ZaSu Pitts Movies
According to her own account, actress ZaSu Pitts was given her curious cognomen because she was named for two aunts, Eliza and Susan. Born in Kansas, Pitts moved with her family to California, where at age 19 she began her film career. Her first starring role was as an ugly duckling who finds true love in 1919's Better Times. Her calculated vagueness and fluttery hand gestures earned Pitts comedy roles from the outset, but director Erich Von Stroheim saw dramatic potential in the young actress. He cast her as the grasping, money-mad wife in his masterpiece Greed (1924), and she rose to the occasion with a searing performance. Except for a couple of later collaborations with Von Stroheim, Pitts returned to predominately comic assignments after Greed. One exception was her portrayal of Lew Ayres' ailing mother in the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), a brilliant piece of work that unfortunately fell victim to the editors' scissors when a preview audience, conditioned to Pitts' comedy roles, broke out in loud laughter when she came onscreen (she was replaced by Beryl Mercer in the domestic version of All Quiet, though reportedly her scenes were retained for some European versions). Established as a top character comedian by the '30s (her oft-imitated catchphrase was "Oh, dear, oh my!"), Pitts co-starred with Thelma Todd in a series of Hal Roach two-reelers, was top-billed in such feature programmers as Out All Night (1933) and The Plot Thickens (1935), and showed up in select character roles in A-pictures. During the '40s and '50s, she toured in Ramshackle Inn, a play written especially for her by George Batson. From 1956 through 1960, Pitts played Elvira "Nugey" Nugent on the popular Gale Storm TV sitcom Oh, Susanna. ZaSu Pitts died in 1963, shortly after completing her final film appearance in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and just a few days after her last TV guest assignment on Burke's Law. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1934
Carole Lombard's only MGM film, The Gay Bride has been cited by some as a precursor to 1988's Married to the Mob -- only without the laughs. Adapted by the usually reliable Samuel and Bella Spewack from Charles Francis Coe's magazine story Repeal, the film charts the misadventures of gold-digging chorine Mary (Lombard), who marries powerful bootlegger Shoots Magis (Nat Pendleton) so that she can live in the lap of luxury -- only to suffer a major disappointment when Prohibition is repealed. After a few amusing episodes with the deadly but basically likeable Magis, he's unexpectedly bumped off by gangster Dingle (Sam Hardy). Mary takes this in stride and moves in on Dingle, whereupon he's killed by mob boss Mickey (Leo Carrillo) -- so guess whom Mary snuggles up to next. Handsome "Office Boy" (Chester Morris), Magis' former chauffeur/bodyguard, continues carrying a torch for Mary throughout the picture, undoubtedly hoping that all of his rivals will eventually kill each other off. Wavering uncertainly between screwball comedy and gangster melodrama, The Gay Bride was met with indifference by the public -- and by its studio, which virtually threw the picture away. In later years, Carole Lombard tagged the film as her worst; it's not that by any means, but it's a far distance from her best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Chester Morris, (more)
- 1934
As the title song says, you go to those shows to see those beautiful dames--and there's dames aplenty in this 1934 Busby Berkeley extravaganza. The wisp of a plot is motivated by one Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert), a silly millionaire who spearheads a national anti-fun movement. Ounce's distant cousin Dick Powell is a producer of musical comedies. Ounce's partner is Guy Kibbee, whose daughter is Ruby Keeler. Kibbee is also the "sugar daddy" of Joan Blondell, Powell's friend and co-worker. Fill in the rest of the blanks yourself. If the plot doesn't interest you (and there's no reason why it should), sit back and enjoy the humongous production numbers based on the Warren/Dubin songs "I Only Have Eyes for You", "The Girl on the Ironing Board", and of course the title number. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, (more)
- 1934
In this drama, an impoverished orphan girl finds herself acting as a slave to a cruel old farmer. She is soon joined by a reform-school runaway whom the farmer also captures and enslaves. The two youngsters soon fall in love. In the end they are saved by the orphan's long lost father who facilitates their marriage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Parker, Tom Brown, (more)
- 1934
Annie Snodgrass (ZaSu Pitts) has a voice that could shatter glass, but try telling that to moonstruck gangster boss Fenny (Nat Pendleton). So entranced is Fenny by Annie's rendition of a sentimental "Mother" song that he tries to force the public to accept her as a big star. He even pulls a gun on a prominent music critic to ensure an excellent review! Despite her eardrum-shattering warblings, Annie actually becomes a star on her own merits, while Fenny finally lands a long-term engagement of his own as a guest of the State. Contributing to the overall zaniness of Sing and Like It are Pert Kelton as Fenny's put-upon gun moll and Edward Everett Horton as an intimidated Broadway producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, Pert Kelton, (more)
- 1934
Never mind the "limited" title: There are plenty of honeymooners on the ocean liner which serves as the setting for this romantic comedy. One of the few unattached passengers is heiress Joan Foster (Sally Eilers), who is watched over like a hawk by her stepmother "Ma" Gillespie (Henrietta Crossman). Hoping to escape from stepmom's baleful glare, Joan finds herself in the arms of the ship's second officer Dick Charlton (Charles Starrett). Little does she know that Charlton has been hired by her father to keep other men away from her. After the usual misunderstandings, romance finally blossoms between hero and heroine, while a comic counterpoint to the main plot is provided by second leads Alice Mudge (ZaSu Pitts) and Ezra MacDuff (Russell Simpson). Among the honeymooning couples on this Love Boat are Irene Hervey and Johnny Mack Brown, both of whom were betwixt and between more important film assignments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Eilers, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1934
Birdlike ZaSu Pitts and gangly Slim Summerville are together again in the Universal programmer Love Birds. The stars are cast respectively as schoolmarm Araminta Tootle and chicken farmer Henry Whipple, both of whom are sold the same abandoned ranch by the same fast-talking con artist. Neither Araminta nor Henry are entranced by the idea of sharing the property, but they try to make the best of things for the sake of precocious orphan boy Gladwyn (Mickey Rooney), whom the teacher hopes to adopt. The plot goes off on a new tangent when Henry loses a gold tooth filling, which when found on his property is mistaken for a gold nugget by a grizzled old prospector, leading to a slapstick finale in which the tiny ranch is invaded by all manner of suspicious-looking characters -- including the sharpster who sold the hero and heroine the property in the first place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Slim" Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1934
Usually consigned to the supporting cast, eccentric comic actress ZaSu Pitts was occasionally rewarded with a leading role. In Paramount's Private Scandal, Pitts is top-billed as Miss Coates, the fey secretary of hotshot young executive Cliff Barry (Philips Holmes). Accused of murdering his boss B. J. Somers (Lew Cody), Barry suspects that Somers' death was a suicide -- but he dare not voice this opinion without ruining the lives of several others. With the help of obnoxious detective Riordan (Ned Sparks), faithful Miss Coates helps to clear Barry, much to the delight of his long-suffering girlfriend Fran (Mary Brian), the dead man's daughter. Private Scandal was co-written by Vera Caspary, of Laura fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, Phillips Holmes, (more)
- 1934
Dry-goods store owner Tillie Prescott (ZaSu Pitts) has promised to marry meek barber Chris Peterson (El Brendel), but he won't marry her until his business has grown successful enough to allow him to get a second chair in his barber shop -- and it's been 10 years, and he's not any closer to getting that second chair. Then, one day, an acting troupe gets stranded in town, and out-of-work showgirl Lulu White (Pert Kelton) sets herself up in Chris's barber shop doing manicures. Lulu knows a lot of the angles, including how to get men to do what she wants most of the time, and suddenly every male in town is eager to get his nails manicured (and hang around for a shave and haircut) just to get near Lulu. Chris's second chair seems like a real possibility, but Tillie gets jealous of Lulu, and is tricked by a smooth-talking salesman (Skeets Gallagher) into signing with a big retail chain that forces her out of the store she founded. Meanwhile, local wise-guy Duke Slater (James Gleason) gets led on by Lulu and decides he's going to set right what's happened to Tillie, and teach Lulu a lesson in the bargain. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, James Gleason, (more)
- 1934
In this comedy, two sisters work as assistants to a magician. The trouble begins when the day before a big show, the magician's psychic quits. In desperation he enlists the aide of one of the assistants. The three end up hired by a woman who is trying to help her wealthy, widowed sister see that her doctor is a charlatan by holding a bogus seance in the widow's creepy mansion. During the ritual, the widow tries to contact her late husband. When the ghost really does appear, the "medium" is shocked; she is more shocked when the spirit tells her he was murdered. The three performers become sleuths, solve the murder, and prove that the physician is a money-grubbing fake. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, George "Slim" Summerville, (more)
- 1933
Mr. Skitch was filmed under such working titles as See America First and Green Dice, which was also the name of the Anne Cameron short story on which it was based. Will Rogers plays Mr. Skitch, who after losing all his money in the stock market, packs his wife (ZaSu Pitts) and daughter Emily (Rochelle Hudson) into the family car and heads off to California, hoping to start life anew. En route to the Golden State, the Skitch family visits a number of familiar landmarks, all courtesy of a background process screen. At Grand Canyon, they meet handsome West Point cadet Harvey Denby (Charles Starrett), who of course is immediately smitten by Emily. Once in Hollywood, Mr. Skitch recoups his fortune when he becomes the manager of "celebrity impressionist" Flo (Florence Desmond, whose imitation of co-star ZaSu Pitts is a riot!) Mr. Skitch was the first of two successful collaborations between star Will Rogers and director James Cruze; the second was David Harum (1934). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1933
In this comedy a maid and a butler work for a very rich man. The trouble begins when their employer dies and leaves his estate to them. Once he is gone, they are free to finally marry. Unfortunately, they do not enjoy being wealthy, and they must lose everything and break up before they get back together and have a happy life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Slim" Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1933
In their final two-reel comedy, the team of blonde and vivacious Thelma Todd and dowdy and fluttery ZaSu Pitts go Hollywood when Todd is offered a chance to star for director Von Sternheim at the Roaring Lion Studios. (Although produced by Hal Roach, the Todd-Pitts comedies were distributed by MGM). On their way West, the girls wreck an entire train car and Thelma misses her one opportunity for stardom. Little Spanky McFarland took time off from the Our Gang set next door to appear with Todd and Pitts in their final comedy. Veteran comedienne ZaSu Pitts left Roach for feature work, but, happily, the studio found the perfect replacement in caustic Patsy Kelly, who had been discovered in the hit Broadway musical Flying Colors. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Love turns into an unhealthy obsession in this offbeat drama. Millie (Zasu Pitts) and Peggy (Boots Mallory) are two friends who leave behind the small town where they were raised to try their luck in New York City. Before long, Millie and Peggy meet Jimmy (James Dunn) and Mac (Terrance Ray); Millie is immediately attracted to Jimmy, but much to her displeasure she learns he's more interested in Peggy. Determined to have Jimmy as her own, Millie attempts to sew discord between Jimmy and Peggy by telling each of them foul lies about the other; when this fails, Millie becomes desperate and attempts to kill herself as an attention-getting device. The production history of Hello, Sister! was in many ways more interesting than the film itself. Originally titled Walking Down Broadway, the film was the first sound picture from the legendary Erich von Stroheim; hoping to mend the reputation as an egocentric spendthrift he acquired while directing epic-scale silent films, von Stroheim managed to bring in Walking Down Broadway on time and on budget. However, executives at 20th Century Fox were a bit puzzled by the film, which originally had a sub-plot suggesting a lesbian relationship between Millie and Peggy and other sexual undercurrents which were quite daring for the time. Uncertain about audience reactions to the movie, Fox brought in the less-than-distinguished Alfred Werker to re-shoot and re-edit von Stroheim's urban melodrama, and the resulting picture, entitled Hello, Sister!, was released without an on-screen directorial credit, and died a quick and little noticed death at the box office. No print of von Stroheim's original cut is known to exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Boots Mallory, (more)
- 1933
In this comedy, a young couple are forced to marry after they are accidentally locked in a store overnight. Unfortunately for the young groom, his overbearing mother is unhappy with the match and keeps trying to get them divorced. She even follows them on their honeymoon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Slim" Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1933
Slim Summerville and Zasu Pitts star as Mark and Connie, a pair deceptively innocent-looking con artists. Connie has made a career out of orchestrating huge lawsuits, splitting the settlements with her equally shifty lawyer Mark. Their current scheme involves the framing of pompous J. B. Ogden (George Barbier), a self-styled arbiter of public morals. Love, Honor and Oh Baby is the only Summerville-Pitts vehicle in which the stars are cast as less than savory characters. Interestingly, the audience's sympathies are equally divided between the scammers and their victim; most everyone in the story is fairly likeable. The 1940 Universal comedy Love, Honor and Oh Baby is not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Slim" Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1933
The two-reel comedy team of Thelma Todd and ZaSu Pitts play store clerks, who instead of delivering a couple of dresses to a customer wear them to a swanky society party. Todd, blonde and vivacious, and Pitts, dowdy and nervous, came close to emulating the success of Laurel and Hardy, though it helped immeasurably, it should be said, to have director Gus Meins and such supporting players as Billy Gilbert, Harry Bernard, Charlie Hall, and the pompous Kay Deslys. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 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
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
One wonders if William Wyler ever gave Her First Mate a second thought when he was busy directing such subsequent films as The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver,The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur. This early Wyler efforts stars Slim Summerville and ZaSu Pitts as John and Mary Horner; he's a peanut vendor on the Albany night boat, while she's trying to scrimp together enough money to buy John his own ferryboat. Along the way, the Horners get mixed up with comic bootlegger Socrates (Henry Armetta) and a pair of doltish lovebirds named Hattie (Una Merkel) and Percy (Warren Hymer). The story comes to a climax with a slapstick ferry wreck, easily the best scene in the picture. Her First Mate was based on Salt Water, a play by Dan Jarrett, Frank Craven and John Golden; among the screenwriters was H. M. "Beanie" Walker, an alumnus of the Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang two-reelers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Slim" Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1933
Having survived her encounter with the zany team of Thelma Todd and ZaSu Pitts in Show Business (1932), the elegant but snooty Anita Garvin returned for more punishment in this two-reel comedy directed by Gus Meins. Miss Garvin attempts to help the girls out of an economic embarrassment by hiring them to work at Billy Gilbert's taxi-dance emporium. The rest, as they say, is history. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1933
In this comedy, a man masquerading as the notorious Baron Munchausen and his partner arrive from the African jungles and create quite a stir in New York. Eventually he ends up a women's college involved in a number of interesting musical production numbers. Look for an early appearance by the "The Three Stooges." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Pearl, Jimmy Durante, (more)
- 1933
Directed by Hal Roach Studio comic Charlie Chase, this two-reeler is by many considered the best of the 16 Thelma Todd-ZaSu Pitts comedies. Having caused police officer James Burtis to lose his job, the girls invite him to stay in their apartment. They hope to reinstate their friends in the police force by buttering up a police captain (Billy Gilbert), who unbeknownst to them is in reality the notorious smuggler Herr Schmaltz. The farce hits bull's-eye in a scene where the girls and Burtis attempt to force feed Schmaltz with ice cream. In his best German accent, dialectician Gilbert politely refuses with a heartfelt "Zank you, but I don't vant anymore ice crrream." Moments later, the poor man is pleading for his life. "Vith tears in my eyes, I beg you...NO MORE ICE CREAM!" ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1932
Running a swift 55 minutes, Trial of Vivienne Ware packs in more sheer entertainment value than its longer, more prestigious "role model," The Trial of Mary Dugan. Joan Bennett plays the title character, a beleaguered young woman accused of murdering her nasty fiancee (Jameson Thomas). She is defended in court by hotshot lawyer John Sutherland (Donald Cook), who happens to be in love with her. Subtlety is checked at the door in the ensuing trial, which comes to a climax when the actual murderer tosses a knife at a female witness, just as she is about to make a startling revelation. ZaSu Pitts is hilarious as Miss Fairweather, a lachrymose radio personality who during her daily courtroom broadcasts seems less concerned with the progress of the trial than with Vivienne's wardrobe. Trial of Vivienne Ware was based on a novel by Kenneth M. Ellis, which had been previously adapted as a popular radio serial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Donald Cook, (more)
- 1932
Also known as The Hidden Corpse, Strangers of the Evening is an effective blend of horror and humor. There's dirty work at the city morgue, where the body of Frank Daniels (Lucien Littlefield) suddenly disappears. Later on, at Daniels' funeral, the wrong man is buried. It's all the handiwork of crooked undertaker Chandler (Warner Richmond), who is part of a complex political cover-up. Things get really hairy when Daniels shows up very much alive, much to the astonishment of his daughter Ruth (Miriam Seeger). Top-billed ZaSu Pitts plays the Daniels family maid, who has a vested interest in the macabre goings-on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, Eugene Pallette, (more)
