Wow, two Warren William movies on TCM within five days of each other!  I almost missed the listing for Gold Diggers of ’33, but it does air tonight, July 29, as part of pre-code Musicals night on Turner Classic Movies (and I hope to go over tonight’s entire schedule over in my space on the Examiner later today).

This is one of the best of the bunch when it comes to pre-code Musicals, right up there with Footlight Parade (on right after at 11 pm) and 42nd Street (not airing tonight), and despite what my trusty Now Playing Guide says Warren William is actually top billed in this one.

For the uninitiated, will you see Warren William sing?  … eh, no.  We’ll definitely take a deeper look at Gold Diggers one of these days, but for now it’ll suffice to say that despite WW’s top billing, the story centers around the characters played by Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell.  There are really two stories going on here, the musical portion largely featuring Ruby and Dick and a screwball comedy centered around Ruby and Dick’s romance–Warren William largely plays it straight as Dick Powell’s older brother, J. Lawrence Bradford, who guards, and doles out, the family fortune to Dick.  When William catches word that his brother is messing around with a showgirl he grabs Guy Kibbee and heads down to put a stop to it.  They’re intercepted by their own gold diggers, Aline McMahon for Kibbee and Joan Blondell for Warren William.  Ginger Rogers is also on the scene looking to horn in wherever possible.

Great fun right from the start with Ginger singing “We’re in the Money,” complete with her little bit of pig latin thrown in, plus other Warren & Dubin songs such as “Shadow Waltz” and “Remember My Forgotten Man.”  Busby Berkeley choreography that is really off the wall for “Pettin’ in the Park,” especially Billy Barty’s antics.  Directed by Mervyn LeRoy.

While Warren William is only a part of something much bigger in Gold Diggers of 1933 I still can’t recommend it enough.

The collection of San Francisco Examiner publicity photos that I’ve been showing off lately didn’t have anything from Gold Diggers in it, but it did include this shot of Warren William with Gold Diggers love interest Joan Blondell from the same year, 1933, in Goodbye Again:

While you can see crop marks and corrections on the front of the photo (especially around Blondell’s hair), the back includes the originally published clip, stamped with date of publication, September 21, 1933.  The caption on the clipping reads:

WARREN WILLIAM is here exhibited in one of his many adieu scenes with Joan Blondell in “Goodbye Again,” which comes to Warfield tomorrow–or is this scene one of the reconciliations?

And what better excuse to post the second photo from the collection of Warren William press photos I recently purchased then with the pleasant news of a rare Warren William airing on Turner Classic Movies –

Saturday, July 25, 2009
10:00 pm – THE FIREFLY (1937) starring Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones, Warren William, D: Robert Z. Leonard
From the “Now Playing” Guide: “A Spanish spy masquerades as a singer to sabotage Napoleon’s forces.

One of the few Warren William flicks that had a video release (VHS) but I haven’t caught yet, you can bet my DVR will click on at 10 pm! It’s Allan Jones night on TCM, and Jones is the Spanish spy referred to in the synopsis above, but WW is third billed as Colonel de Rouchemont in this MGM production.

Here’s a press photo of William and MacDonald in “The Firefly” from the San Francisco Examiner Archives:

Note the press marking of 3 columns by 8-1/2″ at the top of the photo, then we turn it over and are greeted by the published clip, which I’d estimate is about 3 columns by 8-1/2 inches tall:

The excerpt under the published image reads as follows:
JEANETTE MACDONALD, star of “The Firefly,” colorful musical at the Warfield, sings a Rudolf Friml song to Warren William in this scene from the operetta.

Stamped received by the Reference Library, December 16, 1937.

A little interlude before continuing to post the aforementioned Warren William photo collection. I recently received this beautiful black & white 3-1/2″ wide X 2-1/2″ high trading card featuring Warren William and co-star Marian Marsh in “Under 18″ (1931). The seller had described it as one from a series of 8 photo-cards produced by Warner Bros-Vitaphone Productions under the heading “Collectors Series No. 2″ in 1932.

After I scanned the card for posting here I decided to give “Under 18″ another look and to my slight disappointment the sexy scene depicted above is a publicity pose which doesn’t actually occur in the movie.

“Under 18″ is just the third feature released featuring Warren William after he left Broadway for Hollywood in 1931. He’s only fourth billed, but the role of penthouse playboy Raymond Harding is tailored to him. He stops just short of being a total dog appearing first with goldigging Claire Dodd at about the 28 minute mark. It’s here he sets his eyes on Marsh’s Margie, a poor seamstress girl who’s forced into modeling when the other girls are out to lunch. He ignores young Margie at first, but after her boss has her open up her mink and flash her undergarments Harding is soon hovering over her.

Harding hovers over Margie

Marsh, actually right around age 18 herself at the time this was filmed, already has her groundbreaking role in “Svengali” behind her at this time. Quite beautiful, Marsh with slight dimples, a high forehead and full lips actually reminded me of a younger Drew Barrymore, a comparison I found all the more interesting when reading the bio of Marsh on the IMDb afterwards–the writer notes she was cast opposite John Barrymore in “Svengali” because of her supposed resemblance to his wife, Dolores Costello (Drew’s grandmother). Perhaps I’m over thinking this, but the casting feels more ironic since we know what Great Profile Warren William is generally compared to himself.

“Under 18″ has a pretty simple plot. Marsh, as seamstress Margie, is in love with delivery boy Jimmie (Regis Toomey), but envious of the high life she sees the store models living around her. Just to push her over the top, Margie’s sister, Sophie (Anita Page), and deadbeat husband, Alf (Norman Foster), are thrust into the apartment Margie occupies with her mother (Emma Dunn) after Alf gambled away their rent money. When Margie’s Mom receives some orchids from William’s Harding, Alf grabs them with the grand idea of selling them on the street and rolling the takings into a pool hustle. Sophie chases him out of view and Alf strikes her. It’s them Margie decides that she’s “seen all I want of marriage.” She tells her mother and sister, “Anytime I hand myself to a man for life it’s cash on delivery.” Jimmie overhears this and is crushed. At this point Sophie wants a divorce and Margie is going to do all she can to help her.

Sophie shows Alf the want ads while Margie just wishes they'd be quiet

Character actor Clarence Wilson plays no-good lawyer Dietrich, who tells the girls it’s going to cost $200 for a divorce. Margie’s determined to get it, beginning by asking all of the models at work if they have it to loan her. An older woman on the job tells her that their men buy them stuff, but would never trust them with cash–”They’re allowed about as much freedom as Airedale’s on a leash.” At the woman’s urging Margie next asks her boss, Mr. Francois (Paul Porcasi), but he turns her down immediately before taking a call Margie overhears from his own gold digger.

Margie goes back to Jimmie, telling him up front that she still means what she’d said and that she’s only there as a friend…a friend looking to borrow $200. Now Jimmie’s previously dropped word of having $800 saved to buy a shop on Long Island that he planned moving Margie and her Mom into once they were married, but he’s more than willing to help his girl out–until she tells him what the money is for. Despite the abuse, there’s no way Jimmie’s going to fund a divorce, not with kids around. Margie leaves angry with plans to go see Harding.

Margie and Jimmie, happy

It’s not until Margie’s arrival at Harding’s penthouse at approximately the 54 minute mark that we see Warren William again. There’s a pool party going on and he’s lounging poolside in a two piece suit, which includes a pretty obnoxious striped top. He’s wolfing it up with another girl, whom he’s already told that he’s set it up to have Babs (Dodd) sent away modeling, so he’ll have plenty of time for her in the near future. When his servant comes over and discreetly tells Harding of Margie’s arrival, Harding replies, “Serve it here.”

Serve it here

Harding is completely dismissive of Margie, who’s overwhelmed and looking a bit disgusted by the goings-on. All Harding really cares about is getting Margie into a bathing suit for whatever comes next. He has his servant show her to the den where he pulls out a swimsuit and kimono for her, and sets up the champagne for Harding’s arrival. Harding walks in wearing his own kimono and starts laying out his charm for her. When Margie finally gathers the courage to ask for the $200, swearing to pay it all back, Harding suggestively asks, “How?” Margie answers her now standard $5 a week to which Harding asks, “Wouldn’t you take it as a gift?” As naive as Margie is, she knows this is no gift being offered to her, but she needs this money to save her sister, so she answers, “Yes. If necessary.”

Harding is slowly being broken down from his come-on. Up til this time he’s been plying Margie with liquor, which makes her tongue more loose and unfortunately for Harding, more honest. When Margie declares “Marriage is bunk, at least for poor people,” Harding tells her he doesn’t think she’d like the high life. Margie says “I’ll learn to like it,” and the girl’s honestly finally completes Harding’s transformation from wolf to father figure. “I find you very refreshing,” he tells her as he moves to the piano.

“Gee, you play swell,” Margie says.
“On the contrary,” says Harding. “I play–very badly.”

The money’s as good as hers when Jimmie bursts in and confronts them with accusations. Harding blocks Jimmie from raising a threatening hand to Margie, but Jimmie strikes him in the mid-section, a blow to which Harding mumbles in reply, “You hit me a little low,” before collapsing.

Harding gives up the chase

Jimmie takes off before any trouble happens, but Margie is pretty quickly quizzed by the authorities before making her escape. We don’t see Harding again, though he does survive and sends his butler to Margie’s with the $200 for Margie and kind words for Jimmie. In the end Margie’s $200 comes through from multiple sources, but it turned out not to matter as word comes down of Alf having won the Amsterdam Pool Tournament plus a side bet on himself for a total of $1,500. Alf also apparently won Sophie back with his earning skills.

1933 Godfrey Phillips tobacco card

There’s nothing very special about “Under 18,” except Marian Marsh. The happy ending presented to us is only meant to be happy because Sophie decides to stick with her husband (despite his abuse), and because Margie winds up with a lot of money, but it’s A) loaned money and B) not needed for the divorce any longer, so I didn’t really see the point of being happy about it. The main lesson learned by Margie is not that money doesn’t buy happiness, as it kind of does in “Under 18,” but that love conquers all, even in the poor house.

Warren William does a fine job in limited time here in what’s a precursor to the top billed cads he’ll soon be playing. Harding, correctly described by Jimmie as girl nutty, does redeem himself as something more before his collapse–which turned out to actually be caused by some bad shrimp he’d had. William’s best moment was probably during his first appearance, in the dress shop, after girlfriend Babs leaves the room and Margie takes a call from Jimmie. As Margie goes on about her modeling for Harding, the camera pulls back to reveal William hovering right behind her, grinning in profile and taking her by surprise once she hangs up.

Also, a fun bit of dialogue here when Margie baffles Harding by requesting a Coke which she then explains, “I guess you’d call it a Coca-Cola.” Surely the slang term was likely just coming about, but nearly 80 years later the scene plays as though Harding is completely out of touch, which actually adds a little to his character.

The best thing “Under 18″ has going for it when viewed in 2009 is it’s cast. Marsh as I said is excellent, then there’s Regis Toomey, Anita Page, William, of course, plus Claire Dodd in a small role, J. Farrell McDonald in the opening scene as the girl’s father, and Norman Foster in what may be the most memorable part as Page’s incredibly deadbeat husband. There’s really not enough here to recommend it though, except as one for the Marian Marsh fan.

I was excited to receive a lot of 18 Warren William press photos from the San Francisco Examiner archives in today’s mail.  Well, they didn’t just send them to me, of course, I had a winning bid on eBay.  I’ll be sharing these here and there as we move forward, starting tonight with this one:

On back it’s stamped received by the Examiner Reference Library, April 29, 1939 with a separate stamp crediting photographer Don English of Paramount.  The descriptive text is printed directly on back of the photo (sometimes it’s attached via a tag) and is as follows:

PING-PONG PLAYERS — will cherish this latest invention of actor Warren William.  By having set screws in the table, he has constructed a bracket which enables the net to hit dead center.  This gadget was made at Paramount between takes of “The Gracie Allen Murder Case.”

I decided to get reacquainted with The Wolf Man this weekend, partially just because it’s been awhile but also because I wanted to check and see if Warren William’s part of Dr. Lloyd was as small as I remembered–yup, it is…at first glance.

Actually, he had more screen time than I recalled, but the good Doctor, who largely questions Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) about his condition and then insists to his father (Claude Rains) that young Talbot has mental problems, could have really been played by anybody. In fact, the same could be said of Ralph Bellamy’s role of Captain Montford, but I often tend to look past Bellamy’s vanilla portrayals anyway. Where William went I don’t know.

Admittedly, Warren William is past his prime here, but at the same time he’s in the midst of what in retrospect turned out to be some of his most enjoyable work in The Lone Wolf series of pictures at Columbia and he comes with enough regard to be billed second only after Rains.

Panning The Wolf Man in its original period review, December 22, 1941, T.S. of The New York Times wrote:

Sharing his embarrassment are Maria Ouspenshaya, Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy and Evelyn Ankers—who under more nonchalant circumstances would be referred to as a “sterling” cast. Most of them look as though they wished they had a wolf-skin to jump into—any old wolf-skin, so long as it was anonymous.

The Wolf Man is a movie that many of us absorbed at a young age, and thus it’s very difficult to view differently than what we’ve had ingrained since then; that is, purely as a monster movie. I’ve never taken the time to go beyond viewing the classic title and actually research it until this post, and I admit that my sources are limited. Googling “Dr. Lloyd” and “The Wolf Man” I found an interesting snippet from inside Randy Loren Rasmussen’s “Children of the Night” (Note: Affiliate link, as are other book titles which follow and the DVD image above) which does cause me to re-think Dr. Lloyd’s seemingly small role. Of Lloyd, Rasmussen writes:

…He does not believe in supernatural evil, and as presented in The Wolf Man lycanthropy is a debatable subject. But he provides an interpretation of the disease that fits Larry’s situation quite well. “I believe that a man lost in the mazes of his mind may imagine that he’s anything. Science has found many examples of the mind’s power over the body. Case of the stigmata appearing in the skin of zealots.” His reference to “mental suggestion plus mass hypnotism” seems a logical explanation of Larry’s transformation into a monster, which appears to be a communal rather than a purely private affair.

The “mazes of his mind” quote is repeated in Steven Jay Schneider’s “Horror Film and Psychoanalysis” where he writes:

The Wolf Man presents the standard horror film all-in-the-mind explanation that would continue to be heard up through and beyond The Exorcist (1973) and would continue to be just as wrong. In The Wolf Man, we never take the explanation seriously for two reasons: Dr. Lloyd doesn’t figure directly in the plot; furthermore, we possess empirical knowledge to his claims, having already seen Talbot’s lupine transformation.

Both authors seem to agree that Dr. Lloyd’s take on Larry Talbot is dead on in the real world, but not in The Wolf Man. We’ve seen otherwise and thus Dr. Lloyd, while offering a reasonable analysis of Talbot, is wrong–Lawrence Talbot is a Wolf Man.

But since this is a Warren William site I did my best to step directly into Dr. Lloyd’s shoes during this latest viewing and so tried to give him the benefit of the doubt this time around. In doing what research I could for this post I continued to be frustrated by multiple sources referring to the title “Universal Horrors” by Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, and John Brunas. I couldn’t find the title excerpted anywhere online except in short snippets when referenced by other titles which just left me wanting more. Just as I was about to give up this lead I found a copy of “Universal Horrors” on my own book shelf!

What intrigued me was the constant reference to comment by Weaver, Brunas and Brunas in reference to an earlier script of The Wolf Man by Curt Siodmak. Here’s the quote which helps vindicate Dr. Lloyd of the completed version of the film:

The script’s one transformation scene (Larry turning into the Wolf Man) is seen in a reflection in a dark pool, through Larry’s eyes, so that the audience will get the impression that Larry only imagines himself to be a monster (italics mine)(268).

The authors further state that “concealed horrors just didn’t fit in with Universal’s formula” (264). The entry on The Wolf Man laments how it has lost some esteem over the years largely out of preference to Val Lewton’s films of the 1940′s, while Siodmak and director George Waggner’s The Wolf Man not only pre-dates Lewton’s Cat People (1942) but that the later picture “while excellent, smacks of imitation” (264).

A side note, in “Universal Horrors” Weaver, Brunas, and Brunas dismiss the performances of both Warren William and Ralph Bellamy as “rather poor” but acknowledged them as “bankable names” for exhibitors. The authors also offer a short bio of William stating that his “career hit its stride in the Pre-Code days,” make mention of his Perry Mason, how he’d been compared to John Barrymore (of course), “but, by the ’40s, his star was fading. He ran the last lap of his career in forgettable B-pictures and on Poverty Row,” though they concede a “memorable performance” in Strange Illusion (1945).

Returning to Doc Lloyd, could there have been more, or more accurately less, to Talbot’s transformations than what we saw? On my most recent viewing one thing which really jumped out in The Wolf Man was that the werewolf that Larry killed with his cane, Bela (Bela Lugosi), was not Lugosi made up similarly to how Chaney later appears, but instead an actual wolf in form. Chaney by comparison looked like something out of the kiddie zoo. If Chaney’s Talbot isn’t a real wolf too then how come Bela’s Bela wasn’t made up in the same style that Chaney was?

So if we at least concede the possibility that Dr. Lloyd was right does that elevate Dr. Lloyd’s, and thus Warren William’s, place in The Wolf Man? I believe it does, or at least, I believe that there is more to the Dr. Lloyd character now than I had previously thought there to be. The shame of it from the perspective of this site is that if the original script were shot as intended, Dr. Lloyd moves into what is undoubtedly a pivotal role.

But I liked The Wolf Man as a kid, and I still enjoyed it this weekend, so I think I’ll abandon my crusade for recognition of Dr. Lloyd for now … until next viewing at least.