The Year Was 1938 – July 10

Born on This Date

• Slim Summerville turns 46. He is a Fox contract actor with credits reaching back to the silent days with Mack Sennett – and was currently in ‘Five of a Kind’ a film about the Dionne Quints. He would be next in John Ford’s ‘Submarine Patrol.’ Up ahead for the year 1939 – he would appear in four films, including ‘Jesse James’ and ‘Charlie Chan in Reno.’ [His turns with Shirley Temple at Fox were now in the rear mirror].
• Sam Wood celebrates his 55^th birthday. The director was prepping for ’Stablemates’ for MGM. 1939 would be a banner year for him – ‘Raffles’ – ‘Goodbye Mr Chips,’ and an uncredited involvement with ‘Gone with the Wind.’

News Around Hollywood

• A practice baseball game is planned at Fielder’s Fairfax ball park. The Comedians vs the Leading Men are preparing for their annual charity game at Wrigley Field on July 30. On the roster – Bill Robinson, Gene Autrey, Buster Keaton, Leo Carillo, Lee Tracy, Big Boy Guinn Williams, Preston Foster, Sid Silver, Wayne Morris, Errol Flynn, Glenn Morris, Dick Powell, John Boles, Harry Ruby, and Donald Woods. Officiating as umpires will be the Ritz Brothers. [Possibly they had Glenn Morris in there as a ringer. He was the 1936 gold medal Olympic decathelon champion, and played Tarzan in Sol Lesser’s production’s Tarzan’s Revenge released by 20^th Century Fox in January of this year). And Harry Ruby, half of the songwriting team with Bert Kalmar, was the self-proclaimed World’s Greatest Baseball fan].
• Adriana Caselotti and Harry Stockwell, voices of Snow White and Prince Charming are suing Walt Disney for a share of the profits of ’Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. [Caselotti was paid $970 for her work on the film – would be interesting to research what had happened – did she and Stockwell initiate the suit or did some lawyer with visions of dollar signs approach them – her contract would have spelt out her remolument, so nothing more would have legally been due. She would have some voice work in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. Stockwell, who came from Broadway, had only a short film at Columbia in 1939. In 1943 he was the second actor to play Curly in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. And sidenote – he was the father of actor Dean Stockwell].
• Constance Bennett has filed a slander suit against columnist Jimmy Fidler and his radio show sponsors. She is seeking $250,000 for damage sustained to her career. [Sued or being sued – a portrait painter had one against her – see May 28].

Item of Interest

Due to the verdict from a coroner’s jury, Berne Ellis of Redwood City was charged with manslaughter. He was the driver of a car in which his three companions were killed after colliding with a train engine. Those killed were Louis G Briasco, Madelon DeMoss, and Charlotte Richards. Both of the women were employees of Columbia Pictures Studios.

After an all night party at Topsy’s Cafe at Firestone and Long Beach Blvd the foursome all piled into the front seat of the car. The accident occurred at Alameda St and Slauson Ave early in the morning of June 30. According to witnesses the crash was at high speed. The driver of the car drove through a stop sign and ignored the railroad crossing warnings. The vehicle struck a Santa Fe Railroad switch engine, was impaled on the tender’s bumber, telescoped, and was dragged fifty feet. All within were trapped between the front seat and the dashboard. According to the ambulance driver that transported Ellis, the victim stated that he was so drunk, he could not say whether or not he was driving. He sustained broken ribs and a deep gash in his scalp.

About these women employees at Columbia:

• Charlotte S Richards, age 31 (her maiden name was listed), had been married to Stephen Sodeck in 1928. Stephen had been born in Germany, and had come to the US in 1920. He was a chemist. I could find no record of their divorce. She had reverted to her maiden name and was working at the Columbia Studios as a script girl.
• Madelon De Moss, age 27, (her maiden name was listed), married Carrol Henrie in 1934. In the 1930 census Henrie is listed as a film cutter. Again I could find no divorce record. Something must have happened before 1937, for in that year Henrie married a checker at the studio, Dorene Batista. They all worked at Columbia where Madelon was then a script girl. Her brother George also worked there as a technician.
• Carrol Henrie is an interesting individual. He was actually a sound effects editor at the studio (perhaps the designation on the 1930 census was as close as the census taker could explain it). Henrie has a long history of working on the Three Stooges shorts (adding the sounds of the slaps, punches, eye-pokes, etc.). He does have a couple of feature credits – for In Cold Blood and Funny Girl.
• Both girls lived closer to the Topsy Cafe than the place where the crash occurred. They were a long way from home (ten miles from their homes and fifteen from the cafe) – and may have been heading somewhere all together different – Long Beach? San Diego?