Tweet Silent comedy veterans in Pre-Code features

Last week Film Forum in NYC concluded a four-week festival of Pre-Code features: comedies, dramas, musicals and a couple of horror movies. I went as often as I could, both to revisit old favorites (such as Blessed Event) and to catch up with films I’d somehow missed until now (such as Union Depot, which is terrific). One thing that occurred to me while watching the dramas was how often silent comedy veterans turn up in small roles, usually to provide a moment or two of comic relief. This was especially the case in Warner Brothers features of 1932-33, though it certainly wasn't exclusive to any one studio.

A few favorite moments:

In The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932) Lee Tracy is confronted by a bill collector on the staircase of his run-down rooming house, and turns the tables on the man with a funny speech about his method for paying bills, delivered in his characteristic rat-a-tat tempo. The bill collector is Snub Pollard, clean-shaven, who listens blinking with befuddlement. Gus Leonard plays another bill collector, and Jesse De Vorska has a funny scene as a man falsely accused of harboring a fugitive. Towards the end Hank Mann turns up as a curiously fey reporter. Richard Cramer is here too as a tough cop, and although I associate him with talkies his appearance alongside these other guys made it feel like a Roach Studio reunion.

De Vorska popped up in several films in this series, playing the sort of comical Jewish guys who would become scarce after the Code kicked in. His former colleague Max Davidson appears in a Lower East Side sequence in Lawyer Man (1932) opposite William Powell, where the latter tries to demonstrate street cred by uttering one phrase in Yiddish. Jimmy Cagney was a lot more credible speaking Yiddish in Taxi! the previous year; that is, Cagney clearly understood what he was saying.

Heat Lightning (1934) begins with an extended comic sequence featuring Edgar Kennedy as a man pushing his car through the desert while his wife (Jane Darwell) nags him. It looks like it could be the opening of one of Kennedy’s RKO two-reelers.

Heinie Conklin and Leo White both have bits in Mae West’s comedy-drama She Done Him Wrong (1933), and White turns up again in a brief bit in an elevator with Charles Butterworth in Beauty and the Boss (1932). In fact, White turns up in practically everything. I’ve spotted him in almost every movie from the ‘30s and ‘40s I’ve seen lately: watch for him, and he will appear. I’m starting to think that Leo White was Hollywood’s male version of Bess Flowers.

Last week Film Forum in NYC concluded a four-week festival of Pre-Code features: comedies, dramas, musicals and a couple of horror movies. I went as often as I could, both to revisit old favorites (such as Blessed Event) and to catch up with films I’d somehow missed until now (such as Union Depot, which is terrific). One thing that occurred to me while watching the dramas was how often silent comedy veterans turn up in small roles, usually to provide a moment or two of comic relief. This was especially the case in Warner Brothers features of 1932-33, though it certainly wasn't exclusive to any one studio.

A few favorite moments:

In The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932) Lee Tracy is confronted by a bill collector on the staircase of his run-down rooming house, and turns the tables on the man with a funny speech about his method for paying bills, delivered in his characteristic rat-a-tat tempo. The bill collector is Snub Pollard, clean-shaven, who listens blinking with befuddlement. Gus Leonard plays another bill collector, and Jesse De Vorska has a funny scene as a man falsely accused of harboring a fugitive. Towards the end Hank Mann turns up as a curiously fey reporter. Richard Cramer is here too as a tough cop, and although I associate him with talkies his appearance alongside these other guys made it feel like a Roach Studio reunion.

De Vorska popped up in several films in this series, playing the sort of comical Jewish guys who would become scarce after the Code kicked in. His former colleague Max Davidson appears in a Lower East Side sequence in Lawyer Man (1932) opposite William Powell, where the latter tries to demonstrate street cred by uttering one phrase in Yiddish. Jimmy Cagney was a lot more credible speaking Yiddish in Taxi! the previous year; that is, Cagney clearly understood what he was saying.

Heat Lightning (1934) begins with an extended comic sequence featuring Edgar Kennedy as a man pushing his car through the desert while his wife (Jane Darwell) nags him. It looks like it could be the opening of one of Kennedy’s RKO two-reelers.

Heinie Conklin and Leo White both have bits in Mae West’s comedy-drama She Done Him Wrong (1933), and White turns up again in a brief bit in an elevator with Charles Butterworth in Beauty and the Boss (1932). In fact, White turns up in practically everything. I’ve spotted him in almost every movie from the ‘30s and ‘40s I’ve seen lately: watch for him, and he will appear. I’m starting to think that Leo White was Hollywood’s male version of Bess Flowers.

Very close, White was a contract player at Warner Bros and does appear quite a bit in their pictures. JImmy Aubrey is the same at Twentieth Century-Fox. But yes indeed, you can spot Hank Mann, Bobby Dunn, Chester Conklin, Heinie Conklin, Billy Franey, Billy Dooley and many other silent comics working as very busy bit players in the 30's and 40's. And folk like Richard Cramer, Walter Long, Bob Kortman and Leo Willis, and all the great comedy heavies are equally busy in B- westerns.

Snub Pollard was an extremely busy bit player in movies and TV in the 30's. 40's and 50's. Perhaps his being executive secretary of the Screen Extra's Guild from the mid-40's to early 50's had something to do with it.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Billy Bevan is another one - among others, Monte Carlo (1930), Journey's End (1930), Waterloo Bridge (1931), Midnight Club (1933).

Bevan was working steadily throughout the 30's and 40's, mostly in uncredited bits, but occasionally given something more substantial by a knowing director such as Lubitsch or Hitchcock.

As for "the male Bess Flowers", another candidate would be the ubiquitous Gino Corrado.

I'm currently watching the serial The Black Coin, which has quite a few silent veterans in it. It stars Ralph Graves,who seems way like he'd rather be somewere else. Leading Lady is Ruth Mix, who obviously has silent ties. Also in the cast are Snub Pollard, Joseph Swickard, Clara Kimball Young, Bryant Washburn,Yakima Canutt, William Desmond, Jimmy Aubrey, and the assistant director is Gordon Griffith.

Wish i could say it was good--it's pretty incoherent, badly transferred, and the print was so dark that nightime sequences are invisible. My husband's already ready to bail out of it.

greta

The winner of the "male Bess Flowers" trophy would have to be the ineluctable Cyril Ring, who had some good roles during the silent era--mostly villains, cads and "other men". After his talkie debut in THE COCOANUTS, Cyril quickly descended to bit roles, and sometimes extra parts, remaining extremely active until 1951. It's always a surprise to see him in a sizeable role (vide 1945's HOLLYWOOD AND VINE) during the last two decades of his movie career.
But despair not for Mr. Ring: He supplemented his income as a successful Hollywood restauranteur, and in fact was invariably identified as "actor and restaurant owner" in newspaper articles of the 1940s.

I've been following Cyril for years. It's amazing the number of films he pops up in.

Billy Bevan is another one - among others, Monte Carlo (1930), Journey's End (1930), Waterloo Bridge (1931), Midnight Club (1933).

Bevan was working steadily throughout the 30's and 40's, mostly in uncredited bits, but occasionally given something more substantial by a knowing director such as Lubitsch or Hitchcock.

Billy Bevan turned up twice in the recent Pre-Code series at Film Forum, in Waterloo Bridge and in Raoul Walsh's Me and My Gal (1932), with Spencer Tracy & Joan Bennett. And I see him all the time in features of the '30s and '40s, especially in films set in Victorian England. He was one of Hollywood's favorite Cockneys -- which is ironic, seeing as how he was Australian -- often playing constables, or coach-men driving hansom cabs. Bevan was in a couple of the Sherlock Holmes entries with Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce, and a number of horror movies, too. I believe he was killed by a monster at least once . . .

Johnny Hines has a nice part as the pesky newspaperman "Slug" in THE GIRL IN 419, a snappy Paramount hospital drama from 1933 starring James Dunn, Gloria Stuart and David Manners. It has one of those great precode endings with a justified--and unpunished--homicide. It was shown at Cinefest years ago.

While it's thought of more as an early talkie than a precode picture, Lubitsch gave a plum supporting part to Lupino Lane and a great cameo to Ben Turpin in 1929's THE LOVE PARADE.

Billy Bevan is another one - among others, Monte Carlo (1930), Journey's End (1930), Waterloo Bridge (1931), Midnight Club (1933).

Bevan was working steadily throughout the 30's and 40's, mostly in uncredited bits, but occasionally given something more substantial by a knowing director such as Lubitsch or Hitchcock.

Billy Bevan turned up twice in the recent Pre-Code series at Film Forum, in Waterloo Bridge and in Raoul Walsh's Me and My Gal (1932), with Spencer Tracy & Joan Bennett. And I see him all the time in features of the '30s and '40s, especially in films set in Victorian England. He was one of Hollywood's favorite Cockneys -- which is ironic, seeing as how he was Australian -- often playing constables, or coach-men driving hansom cabs. Bevan was in a couple of the Sherlock Holmes entries with Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce, and a number of horror movies, too. I believe he was killed by a monster at least once . . .

He's a bobby who bites the dust at the hand of DRACULAS DAUGHTER (1936).

If the picture's set in England, and cockneys are needed, expect to see Billy Bevan, JImmy Aubrey, and/or Clyde Cook or any combination thereof. Neither Bevan or Cook needed the money, Bevan owned sizeable orange and avocado groves in Escondido, and Cook owned a lot of real estate and had invested well in the Vitaphone with his friend William Demarest in the late 1920's, but both liked to keep their hands in the movie business. Bevan retired in 1950, and Cook's last film is DONOVAN'S REEF (1963) where he's still being twisted into a pretzel by John Wayne and Lee Marvin.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Silent Comedy journeyman Billy West has a small role as a down on his luck war hero in Gold Diggers of 33 in the Remember my Forgotten Man number.

Billy Bevan enlivens two of my favorite mid 30's classics. Sporting what looks like a perm, he's a memorable Jerry Cruncher in Selznick's A TALE OF TWO CITIES(1935), and mustachioed and pomaded, he's the Central Park cabbie who testifies that Mister Deeds stopped traffic to feed Clara (his horse) donuts.

While it's thought of more as an early talkie than a precode picture, Lubitsch gave a plum supporting part to Lupino Lane and a great cameo to Ben Turpin in 1929's THE LOVE PARADE.

Speaking of Ben: I've been at work on a writing project concerning comedies set in mythical kingdoms, and have found that Mr. Turpin stumbled upon a whole new career niche for himself doing cameo roles in these films in the early talkie era. Along with The Love Parade he appeared in Cracked Nuts (1931) with Wheeler & Woolsey, Ambassador Bill (1931) with Will Rogers, and, most memorably, Million Dollar Legs (1932). And of course, the last of these is absolutely chock-a-block with silent comedy veterans.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that Turpin kept popping up in comedies set in imaginary places. On the other hand, he did rather look like someone who might be a native of Klopstokia.

While it's thought of more as an early talkie than a precode picture, Lubitsch gave a plum supporting part to Lupino Lane and a great cameo to Ben Turpin in 1929's THE LOVE PARADE.

Speaking of Ben: I've been at work on a writing project concerning comedies set in mythical kingdoms, and have found that Mr. Turpin stumbled upon a whole new career niche for himself doing cameo roles in these films in the early talkie era. Along with The Love Parade he appeared in Cracked Nuts (1931) with Wheeler & Woolsey, Ambassador Bill (1931) with Will Rogers, and, most memorably, Million Dollar Legs (1932). And of course, the last of these is absolutely chock-a-block with silent comedy veterans.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that Turpin kept popping up in comedies set in imaginary places. On the other hand, he did rather look like someone who might be a native of Klopstokia.

He also appeared in Make Me A Star, which was set in a rather mythical place

Those of us watching TCM this evening caught Hank Mann in a featured role in Sinner's Holiday (1930). He's Joan Blondell's unappealing boss "Happy," who looks right at home in the sleazy carnival milieu, sporting a most unflattering haircut: parted in the center and greased down. This is the most prominent role I've seen Hank play in a talkie, I believe.

It's amusing seeing Spencer Tracy lose a scrap with cop Edgar Kennedy at the start of QUICK MILLIONS. Rowland Brown & company may have recalled Kennedy's prizefighting days.

If the picture's set in England, and cockneys are needed, expect to see Billy Bevan, JImmy Aubrey, and/or Clyde Cook or any combination thereof. Neither Bevan or Cook needed the money, Bevan owned sizeable orange and avocado groves in Escondido, and Cook owned a lot of real estate and had invested well in the Vitaphone with his friend William Demarest in the late 1920's, but both liked to keep their hands in the movie business. Bevan retired in 1950, and Cook's last film is DONOVAN'S REEF (1963) where he's still being twisted into a pretzel by John Wayne and Lee Marvin.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

It's not a precode, but I just watched the nice new Sony DVD-R of the Lone Wolf-in-London picture COUNTER-ESPIONAGE and it features both Billy Bevan and Clyde Cook. Bevan has a nice supporting part as an air raid warden, and Cook a great bit as a chestnut vendor.

If the picture's set in England, and cockneys are needed, expect to see Billy Bevan, JImmy Aubrey, and/or Clyde Cook or any combination thereof. Neither Bevan or Cook needed the money, Bevan owned sizeable orange and avocado groves in Escondido, and Cook owned a lot of real estate and had invested well in the Vitaphone with his friend William Demarest in the late 1920's, but both liked to keep their hands in the movie business. Bevan retired in 1950, and Cook's last film is DONOVAN'S REEF (1963) where he's still being twisted into a pretzel by John Wayne and Lee Marvin.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

It's not a precode, but I just watched the nice new Sony DVD-R of the Lone Wolf-in-London picture COUNTER-ESPIONAGE and it features both Billy Bevan and Clyde Cook. Bevan has a nice supporting part as an air raid warden, and Cook a great bit as a chestnut vendor.

Thats one of my favorite late Billy Bevan performances as well (and one of my favorite Lone Wolfs). Another good part he had in the 40's was the train porter involved in the murder investigation in the Universal Sherlock Holmes film TERROR BY NIGHT (1946).

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[silentfilm]

Another good part he had in the 40's was the train porter involved in the murder investigation in the Universal Sherlock Holmes film TERROR BY NIGHT (1946).

RICHARD M ROBERTS

I was watching a 16mm print of Terror By Night this afternoon, and was happy to notice Billy in the beginning of the film. I was doubly surprised that he not only had a speaking part, but turned up quite frequently throughout the film.

Another good part he had in the 40's was the train porter involved in the murder investigation in the Universal Sherlock Holmes film TERROR BY NIGHT (1946).

RICHARD M ROBERTS

I was watching a 16mm print of Terror By Night this afternoon, and was happy to notice Billy in the beginning of the film. I was doubly surprised that he not only had a speaking part, but turned up quite frequently throughout the film.

I don't know why you should be surprised by either, look at his IMDB credits sometime. They list 132 parts uncredited and credited in sound films (and there are a number they do not list), and I've never known him not to have at least a line of dialogue in anything he appeared in. Though he didn't need to work, he kept his hand in, playing bits and supporting parts until he retired in 1950, and he has a good role in Columbia's ROGUES OF SHERWOOD FOREST that year.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

What's interesting about Billy Bevan's career in the sound era is that, unlike some of his co-horts, he wasn't primarily relegated to comic parts. Some of his talkie roles (as in Cavalcade) are quite serious. Some of the other guys, like Snub Pollard and Chester Conklin --and certainly Ben Turpin-- seem to have been pigeon-holed in comic bits, sometimes providing relief in otherwise serious movies.

That said, I just now noticed that Conklin's IMDb credits include a turn as "Murdered Man in Elevator" in Private Hell 36 (1954), which I haven't seen, so apparently he had some dramatic roles, too. (Unless he was a funny murder victim in that one.) Has anyone seen Snub Pollard in a serious role from the sound era?

What's interesting about Billy Bevan's career in the sound era is that, unlike some of his co-horts, he wasn't primarily relegated to comic parts. Some of his talkie roles (as in Cavalcade) are quite serious. Some of the other guys, like Snub Pollard and Chester Conklin --and certainly Ben Turpin-- seem to have been pigeon-holed in comic bits, sometimes providing relief in otherwise serious movies.

That said, I just now noticed that Conklin's IMDb credits include a turn as "Murdered Man in Elevator" in Private Hell 36 (1954), which I haven't seen, so apparently he had some dramatic roles, too. (Unless he was a funny murder victim in that one.) Has anyone seen Snub Pollard in a serious role from the sound era?

Sure, a lot of his bit roles are serious in serious films. He's a cab driver/spy for the gangsters in PRC's THE PAYOFF (1942) , and a murder victim in Monogram's BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT (1942). He plays the waiter in PETE KELLYS BLUES (1955). It actually took some time to recognize him regularly without his moustache, but when you can, he's fairly ubiquitous in bit roles in movies and tv shows until he died. I'm sure being the executive secretary in the Screen Extras Guild from the mid-40's to early 50's helped him get a lot of work.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Two of Billy Bevan's best performances were in the very serious war films JOURNEY'S END and THE LOST PATROL, and he's outstanding. By some time in the 30's he'd become a full-time rancher and only a part-time actor, and he could pick and choose his roles (the reason why his filmography into the 40's has relatively few film appearances compared to other character actors of his type, yet they're usually somewhat substantial roles).

His grandson told me he rarely ever talked about films, and only retained two close Hollywood friends (James Finlayson and Andy Clyde). He would only come into Los Angeles from Escondido a couple of times a year for a few weeks each to make films, then return to his real business (growing produce and running and founding the Escondido Fish & Game Assoc. and Escondido Soil Conservation Assoc., etc.). I think this was why even in the 1920's he had really short contracts with Mack Sennett, to leave him open to attend to his agricultural concerns. But whether or he had a passion for a career in acting, he was a good one and an underrated one as well.

Since we're on the subject, here's something I'm curious about. How was Billy Bevan's name pronounced? In the Robert Youngson compilations the narrator tends to say "Be-VAN," accent on the second syllable, but I've also heard it pronounced to rhyme with "seven."

Since we're on the subject, here's something I'm curious about. How was Billy Bevan's name pronounced? In the Robert Youngson compilations the narrator tends to say "Be-VAN," accent on the second syllable, but I've also heard it pronounced to rhyme with "seven."

The "rhymes with seven" has it. You can hear Bevan himself pronounce it that way in a VOICE OF HOLLYWOOD short.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Since we're on the subject, here's something I'm curious about. How was Billy Bevan's name pronounced? In the Robert Youngson compilations the narrator tends to say "Be-VAN," accent on the second syllable, but I've also heard it pronounced to rhyme with "seven."

The "rhymes with seven" has it. You can hear Bevan himself pronounce it that way in a VOICE OF HOLLYWOOD short.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Thanks! That's one of those names like "Frank Borzage" I spent years mispronouncing. But in Bevan's case I can put the blame squarely on Robert Youngson.

Last night James Whale was saluted on TCM, and they showed One More River (1934), which features both Snub Pollard and Billy Bevan in supporting roles.

I wasn't able to tune in, and haven't seen this flick before. Sounds kind of soap-y from the plot description. Is it worth watching?

Last night James Whale was saluted on TCM, and they showed One More River (1934), which features both Snub Pollard and Billy Bevan in supporting roles.

I wasn't able to tune in, and haven't seen this flick before. Sounds kind of soap-y from the plot description. Is it worth watching?

I DVR'd it, but haven't watched it yet. There's a separate thread on here about the film, with mixed reviews, although one repeat viewer says they liked it better the second time around.

Also, I haven't seen a mention of Al Jolson's 1933 feature Hallelujah, I'm a Bum! which famously co-stars Harry Langdon, but also features Chester Conklin, and Tammany Young, whose career stretches back to 1911, and the D.W. Griffith/Bobby Harron short Bobby the Coward as well as a series of comedy shorts starring Tod Browning and Fay Tincher.

I DVR'd it, but haven't watched it yet. There's a separate thread on here about the film, with mixed reviews, although one repeat viewer says they liked it better the second time around.

Thanks for reminding me about the other thread; I forgot to check Talkie News yesterday before posting here. All told it sounds like One More River is worth a look, and I'm glad to hear they'll be showing it again on TCM in April.

Also, I haven't seen a mention of Al Jolson's 1933 feature Hallelujah, I'm a Bum! which famously co-stars Harry Langdon, but also features Chester Conklin, and Tammany Young, whose career stretches back to 1911, and the D.W. Griffith/Bobby Harron short Bobby the Coward as well as a series of comedy shorts starring Tod Browning and Fay Tincher.

This film is a long-time favorite of mine, and absolutely packed with silent comedy vets. In addition to the ones you mentioned, it also features Tyler Brooke, Louise Carver, Heinie Conklin, Bert Roach, and Victor Potel, who, like Tammany Young, had already worked in the movies for twenty years when he appeared here. And Billy West is said to be among the Central Park tramps, although I've never been able to figure out which one he might be.

There's also Dorothea Wolbert and Marvin Lobach. And I think this is Billy West:

There's also Dorothea Wolbert and Marvin Lobach. And I think this is Billy West:

it is indeed.

RICAHRD M ROBERTS