MOVIE MONDAY

       Recently, I ran across this old newspaper clipping from 1938.  I checked my spreadsheet of Grandpa Charlie's movies and didn't see "Keystone Hotel" listed so I did a bit of research.  According to IMDB.com, "Keystone Hotel" was made in 1935 and is the story of a hotel holding a beauty contest with a judge who is cross-eyed, so he selected an elderly cleaning lady as the winner.  Of course, the crowd was outraged and chaos ensued so the cops were called.  In this case, it was the "Keystone Cops" which I am sure caused even more chaos!

       I couldn't find Charlie's role listed on IDMB so he may have played a policeman or one of the angry mob. The article mentions Charlie's nickname of "Teenie Terror" as a Chicago policeman.  I have read in other articles that Charlie was the shortest guy at the department and that is where the "tiny" moniker originated.  The next sentence about his injury is what my brother Danny refers to as "the 2% rule" -- you can tell a story as long as it is 2% true.  Charlie was injured on the job but it was due to a taxi driver running into the police car and not "slugs" or gunshots from Al Capone or bandits!  Grandpa Charlie was in the hospital at least twice in the 6 month period and it did force his early retirement from the police force.   Moving his family to Southern California, he gave us his "badge" for the "big screen".

AMANUENSIS MONDAY

        Look at the gem I found over the weekend!  As I have mentioned numerous times on this blog, my paternal grandfather Charles Sherlock was a character actor in over 300 movies from the early 1930's to the early 1960's.  As a former Chicago policeman on disability from an accident occurred while on duty, he could afford the luxury of playing various roles in movies, yet not taking it too serious,  knowing that he had other sources of income.

       Charlie must have been visiting his sister-in-law Helen Nebgen Cedargreen and her husband Albert in Chicago, at the time this telegram was sent in 1949.  I did a little research and found out that the movie's title was changed from "Frame Up" to "Undertow".  Changing the movie title happens often in Hollywood, or at least it used to occur frequently.   "Undertow" is the story of an ex-con, who is framed for the murder of his fiance's uncle.  John Russell, Scott Brady, Dorothy Hart and Peggy Dow are the stars of the movie.  Grandpa Charlie plays the role of "Detective Cooper".  Rock Hudson also has a tiny role in the movie as a detective.

       Perhaps, I should start a weekly post on this blog, titled "Movie Monday" to discuss Grandpa Charlie's movies ...

Charles Zola Sherlock -- My Grandpa, the Actor

            As a child, I remember seeing the “movie still” photos of Grandpa Charlie with some famous actors (John Wayne and Cary Grant to name a few) on his dining room wall.  I thought it was just perhaps a hobby for him, some way to pass the time since he was on disability from the Chicago police department after an accident in the line of duty.  But years after he died in 1983, I decided to research online to find a listing of the movies he had acted in.  Expecting perhaps to find a list of say 20 or so, I was shocked to find the extensive listing included 302 movies, spanning the years from 1932 to 1965.  Someone must not have been listing to his stories as a child and I began to think “it must be me!”

            I read not only the name of the movie and the names of the leading actor/actress but also what was Grandpa Charlie’s role.  Whose job is it to watch old movies and prepare lists of everyone in the movie, including the very tiny roles that aren’t even in the screen credits?  Well, I am very grateful that someone did because now I have that valuable (at least to me) information.  Charlie typically played small roles (often times uncredited) as either a policeman (probably drew from his real life experiences), a reporter, a bartender or a cab driver. He also played the Boston umpire in the 1951 “Angels in the Outfield” movie.  Knowing Grandpa, though, I am sure that he probably enjoyed just as much playing the criminal types as a gangster or a henchman.

            It’s rainy outside and a perfect day to stay inside and watch an old movie; of course it will be one of Grandpa Charlie’s!  Now, what should I watch – the classic “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (he played a reporter) or the 1951 “Superman” (he was a worker at the Daily Planet) or that crime thriller “Strangers on a Train” (he was a cop)?  The popcorn is cooking and where are those bonbons?   For a complete listing of Charles Sherlock’s movie, go to www.imdb.com/name/nm0792331/