Jed Prouty Movies
American actor Jed Prouty got his first taste of show business as a teenaged performer at Austin Stone's Museum (a sort of flea circus-variety show concern) in his native Boston. Working for years as a vaudeville song and dance man, Prouty made it to Broadway in 1921, appearing occasionally in silent films. The actor was prominently cast as a stuttering actor's agent Uncle Jed in his first talking picture, the Oscar-winning Broadway Melody (1929), though he found it expedient to drop the stammer for his subsequent films. Most often in bits and character roles in A-pictures -- as, for example, the unctuous columnist in A Star is Born (1937) -- Prouty was firmly in the lead in the Jones Family series of B-comedies filmed by 20th Century-Fox. Prouty played the Jones paterfamilias, with Spring Byington as his wife, in nearly all seventeen pictures in the Jones series. Jed Prouty is also familiar to Alice Faye fans for his antic appearance in Ms. Faye's Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), wherein he was made up to resemble silent comedian Ford Sterling for the film's slapstick chase sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Exile Express was the last film produced by Grand National Pictures, and a worthy farewell it was. Anna Sten, former Sam Goldwyn protegee and the wife of Exile Express producer Eugene Frenke, stars as Nadine Nikolas, a young European girl whose chances of becoming an American citizen are scotched when she is implicated in a murder. About to be deported, Nadine is rescued by reporter Steve Reynolds (Alan Marshall), who suspects that the killing was engineered by a gang of international spies. One delightful scene permits the haughty Ms. Sten to "let herself go" by dancing an energetic jitterbug. Directed by Universal contractee Otis Garrett, Exile Express is a satisfying blend of comedy, romance, and edge-of-the-seat suspense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Sten, Alan Marshal, (more)
- 1939
Too Busy to Work is not a remake of the 1932 Will Rogers film of the same name-but it is a partial remake of Rogers' 1935 vehicle Doubting Thomas. This standard entry in the "Jones Family" series finds the Jones women trying to convince Pa Jones (Jed Prouty) that he's spending too much time at work and too little time at home. When Pa decides to run for mayor, the girls have had enough and vow to teach him a lesson. They involve themselves in a little-theater group, neglecting their household duties and forcing Pa and the other Jones menfolk to fend for themselves. "Guest star" Joan Davis provides a welcome jolt of fresh comic energy to the usual Jones Family shenanigans. Too Busy to Work was based on two stage plays, George Kelly's The Torch Bearers and Howard Lindsay and Bertrand Robinson's Your Uncle Dudley (previously filmed in 1935 with Edward Everett Horton). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Spring Byington, (more)
- 1939
A longtime fan of comedians George Burns and Gracie Allen, "Philo Vance" creator S. S. Van Dyne wrote a tailor-made screenplay for the team, which emerged on-screen as The Gracie Allen Murder Case. The Paramount studio executives decided to dispense with the services of George Burns, leaving scatterbrained Gracie on her own to match wits (?) with urbane private detective Philo Vance (Warren William). The story proper gets under way when Bill Brown (Kent Taylor) stumbles onto a murder scene and is accused of the crime. Fortuitously, Gracie Allen was also in the vicinity when the killing took place, but her garbled version of what she witnessed (or thinks she witnessed) is of no help whatsoever to the authorities. Philo Vance offers to protect Gracie from the murder and to try to make heads or tails of her "assistance", but even he is driven to distraction by our heroine's relentless stupidity, especially when she insists upon referring to him as Fido Vance. As enjoyable as she is in small doses, Gracie Allen is a bit much to take in this film; fortunately, the basic mystery is good one, even if the identity of the murderer is fairly obvious from the start (the actor in question played so many "surprise killers" during his career that, by 1939, the bloom was off the rose). After The Gracie Allen Murder Case ran its course in the theaters, S. S. Van Dine published a novelized version of the story, restoring George Burns to the proceedings and wisely cutting back on Gracie Allen's imbecilities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gracie Allen, Warren William, (more)
- 1938
The Jones Family heads to Gay Paree in celebration of the 25th wedding anniversary of Pa (Jed Prouty) and Ma (Spring Byington). It doesn't take long for the Joneses to be victimized by clever Parisian con artists. Nor do Jones kids Jack (Ken Howell) and Lucy (June Carlson) have time to unpack before they're both pursued by amorous predators. Somehow or other, everyone gets involved in an espionage plot, much to the dismay of apoplectic hotel detective Emile (Leonid Kinskey). All things considered, the Joneses' married daughter Bonnie (Shirley Deane) is probably grateful that she elected to stay home with her husband Herb (Russell Gleason). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, (more)
- 1938
The Jones Family is at it again in Everybody's Baby, their first 1939 release (previewed in 1938). This time, the Joneses' lives are turned inside-out by the arrival in town of Dr. Pilicoff (Reginald Denny), a famous child-rearing expert. In attempting to put Pilicoff's theories into practice, the townsfolk begin to quarrel over the proper way to raise their children. The limit comes when Herbert Thompson (Russell Gleason), husband of the eldest Jones daughter Bonnie (Shirley Deane), tries to rescue his own baby from the well-intentioned but idiotic ministrations of Pilicoff's disciples-whereupon poor Herbert is arrested for kidnapping. Everything is straightened out when Pa Jones (Jed Prouty) and his pals discover that Pilicoff is a phony, leading to a most satisfying retribution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, (more)
- 1938
In this entry in the Jones Family series of domestic comedies, the trouble begins when con artists attempt to convince Mayor Jones that the local swamp is chock full of valuable minerals. Mayhem ensues, and just as the crooks think they will be able to pull off their scam, some of Jones' children fall into the muck and the truth is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, (more)
- 1938
This murder mystery is set behind-the-scenes of a radio station. the trouble begins when a hated cad of a sponsor is found murdered during the climax of a live radio show. The sponsor had a reputation for using women. A clever radio engineer solves the mystery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Woods, Nan Grey, (more)
- 1938
Down on the Farm was yet another entry in the seemingly endless saga of the Jones Family. The plot is set in motion when the Joneses' Aunt Ida (Louise Fazenda) invites the family to spend the summer on her farm while their house is undergoing repairs (thanks to an unfortunate encouter with a fire hose). Patriarch John Jones wins a cornhusking contest, whereupon he is invited to run for a local political office. The usual complications ensue, culminating in a ribtickling "drunk" scene and the ultimate exposure of the community's crooked politicians. Many of the biggest laughs are provided by Eddie Collins as Aunt Ida's moon-faced husband. Elements of several earlier Will Rogers vehicles managed to work their way into the screenplay of Down on the Farm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Spring Byington, (more)
- 1938
Not a remake of the 1932 Erich Von Stroheim film of the same name (which was ultimately released as Hello Sister), Walking Down Broadway owes more to the old Warner Bros. melodrama Three on a Match. The story concerns six Broadway chorus girls, who, when their latest show folds on New Years' Eve, make a pact to stage a reunion one year later. And what a year it is! Two of the girls die in accidents, one is framed on a manslaughter charge, and the other three land husbands, one of whom is fabulously wealthy. The most successful of the six is the group's "den mother" Joan Bradley (Clare Trevor), who not only finds the man of her dreams, but also achieves success in the business world. For the record, the other five girls are played by 20th Century-Fox contractees Phyllis Brooks, Leah Ray, Dixie Dunbar, Lynn Bari and Jayne Regan, who like their cinematic counterparts would have mixed success in their future careers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Trevor, Phyllis Brooks, (more)
- 1938
Goddbye Broadway is wrapped up by two stage & screen veterans, Alice Brady and Charles Winninger. The stars play vaudevillians Molly and Pat Malloy, who are suckered into investing $4000 in a ramschackle New England hotel. After a variety of predictable but amusing complications, the Malloys turn the tables on the sharpsters (Jed Prouty and Frank Jenks) who unloaded the property on them. Radio fans will enjoy seeing comedian Tommy Riggs, whose squeaky-voiced "Betty Lou" alter ego was a major airwaves attraction throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Directed by Leo McCarey's brother Raymond, Goodbye Broadway is based on James Gleason's 1927 stage comedy The Shannons of Broadway, previously filmed in 1929. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Brady, Charles Winninger, (more)
- 1938
In this comedy a young girl dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie star. The plucky gal decides to grab the bull's horns one day and goes there to see if her uncle, a movie director will help her launch her career. Unfortunately she discovers that her "famous' relative has fallen onto hard-times and consoles himself with copious amounts of booze. Without hesitation the vivacious girl decides to kill two birds with a single stone and haver her uncle make his comeback in a movie staring herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Withers, Gloria Stuart, (more)
- 1938
20th Century-Fox's first "Jones Family" series entry for 1938 was the six-reel Love on a Budget. Back in their usual screen roles are Jed Prouty (Pa Jones), Spring Byington (Ma Jones) and Florence Roberts (Granny Jones), together with Shirley Deane as the Jones' eldest daughter Bonnie, and Deane's real-life husband Russell Gleason as Bonnie's screen hubby Herbert. This time, the Joneses are suckered in by the get-rich-quick schemes of ne'er-do-well Uncle Charlie (Alan Dinehart). Meanwhile, newlyweds Bonnie and Herbert try to make do on Herbert's parsimonious salary. Nearly ruined by Uncle Charlie's latest "brilliant" investment, Bonnie and Herbert are saved by one of those last-minute financial turnarounds so common to the Jones Family saga. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, (more)
- 1938
Louis Hayward plays an arrogant Cambridge student who emigrates to America and enrolls at the West Point. Hayward's superior attitude earns him the enmity of his fellow students and the derisive nickname "the Duke". Those viewers familiar with college pictures will know as early as the opening titles that Hayward is down deep a swell guy. He proves this by helping impoverished plebe Richard Carlson pay his college costs and winning a crucial hockey game against a Canadian team. While Hayward and his student companions all look a bit long in tooth to be West Pointers, 20-year-old leading lady Joan Fontaine fits right in to the predictable proceedings. Like most of producer Edward Small's films, Duke of West Point was a perennial attraction on TV's "Late Late Shows" in the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Hayward, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1937
The saga of the Jones Family continues in 1937's Borrowing Trouble. When Pa Jones's drugstore is robbed, the evidence points to orphan kid Tommy Stevens (Marvin Stephens). This comes as quite a disappointment for Pa (Jed Prouty) and Ma (Spring Byington), who'd welcomed poor Tommy into their home, treating him as one of their own children. As it happens, however, Tommy is merely shielding the actual culprit -- his older brother Lester (Gregory Walcott). Thank heaven for Granny Jones (Florence Roberts), who never fails to cut through all the pathos and bathos with her cynical put-downs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, (more)
- 1937
In this entry in the Jones family series, the father decides to run for mayor. Unfortunately, his own son gets his campaign off to a bad start when he prints a newspaper article quoting his father's nasty comments about the opponent word for word. This naturally causes political chaos on the home front and helps the rival candidate immensely. Eventually the mess is straightened out and the Jones family wins in the end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, (more)
- 1937
The Jones Family is Off to the Races in this peppy series entry. Though Jed Prouty and Spring Byington are ostensibly the stars as Mr. and Mrs. Jones, top billing is bestowed upon Slim Summerville as the family's horse-happy Uncle George. Hoping to enter his prize nag in an important trotting race, Uncle George prevails upon the Joneses to help him raise the necessary entry fee. The family's coffers are further diminished when George's mercenary ex-wife shows up, demanding exorbitant alimony payments. It looks like everyone will be left holding the bag when the jockey fails to show up, but Pa Jones saves the day by taking the reins himself in the climactic Big Race. Some of the long shots in Off to the Races appear to have been "borrowed" from the 1934 Will Rogers vehicle David Harum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Slim" Summerville, Jed Prouty, (more)
- 1937
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
- Starring:
- Ra Hould, Hedda Hopper, (more)
- 1937
The girl is teenaged singing sensation Deanna Durbin; the one hundred men are out-of-work musicians. Still in her "little miss fix-it" stage, Durbin connives to help the musicians crack the big time. The person Durbin is most concerned with is her father (Adolphe Menjou) the 100th and most underemployed of the bunch. The men organize their own orchestra; all they need is a prestigious leader. Enter legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, who after several refusals to listen to Durbin's entreaties is captivated when he hears the sounds of Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody, as played by 100 shabby instrumentalists camped out on the stairway of his house. This film literally saved Universal Studios from receivership in 1937, assuring Ms. Durbin a movie career until she was too rich to care. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
- 1937
Alice Faye stars as aspiring playwright Judith Poe Wells. She falls in love with producer George Macrae (Don Ameche), which makes George's girlfriend Louise Hovick (Gypsy Rose Lee) see red. Judith drops from view while George loses his troublesome girlfriend and prepares to put together a Broadway musical. He chooses Judith's play for his next production, which of course reunites the pair at fadeout time. And how do The Ritz Brothers fit into You Can't Have Everything? Not very well, but the Ritzes do have one funny elongated number set in a Greenwich Village nightclub (where the extras are obviously breaking up at the boys' adlibs). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], (more)
- 1937
In this tuneful programmer a singer, believing that her husband, a Marine pilot accused of treason, has died in the Pacific, takes a job singing in Shanghai. There she see spies a certain handsome dancer in the club show who looks exactly like her late spouse. The resemblance is too uncanny for him to be anyone else. Surmising that he has amnesia, the singer decides she must somehow get him back and prove his innocence. But this is easier said than done as she soon discovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil Regan, Evelyn Venable, (more)
- 1937
In this comical murder mystery, three playwrights use $500 in advance money to get an apartment in which to write a mystery. A drunken neighbor staggers in and interrupts their brainstorming before passing out on the floor. The three playwrights then pretend that he is really dead and begin trying to figure out how it might have happened. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the drunk ends up dead for real and now the writers have some real work to do. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Ruth Coleman, (more)
- 1937
"Father" is British blowhard George Carney, a well-to-do cheese manufacturer. Despite his business savvy, Carney falls victim to the machinations of a team of swindlers. Coming to the rescue is Carney's quick-witted chauffeur Bruce Seton. Everything in the garden is lovely by fade-out time, as Seton wins Carney's undying gratitude-and the hand of Dinah Sheridan, Carney's daughter. Father Steps Out was distributed in the English-speaking world by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Not a remake of the classic Laurel and Hardy 2-reel silent of the same name, Big Business was an early entry in 20th Century-Fox's Jones Family series. Mr. Jones (Jed Prouty) invests his life savings in an oil business, at the behest of football star Allan Lane. Neither Jones nor Lane are aware that the oil stock is worthless, and that their money has ended up in the pockets of racketeers. Awareness dawns when the oil wells yield only muddy water. Jones' oldest son (Kenny Howell) comes to the rescue of the hapless investors, while Mrs. Jones (Spring Byington) dispenses the "I told you so"s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane, (more)
- 1937
Small Town Boy was the 33rd release from the burgeoning "B"-picture factory of Grand National Pictures. Stuart Erwin plays the title character, a milquetoast named Henry, who's brimming with good ideas but lacks the confidence to express them. All this changes when he finds a thousand-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Emboldened by his sudden wealth, Henry becomes a veritable dynamo of energy -- and, to some, a major pain in the neck. Joyce Compton, usually consigned to dumb-blonde support, is a most-appealing heroine. Small Town Boy is based on a short story by Manuel Komroff, also titled The Thousand Dollar Bill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Erwin, Joyce Compton, (more)
