1887 Was A Good Year

Raymond Walburn (1887-1969)

Walburn was an American character actor on stage and screen, appearing in dozens of Hollywood movie comedies and the occasional dramatic role. He made his splash in both "A" and "B" movies in the 1930s, with continued success with his more famous rotund physique in the 1940s. Noted for his trademark bulging eyes, arched brows, and pompous attitude, few could compete with his windbag characters, demonstrated so perfectly in Preston Sturges's Christmas in July (1940), or Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). Walburn was the perfect choice for any bombastic bumbler of words or haughty stuffed shirts, often as a mayor, judge, or business owner. On the other hand, a few of his butler portrayals could be quite reserved and properly knowing his place.

Eric Blore (1887-1959)

Blore was an English actor and writer. After numerous stage plays during the 1920s in London, he made a career move to New York City in Broadway revues and musical comedy productions. He made over sixty Hollywood films, becoming best known for playing butlers or superior domestic servants. His over-the-top British accent was always impeccably precise, with lines delivered with barbed irony. In addition to his sometimes condescending attitude were his facial expressions, most notably with one incredulously raised eyebrow. Blore gained notice in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical comedies, The Gay Divorcee (1934), as a waiter with an astounding knowledge of obscure subjects, and in RKO's most profitable film of the 1930s, Top Hat (1935), in which Blore plays a sarcastic personal assistant named Bates. However, he introduces himself as if he were a corporate entity, graciously stating, "We are Bates." He provided levity as the not-quite-reformed jewel thief and sidekick to Warren William in three Lone Wolf film series in the late Thirties.

Note: Both actors were born in the same year and died one decade apart.

Parasites

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the idea of carrying an additional flying craft was rampant. The concepts were totally impractical, if not deadly, ideas. The above is one example of a helicopter being able to attach and release from an F-94 jet fighter. The first question would seem to be, why?. The giant, 10-engined, Convair B-36 intercontinental bomber experimented with carrying parasite fighter escort jets. One system allowed two jet aircraft, each anchored at both wingtips of the B-36. A second program used a trapeze design lowered from one bomb bay which a fighter could hook the nose to a recieving hook. Although each system worked under ideal conditions, both were deemed impractical, especially given the best defense for the B-36 was altitude.

Reel Character Series

 

Evelyn Ankers (1918-1985) was a British-American actress who made over fifty films between 1936 and 1950. She often played a cultured young lady in the early American horror films, in particular, The Wolf Man (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), and The Mad Ghoul (1943). She soon became the "Queen of The Scream." Her B-movie credits continued with forgettable films such as Jungle Woman (1944), the lead role in a murder mystery, The Fatal Witness (1945), a passenger in the crime drama, Flight to Nowhere (1946), and opposite Gerald Mohr in, The Lone Wolf in London (1947). She appeared in the [unintentionally amusing] crime noir, Parole, Inc. in 1948.

Another notable bit of trivia is that Ankers married the respectable B-movie actor, Richard Denning, in 1942. The couple starred together in Black Beauty (1946). Her transition to television in the 1950s offered her a variety of roles, most notably as a guest star on Denning's show, Mr. & Mrs. North (1952), as the feisty Constance Noble. The couple again starred together in the film short, No Greater Love (1960) and it would become her last role. They remained devoted to each other until her death. 

Reel Character Series

 

Ellen Drew (Esther Loretta Ray 1914-2003) was an American lead and supporting actress with a high-voltage contagious smile. The B-movie actress got noticed by actor William Demarest, who eventually helped her get into films. She started her career as Terry Ray, unfortunately, the same name as a male actor. She "won the toss" however and for the next twenty-five features, that was her professional name. She officially became Ellen Drew under her 1938 Paramount Pictures contract, thanks to the aforementioned Demarest. After a string of forgettable films, she moved to RKO in 1944 and co-starred in a few notable films such as Johnny O'Clock (1947), The Man from Colorado (1948), The Crooked Way (1949), and as a Technicolor blonde in the likable, Man in The Saddle (1951), looking more like a mashup of Celeste Holm and Betty Grable. Interesting but totally forgotten, she played Margaret Anderson in the television pilot episode of Father Knows Best (1954). Her television career was brief, mostly starring in the popular anthology series of the 1950s before retiring in 1961.

The Illustrator As Salesman

 

Bernd Reuters (1901-58) was a German illustrator who created stylish Volkswagen promos that stressed streamlined functionality over flourish in the mid-50s. With the rise of Volkswagen in the late 1940s, Reuters began a five or six-year run of producing striking, distinctive brochure images for the firm, some of which continued to be used following his death from a heart attack. His exaggerated upscale impressions were dreamy and perhaps made one drive to a showroom as soon as possible. More illustrations at: Bernd Reuters

The Actress Who Adopted Superman

 

Phyllis Thaxter (1919-2012) got a strong leading role opposite Van Johnson  for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," then the lead character with a dual personality in "Bewitched" followed by a support role in the western, "Blood on The Moon." There were many other notable films for her in the Forties and early Fifties, but the new medium of television provided a new system to portray a variety of characters.

Though never achieving superstar status, the talented stage actress moved to television during its infancy and Thaxter was in high demand, initially in popular anthology series of the day in the likes of, The Ford Television Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, or Kraft Theatre and more. She appeared in six episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," two of which tapped into her dual personality talents again. The versatile actress appeared on many popular series in the Sixties and Seventies. Westerns were a staple for her but it was in dramatic roles where she is probably best remembered. Her last role, in 1992, was on, "Murder She Wrote."

Except for 1964's, "The World of Henry Orient," her movie projects took a long hiatus after television intervened until she was cast opposite Glenn Ford as Jonathan and Martha Kent in the blockbuster film "Superman." I can imagine teens in the audience wondering "Where'd they find her?" This might have solved their dilemma: the film was produced by her daughter's then-husband Ilya Salkind, son of Alexander Salkind.