Warren-William.com

The past few days I came upon a few mentions of Warren William on other blogs and thought I’d post the links here to tide you over until I get my own next post up.

On Feburary 23, Mark of Where Danger Lives posted a review of Fear (1946)

Then on February 28 Stacia of She Blogged By Night covered The Dark Horse (1932) as part of her Bette Davis Project.

Finally I was very happy to come upon Livius of clydefro.com’s post from today imagining Ten Warner Box Sets That Should Have Been. Our boy is front and center on the page as the dream box set of The Mouthpiece, Skyscraper Souls, The Match King, Employees’ Entrance, and The Mind Reader is imagined for a Forbidden Hollywood Set #4 … if only!

As for over here I hope to cover The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) very soon and am also working on a special somewhat biographical post.

I let my Now Playing Guide subscription lapse, but while I was putting together a Ginger Rogers Star of the Month schedule on Immortal Ephemera I did spot a couple of Warren William programming alerts as part of the Ginger schedule: Gold Diggers of 1933 airs at 9:45 pm EST on Wednesday, March 17 and Upperworld is on at 7:00 am EST, Thursday, March 25. Hopefully my Now Playing subscription picks up again in April so I can be more dutiful with my alerts going forward!

Speaking of TCM did you catch the documentary The Brothers Warner the other night? Right before it aired TCM played one of it’s Breakdowns blooper reels and WW showed up 3 times.

Finally, I picked up the Arcade Card shown below on eBay a couple of months ago. It measures 3 X 5.5 and is printed on very thick cardboard. It’s the first time I’ve seen this particular type card and nobody was going to outbid me on it … thankfully there wasn’t any, I got a real steal!

That’s it for now, hope you those posts listed above, they’re all excellent!

‘Bout time!

Warner Archives titles now number over 400 different, but it took until this latest round of releases to finally add some Warren William titles to the mix!

And not the titles I would have expected.

Under 18 (1931), to the best of my knowledge, is the earliest talkie we’re going to be able to access Warren William in. A great showcase for Marian Marsh, it does have an extensive write-up on this site under the title You Hit Me a Little Low.

Beauty and the Boss (1932) reunites William with Marsh, expanding Warren William’s playboy role and casting Marsh as Mary Doran’s mousy replacement after WW decides to lay off women and get cracking at the office. Well, I think we know Marian Marsh is no plain jane. Also starring David Manners. I’ve yet to cover Beauty and the Boss on Warren-William.com, though I do have a DVD-R awaiting a more critical viewing.

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That last line jumps to the main point and excuse me but I’m going to editorialize a little here.

Many of us have been hunting these titles forever, and quite likely we’ve come up with something which was more affordable than the $19.95 apiece that the Warner’s is asking on these. Now I’m going to have to put my money where my mouth is myself and upgrade my own copies, but I’m a big believer in paying up when a company finally comes through like this for us.

Without our support releases like this could always trickle to a halt and in the case of the Warner Archives I believe this is really a worthwhile spend. Sure, from a buyer’s perspective $19.95 is pretty ridiculous for the bare-bones releases being provided, but by the same token how many copies of Under 18 do you really think they’re going to sell?

I really feel that as their customers we have to make it worth their time if they’re to continue providing us with these titles as well as others which we may not be able to find so easily.

Did I run over and buy them before I put this post together?  Well, no, and obviously since I have copies they’re not a top priority (as would be a title such as The Widow from Monte Carlo (1935) or another of the handful I still hunt), but they’re on the list and I’ll feel like a good citizen when I follow through and make my purchase.

Nothing wrong with waiting for a coupon … they do issue them every so often

I apologize for using this Under 18 card again, but I love this image!

Top billed as J. Lawrence Bradford, WW leaves the singing to little brother Dick Powell in the Depression era classic musical, Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) featuring William, Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers and more.

Obviously a full write-up will take place here at some point, but for now just a programming alert–it airs tonight, October 22 at 8 pm EST on Turner Classic Movies as part of TCM’s Life in the Depression feature. You can see the tonight’s complete Depression schedule on TCM by clicking the title of this post and heading over to my entry on the Examiner which also includes a slideshow featuring 7 Gold Diggers stars.

Arsene Lupin Returns (1938) is the sequel to Arsene Lupin (1932) which ironically starred John Barrymore of all people in the title role. Interesting here though is that Warren William’s Barrymoreness doesn’t get him cast in the lead, but as the private eye on the hunt for Lupin.

Warren William, Melvyn Douglas, and Virginia Bruce in Arsene Lupin Returns (1938)

Of course, this story is all very European and polite, so WW and Melvyn Douglas, lead in Arsene Lupin Returns, are more competitors than enemies here. Besides competing against one another to solve the crime story at the heart of Arsene Lupin Returns, the two compete for the affections of co-star Virginia Bruce, who’s engaged to the Douglas character that WW suspects of being Lupin.

Based upon characters created by Maurice Leblanc in his 1907 book Arsene Lupin, this is the second talkie treatment of the character following numerous silent efforts. Released 6 years after the original, MGM hatched the sequel as early as 1936 when according to Hollywood Reporter plans called for William Powell to play the Douglas role and Spencer Tracy to take what would eventually become William’s part. Myrna Loy was later added to the planned cast. Of course none of that happened, nor did Powell’s chosen successor, Robert Montgomery, show up in the final version of the film, and I imagine that by ‘36/’37 John Barrymore’s difficulties had taken him out of consideration.

I find it interesting that Warren William was not cast in the Lupin role himself, and wonder if a career spent being compared to Barrymore had anything to do with either MGM’s casting choice or if perhaps this was William’s own choice. That said, the WB hey day has past for Warren William by this point, and Melvyn Douglas was more of a lead for MGM during this period than WW was, so this just might be coincidence anyway. The parts play pretty even, but still, it’s worth imagining a flip flop in the roles while watching as well.

Besides Douglas, Bruce, and William, Arsene Lupin Returns features John Halliday as the Count de Grissac (the Bruce character’s Uncle), Monty Woolley as George Bouchet (her cousin), Nat Pendleton and E.E. Clive as two of Lupin’s old flunkies, and George Zucco as the Prefect of Police.

Not top of the line Warren William fare, nor does it match up the the earlier film starring the Barrymore brothers, but Arsene Lupin Returns is still entertaining for any classic film fan.

Arsene Lupin Returns (1938) airs on Turner Classic Movies at 3:30 am EST Wednesday, October 14 (technically Thursday the 15th), immediately after Arsene Lupin.

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Shoot guys, it’s been a month since I posted, I’m sorry! I guess TCM needs to air some more Warren William movies, though with Arsene Lupin Returns airing 3:30 am EST late Wednesday night and even better, The Match King airing at a similarly ungodly hour, 3 am late into the evening of Thursday, October 29, we’re having one of our better months.

Sure, one Lone Wolf marathon tops two movies, but at the same time the Arsene Lupin movies seem to air about once per year and I believe it’s been much longer than that for The Match King — Do not forget to record!

–Cliff

Warren William and Lili Damita in The Match King (1932)

TCM is airing the first of Warren William’s nine appearances as Michael Lanyard a.k.a. The Lone Wolf tomorrow morning August 27 at 8:45 am EST. Unfortunately no Summer Under the Stars day for WW this year, but The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt does slip itself into the Ida Lupino schedule. Ida, who I love, is a little whacky here for me, and Virginia Weidler is downright annoying, but despite all that still an enjoyable movie which includes some early Rita Hayworth.

It’s a little different Lone Wolf for you as Leonard Carey plays Jamison as Eric Blore doesn’t join the cast until the next go-around in The Lone Wolf Strikes in 1940. Also missing are Fred Kelsey’s Dickens and Thurston Hall’s Inspector Crane, who was in 1935’s The Lone Wolf Returns starring Melvyn Douglas as Lanyard, but doesn’t return until The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady in 1940, Warren William’s third go-around as the Wolf.

I’ve included a couple of newspaper clippings for you in this post, as they’re kind of grainy and I can’t see myself being able to use them elsewhere. The first, up at the top of this post, is a sketch by an artist whose name I just can’t make out–it appeared in the March 19, 1934 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

The second, below, is a page from a 1932 edition of the Niagara Falls Gazette which I think goes to show just how popular Warren William was becoming at the time. There’s a large ad for The Dark Horse at the right and a smaller ad for Employee’s Entrance just to the left of it and situated just above the Gazette’s reviews for each of the films which stretches well below the area I’ve cropped out.

Stepping aside from the usual post where I deliver info, tonight I’m putting out the call to receive info. Below is a copy of what I’ve just posted on Warren William’s IMDb page, but I figured I’d put it here too so the search engines have a better shot at picking it up.

If you read til the end there’s a reward (well, kind of!) …

Hello to all Warren William fans, and I’m so glad to see that’s actually a growing number of film fans as he seems to be re-discovered by more every day! I run a fan site/blog at warren-william.com/blog and am currently putting together as many notes as I can with the hopes of having something book length in the end.

I’m doing pretty well finding his films with just a small percentage to go, but the man’s private life is proving to be a huge mystery. I’ve got the basics of his family, but there are a lot of loose ends both early on and even after he came to Hollywood. It seems Warren William kept very much to himself and most interviews talk about the same things: his father’s paper in Aitkin, MN, his love of inventing, his wire hair terriers, and his wife (who’s a bit of a mystery herself).

In other words, I’ve got the basic outline, but not a lot of color. Since both Warren William and his wife, Helen, died within months of each other in 1948 and left no heirs, info is hard to come by. I’m looking for behind the scenes stories and anecdotes from his Broadway and Hollywood days as well as his early life in Minnesota.

Feel free to contact me at things@things-and-other-stuff.com with any info you may have, just put Warren William in the subject line so I know to open your email right up!

Thanks so much,
Cliff Aliperti

PS: I know I’ve been kind of vague on what I have, but a good guideline is this … if you can Google the info, I’ve got it. I’ve got more than that too, but that seems to be a decent guideline. But don’t be shy, I never mind hearing from any Warren William fans!

Feel free to email me or even post a comment here if you’d like to contribute!

Here’s your present for reading this far, another SF Examiner Press Photo from that collection I picked up. It’s a small photo date stamped September 25, 1948 announcing Warren William’s death the previous day. Both sides shown, note the press markings and crops on front and the finished product on back.

Text under photo reads - Hollywood, Sept. 24 -- ACTOR DIES -- Warren William (above), 53, veteran movie actor and sportsman, died here today after a ten-month illness. (AP Wirephoto)

Reverse side - I actually cropped the edges on this one so it'd be blown up better for you.

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.

Get your preferred recording devices ready, there’s actually A LOT of Warren William airing on TCM this week!

First up, he’s Caesar tomorrow night in Cecil B. De Mille’s “Cleopatra” at 12:45 am EST (That’s actually very early Tuesday morning so as not to confuse). I don’t know if you’ve been checking it out, but I’ve been posting several of the TCM daily schedules with movie collectibles as illustration over in my spot on the Examiner.com. You may have the schedules already, but the images are the added bonus.

Then Wednesday, July 1, starting at 9:30 am, TCM is airing 6 of the 1930’s Perry Mason movies, the first four of which star Warren William in the title role. That schedule, again, all times Eastern:

• 9:30 am “The Case of the Howling Dog” (1934)
• 11:00 am “The Case of the Curious Bride” (1935)
• 12:30 pm “The Case of the Lucky Legs” (1935)
• 2:00 pm “The Case of the Velvet Claws” (1936)

I actually watched “The Case of the Lucky Legs” over the weekend with the intention of writing it up for the Examiner prior to Wednesday’s airing, but with that just 3 days off and another critical viewing required before I attempt to touch it, I’m not sure if I’ll beat TCM to the title or not. More than likely not, but I’ll try. Obviously I’ll link that up over here if and when I do get to it.

Enjoy them while you can, the next appearance Warren William makes on TCM won’t be until a July 17th airing of “The Man in the Iron Mask” (1939). Happy viewing –

Cliff

TCM is airing a half dozen Philo Vance movies today including Warren William in one of his two turns as Vance in The Dragon Murder Case (1934).

I’d mentioned owing this one another viewing the last time it came up, but to be honest  just haven’t gotten to it yet.  That said, I do remember having a good time with Dragon.

Starring alongside William this time we have Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot and the always enjoyable Eugene Pallette (you’ll know him by his froggy voice).

Dragon co-star Lyle Talbot featured here on a 1936 R95 8 X 10 linen textured premium photo. Click the pic to see a gallery of these over on one of my other sites.

The Dragon Murder Case airs at 9:15 eastern time tomorrow morning (May 27).

The complete schedule of Vance movies can be found over on the Examiner.com, along with a slideshow featuring vintage collectibles of the Vance stars–Warren William shows up twice, once for each time he played Vance.

I also did a little bibliography + filmography over on the VintageMeld which lists publication date of each of S.S. Van Dine’s Philo Vance novels along with release date of the corresponding film and the name of the actor playing Vance.

Funny how TCM would go with a Vance marathon on Dashiell Hammett’s birthday.  We would have been covered there anyway with Satan Met a Lady (1936).  Still kind of weird.