Jed Prouty Movies

A Star is Born came into being when producer David O. Selznick decided to tell a "true behind-the-scenes" story of Hollywood. The truth, of course, was filtered a bit for box-office purposes, although Selznick and an army of screenwriters based much of their script on actual people and events. Janet Gaynor stars as Esther Blodgett, the small-town girl who dreams of Hollywood stardom, a role later played by both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in the 1954 and 1976 remakes. Jeered at by most of her family, Esther finds an ally in her crusty old grandma (May Robson), who admires the girl's "pioneer spirit" and bankrolls Esther's trip to Tinseltown. On arrival, Esther heads straight to Central Casting, where a world-weary receptionist (Peggy Wood), trying to let the girl down gently, tells her that her chances for stardom are about one in a thousand. "Maybe I'll be that one!" replies Esther defiantly. Months pass: through the intervention of her best friend, assistant director Danny McGuire (Andy Devine), Esther gets a waitressing job at an upscale Hollywood party. Her efforts to "audition" for the guests are met with quizzical stares, but she manages to impress Norman Maine (Fredric March), the alcoholic matinee idol later played by James Mason and Kris Kristofferson. Esther gets her first big break in Norman's next picture and a marriage proposal from the smitten Mr. Maine. It's a hit, but as Esther (now named Vicki)'s star ascends, Norman's popularity plummets due to a string of lousy pictures and an ongoing alcohol problem. The film won Academy Awards for director William Wellman and Robert Carson in the "original story" category and for W. Howard Greene's glistening Technicolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this rollicking adaptation of Ring Lardner's short story, Joe E. Brown plays an ace baseball player whose insistence upon making up excuses earns him the nickname "Alibi Ike." In the course of his first season with the Chicago Cubs, Brown also falls in love with Olivia De Havilland, sister-in-law of the team's manager. Brown's "alibi" habit prompts De Havilland to walk out on him, whereupon he goes into a slump-- which coincides with attempts by gamblers to get Brown to throw the World Series. The plot weaves its way towards a climax in which Brown escapes the gamblers by commandeering an ambulance and driving onto the ball field during the final Series game. Alibi Ike was the most successful of Joe E. Brown's "baseball trilogy" (which included Elmer the Great and Fireman Save My Child), and one the best baseball comedies of all time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Universal's "Baby Sandy" series officially ended with Sandy Gets Her Man, but the infant star still had one picture left on her contract, so that's why Bachelor Daddy was born. Edward Everett Horton, Donald Woods, and Raymond Walburn carry the burden of the plot as the Smith Brothers, Joseph, Edward and George. Confirmed bachelors, the Smiths are forced to play nursemaid when a baby is accidentally abandoned at their doorstep. The laughs arise from the brothers' bumbling efforts at parenthood, culminating in a slapsticky finale wherein the runaway Baby Sandy takes charge of a hand-operated elevator. Ironically, one of the minor players in Bachelor Daddy is teenager Juanita Quigley, who once enjoyed brief stardom at Universal as "Baby Jane". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Little Mary Lee, Republic's 1940 answer to Shirley Temple, stars in the bucolic musical comedy Barnyard Follies. Essentially a feature-length endorsement of the 4-H clubs of America, the story concerns a group of wrong-headed provincials, headed by vain Mrs. Uppington (Isabel Randolph) of Fibber McGee and Molly radio fame, who try to block the establishment of a 4-H project in their rural community. In order to raise the $5000 necessary to keep the project alive, cutesy radio personality Bubbles Martin (Lee) stages a benefit. Among the featured acts is Rufe Davis, who offers his repetoire of funny animal sounds. Also on hand are such country-western favorites as Harry "Pappy" Cheshire, the Kidoodlers, and the Cackle Sisters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Black Sheep is professional gambler John Dugan (Edmund Lowe), who gets his kicks out of fleecing wealthy suckers during a Transatlantic ocean voyage. But when Dugan sees innocent young Fred Curtis (Tom Brown) being made the fall guy for a jewel robbery, he decides to help the poor boy out. What Fred doesn't know is that Dugan is his own father, desperate to make amends for his past indiscretions. Never revealing his true identity, Dugan rescues Fred from the clutches of beautiful predator Millicent Bath (Adrienne Ames). The musical score is by Oscar Levant, whose legendary dislike for thick-eared Hollywood executives never prohibited him from picking up his paycheck. Black Sheep represented director Allan Dwan's first effort for the newly former 20th Century-Fox Corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This musical satire parodies Southern living as it follows the exploits of a traveling medicine show that ends up on a bankrupt plantation. It is just as well as Doc Gurgle and his daughter have just lost their show. The plantation is run by a Kentucky colonel. Young Miss Gurgle and her pa decide to help save the plantation by putting on an amateur show in the stately mansion. She is assisted by the enthusiastic plantation workers. Songs include: "Uncle Tom's Cabin Is a Cabaret Now." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Although this isn't one of her top pictures, Gloria Swanson was near the peak of her career when she made it. She's excellent in a dual role, and is directed by one of her favorite collaborators, Allan Dwan. Nadine Gathway, a turn-of-the-century belle (Swanson), dumps her priggish husband and runs away to Europe. Her daughter, Joyce (also Swanson), is left behind and grows up into a lively young girl. When Gathway dies, he leaves her his fortune -- providing she never gets herself into a scandal. She finds trouble in Palm Beach when she falls in love with the married Larry Fay (Anthony Jowitt). Fay sincerely loves her and asks his wife Constance (Dorothy Cumming) for a divorce. Constance refuses and arranges to sue Joyce for alienation of affections. Nadine -- who has left her own scandalous past behind and become the Countess de Tauro -- hears of her daughter's troubles and returns to America. She puts Constance in a compromising position to keep her from instigating the lawsuit, and then takes all the blame on herself. Fay and Joyce wind up together, while Nadine's husband, the Count (Alec Francis), understands his wife's motivations and proves his love for her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This picture was a mediocre adaptation of the Booth Tarkington novel (which was filmed previously in 1916). Joe Louden (Thomas Meighan) is an outcast in the small town of Canaan, and is especially disliked by Judge Pike (Louis Hendricks). There is one inhabitant, however, who is fond of Joe -- the pretty but poor Ariel Tabor (Doris Kenyon). But she inherits some money and goes to Paris with her father (Malcolm Bradley). While she is gone, Joe's brother (Cyril Ring) is involved in a scandal, and Joe takes the blame. He then leaves for Chicago to study law, but when he returns, he keeps to himself and his clientele consists of the raunchy characters living in Beaver Beach. But Joe finally lands a controversial case which makes his reputation while ruining Judge Pike's. Ariel, her father having died, returns to Canaan to be reunited with a successful, self-confident Joe. Thomas Meighan was a bit old and urbane to play a small town youth -- in fact, just a few months earlier, he had played a man going through an early mid-life crisis in Conrad In Quest of His Youth. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Hoping to ape the success of Sol Lesser's Bobby Breen musicals, Republic Pictures fashioned Dangerous Holiday as a movie vehicle for pint-sized violin prodigy Ra Hould. The star is appropriately cast as preteen violin virtuoso Ronnie Campbell who is so coddled and protected by his family and handlers that he never has a chance to be a "real boy." When he can stand no more, Ronnie runs away from home, whereupon everyone -- including the cops -- assume that the boy has been kidnapped. Meanwhile, Ronnie, together with his new street-urchin friends, stumbles upon a gangster hideaway. In time-honored "Our Gang" fashion, the kids outwit the crooks, whereupon Ronnie's mom and dad promise to give him more freedom of movement in the future. Billed second after Ra Hould is matronly actress Hedda Hopper, who within a year would become one of Hollywood's most powerful (and feared) gossip columnists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Famed concert pianist Johann Aradi (Lewis Stone) has earned a "Don Juan" reputation because of his love-'em-and-leave-'em attitude with the ladies. While performing in Rome, he meets a likely conquest in the form of the beautiful Nanette (Shirley Mason), who idolizes the pianist. But when he discovers that the girl is only 16, he sets about to disillusion her by throwing a drunken party and inviting all of his former lovers. He then arranges for Nanette's sweetheart Roberto (Malcolm McGregor) to "rescue" the girl from this den of iniquity. His good deed done, Johann goes back to his old lothario ways -- until, at long last, he falls in love for real. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second entry in the "Jones Family" series finds Pa Jones (Jed Prouty) once again at loggerheads with his oldest son Jack (Kenneth Howell). Sonny boy wants to become a pilot, but dad wants the boy to follow in his own footsteps as a druggist. But when Jones Senior is flown back by Jones Junior from a fishing trip just in time to renew the lease on his drugstore, Pa sees things in a different light. "Guest star" Dixie Dunbar plays Jack's girlfriend, who finds herself along for the ride when the boy solos for the first time (a slapstick highlight). Sharp-eyed filmgoers noticed that the planes seen in the aerial footage weren't always well matched (one was white, the other black), but no one really cared. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The cinematic saga of The Jones Family began modestly in 1936 with Every Saturday Night. Jed Prouty and Spring Byington star as Ma and Pa Jones, with June Lang, Kenneth Howell, George Ernest, June Carlson and William Mahan as the five Jones kids and Florence Roberts as feisty Granny Jones. In this entry, the scattershot storyline concerns Bonnie Jones' (June Lang) efforts to become a movie star, Jack Jones' (Kenneth Howell) attempts to buy a car, and Bobby Jones (William Mahan) sets up his own junior "loan office." When the film was first previewed, the family's name was Evers, but this was changed at the very last minute. Based on a story by Katherine Kavanaugh, Every Saturday Night was successful enough to spawn 16 additional "Jones Family" epics between 1936 and 1940, few of which have ever been shown on television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide