Arthur Lake Movies
Truly a single-note man, American actor Arthur Lake spent most of his adult life portraying only one screen role: Dagwood Bumstead. The son of circus acrobats and the brother of character actress Florence Lake (famed for her ongoing portrayal of Mrs. Edgar Kennedy in nearly 100 two-reel comedies), Lake began his professional career as one of the "Fox Kiddies" in a series of silent-film takeoffs of famous fairy tales, featuring casts comprised completely of children. Lake graduated to a succession of collegiate and office boy roles in feature films, gaining a degree of stardom in the late 1920s and early 1930s after appearing in the title role of Harold Teen (1928). The actor's high-pitched voice and Mama's boy features were amusing for a while, but audiences became bored with Lake by 1934, and the actor found himself shunted to supporting parts and bits. An amusing role as a flustered bellboy in Topper (1937) rejuvenated his career, but Lake's comeback wouldn't be complete until Columbia Pictures cast him as woebegone suburbanite Dagwood Bumstead in Blondie (1938), based on Chic Young's internationally popular comic strip. The strip's characterizations were altered to fit the personalities of Lake and his costar Penny Singleton; in the films, Dagwood was the dope and Blondie the brains of the family, precisely the opposite of the comic-strip situation. A few scattered "straight" performances aside, Lake was nothing other than Dagwood in films from 1938 through 1950; he not only starred in 28 "Blondie" pictures, but repeated the role on radio and starred in an unsuccessful 1954 TV series based on the property. Not at all the blithering idiot that he played on screen, Lake was a sagacious businessman in real life, his wise investments increasing the fortune he'd already accumulated by playing Dagwood -- and also bolstering the moneys inherited by his socialite wife, Patricia Van Cleve. Though he often remarked that it would be wonderful to play Dagwood forever, Lake parted company with the role in the mid-1950s; when another Blondie TV series appeared briefly in 1968, it starred Will Hutchins. Appearing publicly only rarely in the 1960s and 1970s (usually in summer theatres and revivals of 1920s musicals like No, No Nanette), Lake retired before his 70th birthday, a far more prosperous and secure man than his alter ego Dagwood Bumstead -- who's still being fired regularly by boss Mr. Dithers in the funny papers - ever would be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1926
The best of comic actor Reginald Denny's silent vehicles, Skinner's Dress Suit is a surprising contemporary piece about status-seeking. Denny is an office worker whose wife Laura LaPlante hectors him into asking for a raise. Not only does Denny get the extra dough, but he's asked to take a cut in salary. Nonetheless, he tells LaPlante that he's gotten the increase, whereupon she delightedly makes plans to spend several hundred dollars on home and wardrobe improvements. Denny is fitted out with a new dress suit, which makes him a social success--and obliges him to stay one step ahead of the tailor whenever he's behind in his payments. Just when it appears as though Denny will be swamped in debt, a series of cute coincidences transform him into his office's most valued employee. This second film adaptation of Henry Irving Dodge's novel Skinner's Dress Suit is a vast improvement upon the 1917 filming, with a peppy Charleston sequence thrown in as a bonus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reginald Denny, Laura La Plante, (more)
- 1927
This first film version of the popular Russell Medcraft-Norma Mitchell stage farce The Cradle Snatchers is also one of the earliest directorial efforts of Howard Hawks. Tired of their husbands' philandering, three wealthy matrons decide to fight fire with fire by hiring three college boys to pose as their "young lovers." The boys do their job so well that, for a while, it looks like everybody's going to end up in divorce court. Fortunately, however, the wandering husbands see the error of their ways and return to their spouses. Long believed lost, The Cradle Snatchers was rediscovered by Howard Hawks aficionado Peter Bogdanovich in the mid-1970s; while only 5 1/2 reels of the 7-reel picture could be restored, it was enough to prove that even this early in the game, Hawks was a master farceur (interestingly, the original stage version of the play co-starred Humphrey Bogart, who later collaborated with Hawks on To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep). The property was remade as the Broadway and Hollywood musical Let's Face It. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louise Fazenda, Ethel Wales, (more)
- 1927
The title character is world-famous lothario Norman Kerry, who has given up keeping track of all his female conquests. While strolling to yet another dalliance, Kerry is struck down by a car. He is nursed back to health by winsome Lois Moran. Genuinely falling in love for the first time in his life, Kerry must scurry about settling his other affairs before he can happily-ever-after with Lois. Way down on the cast list of Irresistible Lover is future "Dagwood Bumstead" Arthur Lake, here cast as one "Jack Kennedy"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Kerry, Lois Moran, (more)
- 1928
The success of First National's Harold Teen prompted Universal to cast gangly juvenile Arthur Lake as lead in Stop That Man. The Harold Lloyd-like plot casts Lake as Tommy O'Brien, the spindly younger brother of musclebound Irish cops Bill and Jim (Eddie Gribbon, Warner Richmond). To prove his worth, Tommy dons a policeman's uniform (though he's not a member of the force) and sets out to capture Slippery Dick Sylvaine (Walter McGrail). Instead, he inadvertently helps Sylvaine pull off a heist. Tommy redeems himself by commandeering a battered old streetcar and chasing down Sylvaine, winning the heart of heroine Muriel Crawford (Barbara Kent) in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Kent, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1928
Veteran stage actor/playwright James Gleason made his film debut in the Universal comedy The Count of Ten. In fact, Gleason received top billing over onetime screen favorite Charles Ray, an indication that Ray's days of prominence were numbered. Returning to the "yokel" characterization that won him popularity in the teen years, Ray is cast as Johnny McKinney, a gullible prizefighter who permits his wife, family and friends to squander all his money. In dire financial straits, Johnny talks his manager Billy Williams (James Gleason) into arranging a $5000 bout with the champ. Billy doesn't want to do it, inasmuch as Johnny has a broken hand, but he has no choice. Our hero wins the fight, only to discover that his purse is to be used to square his brother-in-law's gambling debts. On the verge of walking out on his parasitic family, Johnny is dissuaded by his wife Betty (Jobyna Ralston), who promises never to take advantage of him again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Gleason, Charles Ray, (more)
- 1928
One of the first of director Howard Hawks' many aviation films, The Air Circus stars Arthur Lake and David Rollins as two young flight-school cadets. After bragging about their airborne prowess to pretty Sue Carol, the boys are dismayed to learn that she is an accomplished aviatrix, who can fly rings around both of them. Later, during his first solo flight, Rollins is overcome by fear. In danger of "washing out," Rollins proves that he's got what it takes by rescuing Lake and Carol from a disabled plane in flight. Long thought lost, Air Circus was rescued from oblivion in the early 1970s; originally a part-talkie, it currently exists only in its silent version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louise Dresser, David Rollins, (more)
- 1928
Based on the comic strip by Carl Ed, Harold Teen stars future "Dagwood Bumstead" Arthur Lake in the title role. Upon arriving in the big city to attend high school, the bumptious Harold soon becomes the most popular boy in class. This gives our hero carte blanche to indulge in all sorts of comic misadventures, from substituting an amateur cowboy movie for the annual school play to saving the town when the dam bursts. And, of course, Harold wins the Big Football Game with only seconds to spare. Harold Teen was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who at that time was barely out of his teens himself; the film was remade, after a fashion, in 1934, with Hal LeRoy (no relation to Mervyn) in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Brian, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1928
George Fitzmaurice directed this romantic World War I drama, which was First National Pictures' entry into the epic war/romance genre popular in the late 1920s (The Big Parade, Wings). Colleen Moore stars as the French gamin Jeannine Bertholot who is a good luck charm to a seven-man platoon of the British Air Force that uses the lilac fields of a small French village as their base. Jeannine is the niece of Madame Berthelot (Eugenie Besserer), who lodges and cares for the platoon. After a bumpy start, one of the flyers from the platoon, Philip Blythe (Gary Cooper) falls in love with her. Philip is reluctant to tell Jeannine that he loves her, but one morning before a dangerous mission, he declares his love. During the mission, Philip is shot down, and Jeannine frantically arranges for an ambulance crew to remove Philip's body from the wreckage. But during the rescue operations, Jeannine loses sight of Philip. To find him again, she begins an exhausting search of all the military hospitals, hoping to see Philip for one last time. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper, (more)
- 1929
Taxi dancing provides the framework for this romantic drama that chronicles the attempted love affair between a shipping clerk and a taxi dancer. Try as he might, he cannot distract the lovely dancer from her fixation upon a dashing aviator. The pilot seems to return her affection. The shipping clerk finally gets his chance after the aviator crashes while attempting a cross-country flight. The dancer is devastated and the clerk moves in to care for her. He keeps secret his knowledge that the pilot is alive and living with another lady. When the truth is finally revealed, the dancer flies into a rage. She immediately tries to see the pilot, who cruelly rejects her. Chastened, the dancer goes back to the clerk. Together they waltz off to lead a happy life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olive Borden, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1929
This early talkie antique is a backstage musical from Warner Bros. The plot involves the out-of-town tryout of a new musical comedy, and the people who perform therein: a bitchy leading lady (Betty Compson), an arrogant comedy lead (Joe E. Brown), and a starstruck chorus kid (Sally O'Neil). At the very last moment, the leading lady refuses to go on, forcing the producer to put the chorus girl in her place. It turns out that the star's seemingly rotten behavior was deliberately designed to give the chorine her big break. In between several Technicolor musical numbers (now only existing in black-and-white), we hear a lot of pedantic talk about "the show business." On with the Show's sole virtue is the exquisite Ethel Waters, who introduces her hit song "Am I Blue?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Compson, Louise Fazenda, (more)
- 1929
The aforementioned appendages appear aplenty in this musical comedy that centers on a husband and wife seeking to recapture their youth by wooing younger partners. More mayhem ensues when their eldest daughter falls in love with the con artist who is involved with her father's new girl friend. The younger daughter is in love and wants to marry, but before she does, she wants to help her family get back together. Amidst the merriment and music, many bathing-suit clad beauties appear. Songs include: "You're Responsible," "How Lovely Everything Could Be," "With You, With Me" (Oscar Levant, Sidney Clare). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Pennington, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1930
A pre-Dagwood Arthur Lake plays a hapless hayseed who becomes a popular crooner in this fluffy musical comedy that begins during the robbery of a big-city radio station. There the gunman forces him to sing on the air. The audience loves him and he is an instant star. Delighted with his sudden success, the bumpkin sends for his beloved pumpkin back home so they can marry. The young singer's boss, afraid that married life will steal away his new-found gravy train, tries his darnedest to break the young lovers up and even convinces a seductress to ruin the youth. Look closely for John Wayne in a bit part. Songs include: "The Shindig," "Where Can You Be?" and "You May Not Like It But It's A Great Idea." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dixie Lee, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1930
Two former Fox contractees star in RKO Radio's She's My Weakness, a flat adaptation of Howard Lindsay and Bertrand Robinson's play Tommy. Hero Tommy Mills (Arthur Lake) would like to marry his sweetie Marie Thurber (Sue Carol), but first he's got to get on his feet financially. Attempting to sell a valuable piece of land at a profit, Tommy is constantly thwarted by his crooked uncle, who has no qualms about profiting from Tommy's loss. The ad campaign for this film was peppered with misleading blurbs like "Youth Whoops It Up in the Rumble Seat": in truth, the film is a stiff, with no one whooping about anything. It was films like She's My Weakness which convinced Sue Carol to give up acting and go into the talent-agent business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Lake, William Collier, Sr., (more)
Divesting herself of her own production company, silent-screen queen Gloria Swanson entered into a two-picture deal with producer Joseph M. Schenck, which paid her a straight (and very hefty) salary for both productions. The first film completed under this arrangement was the trivial romantic comedy- musical Indiscreet, scripted and scored by songwriters Buddy G. DeSylva, Ray Henderson, and Lew Brown and directed by the matchless Leo McCarey. Swanson plays Geraldine "Gerry" Trent, a worldly socialite who endeavors to protect her sister Joan (Barbara Kent) from the lecherous machinations of Jim Woodward (Monroe Owsley). But when Joan discovers that Jerry and Woodward were once lovers themselves, she mistakenly believes that Jerry's attempts to break up her romance is motivated by jealousy. In fact, Jerry is completely committed to Joan's brother Tony Blake (Ben Lyon). One of the more successful of Gloria Swanson's talkies, Indiscreet posted a much-needed profit for financially strapped United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, (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)
- 1934
Beyond the fact that both films shared a "railroad" background, RKO Radio's 1935 actioner The Silver Streak bore no relation to the 1976 Gene Wilder vehicle of the same name. The earlier film stars Charles Starrett as Tom Caldwell, the dynamic young designer of a streamlined, high-speed passenger train. During a polio epidemic, our hero endeavors to prove the efficiency of his train by making a breakneck 2,000-mile trip to deliver iron lungs to the Boulder Dam region. The well-chosen supporting cast includes William Farnum as old-time railroad man B.J. Dexter, who in the film's most moving scene ruminates over the brief but colorful history of his chosen profession. The real-life Burlington Zephyr "plays" the titular train in The Silver Streak, which earned a much-needed profit of 107,000 dollars for RKO. (One a side note, some of the music heard during the final two reels was lifted from Max Steiner's score for King Kong.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Blane, Charles Starrett, (more)
- 1935
A homely woman gets the best kind of revenge upon her philandering husband in this drama. Tired of his constant cheating, the woman puts on make up, takes their daughter, and starts a new, more modern life. She becomes an acclaimed dress designer while her daughter falls in love with a stodgy young doctor. The daughter then gets involved with less reputable types and mayhem ensues until she goes back and settles down with the physician. The wife eventually tires of her own life and decides to go back to her chastened husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Minna Gombell, Gavin Gordon, (more)
- 1935
Long before its "Teen Agers" series of the 1940s, Monogram Pictures went to college in the minor musical Girl of My Dreams. Heading the somewhat over-aged student body are BMOC Larry Haynes (Edward Nugent) and track-star Don Cooper (a handsome young Lon Chaney Jr., here still billed as Creighton Chaney). The story's focal point is a student election, which obliges Larry and Don to neglect their campus sweeties Gwen (Mary Carlisle) and Mary (GiGi Parrish). Comedy relief comes from Sterling Holloway and Arthur Lake, cast respectively as the school newspaper editor and a fresh frosh. One suspects that the people who made such pictures as Girl of My Dreams never set foot in a real college. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Carlisle, Sterling Holloway, (more)
- 1935
The title may be Orchids to You, but the plot is motivated by a camellia -- to be exact, Camelia Rand (Jean Muir). About to be ejected from her thriving flower shop when a developer plans to tear down the building, Camelia confronts Thomas Bentley (John Boles), the lawyer representing the developer. Despite her anger, Camelia can't help but take a liking to Bentley, though she refuses to entertain any romantic notions because the lawyer is already married to Evelyn (Ruthelma Stevens). Later on, a stranger enters Camelia's shop and orders a dozen orchids for Mrs. Bentley. Not wishing to hurt Mr. Bentley, Camelia refuses to mention Mrs. B's name in court when ordered to do so, and as a result spends 10 days in jail on a contempt charge. All-around comedy relief Teddy Stuyvesant (Charles Butterworth) shows up in time to solve everything, and the film ends with the philandering Mrs. Bentley out in the cold and Camelia in Mr. Bentley's arms. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Boles, Jean Muir, (more)
- 1936
It's a Great Life served as a vehicle for once-popular radio singer Joe Morrison (who can also be seen in W.C. Fields' It's the Old Fashioned Way). Morrison plays a young unemployed fellow who joins the Civilian Conservation Corps. Enjoying the twin euphoria of steady work and fresh air, Morrison and his new pal, hobo Paul Kelly, burst into song at the slightest provocation. A rift comes between Morrison and Kelly when Morrison's girl Rosalind Keith falls in love with the tramp, but all differences are swept away during a climactic bursting-dam sequence. It's a Great Life was co-written by future "Dagwood Bumstead" Arthur Lake, who in 1943 would star in a Blondie entry titled...It's a Great Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Morrison, Paul Kelly, (more)
- 1937
Douglas MacLean, who starred in the original 1919 version of this World War I comedy, produced this remake starring James Ellison as Sgt. Gray. One day at training camp, Gray bets his buddies that he'll be having breakfast with the General (Paul Harvey) the next morning. Through a series of comic episodes, Gray accomplishes his goal, surprising his fellow soldiers. Arthur Lake (Dagwood in the Blondie series) co-stars in this average comedy, which is bolstered by some okay songs from Sammy Stept and Ted Koehler. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Ellison, Terry Walker, (more)
- 1937
Carole Lombard stars as Helen Bartlett, a compulsive liar who always tips the audience to an oncoming whopper by sticking her tongue in her cheek. Helen is married to a Kenneth Bartlett, a scrupulously honest lawyer whose integrity has always held him back professionally. Hoping to help Kenneth get ahead, Helen confesses to a murder she obviously didn't commit, confident that he'll get her off and make his reputation. But things don't go exactly as planned, thanks largely to a mysterious eccentric named Charley (John Barrymore), who assures the heroine over and over that she'll "fry." Once considered a prime example of screwball comedy, True Confession is now regarded by film buffs as one of Carole Lombard's worst pictures: it wasn't much better when remade by Betty Hutton in 1946 as Cross My Heart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1937
Annapolis Salute is the 1937 remake of RKO's 1933 film Midshipman Jack. Lensed on location at the Annapolis Naval Academy, the film alternates scenes of cadet training with a sentimental romantic story. Essentially, midshipman James Ellison wants to romance officer's daughter Marsha Hunt. He is discouraged from doing so by his father Harry Carey and his rival Van Heflin. A pre-Blondie Arthur Lake is on hand for klutzy comedy relief. Obvious though the material may be, Annapolis Salute posted a healthy profit for RKO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Ellison, Marsha Hunt, (more)
Exiled to Shanghai uses the then-waging wars in Spain and China as backdrops for a familiar "rival reporters" yarn. Wallace Ford plays Ted Young, a brash newsreel cameraman who is fired by his dyspeptic editor Fred Sears (Dean Jagger) for photographing the wrong general during the Spanish Civil War. Down but not out, Ted embraces a new form of technology, establishing the first television newsreel service (and this was two years before commercial TV made its "official" American debut at the New York World's Fair). As a result, Ted is rehired and promoted to editor, while poor Fred ends up being transferred to China (hence the film's title). While all this is going on, Ted and Fred still find time to battle over heroine Nancy Jones (June Travis). A pretty good film on its own merits, Exiled to Shanghai has gained curiosity value by virtue of its use of TV journalism as a dramatic device. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, June Travis, (more)
- 1937
- NR
By 1937, producer Hal Roach was hoping to wean himself away from the Laurel & Hardy-Our Gang slapstick on which he had built his studio's reputation by delving into the "screwball comedy" genre. Roach selected the racy Thorne Smith fantasy novel Topper for adaptation, and the result was one of the most endearingly funny films of the decade. Constance Bennett and Cary Grant play Marion and George Kerby, a wealthy, freewheeling young married couple whose uninhibited lifestyle is the talk of the town. After a particularly bibulous evening on the town, the Kerbys race homeward in their gleaming new roadster. George fails to negotiate a curve, and the car plows into a tree, killing both its occupants. Seconds later, the ghosts of George and Marion emerge from the wreckage, behaving as frivolously as if nothing had happened. Upon realizing that they're dead, the Kerbys also realize that they haven't been immediately snatched up into Heaven. Determining that they're required to perform one good deed before being allowed past the Pearly Gates, George and Marion set about to "liberate" stuffy, sedate, henpecked banker Cosmo Topper (Roland Young). At first resistant to the charms of his invisible benefactors, Topper begins to loosen up and truly enjoy life for the first time. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with Topper's supercilious wife (Billie Burke) nor his long-suffering butler (Alan Mobray), especially during a climactic free-for-all at a vacation resort. Though special effects abound in Topper, most of the humor derives from the embarrassed reactions of Roland Young as he tries to fend off the flirtatious advances of the ghostly Marion and the benignly strongman tactics of the spectral George. Adding to the fun are Eugene Pallette as a flustered house detective and Arthur Lake as a pratfalling bellboy. The musical score by longtime Hal Roach composer Marvin Hatley is perfectly attuned to the zany goings-on (including snatches of background music from Roach's earlier Laurel and Hardy comedies), while Hoagy Carmichael appears briefly on screen to introduce the film's signature tune, "Old Man Moon." Topper proved successful enough to warrant two sequels, as well as a popular TV series of the early 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, (more)
