Laurel & Hardy:
From the Forties Forward: Boston Herald
review
Every Laurel & Hardy fan knows Eddie Dunn from his brief but telling appearances in the team’s movies. Dunn had an offhand way with dialogue that made an impression, often with just one or two lines, as in Another Fine Mess when butler Dunn dismisses his globe-trotting boss with a snide “South Africa has my sympathy!”
So it may come as a surprise to find that Eddie Dunn worked with Laurel & Hardy only six times: in The Hoose-Gow (as a convict), Another Fine Mess, Pardon Us (as a convict), Me and My Pal (as a pugnacious cab driver), The Midnight Patrol (as a police desk sergeant, with his memorable exclamation of “Chief Ramsbottom!”), and then years later in Nothing But Trouble (as a policeman).
Eddie Dunn’s trade biography does not mention anything about his background, except that he had been “on screen since 1929.” One source gives his birthdate as 1896 and his birthplace as Brooklyn, New York. We do know that he established himself very quickly. He appeared in Educational Pictures comedies at the very end of the silent-film era (in Charley Bowers’s Say Ah- h! Eddie is a bespectacled fellow who is easily shocked). From here Dunn went to the Hal Roach studio, where the atmosphere was relaxed and the employees could casually branch out into other capacities. Dunn often assisted Roach star Charley Chase on both sides of the camera, as an actor and co-director. One of his one-line zingers occurs in Chase’s High C’s: soldier Eddie waits for his commanding officer to leave, and then strikes a derisive pose and grumbles “Shavetail!” Dunn became a full-fledged featured player at Roach, and was prominent in the studio’s films through 1934. In many Roach comedies, the characters on screen addressed each other by their real names, so Eddie Dunn usually plays Eddie Dunn. Some of his best-remembered performances: the dance-crazy sailor in Asleep in the Feet, the fey cameraman in Movie Daze, and especially the genial bandleader/radio announcer in Next Week-End — Eddie tells the radio audience how much fun everyone’s having, despite the almost total absence of a crowd! Dunn would return to the Roach studio in 1939 for a few walk-ons in the producer’s ambitious feature films. In Roach’s one attempt at heavy drama, the Burgess Meredith-Lon Chaney, Jr. Of Mice and Men, the only supporting player in the first quarter-hour is Eddie Dunn.
Many actors, writers, and directors graduated from short subjects to feature films. Thanks to his frequent employment in the close-knit short-subject community, Eddie Dunn was often hired for features. He usually played affable professional types whose patience was limited. He was less bombastic than character comedians of the Billy Gilbert/Edgar Kennedy type, so he could credibly portray straight authority figures. But he had a definite flair for comedy, making him a good foil for star comedians. In Abbott & Costello’s In the Navy he is the dance-hall proprietor who insists that the band’s two-note coda constitutes a full performance! In RKO’s “Mexican Spitfire” comedies Dunn has a recurring role, an energetic business rival who is constantly perplexed by Leon Errol’s dual identity. And in the same studio’s mysteries featuring “The Falcon,” Dunn has another semi-regular role as one of the chief detective’s lieutenants.
He almost always played rank-and-file policemen in the 1940s, as in The Bowery Boys’ Bowery Bombshell. In The Ritz Brothers’ Never a Dull Moment, it’s nice to see that Eddie has worked his way up to chief of detectives. Dunn continued to freelance through 1950, working at various studios. One of his last jobs was Blonde Dynamite, another Bowery Boys feature for Monogram. Eddie Dunn passed away in 1951.
It may well be impossible to compile a definitive filmography for the prolific Eddie Dunn, who appeared in at least 200 movies and was usually unbilled. His work with Laurel & Hardy was limited, but he made every scene count.
Copyright © 2008 by Scott MacGillivray.
“Mexican Spitfire” Lupe Velez played American Indians. Spaniard Duncan Renaldo played Frenchmen. Lebanese Frank Lackteen played Orientals. Hollywood actors born outside America were often called upon to play ethnic roles of any kind. Thus, Paul Porcasi, who hailed from Italy, played comic “foreigners” of almost every description.
Like Henry Armetta, another Laurel & Hardy co-star who specialized in playing Italian hotheads, Paul Porcasi was born in the city of Palermo in 1880 (some sources say 1879, but the actor himself claimed 1880). In his youth Porcasi was very musical, and cultivated a robust tenor singing voice. He studied at the Palermo Conservatory of Music, and trained for a career as an opera singer and actor. He emigrated to America to seek his fortune.
New York was then the show-business capital, and Porcasi tried to establish himself as a stage singer. His distinctive accent won him roles in Broadway shows, beginning in 1916. His last Broadway role was an Italian character in the 1926 drama Broadway. This was a very influential play; many Hollywood insiders saw it and raided the cast for movies. The show closed in 1928; only one player achieved screen stardom (Lee Tracy) but the others settled into character work: Millard Mitchell, Joseph Calleia, Robert Gleckler, Thomas E. Jackson… and Paul Porcasi.
Porcasi himself dated his entry into motion pictures at 1920. He made his screen debut in The Fall of the Romanoffs, which landed him a contract with Paramount Pictures. Paramount had a studio in New York, which allowed Porcasi to continue his stage work in the city. He stayed with Paramount until 1930.
Sound movies hurt many silent-movie careers, but they helped Paul Porcasi – his accent gave him a distinctive personality, which he soon embellished for comic effect with emphatic, explosive gestures. In Eddie Cantor’s Roman Scandals he plays the royal chef, who dreams of someday escaping to Egypt. Most of his performance is confined to the single word “Egypt!,” repeated rapturously by Porcasi. (Maybe this is why he turned up in 1935’s Charlie Chan in Egypt!)
Paul Porcasi earned a permanent place in film history by appearing in the very first movie filmed in the improved, perfected Technicolor process of he 1930s. La Cucaracha was a standard two-reel musical short of 1934, made special by the dazzling Technicolor costumes. Porcasi made such an impression in this RKO short that he was hired to play a similar role in La Fiesta de Santa Barbara, an M-G-M Technicolor musical short. The Gumm Sisters (featuring the young Judy Garland) sang “La Cucaracha” to Paul Porcasi! (Thus Paul Porcasi appears in M-G-M’s compilation feature That’s Entertainment!)
Porcasi usually portrayed restaurant owners in movies – Italian, Greek, Spanish, it didn’t matter. And It usually didn’t take much to inflame Signor Porcasi! One of his larger and most benign roles was in the Ritz Brothers-Andrews Sisters comedy Argentine Nights, in which he plays kindly hotelier “Papa Viejo” (“viejo” meaning “old”!). Porcasi could also play sinister roles, as in Quiet Please, Murder, where he plays a rare-book dealer trafficking in stolen goods. Perhaps the role most familiar to later generations of movie buffs is Porcasi’s bit in Casablanca; he plays a Frenchman at Sydney Greenstreet’s table.
Curiously, Paul Porcasi almost never sang in movies. Only once was Porcasi cast in his own profession, that of opera singer. In Ed Finney’s independent production Hi Diddle Diddle, he sings in chorus with silent-screen star Pola Negri and Laurel & Hardy co-star Matt McHugh. Their singing is so bad that the wallpaper comes to life and the animated figures evacuate the premises!
His last few pictures, all produced in 1944, were highly typical for the actor. In Hot Rhythm he’s a hash-house manager who blows his top. I’ll Remember April casts Porcasi as the excitable proprietor of a low-rent café, who bristles when rowdies try to “give my-a joint a bad-a name.” His last picture, filmed in August of 1944, was Laurel & Hardy’s Nothing but Trouble. Chef Hardy’s specialty, “Steak a la Oliver,” quickly gets a worldwide reputation – as being horrendous! Without speaking a word of English, Paul Porcasi reams out our heroes, practically in one breath! Porcasi’s final performance leaves his fans laughing.
Illness appears to have overtaken Porcasi; his resume, published in 1946, lists the Laurel & Hardy film as his most recent appearance. Paul Porcasi died in 1946, at the age of 66.
Copyright © 2008 by Scott MacGillivray.
Many character players are instantly recognizable by name because of their memorable personalities: Edna May Oliver, Mantan Moreland, Billy Gilbert, Lionel Atwill, Gabby Hayes, and so on. But some of the most prolific character actors of the screen are practically anonymous. Their roles were almost never prominent and their appearance was usually nondescript — and that's why their careers lasted so long. They were background players, all-purpose talents hired as needed for incidental scenes in comedies, dramas, mysteries, musicals, adventures. One of these vaguely familiar faces belonged to Harry Hayden. He appears in two Laurel & Hardy comedies, Saps at Sea (as their boss at the Sharp & Pierce horn factory, observing that "the G-minor always gets them") and The Big Noise (as Mr. Digby, a government employee at the patent office).
Harry Hayden was born in Canada on November 8, 1882. He became a screen actor in 1936, first at Warner Brothers, then all over town at various studios. He cited his first screen credit as I Married a Doctor. Hayden himself married an actress. His wife, Lela Bliss, was a character actress and comedienne, perhaps best known as the floorwalker's tipsy wife in 1947's Miracle on 34th Street.
Hayden was “theatrical” both on the screen and behind it: he also operated a movie theater! Even while he was working as an actor, he and Mrs. Hayden continued to present Hollywood’s latest films for their community.
Harry Hayden never had a "breakout" role that catapulted him to bigger roles and popularity. Rather, he was a steady, dependable actor who worked quietly in "A" pictures (In Old Chicago, The Under-Pup, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Up in Arms, The Thin Man Goes Home), "B" pictures (Charlie Chan in Reno, Blondie Brings Up Baby, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour), and very occasional short subjects. The two Laurel & Hardy assignments were typical for the bespectacled Mr. Hayden, who was usually chosen to play sober-minded professionals, from clerks to managers, druggists to doctors. lawyers to judges. He was cast against type only rarely, because he wasn't entirely successful impersonating breezy guys. In Boston Blackie's Rendezvous he had to play a cheerful, indulgent millionaire (a role usually reserved for cheerful, pleasant Lloyd Corrigan), but businesslike Harry Hayden seemed uncomfortable as a rich party boy!
Hayden was one of the busiest actors in Hollywood, appearing in up to 20 productions annually. When the studios made fewer movies after World War II, many actors saw their careers faltering, but not Harry Hayden — he kept working into the 1950s, comedy fans may recall his appearance as a suspected murderer in Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. Hayden also worked in television and landed a regular role as Stu Erwin's neighbor on Erwin's 1950s sitcom (filmed at the Hal Roach studios). At last Harry Hayden was getting frequent exposure in a popular series. But the hectic pace of television production (39 half-hours filmed in 39 weeks) may have been too much for the veteran actor; after one production cycle Hayden died, in July 1955.
Not all of Laurel & Hardy's co-stars were in the foreground. But a good actor, with a small role and limited dialogue, could be just as distinctive. Like Harry Hayden.
Copyright © 2008 by Scott MacGillivray.
BOB BAILEY