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- Augusta J. Evans-Wilson was born on 8 May 1835 in Columbus, Georgia, USA. Augusta J. was a writer, known for Infelice (1915) and St. Elmo (1923). Augusta J. died on 9 May 1909 in Mobile, Alabama, USA.
- Augusta Jane Evans Wilson grew up in Alabama, from whence her family had moved from Georgia due to her father's economic woes. Wilson was one of the last major authors of the domestic novel, a genre focusing on the personal growth of a female character, usually including a major plot. An erudite woman, Wilson adhered to the genre's basic outlines, but veered from it by incorporating explicit religious, philosophical, and political themes into most of her novels.
According to family lore, Wilson secretly wrote a novel at age 15, which she presented to her father as a Christmas present in 1850. She made her debut as a professional author at age 20 when this novel, the first of nine, was published as _Inez_ in 1855. However, Wilson later adopted a tolerant stance toward all Christian denominations. She also corresponded with a Jewish woman, This story of love, betrayal, and redemption set during the Texan war for independence in the 1830s, marked by heavy helpings of anti-Catholicism in its portrayal of a sinister, stereotypical Jesuit priest, sold poorly. However, Wilson's next work, Beulah (1859), the story of an orphaned young woman's disaffection from religion and then conversion back to Christianity, was a bestseller, especially among young women. In Beulah, Wilson also laid out her vision of women as the guardians of Christian morality, as the title heroine devotes herself to the conversion of her newly wed husband, a long-standing atheist.
By the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, Wilson had achieved, for a lady, an unusual status, respected for her erudition and political commitment by a great number of prominent Southern men, including Confederate General P.G.T. Beuregard, with whom she corresponded. Unlike the classic Southern lady, Wilson placed her ideological principles above her personal life, breaking off her engagement to a Northern journalist because of his pro-Union views.
Wilson leaped into the arena of literary agitprop with her third novel,Macaria, or Altars of Sacrifice (1863), which was dedicated to the Confederate soldiers and overtly championed the cause of Southern independence. Macaria was not only a bestseller in the Confederacy, but it was so effective as propaganda among Union soldiers that it was banned in the North. The novel inverted a central premise of the domestic novel - the heroine's marriage to her true love - by having the central character forgo marrying the man whom she loved in favor of celibate dedication to the new Southern nation, which, unlike the despotic North, was truly devoted to republican liberty. However, it was after the Civil War that Evans achieved her greatest success with St. Elmo (1866), a more conventional domestic novel once again concerning a moody, Heathcliff-like man who improves his character and accepts Christianity (in this case, even becoming a monster) because of the love of a virtuous woman. St. Elmo was a runaway bestseller and became a fixture of popular culture.
After her marriage to 60-year-old widower Lorenzo Madison Wilson in 1868, Wilson's literary output slowed, and none of her later novels achieved the popularity of St. Elmo. Her first two novels after her marriage were Vashti (1869) and Infelice (1875), which were both strikingly apolitical and concerned women living under assumed identities who had been wronged by and were now estranged from their husbands. She followed up these efforts with At the Mercy of Tiberius (1887) and A Speckled Bird (1902). In her final years, she wrote a brief work that she originally intended to be a short story, but a publisher wanted another book from her, so the story was published as a short novel, Devota (1907). This was her last publication before her death at age 74 on May 9, 1909. Wilson's novels remained popular until ca. 1950. William Perry Fidler wrote a biography of the author, which was published in 1951. However, due to her didactic approach to writing, her classical actions, and her reactionary views on race, women's roles, the Confederacy, and Reconstruction, her popularity plummeted after the mid-20th century. Wilson quickly lapsed into obscurity.
However, recently, scholarly interest in Wilson has grown. In 1992, Louisiana State University Press published editions of Beulah and Macaria, with prefaces by, respectively, noted Southern/women's historians Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Drew Gilpin Faust. Wilson is also mentioned in a number of 1990s historical and literary-critical scholarly works. Anne Sophie Riepma published a biography/literary analysis, Fire and Fiction, in 2000. In 2002, Rebecca Grant Sexton compiled and edited Wilson's letters in A Southern Woman of Letters: The Correspondence of Augusta Jane Evans Wilson. - Camera and Electrical Department
Nelson Evans was born on 6 June 1889 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Nelson is known for Bits of Life (1921). Nelson died on 17 October 1922 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Edwin Boring was born on 25 May 1868 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Romeo and Juliet (1916), Two Old Pals (1912) and The Bigger Man (1915). He died on 18 January 1923 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.
- Jack Chenault was born on 26 September 1888 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Within Our Gates (1920). He died on 22 May 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- Beverly Parrish was born on 10 May 1919 in Columbus, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for Ten Years Old (1927). She died on 27 February 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- J.W. Coleman was born on 12 April 1865 in Columbus, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Injustice (1919). He was married to Lydia Lee. He died on 15 September 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Producer
- Writer
Judge Willis Brown was born on 30 July 1882 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for The Girl Who Won Out (1917), The Spirit of '17 (1918) and Thief or Angel (1918). He was married to Josephine Folger. He died on 20 October 1931 in Columbus, Ohio, USA.- Patrick Kearney was born on 9 October 1893 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was a writer, known for A Place in the Sun (1951), Fast Company (1929) and Darkened Rooms (1929). He was married to Elizabeth Russell (artist's model), Irene O'Brien (actress) and Anita Day Porterfield (actress). He died on 28 March 1933 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Eva Lang was born on 11 September 1884 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for The Golden Lure (1921), The Outlaw's Revenge (1921) and A Desperate Tenderfoot (1920). She was married to John Halliday. She died on 7 April 1933 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Julia Swayne Gordon was born on 29 October 1878 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for My Lady's Slipper (1916), You Can't Fool Your Wife (1923) and The Painted World (1919). She was married to Hugh Thomas Swayne. She died on 28 May 1933 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Composer and songwriter ("The Whiffenpoof Song"), educated at Amherst College (BA, MA). He was a probate judge, then a secretary to the governor of Ohio. During World War I, he was a YMCA entertainer in France. Joining ASCAP in 1933, his other popular-song compositions include "Little Boy Blue", "O Heart of Mine", "The Gypsy Trail", "When Spring Comes Laughing", "Where the Highway Steps Along", "My Laddie", "Along Upon the House Tops to the North" and "Pickaninny Lullaby".
- Howard Thurston was born on 20 July 1869 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Twisted Souls (1920). He was married to Paula F. Mark (1910-1943), Beatrice Foster, Nina Leotha Fielding and Grace E. Butterworth. He died on 13 April 1936 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
- Humphrey Pearson was born on 30 November 1893 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was a writer, known for Bright Lights (1930), On with the Show! (1929) and Bride of the Regiment (1930). He was married to Rive King. He died on 24 February 1937 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
- George Backus was born on 15 June 1857 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Third Degree (1919), The Gamblers (1919) and National Red Cross Pageant (1917). He was married to Louise Salather. He died on 22 May 1939 in Merrick, Long Island, New York, USA.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Frank B. Good was born on 3 October 1884 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Wizard (1927), Smiles Are Trumps (1922) and Get Your Man (1921). He was married to Dolores Gannon. He died on 1 June 1939 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Ed Porter was born on 26 May 1881 in Columbus, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for Her Fighting Chance (1917), The Little Terror (1917) and Friendly Enemies (1925). He died on 29 July 1939 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born Gertrude Pridgett in Columbus, GA, in 1886, Ma Rainey is widely regarded as among the best of the early 20th-century blues singers. She was born into a family of minstrel performers and first appeared onstage when she was 14, and at age 18 married William "Pa" Rainey, a noted song-and-dance man in minstrel shows. They began performing together and traveled all over the South, both by themselves and as part of minstrel shows (Pa Rainey is reported to have met Bessie Smith while with the Rabbit Foot Minstreals, and gave her pointers on performing). In 1923 the pair signed a recording contract with Paramount Records, which billed her as "The Mother of the Blues". By the time she ended her recording career in late 1928, she had recorded approximately 100 songs, among them such classics as "C.C. Rider", "Jelly Bean Blues", "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and "Boll Weevil Blues". Many of her records and performances were backed by such musicians as Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins and Buster Bailey.
She was noted for her flamboyant costumes while performing, often wearing gowns heavily laden with sequins, shiny headbands and necklaces made of gold coins. By the 1930s, however, her career began to fade, and she retired--a very wealthy woman--in 1933, returning to her home town of Columbus, where she died of a heart attack in 1939.- Marion Lord was born on 7 March 1883 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for Broadway (1929), One Heavenly Night (1930) and Elmer Steps Out (1934). She was married to Arthur McLaglen. She died on 25 May 1942 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Cliff Saum was born on 18 December 1882 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and assistant director, known for Kaiser's Finish (1918), Fashion Madness (1928) and The Tigress (1927). He died on 5 March 1943 in Glendale, California, USA.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Joseph Levering was born on 20 July 1874 in Columbus, Indiana, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Defenders of the Law (1931), Terry and the Pirates (1940) and Husbands and Wives (1920). He died on 27 August 1943 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.- Writer
- Producer
Charles E. Blaney was born in 1866 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Across the Pacific (1914), Picture Brides (1934) and One Law for the Woman (1924). He was married to Cecil Spooner, Elizabeth Melrose (actress) and Flora Wingate. He died on 21 October 1944 in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA.- Irene Phillips was born on 4 June 1891 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for Listening In (1927). She was married to Norman Dewitt Phillips. She died on 28 February 1946 in North Hollywood, California, USA.
- A D.W. Griffith favorite matriarchal figure often playing mother characters. Kate Bruce appeared 292 times on the screen from 1908 to 1930, in movies including Intolerance (1916), The Idol Dancer (1920), Way Down East (1920), The Eternal Mother (1912), and Orphans of the Storm (1921). She was a close friend of actresses Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish, who supported Bruce financially for much of her life, including paying her rent in a little Hotel on Madison Avenue in New York. Lillian's maid would take care of her room once a week. Bruce would dine at Lillian's apartment several times a week. A very secretive and shy person, Bruce did not talk about her past or background. Lillian often compared her to a nun since her life was very austere and lonely.
- P. Massey was born on 14 September 1881 in Columbus, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Wife Hunters (1922). He was married to Samantha Washington. He died on 2 May 1946 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
- Mayme Kelso was born on 28 February 1867 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for Seven Keys to Baldpate (1925), Male and Female (1919) and Clarence (1922). She died on 5 June 1946 in South Pasadena, California, USA.
- Soundtrack
Songwriter ("Smiles"), singer and author who became an accountant after his high-school education and then a singer of illustrated songs. Joining ASCAP in 1924, his chief musical collaborator was Max Kortlander. His popular-song composiions also include "Patches", "Tell Me", "When I Came Home to You", "The Story of Old Glory, The Flag We Love", "God Put a Rose in My Garden", and "You Planted a Rose".- Actor
- Soundtrack
Warner Baxter claimed to have an early pre-disposition toward show business: "I discovered a boy a block away who would eat worms and swallow flies for a penny. For one-third of the profits, I exhibited him in a tent." When he was age 9, his widowed mother moved to San Francisco where, following the earthquake of 1906, his family lived in a tent for two weeks "in mortal terror of the fire." By 1910 he was in vaudeville and from there went on to Broadway plays and movies. A matinée idol in the silents, he came to prominence as the Cisco Kid with In Old Arizona (1928), for which he won an Oscar. He went on to star with Myrna Loy in Penthouse (1933) and to what many consider his best role, that of the doctor who treated Abraham Lincoln's assassin, in The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936). That year his $284,000 income topped the industry. In 1943, after slipping into a string of B-pictures, he began his Dr. Ordway "Crime Doctor" series with Crime Doctor (1943). He had suffered a nervous breakdown, and these pictures were easy on him (studio sets for one month, two films a year). Following a lobotomy to relieve pains of arthritis, he died of pneumonia.- Robert Elliott was born on 9 October 1879 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Maltese Falcon (1931), Lights of New York (1928) and Gone with the Wind (1939). He was married to Ruth Thorp. He died on 15 November 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Additional Crew
- Art Director
- Set Decorator
E.R. "Ernie" Hickson grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where he was born on September 2, 1892, and began acting in high school, where he excelled at set design. He joined a theater troupe as a set designer and traveled throughout the United States with them. Reaching the West Coast in 1922, he sought employment in the movie business, earning his first (and only) credit as a screenwriter on "Western Days" (1924). The film was directed by John Ford's older brother, Francis Ford, who also had a co-starring role in the silent horse-opera.
Hickson's future was settled when he was hired by Trem Carr Productions in 1931. The production company belonged to B-movie impresario Trem Carr, an Illinois native who abandoned an early construction career for the movies in the mid-1920s. Carr subsequently entered into a partnership with W. Ray Johnston, another Midwest native, who distributed Carr's films through his Rayart Pictures Corp.
Carr and Johnston formed Syndicate Pictures in 1928, with Johnston as president and Carr as vice president. Syndicate specialized in low-budget B-Westerns, some of which starred Tom Tyler. Its first offering, The Chinatown Mystery (1928), featured Hickson's old mentor Francis Ford in an acting role. After turning out 14 pictures over three years, Syndicate was reorganized as Monogram Pictures in 1931, again with Johnston as president and Carr as production chief.
Carr took out a five-year lease on land in Placerita Canyon near Santa Clarita, CA, to shoot his westerns. A filming site frequently used by cowboy stars William S. Hart, Tom Mix and Harry Carey, Placerita Canyon had first been used as a location by Carr in 1926. Hickson, Carr's artistic director and set designer, built the sets at the location. A talented craftsman, Hickson was also a western history buff and collector. His knowledge of the Old West and his collection of Western memorabilia enhanced the verisimilitude of Carr's horse-operas. Using vintage lumber, Hickson built a western street with complete buildings featuring interiors rather than just facades.
Producer Paul Malvern worked at the location after he learned the business from Carr as a production manager. Hickson designed the sets for some of the low-budget oaters Malvern made for his Lone Star Productions, which were released through Monogram. Both the Monogram and Lone Star movies used writer-director Robert N. Bradbury, who frequently cast his son Bob Steele as the lead. The movies made at the canyon set made Steele a star in the B-Western movie genre and are available on DVD.
Another future star who got his start in a Lone Star production filmed at Placerita Canyon was Bob Steele's Glendale High School buddy Marion Morrison, who would go on to fame at Republic Pictures as John Wayne. Wayne appeared in many productions shot at the ranch from 1933 to 1935. Bill Bradbury, Steele's twin brother, dubbed Wayne's singing voice when he appeared as "Singing Sandy," the original singing movie cowboy. Stuntman Yakima Canutt, who lived in the area, was employed by the unit, as was George 'Gabby' Hayes.
Monogram had amassed a considerable film-processing debt at Consolidated Film Laboratories, which was owned by Herbert J. Yates. Knowing that Carr and Johnston wanted to expand their operation, and finding a novel way by which they could discharge the debt he owed them, Yates convinced another poverty-row producer, Mascot Pictures' Nat Levine, the creator of the singing cowboy genre, to join him in forming a new studio, to be called Republic Pictures Corp. The company was incorporated in 1935 through the merger of M.H. Hoffman's Liberty Pictures, Monogram Pictures, Levine's Mascot Pictures and Malvern's Lone Star Productions. Johnston was appointed president but Yates was actually in control. Johnston, who feuded with Yates from the beginning, was soon replaced by the more pliable Levine, who had brought Msscot, and future Republic, star Gene Autry to the new studio.
Autry's first movie lead was Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935), which was shot primarily on the Placerita Canyon lot. By 1938 Autry was a big enough star to command $6,000 for the first two pictures and $10,000 for subsequent pictures in his annual contract. Johnston, who had had enough of Herbert Yates, left Republic in 1937 to restart his old studio as Monogram Productions Inc,, while Carr and Malvern had departed for Universal. Levine had been bought out for $1 million, which he lost at the racetrack within six weeks.
Hickson had acquired 10 acres of land to the west of the lot, and in 1936, upon the expiration of Carr's lease, it was decided to move the sets to a new location on Hickson's property. He used a team of horses to move the western buildings down a dirt road to the current location of Melody Ranch at Oak Creek and Placerita Canyon roads. The new set was approximately a half-mile from its former location. At the new lot Hickson created a self-contained western town with nine permanent homes, a bunkhouse and corrals for the crew and the wranglers and their horses, and a restaurant. He acquired more land and eventually expanded to 110 acres. In addition to the main street the lot featured a country schoolhouse, an Indian village, a Mexican street complete with hacienda, a pioneer settlement featuring a log cabin, a stage relay post, a trading post and an old-time store that could double as a drug store, general store or hardware store. There were also barns and corrals for the animals and to serve as sets. The production facilities provided to film crews included power, lights and cable. Hickson also supplied the producers with props to dress the sets.
In 1940 Carr had returned to Monogram as a studio executive. The Hickson ranch, now known as Monogram Ranch, served as Monogram's "home" studio, though other production companies, including Paramount, RKO and Republic, rented the facilities. Thirty movies were shot at the ranch in 91 working days during 1940, requiring 14,400 hours of set preparation and involving 7,000 movie company employees. The stars shooting there that year included William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy, singing cowboy Tex Ritter and John Wayne.
Sightseers were allowed to visit the ranch on Sundays, and 5,000 made the pilgrimage that year. In 1941 Hickson officially renamed the lot "Placeritos Ranch" after the local canyon. The lot was also used for shooting pictures other than westerns, including the Boris Karloff horror film The Ape (1940). The outdoors work for nine Monogram films featuring Bela Lugosi were shot at the ranch from 1941 to 1944.
Westerns continued to be the bread and butter at Monogram, however, and low-budget horse-operas were churned out with Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson. Former A-list actor Johnny Mack Brown was signed by Monogram in 1943 and made over 60 pictures in 10 years at Hickson's movie ranch. Brown became one of the top 10 money-making western stars at Monogram. Despite all this activity, though, Monogram's days were numbered.
After Trem Carr died in 1946, Steve Broidy took over and formed Allied Artists as a subsidiary to distribute the studio's more prestigious pictures. Low-budget production was terminated in 1952, and Monogram ceased to exist in 1953 when Broidy renamed the studio Allied Artists. By 1964 Allied Artists had left the West Coast for New York City.
Hickson himself died on January 22, 1952, but his ranch survived him and the death of the B-Western genre. Gene Autry, who had gone on to break the movie exhibitors' Top 10 list of biggest-box office attractions and was a multi-millionaire from his own Flying A Productions, radio show, traveling road show and top-10 recording career, bought the property from Hickson's widow, Bess, exactly a year later, on Jan. 22, 1953.
Autry renamed the property Melody Ranch, after one of his best-selling songs, and continued to run the property as a movie-making location. Two of Flying A's own television shows, Annie Oakley (1954) with Gail Davis and Buffalo Bill, Jr. (1955) with Dickie Jones, were filmed there, as was CBS' long-running Western TV series Gunsmoke (1955). The ranch also served as a pasture for Autry's famous movie horse, Champion.
Autry had planned to erect a western museum on the ranch to house his collection of Western artifacts, but a fire burned down part of the property on August 28, 1962. None of the ranch's employees or its horses were hurt, but many priceless artifacts were lost. Aury did eventually open his museum, called The Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage, in 1988 in Los Angeles' Griffith Park.
Among the films shot at Placerita Ranch/Monogram Ranch/Melody Ranch were My Little Chickadee (1940) with Mae West and W.C. Fields, Wichita (1955) with Joel McCrea and Last Man Standing (1987) with Bruce Willis. The ranch is now owned by Andre and Renaud Veluzat, who bought it in 1990 and continue to offer its facilities to production crews. HBO's series Deadwood (2004) is shot there. in 2004 the Santa Clarita Planning Commission approved plans for building a 45-foot-tall, 16,000-square-foot sound-stage at the ranch.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Charles K. French was born on 17 January 1860 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Abysmal Brute (1923), Hands Up! (1926) and Gentle Julia (1923). He was married to Doris Herbert, Isabelle Gurton and Helen French. He died on 2 August 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Viola A. Fortescue was born on 5 February 1875 in Columbus, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for The White Raven (1917). She died on 16 September 1953 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Production Manager
Roger Manning was born on 10 January 1894 in Columbus, Mississippi, USA. He was a production manager, known for The Legion of the Condemned (1928). He was married to Rona Lee. He died on 29 September 1954 in Ventura, California, USA.- Actress
- Writer
Barbara Worth was born Verna Louise Dooley in Columbus, Ohio, When she was a baby her family moved to Charleston, South Carolina where her father worked on the railroad. They later moved to Arkansas. In 1922 she left home and went to Los Angeles to become an actress. Barbara spent the next several years working as an extra in silent films. She married film critic Tamar Lane in 1926. That same year she was offered a contract with Universal. The lovely brunette was cast in numerous westerns including The Prairie King, Plunging Hoofs, and Fast and Furious with Reginald Denny. The studio promoted her as the girl with the best figure in Hollywood. Unfortunately most of her roles were in B-films and she never became a major star. After leaving Universal in 1929 she didn't work for two years.
Barbara tried to form her own production company but wasn't able to get funding. In 1931 she starred in the low budget films Lightnin' Smith Returns and Valley of Badmen. Her final movie was the 1935 drama Racing Luck with William Boyd. She divorced Tamar and married producer Maurice Conn in 1944. Then she started a new career as a screenwriter. Barbara and her husband co-wrote three films including the 1947 drama Dragnet. The couple bought a home in Santa Monica in 1951. As she grew older she struggled with depression. Tragically February 15, 1955 on she committed suicide with an overdose of barbiturates. She was only forty-nine years old. Barbara was cremated and buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California.- Writer
- Actress
- Production Manager
Actress, songwriter ("Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere"), production supervisor and author. She performed in vaudeville as a child (known onstage as "Little Elsie") and appeared in the Broadway musicals "The Vanderbilt Cup", "The Hoyden", "The Fair Co-ed", "The Slim Princess", and "The Lady of the Slipper". She was a charter member of ASCAP in 1914 and made her London debut the same year, and was the first American to entertain the Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War I. She wrote and produced the musical "Elsie Janis and Her Gang", with ex-servicemen. She starred in 6 silent films from 1915-1919. After making her Paris debut in 1921, she gave concerts in the USA from 1923 into 1925, eventually re-entering the film industry. Her chief musical collaborators included Jerome Kern and Edmund Goulding, and her other popular-song compositions include "Any Time's the Time to Fall in Love", "I'm True to the Navy Now", "Live and Love Today", "Molly-O-Mine", "From the Valley", "Your Eyes", "Some Sort of Somebody", "Oh, Give Me Time for Tenderness", and "A Little Love".- Actor
- Soundtrack
You would think stage and film veteran Grant Mitchell was born to play stern authoritarians; his father after all was General John Grant Mitchell. But Mitchell would actually be better known for his portrayals of harangued husbands, bemused dads and bilious executives in 30s and 40s films. Born in Columbus, Ohio and a Yale post graduate at Harvard Law, Mitchell gave up his law practice to become an actor and made his stage debut at age 27. He appeared in many leads on Broadway in such plays as "It Pays to Advertise," "The Champion," "The Whole Town's Talking" and "The Baby Cyclone," the last of which was specially written for him by George M. Cohan (see "Other Works"). Mitchell's screen career officially got off the ground with the advent of sound, though he did show up in a couple of silents. The beefy, balding actor appeared primarily in "B" films, and actually had a rare lead in the totally forgotten Father Is a Prince (1940). From time to time, however, he enjoyed being a part of "A" quality classic films such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941), Laura (1944) and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Unmarried, he died at age 82 in 1957.- Actress
Dorothy Dale was born on 20 September 1883 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Jacob Hyman. She died on 13 May 1957 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
- Special Effects
Denver Harmon was born on 3 October 1892 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He is known for Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926) and The Navigator (1924). He was married to Bird M. Claypool Zerble. He died on 1 February 1959 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The daughter of stage actress Laura R. Parrish, lovely slim-eyed brunette Helen Parrish was born on March 12, 1923 (references sometimes vary between 1922 and 1924), in Columbus, Georgia. She started out in movies at the ripe old age of four playing Babe Ruth's daughter in the silent movie Babe Comes Home (1927). She was also featured in "Our Gang" comedy shorts and was sometimes cast to play the lead character as a child/youngster. A couple of those femme stars were Loretta Young in Beau Ideal (1931) and Mary Brian in Song of the Eagle (1933).
Into her teens, Helen became established as a cinematic kid sister, neighborhood friend or rich young girl in such films as There's Always Tomorrow (1934), Straight from the Heart (1935) and A Dog of Flanders (1935). She was most notable, however, as the bane of sweet Deanna Durbin's existence in several of the singing star's musical vehicles -- usually a jealous, spiteful rival. In their first film, Mad About Music (1938), the two worked so well together that Universal decided to form a sort of teen Shirley Temple/Jane Withers stand-off between the two in a couple of other movie confections as well -- Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) and First Love (1939).
Most of Helen's film offerings were quite pleasant but rather unexceptional and nominally in the "B" category, including X Marks the Spot (1931), When a Feller Needs a Friend (1932), A Dog of Flanders (1935), I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now (1940), Too Many Blondes (1941) and X Marks the Spot (1942) (same name, different plot from her earlier film). By her mid-20s Helen filmed her last picture as the second lead in the "B" western The Wolf Hunters (1949). Focusing on the smaller screen into the 1950's, she appeared in a number of TV anthologies, including "Fireside Theatre" and "Chevon Theatre," and ended her on-camera career as a guest on "Leave It to Beaver" and "The Danny Thomas Show."
Helen's older brother, Robert Parrish, was a minor child actor who later earned respect as a film editor and director; older sister, child actress Beverly Parrish, died suddenly at the age of 10 after filming only one movie. Helen married twice. Her first husband was actor/screenwriter Charles Lang and her second, TV producer, John Guedel, survived her. She had no children.
Helen's untimely death from cancer in February 22, 1959, at age 35, robbed Hollywood of a glowing actress with true potential.- James Grover Thurber was born in 1894 in Columbus, Ohio. He began his career as a reporter for the Columbus Evening Dispatch. He became known for his work on The New Yorker, where he was a writer and a cartoonist. His most famous story is "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".
- Ann Price was born on 30 July 1899 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She was a writer, known for Thunder (1929), Speedway (1929) and The Smart Set (1928). She died on 10 November 1962 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Music Department
George Odom was born on 8 July 1882 in Columbus, Georgia, USA. He is known for Inkling (2019) and Columbia World of Sports: Jockeys Up (1939). He was married to Julie Murtha. He died on 29 July 1964 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Additional Crew
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Carl Randall was born on 28 February 1898 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Merry-Go-Round of 1938 (1937), Reckless (1935) and You're a Sweetheart (1937). He died on 16 September 1965 in Sydney, Australia.- Actor
- Producer
Norman 'Red' Benson was born on 21 February 1917 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Block (1964), The Red Benson Show (1946) and What's Offered (1950). He died on 19 June 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
A stage actress from her early teens, Grace Cunard made her Hollywood debut in 1910. She soon partnered with actor/director Francis Ford at Univeral, where they began turning out serials. The films' success led to Cunard's nickname of "The Serial Queen," and by 1916 she and Ford were ranked among the most popular stars in Hollywood. Their careers began to falter by 1918, however, and while Ford went on to become a respected director and character actor well into the '40s, Cunard didn't have such luck. She began appearing in mostly B pictures, many made by lower-budget independent companies, and her career was mired there until she retired in the early '40s.- Actor
Calvin Emery was born on 31 August 1913 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor. He died on 21 July 1967 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Carson McCullers was born on 19 February 1917 in Columbus, Georgia, USA. She was a writer, known for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) and Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963). She was married to James Reeves McCullers Jr.. She died on 29 September 1967 in Nyack, New York, USA.
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Sam Messenheimer was born on 4 March 1898 in Columbus, Indiana, USA. Sam was a composer, known for Kelly and Me (1956) and Pirates (1930). Sam died on 30 June 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Charles Fredericks was born on 5 September 1918 in Columbus, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Tender Is the Night (1962), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) and Arrest and Trial (1963). He was married to Robin Mortimor. He died on 14 May 1970 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA.
- Actor
Harlan Hoagland was born on 28 March 1895 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor. He was married to Maude M. ?. He died on 9 January 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA.