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

Last week, I watched two more of my Grandpa Charlie's movies. The first one was the 1935 "The Woman in Red", starring Barbara Stanwyck, in which she plays Shelby, an equestrienne.  Grandpa Charlie (2nd from the left in the above photo) played the role of "Mike", the 2nd photographer.  Charlie really gets into this role taking photos from all angles and even getting hit by some old man.

The second movie I watched was the 1935 "Devil Dogs of the Air"starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien.  The movie takes place in San Diego at North Island.  Cagney plays a rogue rebel pilot who is joining the marines as a pilot.  Grandpa Charlie plays a student trainee with the marines. At the end of the movie, there is a mock invasion training session where they invade by land, air and sea.  Where did they invade?  La Jolla!  I guess that was much more likely in 1935.  I can't imagine that happening today!

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 ---

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!

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.

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?

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 ...

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

                                                                 Charlie's Movies

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

                                           CHARLIE'S MOVIES