The Year Was 1938 – July 2

BORN ON THIS DATE

• Writer James Edward Grant turns 33 on this day. He began as a journalist in Chicago, and branched out into short stories in the magazines of the 30s. A sale of one of his stories in 1934 brought him to Hollywood. He has two credits for 1938, and two more for 1939. [Ahead lay many projects with John Wayne, including ‘Angel and the Badman’ in 1947, which he also directed].

NEWS AROUND HOLLYWOOD

• Harold Lloyd buys back his films from Pathé. He acquires 114 of the early negatives from his silent films. Titles included are: ‘Grandma’s Boy,’ ‘Why Worry?,’ ‘Safety Last,’ and ‘The Freshman.’ He particularly wanted ‘Bumping into Broadway,’ because at its release it was the first time he saw his name on a marquee on the Great White Way. [My post about Harold Lloyd]
• Employees at Republic Studios belonging to the Studio Utilities Employes Local protest an order requiring them to join the IATSE union.
• The studio head at Warners, Harry M Warner, comes under criticism from the other studio heads – (Nick Schenck at MGM; Barney Balaban at Paramount; Sidney R Kent at 20^th Century Fox; George J Schaefer at UA; Ned E Depinet at RKO; N J Blumberg at Universal) for his claim that film was being held back or ‘hoarded’ by them. All point to their full release charts, indicating no lack of product.

OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD

• A New York state court has ruled in favor of actress Frances Farmer. Shepard Traube had sued her for $75,000, stemming from his claim that she had entered into a contract with him in 1935 for his professional services. The judge declared that since he was not licensed as a theatrical agent, he had no grounds for his claim. [See June 5].
• Wesley Ruggles departing on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam for a 3 month European vacation, after completing his recent Paramount production. [His recent film would have been the Bing Crosby vehicle – ‘Sing You Sinners.’ His single credit for 1939 would be ‘Invitation to Happiness’ with Fred MacMurray].

ITEMS OF INTEREST

• More news on the case involving the murder of cameraman King David Gray [see June 30]. The writer of the letter found beside him in his vehicle had been traced to New Castle PA. The Hollywood police contacted their counterparts there to make the queries for them. The person in question was Frances Bleakley, recently returned to her hometown from the LA area. She and her parents were saddened at the news of his death, and they claimed that she was neither a girl friend nor had any romantic involvement with the deceased. King was simply a friend of her family when they were living in LA. She attended USC in 1929, and got work afterwards in the art department of a department store in Hollywood. She had left LA the week before Gray’s murder.
• Reported on this date – Charlotte Richards and Madeline De Moss, two employees at the Columbia Pictures script department were killed in the early morning hours of June 30, when the vehicle in which they were riding was struck by the tender of a Santa Fe locomotive. The driver of the car had driven through the stop signal at the crossing at high speed.