Post by wmcclain on Aug 24, 2020 17:36:37 GMT
Regarding these films, I just discovered a collection of coincidences while listening to the commentary track to Wild Boys of the Road:
...which is a pre-Code weepie from William Wellman. Young people must leave home looking for work -- which doesn't exist -- and life is hard.
One of the boys is a girl: Dorothy Coonan, age 20. She had been a Busby Berkeley dancer. Wellman saw her during a break while she was making Gold Diggers of 1933 and chased her until she agreed to be in his next film. "I liked her freckles", he said. They were married the next year and remained so until his death in 1975. Seven children.
Toward the end of the film the kids are busking for dimes while one of the boys plays "42nd Street" on the harmonica. She does the same dance number she did in that film. In the theater we get a glimpse of James Cagney and Guy Kibbee in Footlight Parade. The theater usher is uncredited Milton Kibbee, Guy's Brother. He has 393 acting listings in the IMDB.
Finally, one of the boys who auditioned but didn't get a part appears in a portrait on the judge's desk: Alan Hale Jr, his first mention in the IMDB.
I learned much of this from the commentary track to Wild Boys of the Road with the participation of William Wellman Jr. He does a lot of these tracks and always has interesting things to say about his father and -- in this case -- his mother.
...which is a pre-Code weepie from William Wellman. Young people must leave home looking for work -- which doesn't exist -- and life is hard.
One of the boys is a girl: Dorothy Coonan, age 20. She had been a Busby Berkeley dancer. Wellman saw her during a break while she was making Gold Diggers of 1933 and chased her until she agreed to be in his next film. "I liked her freckles", he said. They were married the next year and remained so until his death in 1975. Seven children.
Toward the end of the film the kids are busking for dimes while one of the boys plays "42nd Street" on the harmonica. She does the same dance number she did in that film. In the theater we get a glimpse of James Cagney and Guy Kibbee in Footlight Parade. The theater usher is uncredited Milton Kibbee, Guy's Brother. He has 393 acting listings in the IMDB.
Finally, one of the boys who auditioned but didn't get a part appears in a portrait on the judge's desk: Alan Hale Jr, his first mention in the IMDB.
I learned much of this from the commentary track to Wild Boys of the Road with the participation of William Wellman Jr. He does a lot of these tracks and always has interesting things to say about his father and -- in this case -- his mother.