Betty Furness Movies
It's very likely that Betty Furness would be forgotten today if she'd remained a film actress. The daughter of pioneering radio executive George Furness, she landed her first modeling job at 14 and an RKO-Radio film contract two years later. From 1932 through 1935, she appeared in a string of forgettable ingénue roles in Tom Keene Westerns and B-melodramas. She exhibited an unexpected flair for screwball comedy in the 1936 Hal Roach production Mister Cinderella, but wasn't able to capitalize on this career highlight and was out of pictures by 1939 (except for a cameo appearance as herself in 1957's A Face in the Crowd). She fared rather better on Broadway in the 1940s, and better still when she ventured into television in 1949. Though she still occasionally acted in the 1950s (she even starred in a "girl reporter" crime series), her TV fame rested securely on her work as a commercial spokesperson. She was most closely associated with the Westinghouse company, earning hundreds of thousand of dollars pitching kitchenware with the confident catch phrase, "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse." (It should be noted here that one of the most infamous bloopers in TV history, wherein a Westinghouse refrigerator door failed to open during a live commercial, did not happen to Furness as has often been claimed, but to another actress who was subbing for her.) During the Lyndon Johnson administration, Furness was appointed to several important executive positions in the field of Consumer Protection. While working as consumer affairs director at New York's NBC TV affiliate in 1974, she began a long association with The Today Show as consumer reporter/advocate -- a job that was terminated in 1992 when the powers-that-be callously decided that the ever-ebullient Furness "scanned old." Married three times, Betty Furness' first husband was Hollywood composer Johnny Green. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1935
Calm Yourself starts off as ace advertising man Pat (Robert Young) is fired from his job when he offends the highly offendable -- and none too likeable -- Mary Elizabeth (Betty Furness). This segues into a phony kidnapping scheme that thrusts Pat and Mary together, furthering their mutual animosity. Fortunately for Pat, heroine Rosalind (Madge Evans) is an agreeable sort, and it is she with whom he ends up at fadeout time. Nat Pendleton goes through his usual paces as comic-opera gangster Knuckles Benedict. Director George B. Seitz, who ground out four films for MGM in 1935, allows the cast of Calm Yourself to mug and glower to their heart's content: some of it is funny, some of it isn't. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Madge Evans, (more)
- 1935
A man who has ruined a woman's life attempts to make good on his debt to her (and his conscience) in this sudsy drama based on a best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Bobby Merrick (Robert Taylor) is an alcoholic ne'er-do-well whose recklessness causes the death of Dr. Hudson, a respected physician. Helen Hudson (Irene Dunne), the doctor's widow, turns away from Merrick's apology, only to walk into traffic. She's struck by a car and blinded. Shaken by the tragic events, Merrick gives up alcohol and begins studying to become a doctor and right the wrong he's done to Helen. As he begins spending time at the family's estate through a mutual friend, Helen grows fond of his frequent visits, and they begin to fall in love. However, when Helen learns that Merrick is responsible for her husband's death and her own accident, she moves away to a place where he cannot find her. In time, Merrick becomes a gifted eye surgeon, and he learns that he could restore Helen's sight with a delicate and dangerous operation that he has never performed before. Magnificent Obsession was a box-office success that spawned a 1954 remake directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Robert Taylor, (more)
- 1935
In her American film debut, British stage luminary Constance Collier dominates MGM's Shadow of Doubt as wealthy, reclusive Aunt Melissa, a character obviously based on "witch of Wall Street" Hettie Green. Emerging from a 20-year seclusion, Melissa announces her intention to disown her nephew Sim (Ricardo Cortez) if he marries temperamental actress Trenna (Virginia Bruce), who has been implicated in a double murder case. A ubiquitous presence throughout the picture is Sim's best friend, eternally inebriated columnist Reed Ryan (Regis Toomey), who's more than a little anxious to crack the case -- or so he claims. But the person responsible for the film's happy ending is none other than Melissa, who turns out to be a sweet old gal after all. Shadow of Doubt was one of a brief mid-1930s cycle of "female-detective" films, which included the Hildegarde Withers and Nurse Sarah Keane mysteries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Cortez, Virginia Bruce, (more)
- 1935
In early 1930s, Monogram pictures held a virtual monopoly on the bucolic novels of Gene Stratton Porter. When Monogram absorbed by the new Republic Pictures in 1935, several Porter properties were included in the merger, among them the 1875 best-seller Keeper of the Bees. In one of her largest screen roles, Emma Dunn plays backwoods faith-healer Aunt Margot. In addition to her duties as county bookkeeper, the old woman is in charge of her daughter Molly (Betty Furness) and niece Scout (Edith Fellows), who loyally protect one another when trouble arises. The story proper gets under way when disillusioned artist Jamie (Neil Hamilton) has his will to live restored by the lovely Molly and her colorful family. Keeper of the Bees was remade virtually intact in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Hamilton, Betty Furness, (more)
- 1935
In this comedy-drama, an enterprising college football coach's desire to win overshadows his common-sense when he cuts a deal with a talented convict. If the youth will play on Bedford College's team and stay out of trouble, the coach will get him paroled. Well, natch, the con agrees to the deal. Unfortunately for Coach, he has no intention of staying away from trouble. Fortunately, Coach isn't as naive as he seems and convinces his pretty niece to use her wiles to insure that the youth remains on the straight and narrow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Furness, Grant Mitchell, (more)
- 1934
A genial lampoon of the Greta Garbo craze, Let's Fall in Love stars Ann Sothern as Jean, a Brooklyn-born aspiring actress. It so happens that Ken (Edmund Lowe), an ambitious movie director, is searching for a Swedish actress to replace his temperamental star Forsell (Tala Birrell). In desperation, Ken decides to transform Jean into a Scandinavian film sensation, spending six weeks coaching her in the proper accent and "I vant to be alone" demeanor. The ruse is successful until Ken's jealous ex-fiancee Gerry (Miriam Jordan) exposes Jean as a phony, but by this time the inevitability of a happy ending is never in doubt. The Harold Arlen-Ted Koehler title tune from Let's Fall in Love would become something of an anthem for Columbia Pictures, popping up in everything from Pal Joey to Shake, Rattle and Roll! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Ann Sothern, (more)
- 1934
In this tear-jerking adaptation of Louis Bromfield's novel A Good Woman, the title character stands tall in the face of small town gossip in order to stay with her already married lover who makes promises to her he does not intend to keep. Matters get complicated when Vergie gets pregnant. At the same time, her lover begins running for political office. Not wanting scandal to destroy his promising career, Vergie begs him not to divorce the wife he doesn't love. The child, a girl, is born. Vergie and her man continue to tryst, but it is far from a perfect situation and back home, he is miserable. One day he decides enough is enough and tells his vindictive wife the truth and announces his intent to divorce her. The wife takes this poorly and her jealousy sets a terrible tragedy in motion that is only resolved at the story's end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Harding, John Boles, (more)
- 1934
Robert Young had to be the busiest leading man in Hollywood in 1934. He appeared in no fewer than nine pictures, four of them at his home studio of MGM. The Band Plays On features Young as one of four close pals, who have grown up together and are now college football champs known as "The Four Bombers". So inseparable are these chums that, when one is injured in a car accident, the remaining three quit the team. But everyone is back on the field for the inevitable Big Game, including Young, who of course scores the winning T.D. Robert Young plays a football star as realistically as he'd played a baseball star in the earlier Death on the Diamond (34)--meaning that the film relies a heavily on stunt doubles and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Stuart Erwin, (more)
The Mongram "special" Beggars in Ermine was based on a novel by Esther Lynd Day. Having lost both legs in an accident, steel-mill owner John Dawson (Lionel Atwill) disconsolately goes among "the people" in hopes of finding a reason for living. Upon befriending blind peddler Marchant (Henry B. Walthall), Dawson puts his organizational skills to practical use by "unionizing" Walthall's beggar pals, doubling and tripling their effectiveness. His new "street" friends help Dawson get the goods on his crooked business manager James Marley (Jameson Thomas), who had arranged Dawson's "accident." It's quite refreshing to see perennial screen-villain Lionel Atwill in a 100% sympathetic role, which he carries off in grand style. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Henry B. Walthall, (more)
- 1934
Helen Hayes reportedly turned down the opportunity to play the title role in this dreary melodrama about self-sacrificing motherhood; the opportunity, if that's the word, instead went to Viennese import Mady Christians. After killing her abusive husband (Paul Harvey) in self-defense, downtrodden Naomi Trice (Christians) dusts herself off and moves to another city with her four young children, vowing to pay for her crime when the youngsters are old enough to make their own way in life. Years later, Naomi is not only the proprietor of a successful dress designing business but is also courted by a kind newspaper editor, Pat Naylor (Charles Bickford). But when her oldest son Curtis (William Henry) is badly hurt in a fight with his sister's unsympathetic boyfriend (a very young Robert Taylor), Naomi vows to live up to her old promise if only he will pull through. The young man recovers and Naomi goes on trial for the murder of her husband but refuses to allow her children to give crucial testimony that may lead to an acquittal. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mady Christians, Jean Parker, (more)
- 1933
In this romance, an enrollee at the US Naval Academy finds it difficulty adjusting to the unending rules and regulations. Then he falls in lover with the commandant's daughter and almost loses his chance for a commission. Fortunately, he turns it all around, does well, and becomes an instructor for incoming freshmen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Betty Furness, (more)
- 1933
Gangsters and cowboys don't mix as a recently returned World War I veteran soon discovers in this drama. The trouble is set in the hometown of Tom Allen, the returned G.I. He returns to find that one of his friend's has been murdered and that another friend has been framed for it. The real killer is the son of a mine owner in cahoots with Chicago gangsters and together they take-on Tom. He beats them all and the mobsters return to Chicago, the bad son is convicted, and Tom gets a beautiful girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Keene, Betty Furness, (more)
- 1933
When her tough boyfriend Red Branahan (William Gargan) is sent to jail, Aggie Appleby (Wynne Gibson) meets mild-mannered Adoniram Schlump (Charles Farrell), and decides to turn him into a real man. She teaches him how to talk tough, changes his name to Red Branahan, and gets him a construction job -- unaware that the real Red has been released from prison. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Farrell, Wynne Gibson, (more)
- 1933
In this romantic drama, set at the turn of the century, a womanizing Irish motorman ignores his marital vows, but only to a point. Though he has many affairs, he will not leave his wife. As the years pass, he holds many jobs, and many different women before he retires in Atlantic City where he becomes a moralistic fortune teller for women. He actually helps some of his clients and dies knowing he was not a total lout. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Edna May Oliver, (more)
- 1933
A spoiled rich girl marries a gas station owner in this dated romance starring Joel McCrea, Ginger Rogers, and Marion Nixon. It is love at first sight when debutante Glory Franklyn (Nixon) spots handsome grease monkey Blacky Gorman (McCrea), who promptly dumps faithful girlfriend Marje Harris (Rogers) to marry the heiress. Wedded bliss, however, quickly gives way to everyday worries and Glory even fails at cooking a dinner. Because she still loves Blacky, Marje nobly gives her rival a crash course in good housekeeping, but the spoiled Glory discovers that she is expecting and high tails it back to Mama (Virginia Hammond), who never approved of the marriage and is only too happy to see it fail. Fearing that his wife will obtain an abortion, Blacky hurries to New York, but is too late. Divorced and heartbroken, the young gas station owner finds solace in the arms of the loyal Marje. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1933
Headline Shooter is a brisk comedy/melodrama about a newsreel photographer (William Gargan). He prefers to risk his neck to get "swell" pictures, while his reporter girl friend (Frances Dee), though no less fearless, would prefer that he give up his dangerous profession. Ralph Bellamy (as always!) is around as Frances' "stable" boyfriend, who of course loses the girl. The story wraps up as Gargan rescues Dee from a band of kidnapping gangsters (though neither the girl nor her captors seem to regard the situation as life-threatening!) Padded out with yards and yards of stock newsreel footage, Headline Shooter is highlighted by the opening-scene appearance of humorist Robert Benchley, playing a radio announcer at a beauty contest who can't think of any descriptive phrase other than "feminine pulchritude." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Frances Dee, (more)
- 1933
Though the story isn't much, this actioner does offer a neat behind-the-scenes look at the travails of Hollywood stuntmen as it chronicles the romance between a stunt man and an extra. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, William Gargan, (more)
- 1933
An earthy, fun-loving radio pitchwoman finds it difficult to live up to her squeaky-clean public persona as the "Purity Girl of the Air." This comedy chronicles the frantic efforts of her bosses to keep her on the straight and narrow when she goes out on the town. It's not easy because she is a shameless flirt. To put the kibosh on her constant coquettishness the publicity guys come up with the idea of having her choose a "professional sweetheart" from the many male admirers who frequently write her. They choose a naive Kentucky hayseed and much to everyone's surprise the Purity Girl falls in love with him. Unfortunately, after their radio wedding, the gal plans to ditch her radio gig and live the quiet life of a country housewife leaving the publicity men in a real quandary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster, (more)
- 1933
In Scarlet River, Tom Keene plays "himself," a cowboy movie star, on location in the Wide Open Spaces for his latest epic. The locals chortle and guffaw at these picture people posing as genuine Westerners, but Keene proves his worth by rescuing Dorothy Wilson from villainous ranch foreman Creighton Chaney (aka Lon Chaney Jr.). Edgar Kennedy plays the flustered director, forever tearing out what little hair he has. The film-within-a-film sequences are staged with reasonable accuracy (future consumer advocate Betty Furness shows up as Keene's on-camera ingenue), while a few shots at the RKO commissary offer glimpses of studio contractees Myrna Loy, Joel McCrea and Bruce Cabot. The basic premise of Scarlet River would be revived in several future westerns by such cowboy stars as Charles Starrett, Buck Jones and Gene Autry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Butts
The top-billed stars in the extravagant RKO musical Flying Down to Rio are Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond. Forget all that: this is the movie that first teamed Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. We're supposed to care about the romantic triangle between aviator/bandleader Raymond, Brazilian heiress Del Rio and her wealthy fiance Raul Roulien, but the moment Fred and Ginger dance to a minute's worth of "The Carioca", the film is theirs forever. Other musical highlights include Rogers' opening piece "Music Makes Me" and tenor Roulien's lush rendition of "Orchids in the Moonlight". Then there's the title number. The plot has it that Del Rio' uncle has been prohibited from having a floor show at his lavish hotel because of a Rio city ordinance. Astaire and Raymond save the day by staging the climactic "Flying Down to Rio" number thousands of feet in the air, with hundreds of chorus girls shimmying and swaying while strapped to the wings of a fleet of airplanes. It is one of the most outrageously brilliant numbers in movie musical history, and one that never fails to incite a big round of applause from the audience--even audiences of the 1990s. Together with King Kong, Flying Down to Rio saved the fledgling RKO Radio studios from bankruptcy in 1933. The film was a smash everywhere it played, encouraging the studio to concoct future teamings of those two stalwart supporting players Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1933
In this drama, a young surgeon and his driver must combat the racketeers who have taken over the hospital where he works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wynne Gibson, William Gargan, (more)
- 1932
A vengeful cowpoke rides out for revenge against the cattle rustlers who killed his pa in this western. Along the way, he finds and adopts a cuddly little baby. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1932
In this suspenseful drama, an embittered woman exacts revenge upon the 12 women who wronged her in college. The trouble began when the woman, who was of Japanese and Indian heritage, was ejected from a college sorority because she wasn't white. Still angry, the woman hires an astrologer to create 12 terrifying horoscopes for each of the dastardly dozen. These grim predictions terrify the victims into doing dreadful things. One commits suicide, while another commits murder. More mayhem ensues until the astrologer makes some dire predictions about the vengeful woman herself. She doesn't like it, and using her psychic powers she forces him in front of an oncoming train. She then resumes her revenge by trying to poison the son of the remaining woman. This causes a police inspector to get suspicious, and he follow the murderous woman to the train station where she plans to kill the woman. A chase ensues culminating in the evil woman's demise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, (more)
