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Birthday of the Week: Glenda Farrell

6/30/2014

Glenda Farrell: June 30, 1901 (or 1904) to May 1, 1971

She Could Rattle Off 400 Words in 40 Seconds

Glenda Farrell, the fast-talking, wisecracking blonde of early Warner Bros. films, was born in Enid, Oklahoma, probably in 1901. Some sources cite 1904, but if the U.S. Census is to be believed, Ms. Farrell's publicity people probably encouraged the misconception.

But what's three years? Whether she started acting at 7 or 10 as (what else?) Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Glenda Farrell knew what she wanted and worked very hard to get it. She preferred stage work to movies, but appeared in several silent films in uncredited parts before making a name for herself on Broadway. Her success in theatre led to a contract with Warner Brothers anyway, and Farrell became the studio's go-to gun moll, girl reporter, and smart-aleck best friend; second leads, but sturdy ones. She was often paired with pal Joan Blondell in the early 30s, but also supported the likes of Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson, and Kay Francis.

She is probably best known as the eponymous star of the Torchy Blane series, an agreeable B series about a plucky reporter who'd do anything to get a story. But Farrell grew tired of being typecast and took fewer roles on the screen, preferring the range of opportunity Broadway offered.

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Farrell's screen appearances were primarily on television. In 1963 she won an Emmy for her recurring role on Ben Casey, and took the occasional role in film up until 1970, the year before her death. Even though several sources claim that Glenda Farrell was not a smoker -- and even though there's many an excellent photo out there of Glenda Farrell spectacularly posed with a cigarette -- it was lung cancer that took her on May 1, 1971, at age 66 or 70, depending.

She was a joy to watch, particularly in those buddy pictures with Joan Blondell. For a gal who was often shooting three pictures at once in those years, Glenda Farrell seemed to be having an awfully good time.

Favorite Five

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Lady for a Day (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
Traveling Saleslady (1935)
The Torchy Blane Series (1937-1939)

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The Uneven Adventures of Torchy Blane

3/17/2014

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Glenda Farrell and Her Right Thumb

How to Not Get Married in an Entire Series

In the Warner Bros. series The Adventures of Torchy Blane, the heroine is a fast-talking, fearless, ambitious, often unethical ace reporter for the New York Star. Her boyfriend is detective Steven McBride, a big gorilla who is usually one or two steps behind in solving whatever murder Torchy is pursuing. The franchise is based on a very popular detective pulp series of the 1920s and '30s by Frederick Nebel called Kennedy of the Free Press, in which the ace reporter is male, a massive drunk, and not in love with Steve McBride.

There are nine Torchy Blane pictures in all, seven of them starring Warner character slugger, Glenda Farrell, with an odd, mid-series switch to Lola Lane, then back to Farrell, then finishing up with a blonde, bangs-free Jane Wyman in the final installment. Like many hour-ish long Warner Bros. fare of the time, the pictures are minimally produced, comfortably formulaic, and zippy in the dialog department.

The ingredients of this particular formula are:

Torchy is at or near the business end of a murder.
Her boyfriend, Detective Steve McBride (mostly Barton MacLane), is both impressed and annoyed by her sleuthing, telling her it's man's work, etc.; she ignores him.
Torchy conducts a more effective investigation using dubious or otherwise inadmissible evidence-gathering methods.
Dopey Detective Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) does or says something adorably stupid to tell Torchy something she's not supposed to know.
Desk Sergeant Graves (George Guhl) forgets something.
We're treated to a gratuitous racist sight or language gag.
Torchy has a steak.
Torchy solves the case.
Torchy or Steve stall their wedding plans.

The mysteries themselves aren't much, but I don't think suspense was a particularly high production priority for these dialog-driven character showcases. So attractive was Glenda Farrell's newspaperhound, that Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was inspired to model Lois Lane on her Torchy Blane. You can see bits of Farrell in the Lois of the early comics, the few times Lois gets to say anything in the excellent 1940s Fleischer cartoons, and in Margot Kidder's Lois of the first (and my favorite) Superman (1978).

Some of these movies are better than others and most are fun and engaging with only one real clunker in the set (I'm talking to you, Torchy Blane in Panama). For my money, you can't go wrong with the first four and the last two.

The nerve of this woman.

Smart Blonde (1937)

As a series opener, you can't beat Smart Blonde for establishing its heroine as a driven, get-the-story-at-all-costs newshound. The first moments show Torchy in the back of a cab in hot pursuit alongside a speeding train telling the driver to pull over to the next crossing so she can jump out and swing onto the caboose with nothing but a business suit and carnation as luggage. Stopping only to straighten her skirt, she pauses to ask the conductor where to find Mr. Torgensen's compartment (she has no ticket, incidentally, just a whole lot of moxie) and plants herself across from this Mr. Torgensen, millionaire sports promoter, and charmingly interviews him about some upcoming deal. At their destination, Mr. Torgensen offers to drop Torchy at her newspaper and is promptly shot and killed right in front of her. Unfazed, Torchy runs into a phone booth (remember those?) and proceeds to dictate the whole story. And not a hair out of place.

Now THAT'S a REPORTER.

In this episode, Steve proposes to Torchy, but don't hold your breath.

Star Sighting: Very young, very funny Jane Wyman as Dixie, the hatcheck girl.
Favorite Lines:
Dixie [watching McBride walk away]: "Ain't he masterful?"
Torchy: "Yeah, all he needs is a leopard skin."

Around the world in 60 minutes

Fly Away Baby (1937)

In this second installment, newly-engaged Torchy embarks on a race around the world with two other reporters, exposes a smuggling operation, and solves a murder. It's a patchwork of implausibilities that is mostly fun to watch, with a dose of creepiness in the last half hour when everyone shows up on the Hindenburg, which exploded a month before the picture was released.

Star Sighting: The opening credits state that Fly Away Baby came "from an idea by Dorothy Kilgallen." According to Wikipedia, the film and possibly Torchy herself were based on Kilgallen and her book Girl Around the World, which describes a very similar race. Without the smuggling and the murder, of course.
Favorite Line:
Torchy [trying to sell her publisher on the race story]: "A woman doing anything is the copy."

Everyone just does what she says to do.

The Adventurous Blonde (1937)

In The Adventurous Blonde, all the city reporters are jealous of Torchy constantly scooping them, so they concoct a story about a famous actor being murdered to send her on a wild goose chase. Naturally, the actor is a two-timing womanizer who turns up dead for real and Torchy winds up solving the murder, getting the story, and managing to not marry Lieutenant McBride.

Star Sighting: A very young, very handsome William Hopper.
Favorite Line:
Torchy [to Steve]: "You're the one who swapped fireside for homicide."

Fast-forward through the laundry scene.

Blondes at Work (1938)

This time the police department is annoyed that Torchy uses her connection to McBride to get hot stories. Nothing comes of it, of course, but Torchy shows a certain callousness in this one that's a little unpleasant. Still, Blondes at Work is probably my favorite because there are lots of girls in it (and not just blondes) talking to each other, to the cops, to Torchy, saying things girls are likely to say.

Torchy does some really questionable stuff in this one.

Star Sighting: Betty Compson, heroine of the astonishingly great 1928 Josef von Sternberg film, The Docks of New York. I was not happy to learn that her voice is a bit reedy for talkies.
Favorite Lines:
Torchy [trying to get out of a ticket]: "I'm Torchy Blane of the Star."
Beat Cop: "I don't care if you're an eclipse of the sun."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Torchy Blane in Panama (1938)

Just as the series hit its stride, Warner Bros. went ahead and changed up both stars with Lola Lane as Torchy and Paul Kelly as McBride. The result is a tepid treatment of the trusty formula, with very little chemistry between the new stars. This time the gang goes to Panama to investigate a New York bank robbery that involves a member of the Leopard Lodge. It's not important what happens, really, but Torchy does jump out of a plane to catch up with the ship carrying all the cops who are trying to give her the slip.

It's a game effort, but this combination of talent fails to hold up the shortcomings of the story.

Star Sighting: Betty Compson again, for some reason, like in the last picture, but this time as a gun moll.
Favorite Line: "Why, Steve McBride, sometimes I wonder why I'm crazy enough to think of you and me and a cottage in New Jersey all in the same day."

Gahagan does math.

Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)

So this is NOT the movie where Torchy and McBride finally get married, but is instead about how Torchy exposes a con artist counterfeiter pretending to be a secret service agent who Steve thinks is on the level.

The pacing on this one is pretty slow, but there are some nice moments between Torchy and Gahagan and a German-speaking German Shepherd.

Star Sighting: Uh, nobody.
Favorite Lines:
Torchy: "I'll be very secretive (accent on the second syllable)."
Gahagan: "I don't care about that, but you gotta keep it mum."

Ethics, shmethics.

Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)

There's very little actual Chinatown in Torchy Blane in Chinatown, and even less of the zing of previous installments. Based on the horrible Chinese pidgin Torchy used with a laundryman in Blondes at Work, this is probably just as well.

Some jade tablets are taken from a Chinese burial site and suddenly a bunch of folks are extorted and threatened with murder. Torchy figures it all out eventually, but is especially bumbling and callous in the process.

Star Sighting: Patric Knowles, reliable second leading man for a number of high-profile pictures, including Will Scarlett in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
Favorite Lines:
McBride: "Whaddya doing on that balcony?"
Torchy [caught snooping]: "Every time I see a balcony, the Juliet comes out in me."

Is it just me, or did she get that guy killed?

Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939)

Torchy exposes rampant city corruption after Boss Dolan takes over but is blocked from printing anything about it because, well, there's corruption. Also the Boss threatens the paper with a massive exodus of advertisers. When the candidate Torchy manipulates into running on a reform platform is murdered, McBride writes her in as the recall candidate for a joke.

But Torchy loves the idea and runs for mayor, promising to "make the city safe for your babies." Steve, in the meantime, foils the Boss's plot to murder Torchy, and Torchy wins the election. At her victory press conference, however, she is given a baby to hold and decides she wants to get married instead and quits.

Dames.

Star Sighting: Directed by Ray McCarey whose other credits include Our Gang and Laurel & Hardy shorts; he is also the younger brother of feature film director, Leo McCarey.
Favorite Lines:
McBride: "I've got to consider which side our bread is buttered on; yours as well as mine."
Torchy: "Oh no you don't, not our bread, not until the rice begins to fly. Until then I have my own slice to butter."

Eleven false fire alarms. Eleven.

Torchy Blane...Playing with Dynamite (1939)

In this last installment, Torchy is played ably by Jane Wyman and Lt. Bride is taken over by the wonderful Allen Jenkins, who many of us of a certain age will recognize as the voice of Officer Dibble in Top Cat. While this pairing has much better chemistry than the last series switcheroo, the age difference between the two actors is a little too wide for serious sparks. And as spunky and fast-talking as Wyman's Torchy is, she comes across more Nancy Drew than Nellie Bly.

But I like Nancy Drew.

The dynamite in question is Torchy's getting herself thrown in jail so she can get close to gangster's girl, Jackie McGuire (Sheila Bromley), which she does. But not for long. They break out and run off to San Francisco to meet Jackie's crooked guy, with McBride and Gahagan on the trail. There's a prison fight, a wrestling match, a kidnapping, a guy named Bugsy, and a daring escape involving a speeding car.

Which is where we came in on Torchy Blane. And if you're going to end a series, you may as well go out on a good one.

Star Sighting: Jane Wyman, again.
Favorite Lines:
Gahagan [reminiscing about a wrestling match]: "I was wearing purple tights, and the old Crusher was wearing..."
McBride: "...a strait-jacket."

This post is part of Sleuthathon, The Great Classic Detective Blogathon, hosted by the excellent Movies Silently; please check out the other reviews about great film detectives, mysteries, and talented amateurs.

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