That's cold...

...and funny!

Sorry to hear that Coors is pulling this ad from their "colder than" series. Toronto folks can chuckle at themselves - honestly, we can!

For Your Consideration: Joseph Calleia

A bust of Malta's favourite son in front of his birthplace.

Project intiated in 2005 by 17 year old fan Eman Bonnici.

Joseph Calleia
August 4, 1897 - October 31, 1975

Caftan Woman's dilemma: in my series "For Your Consideration" I want to spotlight one special performance of the wonderful character actors of Hollywood's Golden age which was overlooked at award season. However, I cannot settle on the "one" for Joseph Calleia. I will put my three before you - you decide.

Guiseppe Maria Spurrin-Calleja was born and died in beautiful Malta. Wouldn't you like to see a movie whose main character left home as a teenager, a singer and composer who sang in the Cafes and Music Halls of Europe? What an exciting time!

As it comes to all with greasepaint in their veins, Calleia went to Broadway in 1926. For the next ten years, he found great success on the Great White Way. His first play was Broadway by Philip Dunning and George Abbot, also featuring Millard Mitchell and Lee Tracy. Next, he played reporter Kruger in Hecht & MacArthur's The Front Page. Osgoode Perkins was Walter Burns and Lee Tracy played Hildy Johnson. His next play was the prison hit The Last Mile which brought Spencer Tracy to prominence. In the 1930 adaption of Vicki Baum's Grand Hotel Calleia played the chauffeur and was the general stage manager. You might like to know that Sam Jaffe played Krigelein, Sig Ruman was Preizig and Albert Dekker played the Baron. Next up was the comedy Honeymoon directed by Thomas Mitchell, followed by Ten Minute Alibi and another George Abbot play, Small Miracle. During this time Calleia had featured roles in a couple of New York-produced pictures and those itchy feet sent him to Hollywood.

Sinister types were the order of the day in After the Thin Man, Juarez, Algiers (Critic's Award), Marie Antoinette, My Little Chickadee, and The Glass Key. Excellent roles followed in For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Cross of Lorraine, and Gilda. And guess who played Papa Anthony in The Caddy, and could probably give Dean Martin a run for his money with That's Amore? In 1936 Calleia co-wrote with director William Wellman, The Robin Hood of El Dorado starring Warner Baxter as Joaquin Murrietta.

C. Aubrey Smith, Joseph Calleia
A plane trip to Hell in Five Came Back

The first of the roles that failed to receive an Academy nod, and confounds my decision, is that of Vasquez, the revolutionary, in Five Came Back directed by John Farrow. Of course, 1939 being the stellar year that it was we can forgive any nominating committees. This exciting movie which still packs a punch is a tale of survival in a South American jungle after a plane crash. It has a wonderful ensemble cast with Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, C. Aubrey Smith, Elisabeth Risdon, Kent Smith, Allen Jenkins, and John Carradine. Vasquez is a man on his way to prison and execution. He finds unexpected freedom and purpose in the circumstances. He is the heartbreaking hero who touches every viewer of this movie.

Frank Puglia, Joseph Calleia, John Qualen
Buldeo, the Storyteller
Korda's Jungle Book, 1942

The 1942 version of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book starring Sabu as Mowgli is a Technicolor delight. One of its greatest assets is the old man who tells the fantastic story of the boy raised by wolves and the lost city of gold. When that old man is revealed to have been a main player in the story, the sneaking and duplicitous Buldeo, it is also revealed that the audience has been treated to a tour de force by Joseph Calleia.

Pete Menzies
Touch of Evil, 1958

Orson Welles wanted to work with Joseph Calleia and when they did, it proved a real winner. Touch of Evil is a remarkably audacious film noir treat. In the midst of the lies, the emotions and the wild ride of a story is Calleia's Pete Menzies - a good cop, a loyal friend, and an honourable man. His performance is the rock that makes all others possible and plausible. For shame on the Academy for not recognizing Calleia.

Joseph Calleia made more fine movies including Disney's A Light in the Forest, John Wayne's The Alamo, and the gangster favourite Johnny Cool before retiring to Malta in 1964. I have read that Mr. Calleia claimed ailing health when declining Francis Ford Coppola's request to play Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, but I like to think he was enjoying his retirement too much to return to Hollywood.

Malta issued two stamps featuring Joseph Calleia in 1997. 

For Your Consideration: Ward Bond

Ward Bond
April 9, 1903 - November 5, 1960

Caftan Woman has been watching movies again, and again she has found a performance overlooked at Award time. This time back in 1952 by prolific character actor Ward Bond.

Nebraska born Bond was attending the University of Southern California when he and a fellow footballer and lifetime friend, John Wayne, spent some larking time at Fox Studios. John Ford was doing a football picture and hired the kids. They worked on Salute starring George O'Brien and worked props. Bond certainly had a talent for acting. You cannot watch classic movies without stumbling across Ward Bond in roles big and small. He's the bus driver in It Happened One Night, the doorman in Dead End, a Union officer in Gone With the Wind. He's cop and thug, hero and coward, and he's everywhere.

Many of his best roles were in John Ford movies. Apparently he was a favourite whipping boy of the curmudgeonly director, but thick-skinned enough to do some fine work including the repentant "Yank" in The Long Voyage Home, the gallant Sergeant Major O'Rourke in Fort Apache, the comic Father Lonergan in The Quiet Man, the trustworthy Rev. Clayton in The Searchers and director "John Dodge" in The Wings of Eagles.

Cagney, Powell, Fonda, Bond & Lemmon
The cast of Mister Roberts relaxes.
Who wants to be a fly on the wall?

Bond seems able to give any script its due whether it be the cowardly marshal in Frontier Marshal, the villainous Honey Bragg in Canyon Passage or that "family man", Bert the cop in It's a Wonderful Life.

The outstanding role of his career, for me, is in Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground. Robert Ryan stars as an embittered police officer driven to his breaking point. Ordered off the mean city streets to the country in pursuit of a killer, he finds redemption.

Bond plays Walter Brent, the father of a murdered girl. Grieving for his loss and suspicious of the cops, he tags along in the hunt for his daughter's murderer. He is looking for vengeance and what he finds gives him no solace. Bond is heartbreaking in this movie and his performance made me realize that I have spent most of my life taking him for granted. It seems his peers did as well by overlooking the performance.

Robert Ryan, Ward Bond

After all his years as a featured player in movies, Ward Bond achieved true stardom as the star of  TV's Wagon Train. Major Seth Adams is an image many viewers recall fondly. His last film role was fitting, as John Wayne's friend, in Rio Bravo. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1960. Ward Bond was married twice. He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2001. A park was named in his honour in his hometown of Benkleman, Nebraska.

My late father used to say that if he saw Ward Bond's name in the credits there was a good chance he would enjoy the movie. When I started seriously introducing my daughter to classic movies she told me she'd only watch if Ward Bond was in it. Gotcha! He's in everything!

For Your Consideration: Josephine Hutchinson

Josephine Hutchinson

October 12, 1903 - June 4, 1993

Once again, let's highlight a performance that was overlooked by the Academy during Hollywood's Golden Age. Fortunately, the work lasts for us to enjoy today.

Seattle born Hutchinson was an actress with a strong theatrical background before signing with Warner Brothers in 1934. She appeared in 22 plays between 1925 and 1933 including Alice in Wonderland (Alice), Peter Pan (Wendy), Twelfth Night, Hedda Gabbler, The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull and Camille. Not a conventional leading lady, but more than a standard character actress, Hollywood found it difficult to pigeon-hole the talented actress.

Josephine Hutchinson with Basil Rathbone

Son of Frankenstein

Some of her well-remembered titles include The Story of Louis Pasteur opposite Paul Muni, Ruby Gentry, Miracle in the Rain, North by Northwest and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A particular favourite of Ms. Hutchinson's was 1939s Son of Frankenstein for the good humour and camaraderie of her co-stars, Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi.

Dorothy Stickney and Josephine Hutchinson as Emily and Mamie Baldwin

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

Josephine Hutchinson was also featured in many classic television episodes including four episodes of Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone: I Sing the Body Electric, Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. She created the role of Mamie Baldwin in Earl Hamner's The Homecoming: A Christmas Story in 1971 which became the popular series The Waltons. The Baldwin sisters, you will recall were fond of generously sharing their late Papa's "recipe". Helen Kleeb and Mary Jackson played the roles on the series.

In Joseph Mankiewicz's prototype noir of 1946 Somewhere in the Night Josephine Hutchinson gave one of those memorable performances that deserved much more recognition from her peers. A war veteran with amnesia played by John Hodiak desperately searches for the clues to the man he is and the man others claim him to be. The trail leads to Elizabeth Conroy played by Hutchinson.

Josephine Hutchinson and John Hodiak

Somewhere in the Night

Miss Conroy is a lonely woman living in a dream world brought about by trauma equal to that of our hero. Does she know him? What secrets are locked in her mind? It is a heartbreaking and moving performance that in lesser hands could have been a dotty Miss Faversham type. Instead, the audience is left wondering about this character and hoping for her peace and sanity. It is the sort of performance that should come to mind when considering best supporting actress. Brava, Ms. Hutchinson.

For Your Consideration: Esther Howard

Esther Howard

(1892-1965)

Let's look at another classic movie performance sadly overlooked at award time.

It is 1947, and former Broadway musical star turned Hollywood comedienne and staple of film noir, Esther Howard shines in a thrilling crime drama from director Robert Wise.

The film is Born to Kill, based on the novel by which it is sometimes known, Deadlier Than the Male by James Gunn. A story of murder and of loyalty. Loyalty of sister for sister, of friend for friend, of lover for lover, of detective for client, and justice for the victim. Loyalties that are, and those that should be.

The story begins with the murder of a divorcee (Isabel Jewell) by a violent boyfriend (Lawrence Tierney). Another divorcee (Claire Trevor) becomes obsessed with this new man who has come into her life despite her feeling that he may be involved in the murder. Life gets complicated when Tierney while continuing the affair, marries Trevor's rich sister (Audrey Long). The best advice and concern of his hapless cohort (Elisha Cook Jr.) is misplaced in this emotional set-up.

While caught up in life in San Francisco, back in Reno the first murder has not been forgotten. Boarding house proprietor Mrs. Kraft (Esther Howard) will not forget the murder of her friend and neighbour. She hires a private detective (Walter Slezak) to investigate. When this shady character starts holding out on his client, Mrs. Kraft takes matters into her own hands with thrilling consequences.

At first a garrulous busy-body, then a good-hearted friend, Mrs. Kraft is a role that provides ample opportunity for Ms. Howard to create a memorable and award-worthy character. A determined and loyal friend who shows bravery in the face of terror and defeat in the face of overwhelming brutality. Nowadays, she'd be hitting the chat show circuit and posting clips on YouTube in a bid for a nomination. Awards help to attract notice to these outstanding movie moments, but in place of a plaque, take the word of an old-time movie buff.

Read more about Esther Howard.

For Your Consideration: David Clarke

David Clarke
August 30, 1908 - April 18, 2004

Back when the Oscars were the only game in town performances of note were often overlooked at nominating time. Today we look at "the one" from David Clarke.

Chicago born Clarke was a modern-day Vincent Crummles. I shouldn't be surprised if he often said of the theatre "I had a dog that lived and died in it from a puppy...". A performer, playwright and stage manager. A fellow toiler beside the Lunts, Houseman, Welles, and Hepburn.

Nora Dunfee
December 25, 1915 - December 23, 1994

Clarke married Nora Dunfee in 1946. His marriage to the revered actress and coach (Master Teacher of Speech New York University Tisch School of Arts) lasted 48 years. Their daughters found life in the Arts as well.

Katharine Dunfee Clarke known as K.C. Ligon
August 26, 1948 - March 25, 2009

K.C. Ligon performed on stage with her parents and in films. She followed in her mother's footsteps as a renowned dialect coach. She followed in her parents footsteps with a long (1976 - 2009) marriage to actor Tom Ligon. In 1975 Tom directed a production of David's play Never a Snug Harbor for the New Dramatists in NYC.

Susan Dunfee (Clarke), born November 18, 1956, now Susan Bennet, performed on stage and screen as a youngster and is the married mother of two.

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I first became aware of Mr. Clarke through his role in the 70s television series Ryan's Hope. He played old-school gangster Tiso Novotny. He played it well. Through the years I have seen him in such favourite movies as The Narrow Margin, Intruder in the Dust, The Boy With Green Hair and Edge of the City.

1949s The Set-Up directed by Robert Wise and based on a poem by Joseph Moncure March gave David Clarke the most memorable role of his screen career. (That's Clarke in the poster above with his arm around Robert Ryan.) The Set-Up is a story told in real time. One evening in the lives of boxers and gangsters, both scrambling for a living on the mean streets. The cast in this ensemble piece work together in theatrical and cinematic perfection. The role of a punchdrunk boxer could be such a cliche, yet in Clarke's capable hands, Gunboat Johnson seems revealed to us with his entire heartbreaking life story to view.

David Clarke had a life in the career of his choice and a family to be proud of and love. He didn't need an Oscar, but if that peer recognition were to come his way, it would surely have been for Gunboat.

The Set-Up is readily available on DVD for your pleasure. The year of its release it was nominated for a BAFTA (Best Film from any source/USA). The Cannes Film Festival Milton Krasner won for Best Cinematography and Robert Wise received the FIPRESCI Prize awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics. The film was not nominated for any Oscars.

For Your Consideration: Sen Yung

Sen Yung
October 18, 1915 - November 9, 1980

Again in Caftan Woman's world we look at an actor and performance sadly overlooked by the Academy in the Classic Hollywood of Yore.

San Francisco born Sen Yung and his sister spent most of their early years in a children's shelter following the death of their mother from the influenza outbreak of 1919. His father left the children to return to China to reverse the family's fortunes and they were not reunited until sometime in the mid-1920s. Times remained hard and the youngster went to work as a houseboy at age 11. Determined and resourceful, Sen Yung worked his way through the University of California (Berkeley) majoring in Animal Husbandry and receiving a Degree in Economics.

While working as a salesman for a chemical company a stop at 20th Century Fox led to a visit to casting where the hunt was on for actors for the revamped Charlie Chan series following the death of Warner Oland and loss of Keye Luke. With only extra work in his background (Mr. Moto Takes a Chance and The Good Earth), Sen Yung was most happily cast with the new Chan, Sidney Toler. He proved adept at the comic enthusiasm which was Jimmy Chan's trademark and had a nice chemistry with star Toler. It is a pleasure watching him in the role today.

Sen Yung, Bette Davis, James Stephenson
Worlds collide

The Academy should have been taking note of the 24-year-old actor's work in William Wyler's adaption of W. Somerset Maugham's The Letter in 1940. As Ong Chi Seng, the law clerk with an agenda, Sen Yung steals scenes and gives the audience something to think about. While the British go about pretending the world is theirs, the unctuous young man reminds them that there is another world around them, one they cannot control. There is not a trace of the ebullient would-be detective in this fine characterization. It is a highlight in a film full of wonderful atmosphere and performances.

During WW2 Sen Yung was in the Air Force Motion Picture Unit and performed in Winged Victory. He received Officer's Training and became a Captain in Intelligence. It was around this time that he was often billed as Victor Sen Yung. His co-star and friend Layne Tom, Jr. (Charlie Chan in Honolulu) refers to him as "Vic" on a delightful interview included in the Fox Charlie Chan DVD set.

Fewer roles became available for this versatile, appealing performer that had the prestige of The Letter, Across the Pacific or Moontide. It saddens me to mark his appearance as uncredited waiters in films such as The Sniper in 1952 and The Blue Gardenia 1954. However, in 1950 he has two strong roles in Michael Curtiz's The Breaking Point as a smuggler of souls, and as a nightclub entertainer in Woman on the Run co-written and directed by Norman Foster (Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, Charlie Chan in Panama and Charlie Chan in Reno).

In 1959 a television role would assure Sen Yung's place in popular culture as assuredly as the Chan features when he began the recurring (over 100 episodes) role of Hop Sing, the cook and "mother" to the Cartwrights on Bonanza. Fans recall with pleasure the episodes where Hop Sing is prominently featured such as San Francisco, The Fear Merchants or A Lonely Man.

The man of many interests was also an accomplished Cantonese chef and wrote a best selling cookbook in 1974 dedicated to his father, Sen Gam Yung. Sen Yung left behind a son and two grandchildren when he died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning in 1980. The eulogy at his funeral service was given by his Bonanza co-star Pernell Roberts. He is remembered and discovered fondly by fans to this day, and the Chinese Alumni Association of the University of California have established a memorial scholarship in his name.