In the second portion of our marathon of yesterday’s TIG birthdays, we move on to those younger pups.
Poet and novelist Rachel Field (1894) wrote the book ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO. It, of course, became the basis of Ginny’s film, BARNACLE BILL. OK, it really was the basis for the film ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO (1940). The screenplay was written by Bette Davis’ favorite Casey Robinson. Field had several stories turned into movies and teleplays. The first was THE LONDONDERRY AIR, which forces me to type, “Heh, heh. I wrote ‘derry air’.” Getting past both my lame jokes, her novel AND NOW TOMORROW became an Alan Ladd-Loretta Young film with a script written by Raymond Chandler. None of her work translated to the screen as well as ATAHT, however. Ms. Field is seen here with her dog, Spriggen. He didn’t care for my jokes, either.
When I think of Joe Pasternak (1901) I immediately think of Mario Lanza, the guy whose voice seemed to fill our house almost daily when I was but a lad. It was only later that I discovered that I really should think of Deanna Durbin, Gloria Jean, and his work for Universal as well if not instead. Producer Pasternak was the guiding force behind the early films of both singers and, after moving to MGM, stepped in whenever an operatic type was cast in one of the studio’s musicals. His first MGM work was SEVEN SWEETHEARTS, a film Virginia was originally slated for, with Kathryn Grayson. Apparently MGM thought he could do for her what he had done for Durbin as he was connected with many of her films. ANCHORS AWEIGH is probably his most remembered film. Pasternak’s connection to Ginny is not the near miss of SEVEN SWEETHEARTS, but his production of Gloria Jean’s debut film, THE UNDER-PUP (1939), in which Virginia played best friend Janet Cooper. Here we see Pasternak with both his Universal proteges.
THE UNDER-PUP is a link for Virginia to another popular actress of the 1930s, Margaret Lindsay (1910). Universal pulled out all the stops to ensure that PUP would be a hit, borrowing actors of stature from other studios even for small parts. Margaret was loaned from Warner Brothers to play a one scene quickie as Virginia’s mom, Mrs. Cooper. Mrs. Cooper was of the class of woman, high society, that Margaret usually played at Warners, but I don’t recall that we saw her as a mother in too many of those pictures. In those she was either the socialite lead or playing support to Bette Davis. After hitting the ceiling at WB, Margaret moved to Columbia, a definite step down, to appear as a regular in the Ellery Queen series. In real life, Margaret never married, lived with her sister, and dated several of Hollywood’s “confirmed bachelors.” The photo is of Ginny, Margaret and Paul Cavanagh (as Mr. Cooper) in PUP.
Marion Weldon (1913) had a bit role in SCANDAL STREET (1938) according to IMDb. Marion was in 31 films from 1929 to 1939 and seems to have ended pretty much as she started. She was an ensemble member in 1929’s WORDS AND MUSIC and a checkroom girl in 1939’s CAFE SOCIETY. She did get a nice photo in the archives, however. Here she is at right while Raoul Walsh teaches her and Nora Gale how to knit. The photo was taken on the set of ST. LOUIS BLUES.
Joy Wurgaft (1927) had two careers. The first was as a child actress and the second, as Joy Lane, was as a band singer with Ted Fio Rito and his Orchestra. In other words, Joy got the grown up career Virginia always said in interviews that she wanted. Joy played another child in FRECKLES (1935). Looking at photos of Joy as a child, it is obvious that her people have her going for that look that Ginny avoided through most of her career (with the exception of PETER IBBETSON). In fact, when I looked at Joy’s child pictures I immediately thought of Dainty June from GYPSY. She was much more of a looker as a band singer, but you can look that up yourself.
Gloria Mackey (1929) played Gloria in THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION (1943). I’m guessing that she was probably one of the girls in Ginny’s autograph club, but that makes me question her birthdate a little. Ginny, born in 1927, already seemed to be pushing her age up a year or two for her role and Gloria is listed as being two and a half years younger. Gloria was only in four films, one an OUR GANG short, and I have no photo. No matter, now I get to use the shot of Ginny’s Joan Lyons, president of The Guiding Stars Limited, reading Lana Turner’s letter to its members. I hope Gloria is one of them.
