Everything Immortal for October 11 …
Born on this date …
… in 1858, Frederick Kerr, who you’ve likely seen and will soon see again as Baron Frankenstein–father of the Colin Clive character–in the horror classic Frankenstein (1931).
… Eille Norwood, born Anthony Edward Brett in 1861. Between 1921-1923 Norwood played Sherlock Holmes in 2 feature films and 45 shorts which made up three series. You can see 3 entries from “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” series at the Internet Archive HERE.
… German born character actor Sig Ruman in 1884. Ruman’s accent could be heard in Hollywood films for thirty years from the 1930s through the ’60s including Marx Brothers classics A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937); my personal favorite, in To Be Or Not to Be (1942) with Jack Benny; and later in Stalag 17 (1953).
… Actor and director Lowell Sherman in 1888. Probably best remembered on screen today as the boozing Max Carey who boosted Constance Bennett to fame in What Price Hollywood? (1932). In the following year he’d direct young Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory and handle Mae West’s second film feature, She Done Him Wrong. And in 1934, one you may have seen on TCM recently, Born to Bad starring Loretta Young with Cary Grant. Sherman died of pneumonia at the end of 1934, age 46.
… in 1895, Gladys Lloyd, first wife of Edward G. Robinson. Lloyd had had bits and small roles in a handful of her husband’s most memorable films: Little Caesar, Smart Money, Five Star Final (all 1931), The Hatchet Man and Two Seconds (both 1932). They divorced in 1956, just shy of 30 years together. Lloyd died in 1971.
… Our Gang’s Mickey Daniels in 1914. Mickey was the red-haired freckled boy who played in Hal Roach’s Our Gang shorts from 1922-1926. When he outgrew that series Roach kept him on in the lead of “The Boy Friends” series, 1930-32. He appeared in several smaller bits through 1946 and died in 1970. There’s a nice biography of Daniels online at the Our Gang Wiki.
Sales Notes
Western fans, I have over 50 individual vintage 1940s still photos ending on eBay tonight (Thursday).
The bidding starts at just $4.79 each on these, which is actually pretty ridiculous considering the overall condition and the fine group of actors covered throughout this group of listings. Joel McCrea, Glenn Ford, William Holden, Sterling Hayden, Victor Mature, Gabby Hayes, Randolph Scott and Lon Chaney, Jr. are all represented multiple times. Also available are several vintage stills from David O. Selznick’s Duel in the Sun (1946) picturing stars such as Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish and others.
Shipping is combined as always–for US buyers that’s just a $2.39 fee whether you win one photo or all of them.
You’ll find my vintage Western stills listed HERE on eBay. Auctions tick to a close between 10-11 pm EST.
TCM Pick
Thursday evening TCM shows a group of films directed by Robert Aldrich beginning at 8 pm EST with The Flight of the Phoenix (1965); then What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) at 10:30; one I haven’t seen, The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) at 1 am; Mickey Spillane’s Kiss Me Deadly (1955) at 3:15 am.
Surely the best film of the day is amongst that bunch, but I’m intrigued by the entire daytime schedule, 6:45 am through 8 pm, when TCM airs 11 B features directed by Lew Landers for RKO, 1936-1938. I honestly don’t know what to expect out of this collection of films from the director of Karloff and Lugosi in The Raven (1935 and not airing), but I’m hoping my DVR has room for all of them!
Retro Gallery
We’re looking back on one recently covered today, the early 1920s E123 American Caramel set of “prominent movie actors and actresses.”
Two reasons:
1) Our friend Amit Benyovits has supplied the remainder of the checklist, to #140, along with additional images which were not in my gallery when I first shared it (the 9 cards at the very bottom of the gallery).
2) The bulk of the cards I used to create the gallery, 115 in all, are currently available on eBay. You can bid on them at $34.99 or just cut to the chase and buy them now for $79.95.
If this seems cheap for 115 cards from over 90 years ago there is a reason for that–you may recall that all of these cards had back damage. Still, over 95% of a low-grade set is present and that might be something you’re interested in. The eBay listing does include images of the reverse side to help you with your decision.
Once more, if you just want to take a look at the gallery page, which also includes information about the E123 set and a checklist, view it HERE.
And for those of you who haven’t time to click over at the moment, here are a couple of samples:
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That’s About All …
Sorry I didn’t have a more extensive biography for you today, but time dictates, so every so often there will be an entry such as this one. That said, I think I packed a good amount of info into today’s Archives for you.
I’m envisioning reposting and updating these calendar based posts for you in future years–for example, next October 11 you’ll receive a reminder pointing to the American Caramel cards, but the references about sales running today will be removed at that time. TCM Picks will obviously be updated. Also, time permitting, perhaps the 2013 version of this post will include a biography of Lowell Sherman, Mickey Daniels or one of the other birthday celebrants.
Basically these posts are all about pointing you to past content and articles that I’m proud of and creating new content all at the same time. And if I can sell some stuff, hey, that’s great too!
Have a wonderful day,
Cliff
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