Mae Busch Movies

Mischa Auer's fake Swami Yomurda of Sinister Hands returned in Sucker Money, a crime drama set among newspaper reporters. Assigned to investigate the psychic rackets, cub reporter Jimmy Reeves (Earl McCarthy) goes undercover and is hired by the Swami to impersonate the clients' dead relatives. The gang, which also includes the alcoholic Mame (Mae Busch), Lukis (Fletcher Norton), and Chicago Kate (Mona Lisa), targets investment banker John Walton (Ralph Lewis), whose daughter, Clare (Phyllis Barrington), has become attracted to Jimmy. The latter tells her the truth, but his confession is overheard by one of the Swami's henchmen and soon everyone is locked up in a "death house," Walton being told to fork over 20,000 dollars (or else!). Convincing Lukis that she desperately needs a drink, Mame goes straight to Jimmy's city editor and the police raid the "death house." The Swami manages to flee with Clare, but is eventually killed by the pursuing cops. When the dust settles, Jimmy proposes to Clare, determined to leave the newspaper racket behind and become a banker in Oshkosh. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Lodge members Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy take a solemn oath to attend the 80th-annual Sons of the Desert Convention (read: annual binge) in Chicago. That is, Ollie takes the oath, but Stanley balks. When asked why, Stanley answers that he's afraid his wife won't let him go. Ollie is appalled: "Every man must be king in his own castle." But when Ollie meekly brings up the subject of the convention with his wife Lollie (Mae Busch), she soon dethrones the "king." Lollie wants to take a vacation in the mountains, and is dead-set against her husband going around "with a pack of hooligans." But Ollie is determined to attend the convention, and to that end cooks up a scheme with Stanley. Ollie will pretend to be deathly ill; Stan will fix it so the doctor will prescribe a trip to Honolulu. Knowing that his wife can't stand going on sea voyages, Ollie will request that Stan accompany him to Hawaii--then, both men will sneak off to Chicago. A few hitches notwithstanding (Stan hires a veterinarian instead of a doctor, explaining that he didn't think the man's religion would make any difference), the boys go to the convention, where they cut up royally with practical joker Charley Chase. Alas, the Honolulu-bound boat on which Stan and Ollie are supposed to be travelling is sunk in a typhoon. While the grief-stricken wives are at the steamship company attempting to find out if their husbands survived the sea disaster, Stan and Ollie arrive home, wearing leis and carrying pineapples as "evidence" of their Honolulu vacation. When the boys find out about the shipwreck, they desperately try to escape to a hotel, but the wives arrive home prematurely, forcing Stan and Ollie to camp out in the attic. It looks as though the boys might just get away with their new plan of coming home at the same time that the rescue boats arrive....until Lollie Hardy and Betty Laurel (Dorothy Christie), attending a picture show, are treated to the spectacle of their husbands cavorting merrily before the newsreel cameras covering the Sons of the Desert conclave in Chicago. The film's final ten minutes are priceless--especially that bit about "ship-hiking." Considered the best of Laurel and Hardy's feature films, One of the top ten moneymaking pictures of 1934, it was released in Europe as Fraternally Yours and Sons of the Legion, and is also available in a crudely edited 20-minute TV version, Fun on the Run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two-bit hoofer Joe (Edward Norris) hires starry-eyed Sally (Evelyn Knapp) for his vaudeville act. They marry, but the pressures of show business, coupled with Joe's irresponsibility, leads to a breakup. Lou Kenton (Mae Busch), a tough broad with a heart of gold, decides to help the pregnant Sally by introducing her to big-time Broadway producer Wade Valentine (Alan Dinehart). Our heroine skyrockets to stardom, while Valentine subsidizes her private life and even pays the hospital bills when Sally's baby is born. He finally asks her to marry him -- but incredibly, her heart still belongs to Joe, who manages to show up at fadeout time for a tearful reconciliation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This weepie, adapted from a play by Philip Dunning and George Abbott, is a vehicle for Ruth Chatterton as the titular Lilly. Her sufferings begin when she marries a man who later turns out to be a bigamist. She has their baby but marries another man so the child can have a father. The new husband is alcoholic and so Lilly falls in love with someone else, but when her husband breaks his back protecting her, she elects to stay with him. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

A typically pedestrian whodunit from low-budget entrepreneur Larry Darmour, Cheating Blondes delivered a lot less than the titillating title promised. Thelma Todd played a dual role, twin sisters Anne and Elaine. When the former is caught with the dead body of her lecherous next-door neighbor (Brooks Benedict), she switches places with her look-alike twin, a burlesque dancer. Why the switch would help protect her from a murder rap is never explained, but after a bit of confusion, the real killer is made to confess and both Anne and sister Elaine settle down with their respective spouses (Milton Wallis and Earl McCarthy). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Fresh from his success with the moody melodrama Murders in the Rue Morgue, director Robert Florey dashed off The Man Called Back at bargain-basement Tiffany Studios. The film is set in the tropics; Conrad Nagel tops the cast as a dissipated, derelict doctor, hopelessly in love with married socialite Doris Kenyon. Doris' insane husband John Halliday commits suicide, but arranges the evidence so that his wife will be charged with murder. Nagel snaps out of his drunken doldrums to prove Doris' innocence. Watch for "the ever-popular Mae Busch" in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In spite of a sudden end which makes this Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy two-reeler seem incomplete, there are quite a few wonderfully funny moments. Arabella Hardy (Mae Busch) is more than fed up with her husband Ollie, who has been spending all his free time with his pal Stanley. Their domestic squabble is interrupted by the phone -- it's Stan, asking if Ollie wants to accompany him to a cement workers' bazaar. Ollie tries to pretend it's his boss, Mr. Jones, which causes Stan to carefully check his mirror to make sure who he really is. Mrs. Hardy, however, is not so easily fooled -- mostly because Stan comes over to say it was him, not Mr. Jones, on the phone. The resulting explosion from Mrs. Hardy causes Ollie to hide out at Stan's. To solve this marital dilemma, Stan suggests that Ollie adopt a baby, which will draw Mrs. Hardy's attention away from her husband's extracurricular activities. Ollie likes the idea and comes home with an infant in his arms. But it's too late -- Mrs. Hardy is gone and a man Billy Gilbert shows up with papers for both of the boys -- Ollie is being sued for divorce, and Stan is being sued for alienation of affections. When Stan tries to take his leave, Ollie is outraged and scandalized. As a result, Stan gets to share Ollie's misery as they stay up, trying to keep the baby quiet and fending off angry neighbors when it cries. The picture ends with the boys asleep in bed with the baby, but Stan's the one sucking on the bottle. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Russian Revolution provides the backdrop of this costume epic that centers around a young nobleman who, with his maid, escapes from his homeland to Constantinople where the two marry and begin a new life as commoners. But though it seemed a good idea at the time, the aristocrat has trouble adjusting to the daily toil and grimness of his new existence and when he meets an exciting seductress he immediately, abandons his good, peasant wife. With his shady lady, the fellow tries to become a con artist, but it doesn't work. He decides to return to his wife, and gets there just as she is about to be sent back to Russia. Much of the film was shot in real homes in Constantinople. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Not only has Oliver Hardy established a successful business -- in fertilizer -- he has also decided to run for mayor. General manager Stan Laurel interrupts his duties (which involve a fly swatter) in the sample room to help Ollie with a speech. Ollie's old flame (Mae Busch) barges into the office, flashing a compromising photograph from Ollie's bachelor days and requesting money for her silence. The boys frantically hide the blackmailing ex-girlfriend when Mrs. Hardy (Thelma Todd) arrives. She tells her husband to be home that night to entertain guests. Ollie sends Stan to his ex-girlfriend's house to keep her busy while the Hardys have their gathering. Mae keeps herself busy by abusing Stan and calling Ollie's house. Finally in a fit of rage, she storms off to the Hardys, followed by Stan. A gossipy friend of Stan's wife sees them. When the pair arrive, Ollie pawns his ex-girlfriend off as Mrs. Laurel; this tactic is a bit late, as Mrs. Hardy is already steaming over what she can gather from Ollie's strange behavior. The other guests make their exit, leaving Stan and the blackmailer behind; Ollie, in desperation, threatens her with a gun, and she faints. They try to sneak the unconscious woman out the door but are interrupted by Stan's real wife, axe in hand. Both Stan and Ollie are chased out into the night. Chickens Come Home is an almost literal remake of a 1927 Roach silent called Love 'Em and Weep. Although Laurel and Hardy both appear in this earlier film, they weren't yet a team. Mae Busch (who plays the same character as in the later film) has top billing, and James Finlayson has Hardy's role. Originally filmed in black & white, a colorized version was released in the late 1990s for home video. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Assigned by the police commissioner to catch a notorious gangster, a young police captain discovers that his adversary is a former friend in this low-budget crime drama from Syndicate Film Exchanges. The gangster, Joe Velet (Robert Gleckler), is arrested for possession of a firearm and is revealed to be Phil Terry, a former sergeant with the Riffs in North Africa and the best friend of Police Captain Bill Houston (John Holland). Velet/Terry admits to having become a hoodlum because crime, as he puts it, "pays more than cigarette money." About to be extradited back east to stand trial for several killings, Velet is rescued by a couple of his henchmen masquerading as law officers. At liberty, he challenges Bill to a final confrontation at the Silver Slipper Club, which the gangsters are about to raid. Rival hoodlum Taroni (Paul Panzer), whose girlfriend (Mae Busch) is a police informer, is killed in the melee, but Velet manages to escape once again. In order to get even with Bill, the gang boss kidnaps his adversary's girlfriend, the police commissioner's daughter, Alice (Catherine Dale Owen), and the distraught commissioner (Edmund Breese) orders Bill off the case. Happily, our hero discovers Velet's hideout and Alice is rescued during the ensuing shootout. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Wicked stars Elissa Landi as Margot Rande, a basically decent woman led down the path to perdition by her bank-robber husband Tony (Theodore Von Eltz). When Tony is cornered by the police, Margot tries to protect him, shooting a policeman in the process. Sentenced to a 20-year prison term, the ladylike heroine is subjected to all manner of brutality and humiliation behind bars. Scott Burrows (Victor McLaglen), Margot's former sweetheart, hires an attorney to help reduce her sentence, but in the meantime she has given birth to a child, which is promptly snatched from her arms and put up for adoption. Upon her release, Margot desperately kidnaps her own baby, leading to further courtroom entanglements before a happy (or at least satisfactory) ending can be reached. It's positively miraculous that director Alan Dwan was able to squeeze all of Wicked into a mere 57 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although the title of Laurel and Hardy's very first sound film is a joke on the phrase, "Unaccustomed as we are to public speaking," it already shows a firm grasp of the comic potential for sound. The boys, and the writers and directors of their films, realized that more than dialogue was necessary for a successful two-reeler. Techniques such as off-stage sound effects add richly to the visual and verbal humor of this and subsequent Laurel and Hardy films. This one starts off with Ollie bringing Stan home for dinner. Mrs. Hardy (Mae Busch) is fed up cooking for her husband's friends so she goes home to mother. With Ollie working on dinner and Stan helping, it is no surprise that the stove explodes. A neighbor, Mrs. Kennedy (Thelma Todd) comes in and tries to help; instead her dress catches fire. Wrapped only in a sheet, she begins to make her way home, but her policeman husband (Edgar Kennedy) arrives just then. Afraid of his reaction, Mrs. Kennedy hides in Ollie's trunk instead. Now the boys have to hide the contents of the trunk from both Mrs. Hardy (who has returned) and Mr. Kennedy, who has come by because of all the commotion that is going on. Eventually Mr. Kennedy finds out that there is a woman in the trunk (but not that it's his wife), and he offers to take the trunk to his place. While doing this, he sagely lectures them on being discreet -- like he is. This inflames the hidden but all-hearing Mrs. Kennedy, and she wreaks havoc on her husband once Stan and Ollie are gone. The bruised and battered Mr. Kennedy comes back to Ollie's and beats him up in the hallway. Then, once he's done with Ollie, he calls for Stan. But before he can lay the first blow, Mrs. Kennedy knocks him out with a vase. Stan, unscathed, goes back to Ollie's, picks up his hat and leaves. Ollie stares in disbelief at the unconscious Kennedy and Stan trips and tumbles down the stairs. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Director Roland West was a moody and mysterious Hollywood character, who insisted upon making his pictures in utter secrecy and filming only at night. This may explain the overall foreboding atmosphere of Alibi, West's first talking picture. Chester Morris portrays a ruthless gangster who must establish an alibi after pulling off a warehouse robbery. Regis Toomey and Pat O'Malley are the detectives assigned to get the goods on Morris. Full of vicious bravado when he's on top of a situation, Morris turns into a craven coward when he's trapped--but not before coldbloodedly gunning down true-blue policeman Toomey, who then launches into one the longest and most lachrymose death scenes in the history of movies. Alibi was based on the play Nightstick, written by John Wray, J.C. Nugent and Elaine Sterne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide