MOVIE MONDAY -- MURDER AND SING SING

I am continuing on my quest to watch as many of my Grandpa Charlie's moves as is possible.  This past week, the three movies seemed to have a common thing -- murder and prison.  The first movie was the 1935 "Murder in the Fleet", starring Robert Taylor and Jean Parker.  The movie was about murder and sabotage aboard a naval ship.  Grandpa Charlie played the role of a yeoman who was taking messages from the civilians on board to send to their families.  It was fun to hear Grandpa's voice, with lines such as "One at a time!" and "Lady, please!

The second movie I watched was the 1940 "Castle on the Hudson", starring John Garfield, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien.  The movie was the story about a man in prison at Sing Sing who for superstitious reasons refuses to take part in a prison break.  Grandpa Charlie (the far right in the above photo) played the role of a prison guard who shoots the tear gas.

"Picture Snatcher" made in 1933 was the third movie I watched.  James Cagney played the role of an ex con who tries to go legit and works for a newspaper, taking sought after photos, including one of a woman who is being put to death in the electric chair.  Grandpa Charlie played the role of a reporter who is witnessing the execution.

It is rather amazing the variety of movies Grandpa Charlie had roles in.   I wonder which ones I can find to watch this week.

MOVIE MONDAY -- SHE'S GOT BETTE DAVIS' EYES

Grandpa Charlie (Sherlock) acted in over 300 movies from 1932 to 1960.  Most of the time he wasn't listed in the credits, but typically only six to eight of the actors/actresses were listed.  Thank heavens for IMDB.com for their listings or otherwise I would never have the listing of all of his movies. Charlie's roles were usually small ones, anything from a character with a name and a small speaking part to on rarer occasions just part of the crowd.

My goal is to watch as many of Grandpa Charlie's movies as I can get access to.  So after ordering a few DVDs from Amazon.com, I have started my quest of watching his old movies.  I am not only enjoying seeing my Grandpa (who died in 1983) albeit onscreen, but also appreciating these old movies that I had never seen before. I never quite understood the fascination with old movies but now I have developed an appreciation for them.

Charlie's first movie was titled "The Dark Horse" and starred Bette Davis in 1932.  Charlie played the role of a man attending the Progressive Party's convention to elect the Governor. I wonder if back then they did have conventions to elect governors.  The premise was electing someone not because he was anywhere near the best person but to spite the other group and then to manipulate the person.  Wow, maybe times haven't changed that much!

The next movie I watched was "The Working Man" starring George Arliss and Bette Davis.  The story was about an aging shoe manufacturer and two spoiled rich young siblings from a rival shoe company.  Grandpa Charlie played the role of the waiter on a yacht in this 1933 film.  (The photo above of Grandpa Charlie acting as a waiter with Bette Davis (her back is to the camera is from another film -- Mr. Skeffington).  I am really enjoying watching Bette Davis as a young actress.

Back to the movies ---

PEOPLE WE MEET ALONG THE WAY ...

"Sometimes it's not about the journey or the destination ... but about the people you meet along the way".   -- Nishan Panwar

Before Charlie and Theresa started their journey over the Atlantic for their Grand European Adventure, they visited their friend Hazel Wilson in New York. I remembered hearing the name Hazel Wilson when I was a child. Wondering if Hazel and my grandparents were just friends or actually related, I did some research.

Hazel Anderson married John Wilson in 1920.  They knew each other 4 weeks when they eloped.  Based on the ancestry of Hazel Anderson, it seems most likely that she was a friend and not a blood relative of Theresa and Charles.  

Based on my research, Hazel sounds like she was a very interesting woman.  According to a newspaper article, She had traveled all over the world, except for Greenland, Iceland and Australia. Hazel also traveled all over the United States, visiting every state except for Maine and Washington.  Perhaps she even visited those before her death.  

Disclaimer: the photo above shows Grandma Theresa (2nd from the left).  I have no idea who the other people are in the photo.  It was taken in 1953.

THEIR GRAND EUROPEAN ADVENTURE

Fifty four years ago, my grandparents (Charles Sherlock & Theresa Nebgen Sherlock) embarked on what I like to call "A Grand European Adventure".  They left Burbank, California on 22 May 1961 and arrived back home a month later.  I have my Grandmother's travel diary from that trip and color slides that my Grandfather shot.

Their European Adventure fascinates me for two reasons.  The first reason is the places that they visited.  I have traveled to Europe three times now and I just can't seem to get enough!  My travel "bucket list" now includes many of the places that they visited and wrote about in the travel diary. I am planning my own European Adventure later this year.  I have this burning desire to re-trace as many of their European Adventure steps as possible.  I know that I won't get it all done in one trip but that just means I will have take several trips which is just fine with me.

The second major reason their trip fascinates me is that they met many distant relatives on their trip -- both in Ireland and in Germany.  Some of them were mentioned by name in the travel diary and others were just described.  I also have photos of some of their relatives and traveling companions but since no identification is given, it will require some detective work on my part to discover the true identities of the people in the photos.

Let me end this post with a travel quote that sums up my opinion of travel from an unknown source --

"Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer".

THE 97TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY OF CHARLES AND THERESA

Earlier this week (Monday, to be exact) marked the 97th anniversary of my grandparents' (Charles Sherlock and Theresa Nebgen) wedding.  I am not sure if they crossed state lines (from Illinois to Indiana) to get married because the laws were more lenient (my grandfather was 17 years old at the time) or because of the proximity.  Crownpoint, Indiana  What I have found from cursory research is that marriages in Crown Point were not publicly announced in Chicago.  Something else interesting -- marriage certificates from Indiana were not recognized in Illinois,  Why is it "the more I find out, the more questions that I have?"

I do know that their parents were not very happy when they found out about the marriage.  In fact, they made each of them live with their own parents for a few years (and that is where they were found in the 1920 US Census -- living separately with their own parents. ) I don't know when they actually started living together or if they had some type of church ceremony later.

50 years later (in 1968) they did have a church ceremony (renewal of vows) and a big party with their  family and friends.  The celebration included a cake, which I am sure was missing from that trip over the state lines in 1918.

Charles and Theresa celebrated 65 years of marriage before Charlie's death in 1983.  Happy Anniversary, Charlie and Theresa!

WORKDAY WEDNESDAY

Here is a photo of my Grandpa Charlie at work -- the movie is "The Boys from Syracuse" made in 1940.  Charlie played a "Secretary" and is in the darker garb.  I am not sure who the actor is in the lighter garb.

The movie is about two boys from Syracuse who search for their long lost twins in Ephesus in ancient Asia Minor.  It stars Allan Jones, Irene Hervey and Martha Raye.

I haven't been able to locate a copy of this film so I haven't seen it yet.  I am still on my quest to watch as many of Grandpa's Charlie's films as I can get my hands on!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

MILITARY MONDAY

Veteran Day Tribute --

I am very proud of my Dad (Donald Sherlock) and his two brothers, Edmund and Charles "Chuck", who served in the military.  Edmund Sherlock (2nd from the left) served in the Navy during World War II.  He enlisted in 1944 when he was 18 years old.  Eldest brother Chuck (4th from the left) also served during World War II, but he served in the Air Force.

 Donald served in the Army during the Korean Conflict in 1951 to 1953.  Below is a photo of him (on the right) with his section leader Keith Daily.  This photo was taken in Korea.

Happy Veteran's Day to all of those who have served in the military (both past and present -- including my nephew Wally) and a huge debt of gratitude to all of you  for your service to our country.

MOVIE MONDAY

I always feel like a detective when I am putting clues to together to solve one of my genealogical ancestry questions.  For example, I know a given person is related to me but how are they related.   I am so happy when I finally put all the clues together.  I go through that same process with some of the photos I have inherited of my Grandpa Charlie's years in the movies.

I have about 50 photos and a fair amount of them have the name of the movie and the other actors listed on the back of the photo.  However, I ran across the above photo (which I just love because it looks like they are having so much fun).  Grandpa Charlie is the 4th from the left. I have several photos with these same people.  For some reason (I can't recall exactly why now), I thought these photos were from the movie "Task Force".  I watched the movie and I did see Grandpa but none of my photos were shots in the movie.  So, I assumed (incorrectly of course) that they were just outtakes (of course, that assumption meant that this part of the story was totally taken out of the movie which obviously could happen.)  So, while I decided that this was the correct theory, it didn't stop me from wondering and continue researching to see if possibly there was another movie that did have these photos.

Yesterday, in the middle of my research, I found another movie (just the title and story, not the actual movie) titled "China's Little Devils" which was made in 1945.  Grandpa played one of the Flying Tigers.  Okay, now this is making much more sense to me. That is exactly who they are depicting in these photos -- The Flying Tigers. Now, I really want to watch this movie, but so far it is unavailable.  I will have to keep an eye for it while I continue my detective work.

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

Fifty two years, my Grandparents (Charles and Theresa Sherlock) enjoyed a month long vacation in Europe.  They visited England, Ireland, Amsterdam, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.  It is my dream to follow in their footsteps -- to visit the places that they visited and create my own memories.  I won't be able to visit them all in a month long trip like they did, but rather in several separate trips.

I began fulfilling that dream this month on October 1st.  My brother invited my husband and I to join him and his wife on a trip to Austria and Germany.  How could we say no?

After a very long flight from California to Munich via Chicago, our tour bus drove us to Innsbruck, Austria which took an additional 2 or so hours.  We checked into the Grauer Baer Hotel in Innsbruck, exhausted but very excited, and was just in time for dinner with our tour group at the hotel restaurant on that first night.

Our adventure would begin the very next day ....

MOVIE MONDAY

"Who's on first ... What's on second?   I inherited a bunch of photos from my Grandpa Charlie's years in the movies.  Some of the photos are stills from actual movies while others are publicity shots for individual movies.  Some of the photos are labeled as to the name of the movie and the actors shown in the photo, while others give no information.  So my job is to be able to identify the actors and the title of the movie.  I am trying to compile a book of these photos for my family and all this information would be very helpful.  Since I am also on a quest to watch as many of Grandpa Charlie's movies as possible, I am thinking that watching the movies may also solve some of my photo mysteries.

Over the weekend, I watched a "mini" marathon of Abbott and Costello movies, focusing on the ones that Grandpa Charlie had a role in.  I watched "In Society" (he played a policeman), "Here Come the Coeds" (he played the assistant sports announcer), and "In the Navy" (he played one of the marines on the ship).  So far no scenes like the photo above.  Then I watched "It Ain't Hay" which I doubted would be the candidate but I was wrong!  Grandpa Charlie plays the bouncer for the loan shark that Abbott and Costello are visiting for a loan.  It was so great to hear Grandpa Charlie's voice again.

I am really loving this old movies.  Let's see, which one to watch next?

TRAVEL TUESDAY

When I was a child (perhaps around age 10), I remember going with my family to say "Bon Voyage" to my grandparents (Charlie and Theresa), who were leaving on a cruise from Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor. We were able to board the cruise ship and see their cabin for a short time before we had to disembark.  I remember champagne bottle corks popping, streamers and everyone waving as their ship left the harbor. I thought this was very exciting and such a glamorous way to travel.  Being one of six children, our family vacations typically consisted of visiting some beach state parks in California with our trailer. I promised myself when I got older, I was going to take a trip on a cruise ship.

I think they traveled to Hawaii on that cruise which made even more glamorous to me!  Hawaii was a tropical paradise!  Since that time, I have been to Hawaii five times and have taken cruises three times, never though, a cruise ship to or around Hawaii. But what I haven't experienced is someone seeing me off on a cruise ship -- someone visiting me and then getting off the ship before it departs and wishing they were traveling too.

I do wish I would have talked to my grandparents about their travels.  Of course, not at age 10, but when I got older -- perhaps when I was college age.  I would love to know what was their favorite place, how did my grandpa feel when he visited the house where his dad grew up (his father died when he was a baby) and was there some place left on their bucket list that they never got to visit?

MOVIE MONDAY

After my father died, I inherited the collection of my Grandpa Charlie's photos from his movie days. Charlie Sherlock was a character actor in over 300 movies from 1932 to the early 1960's.  In some movies, if you blinked your eyes, you might miss his role while in others he had more of a substantial role.  Of course, these photos did not come with a lot of information, so I have been playing detective, trying to figure out what the title of the movie was.  I do have the list of Grandpa Charlie's movies from Imdb.com (although I do find one that is not listed from time to time).

My goal is to watch as many of these old Grandpa Charlie movies as possible. It is not as easy to get one's hands on these movies as you would think.  I am thoroughly enjoying watching these movies, even if Grandpa is only in one or two scenes.   Plus, I have found that some of these photos are not actual "stills" from the movies but rather either "outtakes" or PR shots.

The above photo shows Abbott and Costello with Grandpa Charlie.  What was the movie?  I am not exactly sure.  Abbott and Costello made 4 movies in 1942 -- "Ride 'Em Cowboy", "Rio Rita", "Pardon My Sarong" and "Who Done It?".  It is most likely from "Who Done It?"  I guess I will need to watch the movie to find out for sure.

My ultimate goal is to create a book with photos and information after I have completed all my "movie" research.  But that means a lot of watching old movies before then.   Please pass the popcorn ...

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

This photo was taken in 1944 at Niagara Falls in New York.  Grandpa Charlie and my Dad are in the photo. I am not sure what they were doing in New York.  I'm guessing it was just a vacation.  Their home was in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles at that time. I don't know why but I love looking at vacation photos -- mine and everyone else's too!

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

One of the many places my grandparents (Charlie and Theresa Sherlock) visited on their great European trip of 1961 was the small town of Assisi in Italy.  Assisi is located north of Rome, in the province of Perugia.  Isn't Perugia the name of some delicious gourmet chocolate?

Behind Theresa (and I am guessing two of their traveling companions) is the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi.  It is a Franciscan monastery with an upper and lower church.  In addition to this church, there are several more churches in Assisi, including the Cathedral of San Rufino, the Basilica of Santa Chiara (Claire) and Church of San Pietro (just to name a few).  There are also two medieval castles in this town.

I am putting "Assisi" on my bucket list and also making a note to locate the chocolate factory in Perugia.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

                                           CHARLIE'S MOVIES

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

I love this photo of my Grandpa Charlie (Sherlock) in Germany (I think!) in 1961.  This was a part of their month-long trip to Europe.  Whenever I see this photo, I think it looks like it is from one of his movies when actually  it was from his life.

On that trip, they took a cruise down the Rhine River and visited cities along the Rhine.  I am thinking that this is from one of those side trips. I have a photo of Grandma Theresa also with this officer, but of course, hers is  much more the typical pose of two people looking at the camera.

What is also typical of this photo of my Grandma and the German officer is that they are not posed in the middle of the photo.  Grandpa Charlie always took photos like this. He would say that he already knew what his family members looked like, he wanted to get the scenery as the focus point.

I do love how they were dressed up in all of the photos of this trip.  I guess that was custom in that time while now we are much more casual. Sometimes, I do yearn for those days ...

MOVIE MONDAY

Continuing on my quest to watch as many of Grandpa Charlie's (Sherlock) movies in the next few years, I watched four of them this weekend.  Hey, maybe I will be done in a year!  I started off the weekend with the movie "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (1939), starring Edward G. Robinson. The story is about Nazi sympathizers in the US trying to overtake the country in the early days of World War II.  Grandpa Charlie played the role of FBI agent Fred Young.

Then to change it up a bit, I watched two Abbott and Costello movies.  Now, those movies were funny!  Although, I did find it a bit odd that in three parts of each movie, all of sudden there was this formal song or orchestra number (in the middle of a slapstick comedy)!  In the movie "In Society" (1944), Grandpa had a tiny role of a detective at the house. In "Here Come the Coeds", Grandpa also had a tiny role -- he played the assistant announcer.  Parts of the movie were filmed at my Alma mater UCLA and I loved seeing the campus in 1945.

I have several photos of Grandpa Charlie in a movie called "Task Force".  They are fun photos (that I love) like the one I posted above.  In fact, not only do I have photos, but I have the actual scarf worn in those photos.  While I was disappointed that these photos weren't actual clips from the movie but more likely publicity shots or just shots of the cast members goofing off, I did enjoy the movie.  The movie was about naval aviation and the development of aircraft carriers and definitely more somber than my photos.  Discussing it with my son, we decided it probably was much more meaningful to have photos that weren't scenes from the movies but rather "glimpses" of the actors behind the scenes.  Another positive note, I saw my first Gary Cooper movie!

CHARLIE, BETTE AND BOGEY!

For years, I have been wanting to watch the old movies that my Grandpa Charlie was a cast member.  It is not as easy as it would seem.  My Dad did give me some of the old movies but they are on VHS and BETA, so that is not real helpful.  Then I saw Grandpa Charlie (Sherlock) on the big screen in "J Edgar" when they showed a clip of "G Men".  So, of course, I had to come home and watch the "G Men" movie.

This week I took the "plunge" and started my quest to watch as many of Grandpa Charlie's movies as I can in the next few years. Of course, since they number over 300, that is quite a task.  And then of course, trying to get access to all these old movies from the 1930's to the early 1960's, is much harder than one would anticipate.

I started with the 1942 "All Through the Night" movie, starring Humphrey Bogart.  The story is about a guy (Bogey) who is a bit of a hustler, but who loves his mama.  When his favorite baker gets killed, his mama wants him to find out who the murderer was.  The plot thickens when it involves Nazi sympathizers trying to take over in the US.  Grandpa Charlie played the henchman of Ebbing (the bad guy).  I guess that may be redundant -- Don't only bad guys have henchmen?  Anyways, it was a delightful movie!

Then last night, I watched "Mr. Skeffington" starring Bette Davis, who plays a self-centered woman who lives for the attention of male suitors, ignoring the needs and affection of her husband and daughter.  Grandpa Charlie plays the waiter.  In one scene, they show him slowly opening a bottle of champagne (you got to love these old movies).  Grandpa is not credited on IMDB.com as being in the cast of this movie, the only way I found it was because I had the photo above and did some research.  I guess there could be other movies out there that he played a role that I don't have on my list of 300.  

Let me check the film archives to see what I will be watching tonight!

AMANUENSIS MONDAY

Over the weekend, I was researching on Findmypast.ie, trying to get more information on my Sherlock line.  After looking at the historical records, I decided to try the "newspapers" section.  I definitely found some treasures there!  Grandpa Charlie (Sherlock) was in the movies from the 1930's to the early 1960's and who knew they were talking about him all over the country!

In the February 26, 1938 edition of the Cochocton Tribune (Ohio), I found the above article. I am guessing that someone didn't like the fact that Grandpa Charlie was the only native (US) born member of the cast of "Confessions of a Nazi Spy".  Below is a photo from that movie. That is Grandpa Charlie on the far left.

Hey, pass the popcorn!  I think it is time to watch a movie ...