Jackie Coogan Movies
American actor Jackie Coogan belonged to a family of vaudevillians. At age four Coogan was already a stage attraction performing with his father when he caught the eye of Charles Chaplin, who immediately hired him (and his father as well). After giving him a bit part in the short A Day's Pleasure (1919), he made Coogan his co-star in the masterpiece The Kid (1921). This launched Coogan's film career and he went on to become one of the highest paid film actors of the day. Movie audiences worldwide doted on him, but his career as a child star petered out when he was 13 and too old to be "cute." In 1935 when his mother and stepfather refused to let him have the $4 million that he had amassed during his child acting days, he filed suit against them. When the settlement finally came, he received a mere $126,000., but the legal fight brought attention to such abuses, and resulted in the "California Child Actor's Bill" also known as the "Coogan Act" which protected the earnings of child actors. He was married to Betty Grable for 3 years, and to three other showgirls in succession afterwards. During his adulthood, he occasionally appeared in films playing character roles and worked frequently in television, most notably as Uncle Fester in The Addams Family TV series. He died on March 1, 1984. ~ All Movie Guide- 1919
Charlie Chaplin's fourth film for First National is generally considered a lightweight entry and a throwback to earlier days. It begins with Charlie, Edna and their two boys leaving their house (actually a corner of Chaplin's studio at La Brea and De Longpre in Hollywood) for a day's outing. The family piles into the family flivver, and after Charlie's amusing efforts to keep the engine running, they arrive at a dock and board a crowded day cruiser.
Charlie has a disagreement with another passenger (Tom Wilson), when he squeezes himself into a place on the bench next to the fellow's hefty wife, (Babe London). When Wilson tosses the famous derby onto the dock, Charlie races off the boat to get it. As the vessel pulls away from the dock, a large woman with a baby carriage tries to board, but ends up stretched between the dock and the boat. Charlie, returning with his hat uses her as a gangplank, then tries to pull her aboard with a grappling hook.
Once the boat is under way, the passengers dance to the music of a small combo, but soon everyone is feeling the effects of the violently rocking cruiser. Charlie has to stop dancing with the lovely Edna to sit by the railing near the trombonist, whose own mal de mer turns the black man quite pale. Meanwhile, Edna and the kids are napping on deck chairs and Charlie decides to join them. In typical Chaplinesque fashion, he cannot seem to assemble his chair. Overcome by seasickness he collapses into the lap of the equally bilious Babe and is covered with a blanket by a helpful steward. When the lady's jealous husband returns with drinks he tries to attack Charlie, but becomes too nauseated to continue, of which the now recovered Charlie takes advantage.
The return trip in the family car is equally eventful. Charlie runs afoul of a couple of traffic cops, is blocked by some irate pedestrians, one of whose foul language spurs Charlie to indicate the divine retribution awaiting him, and backs into a tar truck which spills its contents on the street. The cops, berating Charlie for blocking traffic, get stuck in the tar along with Charlie, but he cleverly steps out of his large shoes and drives off with his family, much to the amusement of the onlookers. This last scene may have originally been intended to occur earlier in the film, according to continuity sheets existing in the Chaplin archives, but was placed at he end of the film for the released version. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Charlie has a disagreement with another passenger (Tom Wilson), when he squeezes himself into a place on the bench next to the fellow's hefty wife, (Babe London). When Wilson tosses the famous derby onto the dock, Charlie races off the boat to get it. As the vessel pulls away from the dock, a large woman with a baby carriage tries to board, but ends up stretched between the dock and the boat. Charlie, returning with his hat uses her as a gangplank, then tries to pull her aboard with a grappling hook.
Once the boat is under way, the passengers dance to the music of a small combo, but soon everyone is feeling the effects of the violently rocking cruiser. Charlie has to stop dancing with the lovely Edna to sit by the railing near the trombonist, whose own mal de mer turns the black man quite pale. Meanwhile, Edna and the kids are napping on deck chairs and Charlie decides to join them. In typical Chaplinesque fashion, he cannot seem to assemble his chair. Overcome by seasickness he collapses into the lap of the equally bilious Babe and is covered with a blanket by a helpful steward. When the lady's jealous husband returns with drinks he tries to attack Charlie, but becomes too nauseated to continue, of which the now recovered Charlie takes advantage.
The return trip in the family car is equally eventful. Charlie runs afoul of a couple of traffic cops, is blocked by some irate pedestrians, one of whose foul language spurs Charlie to indicate the divine retribution awaiting him, and backs into a tar truck which spills its contents on the street. The cops, berating Charlie for blocking traffic, get stuck in the tar along with Charlie, but he cleverly steps out of his large shoes and drives off with his family, much to the amusement of the onlookers. This last scene may have originally been intended to occur earlier in the film, according to continuity sheets existing in the Chaplin archives, but was placed at he end of the film for the released version. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
Sean Connery attempted to make a clean break from his "James Bond" image in the boisterous comedy A Fine Madness. Connery plays Samson Shillitoe, a Brendan Behan-like poet with a mile-wide misogynistic streak. Try as he might to complete his latest masterpiece, Shillitoe is constantly interrupted by the women in his life. Driven to a nervous breakdown, he seeks help from the medical establishment -- and ends up a babbling shell of his former self. The film takes scattered potshots at a repressive society that forces the truly creative among us into near-madness; at times, it is sidesplittingly funny, though never quite as potent as the Elliot Baker novel upon which it is based. Sean Connery is brilliant, but the public wanted James Bond to behave himself, thus the film didn't do as well at the box office as it should have. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Joanne Woodward, (more)
- 1972
Investigating a missing-child report, officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) expose an illegal adopting ring. In another incident, the two cops probe a report of stolen narcotics on a college campus, following the trail of clues to a star football player. And this being Adam-12, the episode is capped by a high-speed car chase. Featured in the cast are two former child stars, Jackie Coogan and James Lydon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Myra Jensen (Barbara Baxley) loves her pets more than she does people -- and that includes her long-suffering husband, Hermie (a pre-Dragnet and pre-M*A*S*H Harry Morgan). Ultimately, Hermie plots to exact vengeance against Myra by purchasing a pet that she doesn't already have: a poisonous coral snake. What Hermie hasn't counted on is Myra's thorough knowledge of all animals -- not to mention his utter lack of that same knowledge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1924
This so-so Jackie Coogan vehicle was based on the novel, A Dog of Flanders, by Ouida -- and the dog in the film, by the way, is the famed Mack Sennett canine, Teddy. When his mother and grandfather die, little Nello (Coogan) is left all alone in the Dutch village of St. Agneten. The only one who will befriend him is Alois (Jean Carpenter), the young daughter of Baas Cogez (Lionel Belmore), the richest man in the village. Cogez drives Nello away, and he is befriended by canine Petrasche (Teddy). When Cogez's barn burns to the ground, Nello is blamed. He is about to be sent to an orphanage when famed artist Jan Van Dullen (Josef Swickard) comes to town offering a prize for the best sketch done by a child. Nello enters the competition, but his drawing is overlooked and another child wins. The youngster gets lost in a snowstorm, but Van Dullen discovers his drawing and goes looking for him. Petrasche helps him find Nello, who is near death. Cogez comes to respect the lad, and Van Dullen adopts him. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josef Swickard, Nigel de Brulier, (more)
- 1927
Little Jackie Coogan, Charlie Chaplin's famous The Kid(1921), starred in this action melodrama from MGM as a young bugler whose stepmother (Claire Windsor) attempts to supplant the mother who only lives in his memory. According to the Motion Picture New Booking Guide, The Bugle Call, which apparently no longer exists, was set in a frontier cavalry post in the 1870s and also dealt with "Indians and adventure." Handsome Herbert Rawlinson played the romantic lead, with Tom O'Brien as a no-nonsense cavalry sergeant and Nelson McDowell and Sarah Padden as weather-beaten frontier types. The Bugle Call was directed by Edward Sedgwick, formerly of Hoot Gibson Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Claire Windsor, (more)
- 1927
Buttons was another mild entry in the ever-fading career of juvenile star Jackie Coogan. This is the story of a London slum boy who manages to land a job as a page on a luxury ocean liner. Performing above and beyond the call of duty, "Buttons" prevents leading lady Gertrude Olmstead from entering into a disastrous marriage with fortune-hunting Roy D'Arcy. Inevitably, the ship hits an iceberg, but while the passengers and the rest of the crew head for the lifeboats, "Buttons" loyally returns -- to go down with the ship with his best friend, the captain; fortunately, both are saved just before they sink beneath the waves. After completing Buttons, 13-year-old Jackie Coogan temporarily retired from films to enter military school; he would not be seen on screen again until 1930's Tom Sawyer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gertrude Olmstead, Jackie Coogan, (more)
- 1923
Circus Days is the first film version of the James Otis novel Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus. Jackie Coogan plays 10-year-old Toby, who runs away from his abusive uncle to join the Big Top. The glamour of circus life tarnishes quickly for Toby, but he sticks it out, graduating from lowly candy vendor to star bareback rider. The boy uses the money earned with the circus to rescue his mother from his hated uncle. Circus Days spares us none of the harsher elements of the Otis novel, in contrast to the dry-cleaning job performed on the 1960 Walt Disney version of Toby Tyler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Barbara Tennant, (more)
- 1938
It's hard to go wrong with such stars as Bob Hope, Burns & Allen, Martha Raye and Edward Everett Horton, and College Swing doesn't-go wrong, that is. The film begins in 1738, when a pact is drawn up between the Alden family and a highly respected Colonial college: If any female member of the family can pass her college exams within a 200-year period, ownership of the institution will be turned over to her. Comes 1938, and the last of the Alden girls, giddy Gracie Alden (Gracie Allen, of course) hires glib-tongued tutor Bud Brady (Bob Hope) to help her pass her exams. She also tries to win over no-nonsense professor Hubert Dash (Edward Everett Horton), who has no intention of handing his college over to a blithering idiot like Gracie. Once she has inherited the place, however, Gracie turns it into a jumpin'-jivin' joint, complete with jitterbugging students, swing bands and remote radio broadcasts. Though George Burns' role is nearly nonexistent, he does get to indulge in his patented cross-talk with Allen. Others contributing to the fun are Ben Blue, Jerry Colonna, Betty Grable, and Grable's then-husband Jackie Coogan. Highlights include Allen's spirited Irish jig and her endearing song duet with Edward Everett Horton. College Swing is the sort of high-powered, all-star entertainment that is virtually impossible to reproduce today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Burns, Gracie Allen, (more)
- 1972
Filmed in Greece and Italy, Cool Million was the pilot film for a shortlived 1972 TV series which ran as a recurring feature of the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie. James Farentino stars as private eye Jefferson Keays, who takes cases only on the proviso that he is to be paid $1 million if he solves the mystery. Keays' current assignment is to locate the heiress to a $50 million fortune. With several candidates to choose from, the detective must use his million-dollar nose to sniff on the worthy one--and to find out if she's responsible for the peculiar death of her wealthy father. Cool Million was released to syndication under the title Mask of Marcella. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1923
Little Jackie Coogan, the most popular child star of his generation, once again played a poor but spunky ragamuffin in this lachrymose silent drama from independent producer Sol Lesser. Believing her husband to be unfaithful, Helene Savelli (Josie Sedgwick) takes her little son Jackie (Coogan) to live on the Holden farm. Helene dies shortly thereafter and Jackie runs away from home when the Holdens (Bert Woodruff and Anna Townsend) are forced into the poorhouse. In the Big City, Jackie befriends Gallo (Cesare Gravina), a sidewalk musician who just happens to be the former teacher of world famous violinist Paul Savelli (Arthur Edmund Carewe), Jackie's long-lost father. Before he dies, Gallo manages not only to reunite father and son but restore the farm to the kindhearted Holdens. A family affair, Daddy was "A Jackie Coogan Production," "personally supervised by Jack Coogan" and written by "Mrs. And Mrs. Jack Coogan." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Arthur Edmund Carewe, (more)
- 1957
In this teenage exploitation drama, a young woman secretly marries. The trouble begins after her husband is killed while drag racing. She bears his child, but she cannot prove that she was married. Caring nothing for the child, she spends her time hitting on a jazz trumpeter who takes her to Las Vegas. Soon she figures out that he is not interested in marriage. She takes off and marries a DJ. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Webster, William Campbell, (more)
- 1972
Former Vietnam medic Ed Marlow (Robert Pratt) signs on as a paramedic trainee with Squad 51--and quickly alienates the rest of the staff with his smug know-it-all attitude. Marlow's ego-tripping proves particularly troublesome as he accompanies the staffers on a variety of emergency calls, involving a boy who has fallen off a cliff, a woman who has o.d.'ed on prescription drugs, and a diabetic with a bad insulin reaction. Former child star Jackie Coogan appears as a slovenly junkyard owner who learns the hard way to appreciate the local fire-prevention laws. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
In this action adventure, a Soviet agent pursues two Americans trying to make it to Copenhagen. They are assisted by a nightclub singer. In the Danish city, the Soviet agent finds himself attracted to the freedom of life there. He tries to defect, but his angered superior presents major obstacles. This leads to the film's exciting climax. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Buffy (Anissa Jones) wants to join a club made up of neighborhood youngsters that have an aversion to "fancy" kids. To help Buffy along, Bill (Brian Keith) allows her to dress in ratty old clothes, and--much to the dismay of Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot)--also dons "hobo" duds himself. This gets Bill in dutch with blue-collar worker Tim Callahan, the father of two of the club members, who is offended because he thinks the Davises are making fun of poor folks. Cast as Mr. and Mrs. Callahan are two former child stars,Jackie Coogan (fresh from his "Uncle Fester" duties on The Addams Family) and Marcia Mae Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1948
Monogram's French Leave received an inordinate amount of press coverage because of its teaming of two former child stars. Jackie Cooper and Jackie Coogan play a couple of amorous merchant seamen on the loose in a small French village. Hoping to score with the local mademoiselles, the two Jackies become sidetracked with black market activities. The boys bend a few laws along the way, but everything turns out just fine. It was French Leave that convinced Jackie Cooper to seek out acting lessons rather than coast on his past fame; as for Jackie Coogan, he wouldn't truly make a comeback until losing his hair and re-emerging as a cantankerous character actor on such TV series as The Addams Family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Jackie Coogan, (more)
One of Elvis Presley's most popular vehicles, Girl Happy is also one of the most typical. Elvis plays Rusty Wells, the leader of a four-piece rock group, consisting of Gary Crosby, Joby Baker and Jimmy Hawkins. Hired by Chicago gangster boss Big Frank (Harold J. Stone) to protect the virtue of Frank's cute daughter Valerie (Shelley Fabares), Rusty and his buddies follow Valerie to Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break. The girl falls in love with Rusty, then falls out of love when she learns that he's in her dad's employ. Valerie then becomes involved with a slick Italian playboy (Fabrizio Mioni), forcing Rusty to break up the romance lest he end up in a cement overcoat. It all ends happily, of course: after all, Elvis hadn't died on screen since Flaming Star. A bikini-watcher's dream, Girl Happy is less successful as a musical; of the many songs, the title number is the only one with lasting value. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, (more)
- 1977
The original TV Addams family reunites in this comedy. The trouble begins when the bizarre clan hold their annual party and are so busy with the guests that they fail to notice three inept burglars attempting to rob them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Producer Albert Zugsmith serves up another all-star exposé with High School Confidential. Delivering a superb performance under the circumstances, Russ Tamblyn heads the cast as "typical" high schooler Tony Baker. Usually seen in the company of his voluptuous "aunt" Gwen Dulaine (the truly impressive Mamie Van Doren), Tony convinces one and all that he's looking for kicks of the controlled-substance kind. In truth, however, our hero is really an undercover narcotics agent named Mike Wilson, bound and determined to smash the operation of drug lord Mr. A. (Jackie Coogan). The once-in-a-lifetime cast includes such worthies as John Drew Barrymore (Drew Barrymore's daddy), Ray Anthony (then married to Mamie Van Doren), Charles Chaplin Jr., Michael Landon, and Jerry Lee Lewis as "himself." This updated Reefer Madness is not to be missed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Sterling, John Drew Barrymore, (more)
- 1935
Former child star Jackie Coogan made a somewhat awkward transition to adulthood in Home on the Range. Based on Zane Grey's novel Code of the West, the film casts Coogan and Randolph Scott as the Hatfield brothers, Tom and Jack. Owners of a racing stable, the boys figure that one of their ponies, a magnificent animal named Midnight is a sure winner. Before they're able to prove this, however, Tom and Jack fall victim to a gang of race-fixers who use high-powered rifles to ensure that their horses will win. This doesn't stop Tom from risking his life to ride Midnight to victory. Radio crooner Joe Morrison, whose chief claim to fame was the western ballad "Last Roundup", shows up in Home on the Range long enough to sing the title tune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Randolph Scott, (more)
- 1931
Based on the novel by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn stars Junior Durkin in the title role, Jackie Coogan as Tom Sawyer, Mitzi Green as Becky Thatcher and Clarence Muse as Jim the slave. The film hopscotches around the book, ignoring such highlights as the Grangeford-Shepherdson feud and devoting too much time to such minor incidents as Huck and Tom's "orchestrated" rescue of Jim. The basic storyline begins when Huck's no-good Pap (Warner Richmond) kidnaps the boy from his guardian, the Widow Douglas. Huck stages his own "death" and escapes down the Mississippi on a raft, in the company of Tom Sawyer and escaped slave Jim. The threesome link up with two confidence men, the King (Oscar Apfel) and the Duke (Eugene Pallette). The unscrupulous pair plan fleece the grieving family of a recently deceased man of wealth, but Huck falls in love with one of the victims of the scam (Charlotte Henry) and thwarts the villains. Huckleberry Finn was Paramount's followup to 1930's Tom Sawyer, with many of the principal actors repeating their roles. This 1931 version of Huckleberry is easy to take, but somewhat threadbare when compared to later remakes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Mitzi Green, (more)
- 1969
In the first episode of a pivotal two-part story, Jeannie (Barbara Eden) has found the perfect fifth-anniversary present for her master Tony (Larry Hagman). The gift turns out to be the entire country of Basenji, which is ruled by Jeannie's uncle Suleiman (Jackie Coogan). Unfortunately, Tony has been assigned to escort Hamid (Frank DeVol), the ambassador of Kasha--Basenji's longtime enemy. As a result of the chaos that follows, the infuriated Tony all but orders Jeannie to get out of his life forever! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
