936, the hotheaded Tybalt (and getting an Oscar nomination) in Romeo and Juliet (which played the Chinese in May 1936, and, most famously, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, hoping to defeat Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938. He got an Oscar nomination for playing the wily King Louis XI of France in If I Were King in 1938.

Then came the role of a lifetime. The 20th Century-Fox studio asked Rathbone to play the great detective Sherlock Holmes in an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles (which played the Chinese [as second feature to The Return of the Cisco Kid] in May 1939). The picture was such a success that Rathbone starred in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, released just four months later (playing the Chinese [as second feature to Here I am a Stranger] in October 1939).

Fox dropped Holmes and Rathbone after these two films, but the ensemble of Rathbone as Homes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson was moved over to Universal, who, because it was cheaper, placed the pair in contemporary settings. It began with Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror in 1942 and ended, after 12 films, with Dressed to Kill in 1946 (and by the way, a film in the series, The Spider Woman, played the Chinese in January 1944).

After the Holmes films, Rathbone took some time off, but returned to Broadway in September 1947, and won a Tony Award for originating the role of the horrible Dr. Sloper, father to The Heiress with Wendy Hiller in the title role. The play ran for a year and was mounted again briefly in 1950.

He played Cassius on Broadway to Horace Braham's Julius Caesar in 1950, and spent some time guesting on television shows produced in New York, like The Ford Theatre Hour in October 1949 and The Colgate Comedy Hour (!) in February 1951.

In October 1953, Rathbone took his Holmes act to Broadway appearing in a play written by his wife Ouida called Sherlock Holmes, with Jack Raine as Dr. Watson. It closed after only three performances. . .

Besides appearing a good deal on television, Rathbone continued in films, appearing in stuff like The Black Sleep in 1956, Comedy of Terrors in 1963 and
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini in 1966.

His last film was a Mexican horror movie called Autopsia de un fantasma - Autopsy of a Ghost released posthumously in 1968.

He published an autobiography In and Out of Character in 1962, and toured to support it. He made many spoken word recording of things like The Night Before Christmas and Peter and the Wolf. Rathbone died of a heart attack in New York at the age of 75.

We shall end our Rathbone summary with a quote of his we find very touching:

"Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; nothing is lost that is born of the heart." —  Basil Rathbone

    Jimmy Ray

Jimmy Ray was billed as "The Dancing Waiter" in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Northern Lights" for the film The Trail of '98 in 1928.

Mr. Ray made only two film appearances; as a featured dancer in Sitting on the Moon with Roger Prior in 1936, and as a minstrel player in the musical Dixie with Bing Crosy in 1943.

Ray is on record as performing a soft-shoe act in nightclubs into the late 1940s.

Joey Ray as Roy, a henchman in The Saint in Palm Springs, released in January, 1941.
  Joey Ray

Born: Joseph Snitzer Ray, September 5, 1904 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Died: April 27, 1958, in Los Angeles, California

Joey Ray had only been in a supporting role in the Tom Mix western Son of the Golden West, when he was on the card at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, August 17, 1929, with The Brox Sisters, Frank Richardson, The Rasch Ballet, Bobby Dolan and Walter O'Keefe.

Little did anyone realize that Ray would go on to have a fairly good run in Hollywood, playing all sorts of cheap chislers, bartenders, crooners and whatnot. He never broke into the bigtime, but some of his more recognizable credits are for: The Drunkard in 1935; he was a dance contest announcer in Follow the Fleet in 1936; another announcer in Swing Time in 1936; he played a hotel desk clerk in the unforgettable Mexican Spitfire with Lupe Valez in 1940; he played an assistant to Professor Gordon in the first chapter of the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe in 1940, and played an orchestra leader in Kitty Foyle with Ginger Rogers in 1940; he had a role as a clerk in Shadow of the Thin Man which played the Chinese in November, 1941.

He worked a good deal during World War II, staying out of the fight for unknown reasons, but he was in the ensemble of John Ford's great film about the Navy in the Pacific, They Were Expendable in 1945. Ray was in Two Years Before the Mast starring Alan Ladd in 1946, and was in A Double Life, starring Ronald Colman.

Some other films you may have heard of: Force of Evil (1948); A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with Bing Crosby in 1949; Mighty Joe Young (1949) and White Heat (1949). He played newspaperman Marty Mitchell for three episodes in the Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves in 1953, and spent the rest of the 1950s playing the same sort of roles on Dragnet, Perry Mason and so on. He died in 1958 at the age of 53.

    H. Ellis Reed

H. Ellis Reed appears to have been a stage actor, credited with participating in the Theosophical Society's 1918 production of The Light of Asia, a massive outdoor pageant, held in rustic Beachwood Canyon, on the life of the Buddha. Reed has gone down in history when he and his father William, were charged by another group with finding a bigger spot for an outdoor amphitheatre. They came across Daisy Dell, which become the location of the Hollywood Bowl.

Reed is credited with being in the 1921 Broadway flop The Great Way, which seems to have been an updating of the Don Quixote story.

H. Ellis Reed is credited as being the house manager of Grauman's Chinese Theatre during the run of King of Kings in 1927.

    W. H. Rice and the L. A. Monkey Farm

Not too many animal acts appeared on the Grauman stage, but this one commands attention: "The Sight of a Lifetime: Monkey vs. Dog, courtesy of W. H. Rice of the L. A. Monkey Farm." This was part of the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 11, 1929.

The L. A. Monkey Farm was actually in Culver City, and appears to have been a long-standing Southern California tourist attraction. It is generally thought to have been located on what eventually became M-G-M backlot number five, at the corner of Overland Blvd. and Jefferson Blvd., where a shopping center stands today.

  Frank Richardson

Born: September 6, 1898, in Phildelphia, Pennsylvania
Died: January 30, 1962, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Frank Richardson always claimed he was born to be a performer. At age eight, he was hired as "The Wonder Boy Tenor" for the traveling Dumont's Minstrels. Later, he would work with Emmet Welch's Minstrels in Atlantic City on the Million Dollar Pier. Eventually breaking into vaudeville, Richardson was a great ringmaster and master of ceremonies. Performing in blackface, he billed himself as "The Ace of Spades."

But one night in 1926 or so, Richardson was delayed by a late train to his gig at a theatre, so had no time to get into his blackface makeup. His number went over better than ever, so Richardson decided to leave the burnt cork behind once and for all. Now, he was "The Joy Boy of Song."

During the run of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Richardson was asked to appear as Master of Ceremonies at the "Billion Dollar Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, July 20, 1929, with Charles King and Anita Page. Richardson was a hot commodity just then; not only did he have a part in the Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, released in May, 1929, but he also had a role as a singer in Masquerade, released just the week before.

Richardson sang at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, on Satuday, August 17, 1929, where he was featured in a stage show along with The Brox Sisters, Joey Ray, The Rasch Ballet, Karl Dane, Bobby Dolan and Walter O'Keefe.

He also performed in the early Fox musicals Happy Days (in blackface), and Sunny Side Up (which played the Chinese in November, 1929), John Ford's talkie, Men Without Women, released in February, 1930, Let's Go Places with Lola Lane (released in February, 1930), and The New Movietone Follies of 1930, released in May.

Returning to vaudeville, Richardson was slapped with a breach of promise lawsuit by his lover, Joan Williams in 1934. Mrs. Richardson paved the way for happiness by simply disappearing. Richardson and Williams married, with Frank working the boards one way or another until his death from a heart attack in his hometown of Philadelphia. He was 64.

  Hal Roach

Born: January 14, 1892, in Elmira, New York
Died: November 2, 1992, in Bel Air, California

Hal Roach is a key figure in film history. Producer of short comediy films from 1915, he fostered the careers of Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chase, Will Rogers, Harry Langdon, ZaSu Pitts, Patsy Kelly, Snub Pollard, and Ruth Roland, as well as launching the Our Gang films.

Born to Irish immigrants, Roach was encouraged to a life of adventure and laughs by attending a personal appearance by Mark Twain when he was a lad. After mucking about in Alaska (as did Sid Grauman), Roach came to Hollywood in 1912, where he did extra work.

Inheriting some money in 1915, Roach decided to produce some short films with a guy he had met at Universal: Harold Lloyd. Their "Lonesome Luke" shorts did well enough, but eventually Lloyd's character developed into the "Everyman" character; these were hugely popular, allowing for Roach to purchase land from Henry Culver for the Hal E. Roach Studios by 1920. Roach and Lloyd moved into feature-length projects, culminating in Safety Last in 1923.

Roach formed the Our Gang cast in 1922, with the series becoming so successful, that Harold Lloyd began to feel Roach wasn't concentrating on his films; he left for Paramount in 1924. Roach would take two of his contract players and put them together in Laurel and Hardy's Duck Soup in 1927.

Roach was asked to play master of ceremonies with Charlie Chase, and Gus Edwards at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, June 8, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. Young star Raquel Torres was the "star guest of honor" that evening. He also attended the "Midnight Matinee" the following week, Saturday, June 15, 1929, as a guest of honor, along with Laurel and Hardy, Conrad Nagel as M.C., and the stars of The Broadway Melody, Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love appearing onstage.

Roach had recently signed an agreement to release his films through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The first Laurel and Hardy feature was Pardon Us released in 1931. An ill-conceived plan to produce films with Benito Mussolini's son Vittorio, forced M-G-M head Louis B. Mayer to put an end to that; despite producing the smash hit Topper with Cary Grant (which played the Chinese in August, 1937); the Roach features weren't doing so well. He and M-G-M severed relations in 1938.

Working now with United Artists, Roach produced films like Of Mice and Men in 1939, and A Chump at Oxford and One Million Years B.C. in 1940. Roach hit upon the idea of making featurettes — hour-long comedies, which were successful. Enlisting in the Signal Corps during World War II, the Roach studio had been taken over by the U.S. Army Air Forces for the making of training films. The government returned the studio to Roach after the war.

After making a number of "streamlined" films in color, Roach and his son Hal Roach, Jr. moved into television production, leasing his facilities to shows like The Abbott and Costello Show, as well as producing shows such as The Public Defender on CBS from 1954 to 1955, Telephone Time on CBS and ABC from 1956 to 1958, Love That Jill in 1958 and The Gale Storm Show, on CBS and ABC from 1956 to 1960. Roach generated millions of dollars by licensing his old films to television, with the Our Gang comedies being rebranded The Little Rascals for this purpose. He retired in 1955.

Roach was honored with an Oscar for his work in 1984. Roach performed a hula dance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in January, 1992. He died that year of pneumonia at his home in Bel Air, just shy of his 101st birthday.

    Ed and Jenny Rooney

Ed Rooney
Born: 1893, in Baraboo, Wisconsin
Died: unknown date, in unknow location

Jenny (Smith) Rooney
Born: 1895, in unknown location
Died: Unknown date, in unknown location

Since 1921, the Rooney's double trapeze act had been considered the gold standard in vaudeville. They were always dressed in white with green accents, befitting Ed's Irish heritage.

Rooney's mother had been completely bowled over upon seeing circus acobats warming up for a show in Baraboo, so the circus was where all five of her children would work, with older brother John training the younger children tumbling and high wire work.

Ed joined the Gollmar Circus in 1907 at age 14. He became a proficient horse trick rider. He apprenticed with Charlie Siegrist with the Ringling show in 1908, where he was introduced to the flying trapeze. Going out on his own in 1911, doing trick riding and single trapeze, he met 16-year-old orphan trapeze acrobat Jenny Smith, who was in an act with her aunt and uncle. Immediately, they eloped, with uncle objecting. Ringling told the uncle to calm down and get used to the idea — a double trapeze act with such young performers!

So they toured all over, had a son, and appeared together in Sid Grauman's "Ballyhoo" Prologue for the film The Circus in 1928. Their son John became a dentist in 1939 and joined the air corps in World War II.

Ed and Jenny continued doing their trapeze act, eventually moving in to teaching. Their fates are currently unknown.

  Pat Rooney, Jr., Marion Bent, and Pat Rooney III

Pat Rooney, Jr.
Born: July 4, 1880, New York City, New York
Died: September 9, 1962, New York City, New York

Marion Bent
Born: December 23, 1897, in New York City, New York
Died: July 28, 1940, in New York City, New York

Percy (Pat) Rooney III
Born: April 1, 1909
Died: November 5, 1979, in Sutton, New Hampshire

Pat Rooney Jr. was the best-known Irish dancer and comic on the vaudeville circuit, along with his dancer wife Marion, and their young son, who became a creditable dancer in his own right.

Born to a successful Irish dancer and singer in vaudeville, Pat, Jr. entered the family business, performing with his sister Mattie. When she married, Pat became a solo act, doing the soft shoe and clog dancing. Rooney, Jr. performed in a number of shows on Broadway in the 1900s. He appeared with childhood friend Marion Bent on Broadway in a version of Mother Goose, which opened at the New Ampsterdam theatre in 1903. The pair became husband and wife, doing well with tap dancing and bantering with each other. Pat, Jr. was considered one of the finest tap dancers in the country. The pair appeared on Broadway in a show called Love Birds in 1921.

Pat Rooney III was on the road with his parents at an early age. Learning all of his father's routines, he eventually became a solo performer. Father, mother and son appeared at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, February 23, 1929. Pat Rooney Jr. made an appearance at the "Midnite Matinee" for The Broadway Melody on Saturday, March 30, 1929, where he was a "star guest" along with George Sidney, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Crawford.

All of the family made numerous short films showcasing their dance talents, but appreaded together in only one film, called — get this — Pat Rooney, Marion Bent, and Pat Rooney III for Fox Film in 1929.

Marion Brent developed arthritis in the early 1930s. All three made their final performance together at the Capitol Theatre in New York in 1935. divorced sometime in the early 1930s; after that, Pat, Jr. toured for a bit with Pat III; performing a routine which included them dancing together back-to-back — quite a trick. Marion divorced Pat, Jr. around 1937. Pat, Jr. was in the original cast of Guys and Dolls on Braodway in 1950-53. Son Pat III married Estelle Wright. The pair retired to New Hampshire, where they opened a hot dog stand.

    The Rounders

Dudley B. Chambers (tenor)
Born: July 15, 1895, in New York, New York
Died: March 14, 1958, in Los Angeles, California

Ben McLaughlin (tenor)
Born: ???
Died: ???

Myron Niesley (tenor)
Born: ???
Died: ???

Richard C. Hartt (baritone)
Born: ???
Died: ???

Armand Girard (bass)
Born: ???
Died: ???

The Rounders were a vocal group formed by Dudley Chambers in the late - 1920s. Not much is known about the group, which seems to have taken their lead from another vocal group recording at the time, The Revelers.

The Rounders made a number of recordings for Victor in 1927-1931. They made recordings vocalizing for Henry Halstead and Ben Black's orchestras. Sometimes, they were the solosits with only piano behind them, as they did with their cover of the Gershwin Brothers' "I Got Ryhthm," released in 1931. They did backing vocals for Jeanette MacDonald's recording of "Beyond the Blue Horizon" for the film Monte Carlo in 1930.

Their only feature film was The Hollywood Revue of 1929 where they are the backing chorus for Cliff Edwards and The Brox Sisters introducing the immortal song "Singin' in the Rain."

The Rounders appeared on the Grauman stage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee for The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on Saturday, September 7, 1929. They shared the bill with Carlotta King, Lou Alter, and Basil Rathbone. The Rounders also appeared onstage at the Chinese at the final "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. They shared the stage with comic song stars Van & Schenck along with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person" and Roscoe Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, Mike Donlin and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

They also made an appearance (along with Ted Healy and The Three Stooges) in an M-G-M Technicolor short called Nertsery Rhymes in 1933.

The Rounders must have broken up, because leader Dudley Chambers went on to have an interesting career in Hollywood, working as a choral arranger on a number of films, including
Broadway Melody of 1936, Gone with the Wind in 1939, The Corn is Green in 1945, Rhapsody in Blue also in 1945, Night and Day in 1946, and doing the vocal arrangements for the 1947 Warner Bros. musical My Wild Irish Rose with Dennis Morgan.

Chambers is credited with writing the scores for a couple of low-budget thrillers for producer Sigmund Neufeld and his brother, director Sam Newfield in 1951: Mask of the Dragon and Fingerprints Don't Lie, both starring Richard Travis.


  Benny Rubin

Born: February 2, 1899, in Boston, Massachusetts
Died: July 15, 1989, in Los Angeles, California

Benny Rubin was an actor, comedian, tap dancer, and impresionist. Growing up Jewish on the tough Catholic streets of Boston, Rubin defended himself by taking boxing lessons; the experience put him in the path of many people, and he started forming impressions of them. He had developed an act and was on the vaudeville circuit by 1920. He learned the difference between doing comedy in urban centers, like New York, and the slower pace of places like St. Paul or Omaha.

As soon as sound films began being produced, Benny Rubin was right there, getting parts in features, but starring in shorts, such as The Delecatessen Kid in 1929. He appeared in the "Midnite Matinee" performance of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, February 16, 1929, and Saturday, May 18, 1929., as the M.C. He also appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performances accompanying the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929 where he was part of the cast of "Gus Edwards' School Days" performed by Gus Edwards along with Fanny Brice, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Bert Wheeler, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler), on Saturday, July 6, 1929, while on Saturday, July 27, 1929, he was the master of ceremonies, and shared the stage with his great friend, Jack Benny.

In later years, he became a regular on all of the Jack Benny radio programs, as well as getting extra work in several of the films of Jerry Lewis. He made many guest appearances on television in the 1950s and 60s — usually as waiters and so on, but scored a solid impression playing Gus Huffle, owner of the Pixley movie theatre in 1960s television show Petticoat Junction.

Rubin published his autobiography, Come Backstage with Me in 1972. He died of a heart attack in 1989.

    Sidney Russell

Sidney Russel must have been a piano player / musician, who accompanied the singer Carlotta King who was a "star guest" at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 18, 1929.

  Samaroff and Sonia

Samaroff (Donat Butowick)
Born: May 4, 1877, in Samara, Russia
Died: October 6, 1960, in Muskegon, Michigan

Sonia (Ella Bluhmfield Butowick)
Born: April 29, 1881, in unknown location in Germany
Died: June 25, 1968, Muskegon, Michigan

Samaroff and Sonia were a well-known vaudeville act. Donat Butowick ran away to join the circus at the age of eight, becoming an acrobat and contortionist. He learned tighrope walking and horse trick riding, then avoided compulsory military service by fleeing to England in 1898.

Joining the George Sanger Circus, Donat toured to South Africa, where he bagan training dogs. Returning to England, he took his dog act on the booming vaudeville circuit. He moved to America in 1906, then met acrobat Ella Blumfield somewhere in California; the two got married in Los Angeles in 1908.

Together as Samaroff and Sonia, they toured the world with their acrobatic act (with acobatic dogs).

They appeared in the Sid Grauman's "Ballyhoo" Prologue for the film The Circus in 1928.

While in Chicago in 1938, Ella was seriously injured in an automobile accident, causing the Butowicks to give up their act, selling some of their performing animals to DeWaldo's Circus. They tried a return to the boards later on, but it did not pan out, so they retired to their longtime home at the Actor's Colony in Bluffton, Michigan. They had one son, who gave them one grandson.

  Salvatore Santaella

Born: September 12, 1896 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Died: January 11, 1964, in Los Angeles, California

Of Italian heritage, Santaella's parents emmigrated to the U.S. in 1908, settling in Detroit, Michigan, where Salvatore finished high school. A piano virtuoso, Santaella might have been schooled in the classics, but he drifted into the show world.

Santaella made a few recordings with singers Henry Burr and Lewis James doing covers of "Everyone Was Meant for Someone" written by Santaella, Jan Rubini (music), and Kalmar, and Herry Ruby (lyrics); as well as "Out of a Clear Sky" for Columbia in 1919. He was married to Lillian Hansen in 1920. The couple moved to New York and had a daughter.

The Santaella's moved out to Hollywood looking for work in the mid 1920s, where he might have worked for Sid Grauman at some point. His marriage to Lillian dissolved.

Santaella conducted the Grauman's Chinese Symphony Orchestra in an overture "Highlights of Hollywood" througout the engagement of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 from June to September, 1929, as well as the "Midnight Matinees" which were held at midnight on Saturday nights during the run.

Santaella has only one movie credit to his name. The George Arliss starrer, The Man Who Played God (1932). Arliss plays a concert pianist who looses his hearing. Santaella is credited with doing the piano solos in this film, under the composer for the picture, Leo F. Forbstein.

After this, it is reported that Santaella became the music director for local radio station KMTR, where he met his future wife, singer / actress Mildred Stone. They wed in 1935. The couple had daughter together. The trail dries up after this, with Salvatore continuing to work at KMTR, then KLAC when it was bought out in 1946. He remained there until KLAC changed to talk radio format in 1964. Santaella died that same year.

  Frederic Burr Scholl

Born: 1891, in Kaukauna, Wisconsin
Died: Unknown


Frederic Burr Scholl Was born in Kaukauna Wisconsin, where he studied piano and organ with Katherine Gray and then William R. Boone in Portland Oregon. Scholl soon was playing organ at the Columbia Theatre and the People's Theatres. After working in Sacremento, he opened he Rialto Theatre in Tacoma Washington with D. W. Grifith's Hearts of the World with the Gish Sisters in September 1918. Scholl was able to begin a weekly organ concert at the Rialto.

Sid Grauman selected Scholl to be the organist at his Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, begining in October 1922. Scholl opened the organ at the new Carthay Circle Theatre in May 1926. When the Chinese was opened, Scholl opened the Wurlitzer opus 1541, during the engagement ofSid Grauman's Prologue "The Glories of the Scripture" for the film King of Kings in 1927. He has been spotted playing at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney Australia in 1928. As with many musicians from this period, what happened to him after the silent age passed is a mystery.

  George Sidney

Born: Sammy Greenfield, March 18, 1876, in Nagynichal, Hungary
Died: April 29, 1945, in Los Angeles, California

George Sidney was a comic actor in vaudeville, appearing in films from 1924 on. One gets the impresssion that he specialized in playing Jewish characters — for the list of character names from his films of the mid to late 1920s: Abe Potash, Abie Finklebaum, Simon Levi. He became a fixture in 1928 by playing Nate Cohen in a series of "Cohens and Kellys" pictures for Universal. The first one was called The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris. There were six more into the sound era, with the last one, The Cohens and the Kellys in Trouble in 1933.

George Sidney made an appearance at the "Midnite Matinee" for The Broadway Melody on Saturday, March 30, 1929, where he was a "star guest" along with Anita Stewart, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Crawford. He was a
"guest of honor" just a week later, on Saturday, April 6, 1929.

Sidney continued to appear in comic roles in films, both short and feature-length, with perhaps his paticipation in Manhattan Melodrama from 1934 which will mark his passing. In it, he plays Poppa Rosen, a Russian Jew who mentors the story's two protagonists as young men. His character is killed by a policeman's horse during a street fight.

    Leonard St. Leo

Born: June 19, 1894, in England, United Kingdom
Died: February 9, 1977, in Los Angeles, Cailfornia

Born in England, Leonard St. Leo won roles on Broadway in 1924's Lollipop, and 1925's George Gershwin / Oscar Hammerstein II musical Song of the Flame where he was a dancer.

St. Leo performed as an acrobat in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Agrentine Nights" for The Gaucho in 1928, suggesting he must have been on the vaudeville circuit during the late 1920s. In films from 1929, he performed in Chad Hanna in 1941 and was an acobatic tumbler in Lady in the Dark and Frenchman's Creek, both for director Mitchell Leisen in 1944. He joined the ensemble as a silt walker in Vincente Minelli's Yolanda and the Thief in 1945.

St. Leo must have tired of Hollywood; he is buried in the Rawlins Cemetery in Rawlins, Wyoming.

    Jack Stanley

Born: 1890
Died: 1936


Jack Stanley was a singer and dancer, who appeared in a few shows on Broadway, beginning with the Irving Berlin musical Stop! Look! Listen! in late 1915. The show ran for 105 perfs, closing in March 1916.

Stanley was in the Broadway casts of Molly Darling in 1922, Plain Jane in 1924 and two productions of Yours Truly in 1927 and 1928.

Stanley appeared at the Chinese Theatre's "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 14, 1929, sharing the bill with Gus Edwards, Anita Page, Gwen Lee, Armida, Charles Kaley, Edward Lankow and Cecil Cunningham.

We know nothing of his later life, except that he passed away in 1936 at the age of 46.

William Fountaine, Nina Mae Kinney and Daniel L. Haynes in King Vidor's Hallelujah.
  Stars of King Vidor's Hallelujah

At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 23, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, apparently the cast of King Vidor's upcoming release Hallelujah were presented. We imagine these personal appearances would have included Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, the Dixie Jubilee Singers as well as director King Vidor.

  Anita Stewart

Born: Anna May Stewart, February 7, 1895, in Brooklyn, New York
Died: May 4, 1961, in Los Angeles, California

Anita Stewart was an early silent picture star, who also produced her own films first with Louis B. Mayer, then with the First-National studio.

Stewart had found bit part work at the Vitagraph studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey; before long, she became a popular performer. In 1917, she married actor Rudolph Cameron, who was making films with Ralph Ince, who paired the married couple in many successful films.

She was lured away from Vitagraph by Louis B. Mayer in 1918. Mayer had been looking for performers who wanted to produce their own films, as Chaplin was doing at Mutual. He gave Stewart her own production company. Later in the silent era, she continued to be a popular star into the feature-length period.

At the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 30, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody, Stewart was a "Guest of Honor." We do not know what that exactly meant, beyond acknowledging the applause of the crowd.

Stewart found making talkies difficult, and retired from the screen in 1932.

    George Stinson "The Singing Cop"

George Stinson is billed everywhere as "The Singing Cop" and seems to attracted much attention to himself by being both a great operatic tenor, but also a professional policeman. He was given lead roles by opera comapnies around the country, and was booked to appear at the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, May 18, 1929.

He performed his "Singing Cop" act in the 1936 film Crash Donovan with Jack Holt.

    Harry Stodard

See Marcy Klauber and Harry Stoddard

    Three Freehands

The only thing known about the Three Freehands is that they were a gymnastic act, who performed on the vaudeville circuit worldwide. They appeared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Ballyhoo" for the film The Circus in 1928.

  Dmitri Tiomkin

Born: May 10, 1894, in Kremenchuk, Poltava Governate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died: November 11, 1979, in London, England

Dmitri Tiomkin was one of Hollywood's best-known composers of music during its golden age. Born into a cultrured Jewish household, his mother Marie encouraged Dmitri into music, allowing the boy to study at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, where he studied piano with Felix Blumenfeld and composition with Alexander Glazunov.

Tiomkin got through the Russian Revolution composing the usual choral marches, but he also played piano in cinemas. Moving to Berlin in 1921, Tiomkin rose to prominence as a piano soloist. Moving to Paris in 1924, he formed a duo with fellow pianist Michael Khariton.

Invited to perform on the American vaudeville circuit, Tiomkin met choreographer Albertina Rasch. They wed in 1926. Tiomkin toured Europe as a pianist, and made the European debut of Gershwin's fantastic Concerto in F in Paris.

With his wife Albertina running her ballet ensembles in theatres throughout the country, the "Rasch Ballet" was a successful unit in Grauman prologues at the Chinese. When the troup appeared at the "Billion Dollar Midnight Matinee" for the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929, on Saturday, August 17, 1929; the music was provided by Rasch's husband Dmitri.

Now in Hollywood, Tiomkin worked at M-G-M, where he wrote ballet music for the Rasch ensemble for the Ramon Navarro talkie Devil-May-Care, released in December, 1929. Tiomkin's first real scoring opportunity arose with Alice in Wonderland in 1933. His hopes for a career on the concert stage ended in 1937, when he broke his arm. After that, director Frank Capra chose Tiomkin to write the score for Lost Horizon that same year. Tiomkin went on to write the scores to all of Capra's most successful films: You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), the Why We Fight series during World War II, and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

Tiomkin also scored a number of films for Alfred Hitchcock: Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Strangers on a Train (1951), I Confess (1953), and Dial M for Murder (1954).

Genial and filled with humor, Tiomkin's music provided a full-bodied energy to films like Duel in the Sun (1946), Giant (which played the Chinese in October, 1956), Friendly Persuasion (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Rio Bravo (1959), The Alamo (1960) and The Guns of Navarone (1961).

Tiomkin won Oscars for scoring and writing the theme song to High Noon in 1952, for the score to The High and the Mighty in 1954, and The Old Man and the Sea in 1958.

Tiomkin published his memiors, Please Don't Hate Me in 1959.

After Albertina Rasch died in 1967, Tiomkin remarried in 1972, working from London, England, where he died in 1979.

  Raquel Torres

Born: Paula Marie Osterman, November 11, 1908, in Hermosillo, Mexico
Died: August 10, 1987, in Los Angeles, California

Raquel Torres is a special person on this list. Born to a German father and Mexican mother who died when she was young, the family moved to Los Angeles. After graduation, she took her mother's maiden name as her own, and went to work at — Grauman's Chinese Theatre — as an usherette. We have a photo of Raquel in her uniform on our "Tour-1927" page.

While working at the theatre one night, "a director (one assumes W.S. Van Dyke)" spotted her and asked her to make a screen test. She accepted, and was put in as the female lead in White Shadows in the South Seas, which premiered at the Chinese in August, 1928. Talk about a whirlwind!

Raquel found some success in Hollywood after White Shadows. In 1929, she was in the cast of both the first adaptation of The Bridge at San Luis Rey released in March, and as the female lead in the Tim McCoy western The Desert Rider, released in May.

Torres was invited as "star guest of honor" at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, June 8, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody. Her other stars onstage with her included Charlie Chase, Hal Roach, and Gus Edwards.

While shooting the Michael Curtiz directed Under the Texas Moon (with Frank Fay and Mryna Loy) at Warner Bros., Torres appeared onstage at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" late show of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, August 3, 1929. The stage show also included "Guest of Honor" Marion Harris, Gwen Lee, and Josephine Dunn, with Lynn Cowan as master of ceremonies.

After a pair of "exotic" roles in the films The Sea Bat in 1930 and Aloha in 1931, Torres starred as the comic foil for the comedy team Wheeler and Woolsey in So This is Africa in 1933 (her character's name was "Tarzana"). This led to her most notable appearance: as the comic foil (along with Margaret Dumont) for the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup in 1933.

Torres did some bits in a few films after Duck Soup, but she had met stockbroker Stephen Ames at a party. They married in 1935. Ames went on to produce some films during the late 1940s and early 50s, but Raquel shied away from them. Ames died in 1955.

Torres then had a tempestuous marriage to actor Jon Hall in 1959, but it was short lived. In 1985, one of those Mailbu fires lept across Pacific Coast Highway, igniting Torres' home. She escaped without injury. She died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 78.

    Triana and Antoinette

Triana and Antoinette were a dance team, perforing "La Jota Dance" in Sid Grauman's Prologue "Argentine Nights" for the film The Gaucho in 1927.

  Sophie Tucker

Born: Sonya Kalish, January 13, 1887, in Tulchyn, Ukraine (Russian Empire)
Died: February 9, 1966, in New York City, New York

Sophie Tucker was a signer of comic blues and risque songs; her appreances in vaudeville, nightclubs, films, radio and television made her one of the most beloved entertainers in America.

The Kalish family emmigrated to Hartford, Connecticut, where young Sonya sang in the family restaurant for tips. When she was 16, she married and had a child. Her husband, truckdriver Louis Tuck, left her. Leaving her baby with her family, Sonya headed for New York City.

Tucker sang in beer halls and saloons, sending money home to support her son. Graduating to vaudeville, she was forced to perform in blackface, which she found humiliating. But she had discovered the blues and a sense of humor; refusing to wear blackface, she began belting out songs while celebrating that she was a chubby white Jewish girl. Audiences loved her.

By 1909, Tucker was featured in the Zeigfeld Follies, but conflicts with her other female stars forced her to be pulled from the show. She became the darling of the William Morris Agency, and began recording, which sold extremely well. Having been befriended by the likes of Ethel Waters in the early 1920s, Tucker began to work jazz idioms into her vaudeville act, with her accompanist Ted Shapiro. In 1926, she toured Europe. Tucker's recording of "One of These Days" with the Ted Lewis Band sold over a million copies.

Sophie Tucker only made one appearance onstage at the first of the "Midnite Matinee" performances of both Sid Grauman's "Broadway Nights" Prologue and the film The Broadway Melody, on Saturday, February 9, 1929.

Sophie Tucker made the transition to film work as the vaudeville circuit she loved began to die. In the late 30s, she had her own radio program on CBS, and with the rise of television, she made many appearances there, and continiued to tour. She died in 1966.

  Van & Schenck

Gus Van
Born: August Von Glahn, August 22, 1886, in Brooklyn, New York
Died: March 12, 1968, in Miami Beach, Florida

Joe Schenck
Born: June 2, 1891 in Brooklyn, New York
Died: June 28, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan


Van & Schenck were vaudeville and nightclub headliners, who wrote and sang clever and funny songs. Schenck played piano and sang tenor, Van harmonized as a baritone. They were a major act.

They told the story of how they learned to harmonize while working at the local trolley car barn, but in reality, it was Van who started his career by working in the trolley yard. "I was a plain mugg" like Irving Berlin, and like Berlin, Van began singing in the barrooms and waterfront dives dotting Brooklyn and Manhattan. Before long, he had a piano accompanist, but aftrer falling out with the player in 1905, Van found a slender young kid named Joe Schenck: "He could really play," Van later recalled.

While still working in a printshop, 14-year-old Schenck's voice was still changing; he played the piano only for the act, which was doing well enough for Van to marry Magaret Baumgarten in 1909 (while keeping his day job as a motorman for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company).

But by 1910 and with Schenck's 19 year-old voice settling down to the tenor range, Van & Schenck were ready for vaudeville. They knocked around for several years before they got their Big Break in 1916: at a dinner Florence Ziegfeld was giving to honor Vernon and Irene Castle, a chimpanzee got tempermental and refused to go on. Van & Schenck went on instead, wowed everyone, and came to be featured in the Ziegfeld production The Century Girl for 200 perfs in the 1916 season. They even released recordings of their songs in the show. The pair had parts in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1919, 1920 and 1921.

Their first record for the Emerson label was the "B" side of an Arthur Collins song, "Mother, May I Go In To Swim?" By 1921, their Columbia recording of "Ain't We Got Fun" by Richard Whiting, Raymond Egan and Gus Kahn became so popular that they appeared on the sheet music. Victor Records signed the pair and had them sing "For Me and My Gal" in 1917, which became a big seller. They made their radio debut in 1923.

Hollywood came calling. Van & Schenck made a number of films of their songs. Sometime in 1927, they filmed a pair of their numbers for M-G-M: "Pastafazoola" and "Hungry Women." You can watch it on YouTube. Baseball fans both, and to support the baseball theme of their upcoming feature, M-G-M filmed the boys singing three songs in a short called Van and Schenck 'The Pennant Winning Battery of Songland' which had been their tagline in vaudeville.

With Gus playing Jerry and Joe playing Jack — both baseball players — They Learned About Women was being shot when the duo appeared at the Chinese Theatre for the last "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" during the run of The Hollywood Review of 1929 on Saturday, September 21, 1929. Since their film had a baseball theme, they appeared onstage with the "M-G-M Baseball Team in person." It is not too far a stretch to figure that they performed some of the songs featured in the movie. Also on that night's bill was Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Bessie Love, Anita Page, Jack Benny, Lew Cody, Laurel & Hardy, Charles King, Georges Carpentier, Mike Donlin, The Rounders and Pete Morrison, master of ceremonies —  quite the stageful!

They Learned About Women is notable for us because it is a trove of people who have appeared onstage at the Chinese: Joe Schenck's character Jack, is engaged to Mary, played by Bessie Love. The girl Daisy, who intrudes on this relationship is played by Mary Doran. One of the guys on the baseball team is played by Benny Rubin, and the coach is played by Francis X. Bushman! Two songs from the film were released on Victor: "Dougherty Is The Name" and "Does My Baby Love." The film was released in January 1930.

With one picture in the can and with M-G-M contracts for more, Van & Schenck were riding high when tragedy struck: while appearing at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit, Schenck died of a heart attack at the hotel in June 1930.

After the death of his great friend, Van wanted to go back to working at the trolley cars, but he felt that Schenck's sprit was "keeping him in tune," encouraging him to keep singing. Van became a "single" in vaudeville parlance; he appeared in several short musical films for the Soundies company in 1941, and took a role in the Broadway musical Toplitzky of Notre Dame in 1946. Van headlined at the Palace Theatre in New York in 1949, 1951, 1953 and 1954. Oftentimes, he would sing his songs to the spirit of Schenck.

After the death of his wife Margaret in 1949, Van moved to Miami, playing in the resorts and hotels in the area. Besides remarring, Van continued to be active in the American Guild of Variety Artists, having been its president, and in 1949, was made a life member.

At the age of 80, Van was struck by a car while walking. He suffered in hospital for a week before dying of his injuries.

  King Vidor

Born: King Wallis Vidur, February 8, 1894, in Galevston, Texas
Died: November 1, 1982, in Paso Robles, California

Texan King Vidor began his career as a newsreel cameraman, and had directed his first fiction film in 1913 with The Grand Military Parade. By 1919, he had directed his first feature-length (50-minutes) film, The Turn in the Road. The hugely successful 1922 film Peg 'o My Heart, brought him a contract at Metro studios (later absorbed into M-G-M), where he would direct the ultra-successful film The Big Parade in 1925.

1928 saw Vidor direct his masterpiece, The Crowd, followed by the very fun Marion Davies picture, Show People. His first sound film was Hallelujah, which had an all African-American cast of realative unknowns. To drum up some excitement for the film, Vidor and his leads made an appearance/performance at the "Midnite Matinee" on Saturday, March 23, 1929, along with Sid Grauman's Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody.

Hallelujah was a success, and Vidor went on to make a number of significant pictures: Our Daily Bread in 1934, Stella Dallas in 1937, Duel in the Sun in 1946, The Fountainhead in 1949, and an adaptation of War and Peace in 1956.

Vidor published his autobiography, A Tree is a Tree in 1953; he passed away at his ranch in Paso Robles in 1982.

  Bobby Watson

Born: Robert Watson Knucher, November 28, 1888, in Springfield, Illinois
Died: May 22, 1965, in Los Angeles, California

Bobby Watson was a vaudvillian, Broadway star, and early sound movie actor. He is best remembered today for playing the diction coach in the musical Singin' in the Rain ("Moses supposes his toeses are roses. . .").

Watson was onstage in local vaudeville from an early age. "Discovered" by Gus Edwards, he played Coney Island with the Starmaker's group. Watson made his Broadway debut in the aviation musical Going Up in the 1917 season. He originated the role of "Madame Lucy" an outsized dress designer in Irene which ran for 675 perfs from 1919 to 1921.

Watson appeared in the Broadway musicals The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly in the 1923-24 season, Annie Dear in 1924-25, and American Born in the 1924-25 season. All of these shows were produced by George M. Cohan or Florenz Ziegfeld.

Watson relocated to Hollywood in 1925, and by 1926, was starring with Tom Moore and Bessie Love in a silent version of the Geroge M. Cohan musical The Song and Dance Man for Famous Players-Lasky.

Watson had just finished R-K-O's first musical, Synchopation with Barbara Bennett, when he made an appearance with Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, Rube Wolf and Polly Moran at the "Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, June 22, 1929, along with the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929.

Watson did bit parts in a ton of films during the 1930s, such as playing a dance director in Hips, Hips, Hooray! in 1934, a baseball announcer in Death on the Diamond in 1934, played a waif in Libeled Lady (which played the Chinese in October, 1936), a costume designer in Born to Dance (played the Chinese in November, 1936, and a reporter in Captains Courageous (which played the Chinese in July, 1937),

But believe it or not, Watson stuck pay dirt of a sort when Hal Roach asked him to play Adolf Hitler in the "streamliner" short film The Devil with Hitler in 1942. Watson's impression must have filled the bill, because he would go on to play Hitler in a number of films, like Hitler — Dead or Alive in 1942, That Nazty Nuisance in 1943, Don't Be a Sucker in 1943, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek in 1944, and The Hitler Gang in 1944. Even after the war, Watson would play Hitler; in A Foreign Affair in 1948, The Story of Mankind in 1957, and the remake of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in 1962.

Let's see — Watson played parts in Bob Hope's The Palface in 1948, the diction coach in Singin' in the Rain in 1952, had a bit part in The Band Wagon in 1953, played a florist in Deep in My Heart in 1954, and did a guest part on The Highway Patrol in 1956.

Watson died in 1965 in Los Angeles at the age of 76.

  Bert Wheeler

Born: Albert Jerome Wheeler, April 7, 1895, in Paterson, New Jersey
Died: January 18, 1968, in New York, New York

Bert Wheeler is best known as the comic partner of Robert Woolsey, with whom they together formed the vaudeville act Wheeler and Woolsey. They made a number of films for R-K-O Radio Pictures in the early sound era.

Not much is known of Wheeler's early life — presumably vaudeville and burlesque — until landing a spot in the huge cast of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923 in the 1923-1924 season. He teamed up with Robert Woolsey and found a comedy relief slot in the Broadway musical Rio Rita in the 1927-1928 season. After that, the duo was asked to appear in R-K-O's film version of Rio Rita, shooting in Hollywood.

Wheeler was propbably wrapped on the film when he made an appearance in the cast of the all-star revival of Gus Edwards' School Days along with Fanny Brice, Benny Rubin, George K. Arthur, Charles King, Tom Patricola, Polly Moran, Lola Lane, Louise Groody, Louise Dresser and Marie Dressler) at the "Billion Dollar Midnite Matinee" performance of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 at the Chinese on Saturday, July 6, 1929.

Rio Rita was released in September, 1929. Wheeler and Woolsey were so popular that the studio pared them in a series of films with Dorothy Lee often playing romantic interest for Wheeler. The team made the features The Cuckoos, Dixiana, Half Shot at Sunrise, Hook Line and Sinker (all 1930), Cracked Nuts, Too Many Cooks (with Wheeler only), Caught Plastererd, and Peach-O-Reno (all 1931), Girl Crazy, and Hold 'Em Jail (both 1932).

They had a contract despute with R-K-O and went to Columbia for So This Is Africa co-starring with former Grauman's Chinese usherette Raquel Torres in 1933, but then went back to their home studio for Diplomaniacs in 1933, Hips, Hips, Hooray! and Cockeyed Cavaliers (both in 1934, and both directed by Mark Sandrich).

When Sandrich was kicked upstairs to direct the Astaire / Rogers musicals, George Stevens directed the team in Kentucky Kernels in 1934, and The Nitwits in 1935. After Stevens left to helm Alice Adams and others, Wheeler and Woolsey began to face a decline. They continued to crank 'em out, however: The Rainmakers (1935), Silly Billies (1936), Mummy's Boys (1936), On Again-Off Again (1937), and High Flyers (1937).

Woolsey passed away in 1938, so Wheeler struggled on without his partner in films like: The Cowboy Quarterback (top-billed, 1939), and Las Vegas Nights (second billed under Tommy Dorsey, 1941), but the public wasn't buying him as a headliner anymore.

Wheeler was one of several of the replacements playing Elwood P. Dowd in the Broadway play Harvey after the original Elwood, Frank Fay, had been replaced by James Stewart during the play's long Broadway run between 1944 and 1949 (replacement run dates are not forthcoming, alas).

Wheeler asked his former onscreen girlfriend, singer Dorothy Lee, into doing a vaudeville act. It was morderately successful. He gravitated into television, where he played Smokey Joe on Brave Eagle over CBS in 1955-1956.

Wheeler returned to Broadway to star in The Gang's All Here (George Roy Hill, directing) in the 1959-1960 season. He died of emphysema in New York in 1968, at the age of 72.

  Buster West and John West

John West (father)
Born: ??
Died: ??

Buster West (son)
Born: James West, March 31, 1901, in Phildelphia, Pennsylvania
Died: March 19, 1966, in Encino, California

Buster West was what was known as an "eccentric dancer," meaning his dance routines were muscular and virtuosic. Born to vaudevillian parents, he difined the "born in a trunk" experience, quickly outpacing his folks from an early age. Somewhat short and muscular, Buster was a dazzling performer.

Buster scored a large hit on Broadway in the George White's Scandals of 1926, and appeared in Paris.

Father and son appreared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody at the Chinese Theatre in 1929. Variety mentioned the West's and the other acts on the bill were all "show stoppers." The West's moved on from the Chinese before the end of The Broadway Melody run.

After John retired, Buster appeared in several short films throughout the 1930s with dance partner Tom Patricola, then enjoyed a long run on Broadway in the musical Follow the Girls in 1944-1946; later, he found a new audience on television, apprearing in the major vaiety shows

    Harry White and Alice Manning

Were a vaudeville dance team, who saw success while appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies during the 1920s. They reportedly played the Olympia in Paris, France during that timeframe also.

The duo appeared in the Sid Grauman Prologue to the film The Gaucho in 1927.

  Rube Wolf

Born: December 2, 1891, in Los Angeles, California
Died: March 13, 1976, in Los Angeles, California

Rube Wolf was a fairly well-known band leader in presentation movie houses. Brother of impresarios Fanchon & Marco, the three siblings began their careers doing a trio act, with Rube on trumpet, Fanchon on piano, and Marco on violin.

By 1909 or so,
Wolf lit out on his own, eventually becoming music director at Loew's Warfield in San Francisco in 1927, and Loew's State Theatre in Los Angeles.

Along with Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, Polly Moran and Bobby Watson, Wolf made an appearance with "The World's Largest Jazz Band, with 30 Jazz Synchopists, and 30 Real Symphonists," at the "Midnight Matinee" on Saturday, June 22, 1929, along with the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929.

Rube Wolf and his band were given a big welcome by the city of San Francisco during their appearance at the Fox Theatre in September, 1929.

By the mid-1930s, Fanchon & Marco were operating Sid Grauman's old house, the Metropolitan, now called the Downtown Paramount. Wolf and his band were frequently on the bill appearing live at the theatre until the late 1930s. Wolf had a family with his wife; his two sons seem to have excelled at swimming.

Pictures were taken of Wolf on stage at the Metropolitan / Paramount during its demolition in 1960.

    Vina Zolle and James Burroughs

We do not know what sort of act Vina Zolle and James Burroughs were (probably dancers), but they appreared in the Sid Grauman Prologue "Broadway Nights" for the film The Broadway Melody at the Chinese Theatre in 1929. They were supported by the Albertina Rasch Dancers.

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