So I'm perfectly willing to suck it up and let them have their Teen Idol month.

I won't be watching a single Fabian, Bobby Darin, or even (especially?) Elvis movie as several minor forms of torture seem more pleasing to me than the nightmares any of those may bring, but I'm here with my TCM-alt schedule to put a bold circle around those days and often late nights which best appeal to me. And perhaps you.

10:45 am Saturday mornings continue with TCM's last couple of Boston Blackie movies before transitioning to the Rusty series. Each of these are followed by multiple chapters of Dick Tracy serials.

June 4 is a Rosalind Russell birthday marathon (born 1907) and while I'd prefer all 30's titles I'm going to try to stick to my vow of no complaints and be happy that an actress I like has the day. Besides, not many actresses had the staying power to be featured in a six film marathon stretching over twenty years! Beyond that the latest title is begrudgingly her most iconic. The schedule:

The Citadel (1938) with Robert Donat at 6 am; the classic The Women (1939) at 8 am; Sister Kenny (1946) at 10:30 am (I keep meaning to watch that one!); Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) at 12:45 pm; Picnic (1955) at 3:30 pm; Auntie Mame (1958) closing it out at 5:30 pm.

Sick Day for June - Wednesday, June 6. Yes, I'm telling you to call in sick if you can get away with it because TCM runs the best Horror movie marathon I've ever seen them run from 6 am to 8 pm. Heavy on the MGM as usual but with some Universal and Paramount tossed in this time to make it one of their most diverse group of horror offerings I've seen at one time. And they're all 1930's titles! You get:

Frankenstein (1931) at 6 am; Doctor X (1932) at 7:15; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) at 8:45 am; Freaks (1932) at 10:30 am; The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) at 11:45 am; Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) at 1:00 pm; Island of Lost Souls (1933) at 2:15 pm; Mad Love (1935) at 3:30 pm; Mark of the Vampire (1935) at 4:45 pm; and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) at 6:00 pm.

I really hope they have the rights to all these come Halloween. I mean I love Vincent Price and the Val Lewton movies, but it feels like they show them every year. There's a bit more variety on June 6.

Bonus 30's horror - For some reason The Black Cat (1934) is tucked into the schedule on June 8 at 11:15 pm EST.

Sunday, June 10 brings what is a TCM annual highlight for many--the 24 hour Judy Garland (born 1922) birthday marathon! It's a long list of movies, so without editorializing, here goes:

Everybody Sing (1938) at 6 am; Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) at 7:45 am; Strike Up the Band (1940) at 9:30 am; For Me and My Gal (1942) at 12 noon; Girl Crazy (1943) at 2 pm; A Star Is Born (1954) at 3:45 pm; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic (1990) documentary at 7 pm; The Wizard of Oz (1939) at 8 pm; Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) at 10 pm; Easter Parade (1948) at 12 midnight; Summer Stock (1950) at 2 am; I Could Go On Singing (1963) at 4 am.

I can't spot the theme for Monday, June 11, if there is one, but I do see lots of old movies I want to watch! That schedule:

6:00 am Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy and Constance Cummings in This Man Is Mine (1934); Robert Young in Sworn Enemy (1936) at 7:30; a big star in my own guide for The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940) at 9:00 am, a remake of the 1932 Warren William breakout The Mouthpiece (Hopefully it's superior to 1955's Illegal); The Shanghai Gesture (1941) at 10:30 am; Cornered at 12:15 pm; Flamingo Road (1949) at 2 pm; my favorite Gene Kelly movie, Black Hand (1950) at 3:45 pm; Saratoga Trunk (1945) at 5:30 pm.

Again, not sure if there's a theme there, but am sure my DVR will be working hard on Monday, June 11.

Tuesday, June 12 celebrates Priscilla Lane's birthday (born 1915) with an eight movie daytime marathon:

Varsity Show (1937) at 7 am; Brother Rat (1938) at 9 am; Brother Rat and a Baby (1940) at 10:30 am; Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938) at 12 noon; Four Daughters (1938) at 1:30 pm; Daughters Courageous (1939) at 3:15 pm; Love, Honor and Behave (1938) at 5:15 pm; Men Are Such Fools (1938) at 6:30 pm.

Wow! Warner Brothers sure kept her busy, huh? Especially in 1938!

Wednesday, June 13 shows nine movies featuring Basil Rathbone, born on that date in 1892. I won't suggest another sick day, but whew, if you could maybe wrangle a half day the afternoon is pretty strong here!

Basil day: The Flirting Widow (1930) at 6:15 am; The Lady of Scandal (1930) at 7:30 am; Sin Takes a Holiday (1930) at 9 am; Anna Karenina (1935) at 10:30 am; A Feather in Her Hat (1935) at 12:15 pm. My favorite double-feature of the month begins at 1:30 pm with an extremely creepy Rathbone absolutely tormenting the wonderful Aline MacMahon in Kind Lady (1935). This is followed by Confession (1937) at 3 pm, which is really a Kay Francis movie and one of her absolute best. I'm going to try to write about at least one, maybe both, of these movies before June 13. The day does not weaken any at 4:30 with The Dawn Patrol (1938) starring Errol Flynn and David Niven alongside Rathbone; then we finish with Fingers at the Window (1942) at 6:30 pm.

In case that paragraph got too fat for you I will repeat--major DVR alert for Kind Lady (1935) and Confession (1937) between 1:30 and 4:30 pm EST on June 13.

Neither a favorite, but well worth a mention in this space are the June 14 seven movie Dorothy McGuire birthday marathon (born 1916) and the June 18 eleven movie Dick Foran birthday marathon (born 1910). A Happy's Father Day to you in between on June 17 with an appropriately themed marathon that doesn't quite match the firepower of the previous Mother's Day marathon.

Even though we've seen a lot of these before more special attention must be called to the eight movie Errol Flynn birthday marathon playing on TCM Wednesday, June 20. The titles:

Green Light (1937) at 6:30 am; Northern Pursuit (1943) at 8 am; The Dawn Patrol (1938) at 9:45 am (Again? Okay!); The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) at 11:30 am; Santa Fe Trail (1940) at 1:30 pm; The Warriors (1955) at 3:30 pm (Ooh, one I havn't seen!); Rocky Mountain (1950) at 5 pm; The Master of Ballantrae (1953) at 6:30 pm.

Eh, kind of weak for a Flynn day. I'm shocked they skip the opportunity to air The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and I'll always stump for both Captain Blood (1935) and Gentleman Jim (1942), two personal favorites. What do you think? Any Flynn missing that you really wanted?

Jumping to Prime Time for but a second, I really like the (almost) completely unrelated double feature beginning at 8 pm on Friday, June 22: Sylvia Sidney in Street Scene (1931) at 8 pm followed by the second Andy Hardy movie, You're Only Young Once (1937) at 9:30 pm. It's the Hardy movie where they vacation at Catalina and though it's the second movie of the long running series it's actually the first appearance for series regulars Lewis Stone, Fay Holden and Ann Rutherford, whose parts were played by other actors in the first film, A Family Affair (1937).

Those are just the first of four movies linked together that evening under the loose banner of "Summertime."

I don't know why Monday, June 25 was chosen, as it's not her birthday, but TCM airs six movies that morning featuring character actress Clara Blandick, best know as Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Which is not one of the six movies--Remember, it airs at 8 pm on June 10 for Judy Garland's birthday. It's bizarre little scheduling quirks like this that really make me love TCM. Somebody thought to string together these movies. Would love to know why even if it was just a whim!

The Clara Blandick marathon: Men Are Like That (1930) at 6 am; Romance (1930); Turn Back the Clock (1933) at 9 am; Make Way for a Lady (1936) at 10:30 am; Crime Ring (1938) at 11:45 am; The Nurse's Secret (1941) at 1 pm.

Now that same night, June 25, TCM does it again with a Ross Alexander marathon beginning in Prime Time and running straight through to sun-up!

8:00 pm: Hot Money (1936); We're in the Money (1935) at 9:15 pm; China Clipper (1936) at 10:30 pm; Ready, Willing and Able (1937) at 12:15 am; Shipmates Forever (1935) at 2 am; Boulder Dam (1936) at 4 am; and Brides Are Like That (1936) at 5:15 am.

Ready, Willing and Able was Alexander's final film, released just a couple of months after he took his own life, January 2, 1937.

And I guess we'll end on that downer.

Watch for me on The Cinementals over the next few days as I'll be guest-posting a quickie Crime Doctor guide and my 'Cliff's Picks' column for June. In 'Cliff's Picks' I'll be pointing you to my favorite five or so individual movies airing on TCM in June 2012--there are some major hints as to those choices in the article above!

TCM June 2012 Decade Tally

I'm beginning to find this count somewhat repetitive. I may discontinue the feature next month. The only possible reasons I can see to continue with it are to get a count for the unbalanced Summer Under the Stars schedule for August and to keep the count up for a full calendar year. Time on hand will probably dictate whether I count them up next month or not.

For those unfamiliar with this feature, this is the part of the entry where I open up my TCM Now Playing Guide to tally off every movie TCM shows during the month of May and record the results by decade. You'll find me rooting hard for the 1930's and 40's and holding my nose to big gains from the 1960's and later. I could go either way on the 50's. Here's the May tally:

105 - 1950's
96 - 1940's
88 - 1930's
75 - 1960's
24 - 1970's
12 - 1980's
4 - 1920's
2 - 1990's
1 - 1910's

To date, January 1-June 30, 2012:
614 - 1950's
562 - 1940's
486 - 1960's
438 - 1930's
122 - 1970's
63 - 1980's
45 - 1920's
9 - 1990's
7 - 1910's
1 - 2000's

As usual TCM airs more movies from the 1950's than any other decade in June 2012. The pleasant surprise is that despite Teen Idols being featured this month the 1960's are down, lagging behind the 1930's for the second month in a row.

I've become pretty satisfied with my findings over the six months though and am happy to say that I now see TCM continues to air more movies from the 1930's and 40's than I had expected even if I personally feel the 60's get too much play.

Remember: TCM Star of the Month for July will be Leslie Howard.

Touch ups aren't just for love handles and poor complexions ... they're for Merian C. Cooper's hairline as this undated but definitely pre-King Kong press photo goes to show:

This 8" X 10" vintage press photo includes a RKO-Radio Pictures studio stamp on back and descriptive snipe tag attached on back which reads as follows:

"Ernest Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper, who thrilled film fans with their adventure pictures, GRASS, CHANG and FOUR FEATHERS have been reunited on the RKO-Radio Pictures lot where they will make a series of spectacular thrillers."

Glossy finish with press crop marks and touch ups on front as shown above.

The second Merian C. Cooper photo contains fewer clues than the first as to date, but judging by Cooper's appearance and the circumstantial evidence of the photos having been acquired together, my best guess is that it's from the same slightly pre-1933 period.

This one is a double weight photo with matte finish. It also has an RKO-Radio Pictures stamp on back as well as a photographer's stamp crediting famed RKO photographer Ernest A. Bachrach.

I'll miss them both, but here's hoping you were the lucky winning bidder!

I'll update this posting with Prices Realized for each of these vintage Merian C. Cooper photos after the sales are completed.

This article is one of several posts about horses in film and/or movies with horses that was written as part of the first ever Horseathon hosted by My Love of Old Hollywood. Please see all participating sites and horse-themed film articles contributed to the Horseathon HERE.

"We took six weeks to shoot Stablemates, and I never had so much fun making a movie. I guess it showed because the box office was sensational (the picture grossed more than three times its cost) and so were the reviews." From Life is Too Short by Mickey Rooney, page 130.

Stablemates was marketed as "The Champ of 1938," referring to Beery's turn as a boxer in the 1931 tearjerker which won* him an Academy Award for Best Actor. In a part that the Hollywood Reporter stated was originally intended for Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney took over the son role played by Jackie Cooper in the earlier film.

*Beery actually finished one vote behind co-winner Fredric March, a margin close enough at that time to be declared a tie.

MGM successfully paired Beery and Cooper a few more times following The Champ, including in the hit Treasure Island (1934), but then Cooper, despite being two years younger than Rooney, grew up. Cooper towers over co-stars Freddie Bartholomew and Rooney in 1936's The Devil Is a Sissy, the last of his successful movies as a child star at MGM. By the time of Stablemates Jackie Cooper was starring in B-movies at Universal and cheapies at Poverty Row studios like Monogram.

At that time young Rooney was on the rise with MGM. He had appeared previously with Beery in the film version of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! (1935), where Beery played Rooney's alcoholic Uncle. Rooney wrote that "For me the high point of making the film was getting to know Wallace Beery, a lovable, shambling kind of guy who never seemed to know that his shirttail belonged inside his pants but always knew when a little kid actor needed a smile and a wink or a word of encouragement" (76).

Wallace Beery was 53 in 1938 and on the backside of his extremely successful MGM run. Besides success alongside Cooper he made MGM a lot of money when teamed with Marie Dressler, a screen pairing that lasted until her death in 1934. While Cooper, Dressler and many others had their problems with Beery, this wasn't the case for Rooney and the two became great friends during Stablemates. Rooney described their relationship as "not just actor and kid actor but friends" (129) before telling a story about the night Beery asked him to tag along to dinner at Errol Flynn's place. As you might image that turned out to be a pretty wild time. When Rooney's father, Joe Yule, Sr., died in 1950, "We buried him at Forest Lawn, right next to Wallace Beery. I thought it was fitting that these two comedians should rest in peace, side by side (239).

One advantage Cooper had in The Champ over Rooney in Stablemates was age. Cooper was just nine when the earlier film was made; Rooney was about to turn 18 as Stablemates was filmed. A weepy nine-year-old engages a lot more sympathy than does an 18-year-old who spouts the waterworks. In the final scene of Stablemates Beery's old horse vet wonders, "I guess it'd be kind of sissy for two great big men like us to kiss, huh?" Rooney, wracked by tears, takes a moment and chases after father-figure Beery to suggest, "It wouldn't be sissy on the cheek." Rooney is just too old for it to go over as well as similar waterworks scenes did in The Champ.

But the 5' 2" Rooney would always be perfectly cast as a jockey or, as he aged, former jockey.

Already behind him by the time of Stablemates were Down the Stretch (1936) starring Patricia Ellis and Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937) which still has a bit of an audience because of Rooney's co-star and pal Judy Garland. After several years of Andy Hardy entries Rooney would star in his best remembered horse film, National Velvet (1944) with young Elizabeth Taylor, one which stands the test of time as a classic.

Rooney's character strongly disapproves of Beery's when they first meet Stablemates. Beery, typically drunk and disheveled as Tom Terry, tells Rooney that, "You're looking at yourself 30 years from now, that's what comes from following the racehorses." It is about five years earlier than Tom Terry's prediction, but Rooney shows us a darker side to the profession in the Twilight Zone episode he starred in titled "The Last Night of a Jockey."

Later there would be The Black Stallion (1979) and the early 90's television series The New Adventures of the Black Stallion. Rooney's older ex-jockeys get by on the talented actor's acting chops while in the earlier movies, including Stablemates, he's a saddled-up ball of energy. Andy Hardy on horse back. It could have been worse for a star of Rooney's size--just ask Frankie Darro!

I wonder how many Americans watch more than three horse races per year these days? For the past few decades we've been all about team sports. Baseball has long held a grip on the American public and exploded into unprecedented popularity when Babe Ruth buried the deadball era with his unprecedented power surge of the 1920's. College football may have been the most popular spectator sport in America at that time, but as for the pros two very different sports with deeper roots gripped the passions of Americans in the twenties and thirties: boxing and horse racing.

Boxing had its own version of Ruth, Jack Dempsey, who was even more famous than the Babe at his peak. After Dempsey retired the sport suffered a decline but by the time we're discussing, the time of Stablemates, it had regained its grip over the public largely thanks to the exploits of Joe Louis. Louis had finally ascended to the heavyweight championship throne with his 1937 knockout of the Cinderella Man, James J. Braddock. Louis, an African-American sports figure of unprecedented popularity, would hold the title an incredible eleven years.

By the time of Stablemates Babe Ruth had been retired three years though the Yankees were still winning championships without him. Their ballpark, Yankee Stadium, had recently hosted Joe Louis' most famous victory in a June 1938 rematch where he avenged a previous defeat at the hands of German fighter Max Schmelling, fighting under the banner of the Nazi swastika. But the most popular sports figure in America at that time wasn't a man, it was a horse. That horse would play a role not only in promotion of Stablemates but even appear in the film himself.

This newspaper ad offers a contest for free tickets to Stablemates. Seabiscuit is one of several actual racehorses named in the ad as being in the movie.

"Seabiscuit was the single biggest news-maker of 1938, and that was a really momentous year. During that time, even people who didn't give a damn about horse racing were following him," author Laura Hillenbrand told Publisher's Weekly in 2001 when her book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, not only revitalized the legend of one horse, but singlehandedly brought horse racing back to the big screen.

The 2003 film Seabiscuit, based on Hillenbrand's book, would be the first Hollywood film about horse racing since Let it Ride in 1989. "In the time of the actual Seabiscuit, the 1930s, Hollywood made sixty-eight movies with a horse-racing theme" (McGinniss).

Stablemates may have been just one of those sixty-eight and (hopefully) not the best one of them, but given the timing it may be the most fascinating when viewed with regard to the Seabiscuit legend.

Mickey escorts Lady Q past the real Seabiscuit

That legend in brief: Seabiscuit wasn't pegged as a champion from the get-go. Despite good breeding he didn't win much at the start of his career and was considered a bit of a failure when his original owners sold him. Under new ownership and ridden by jockey Red Pollard he began to string together an impressive number of victories in 1936. After losing by a nose to Rosemont at the 1937 Santa Anita handicap, Seabiscuit was shipped East where he won 5 out of 5 races. 1937 built the legend as Seabiscuit won 11 of 15 races and was the leading US money winner on the track. Despite that he lost the American Horse of the Year Award to a monster named War Admiral who had won the triple crown that year. In 1937 and throughout 1938 anticipation grew for a match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral to once and for all prove which horse was best. The match race was set up and scratched a few times before finally being run on November 1, 1938 when Seabiscuit beat the 1-4 favored War Admiral by four lengths. This sealed the legend. And Seabiscuit would be American Horse of the Year for 1938.

Scene from the race at the end of the film, said to be actual footage of the inaugural Hollywood Gold Cup race. That would make that Seabiscuit out in front.

Stablemates premiered in American movie theaters on October 7, 1938, just three weeks before the much anticipated Seabiscuit-War Admiral match race. 40,000 people attended the November 1 match race at Pimlico; an estimated 4 million listened on the radio. 4,000,000. Is it any wonder that Stablemates would gross three times cost?

Stablemates not only focused on the same general topic currently transcending sports and captivating Americans, but even stabled Rooney's Lady Q right next to that idol of millions, Seabiscuit, in a scene just before the big race at the end of the movie. As for that big race, well, that was also a chance for moviegoers to see Seabiscuit in action: The footage used was the inaugural 1938 $50,000 Hollywood Gold Cup race at Hollywood Park Racetrack. Seabiscuit won that race by two lengths.

Mickey Rooney wrote that "We shot some scenes before, during, and after the running of the $50,000 Hollywood Gold Cup. That gave our picture the kind of authenticity director Sam Wood wanted" (129). Furthermore Rooney claims that Seabiscuit owner C.S. Howard found him at the track one day and asked him if he'd like to work out Seabiscuit. Rooney said he "breezed Seabiscuit for five eighths of a mile in 1:01 and 2/5," concluding that "You could look it up" (129).

So however sappy you might find Stablemates it's well worth remembering its distinct place in the time capsule of history and pop culture.

The film itself focuses on Rooney's Mickey, trainer then owner then jockey of racehorse Lady Q. After Lady Q lets down owner Mr. Gale (Arthur Hohl) in an early scene at the track he washes his hands of her and threatens either the glue factory or lion's cage at the zoo for the Lady. Mickey is practically in tears as he successfully begs ownership from Gale.

Also hanging around the track is Wallace Beery's old bum, Tom Terry. Tom bunked with Mickey the night before Lady Q blew that final race for Gale. He had hoped to sell his services to Gale the next morning and dope up the Lady for her big race.

"Trouble with that horse is, she's sick," Tom tells Mickey after Lady Q fades in the race.

Tom tells Mickey that he suspects Lady Q has the same problem that the famed Ski Ball had had. But Ski Ball had a smart young vet around to perform an operation removing a tumor from under one of the horse's hooves and nursing her back to health and championships afterwards. Mickey soon discovers that Tom was that young vet and begs for him to perform the same operation on Lady Q.

The welfare of the horse helps to bring Tom and Mickey together with Tom eventually performing a most unofficial ceremony declaring Mickey his adopted son. They hike off together with their Lady Q and plans to run her at a big race in Burlington. Mickey hopes that "If Lady Q wins a lot of dough maybe I can go to school and become a vet." He wants to be just like his new pop.

Their hike is interrupted by a rainstorm which causes them to seek shelter in the barn that turns out to belong to Miss Sanders (Margaret Hamilton). Sanders, recently widowed for the fifth time, greets them with a shot gun before putting them to work and eventually setting her sights on Tom as husband material. After all, he fits the clothes.

But Tom has a dark past that is slowly realized by one of Mickey's track buddies, Barney (Minor Watson), a detective. After Barney puts together just who Mickey's new pop is, Mickey is forced to break off the relationship with the old man and try to get Lady Q in the Burlington stakes race on his own.

It all comes to a teary, glorious conclusion as Mickey is aided by a kind horse owner, Mrs. Shepherd (Marjorie Gateson), and Tom shows up to give Lady Q some final repairs before making an honorable and, again, teary, exit.

Marjorie Gateson and Mickey Rooney

Despite the friendship, great chemistry and the undeniable popularity of Stablemates, Rooney seems a bit off and I didn't find this to be one of his better performances. Beery is fine called upon to play drunk through the first half of the film and just as tired and weather-beaten when he sobers up for the second half. As Rooney wrote, "In Stablemates, Wally Beery and I were playing ourselves or, at least, playing the selves that we had become in our movies" (128). Through experience Beery is a bit better at playing himself by this time.

B.R Crisler applauded both men in his New York Times review of October 21, 1938 writing that "Stablemates is Mickey's baptism of fire; anybody who can just break even before a camera with the invincible Beery is good, and Mickey, full of the fire of youth, even gets a shade the best of the encounter." He obviously liked Mickey a lot more than I did in this one.

Rooney had already appeared in his first few Hardy family movies by the time of Stablemates which was itself filmed right after Rooney had played in what would be the critically acclaimed Boys Town. This was the start of Rooney's extremely successful run at MGM that would culminate in his becoming the top drawing movie star in the world for 1939, '40 and '41!

Stablemates certainly played a part in that rise but plays as a footnote today.

While I personally didn't care much for the movie I find the surrounding history of its time and place extremely fascinating. In my book that makes it worth viewing as a curiosity alone. But if you are a fan of Beery in The Champ and can stomach the sort of weepy that Stablemates becomes you might find yourself an admirer of the movie itself as well.

This article is one of several posts about horses in film and/or movies with horses that was written as part of the first ever Horseathon hosted by My Love of Old Hollywood. Please see all participating sites and horse-themed film articles contributed to the Horseathon HERE.

Sources

• Andriani, Lynn. "PW Talks with Laura Hillenbrand". Publishers Weekly 1 Jan 2001: 75.
• Crisler, B.R. Rev. of Stablemates. The New York Times Film Reviews (1932 - 1938). New York: Times Books & Garland Publishing, Inc., 1990.
• McGinniss, Joe. The Big Horse. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.
• Rooney, Mickey. Life is Too Short. New York: Villard Books, 1991.

Perhaps I post this gallery simply with hopes you'll revisit my article about the movie Captain Blood. That said, I do see some very familiar faces throughout this 25 card set, even if the characters shown do not actually carry the names of the actors and actresses I suspect their illustrations were based upon!

I don't do this often, but as I bought this set primarily to archive it on the site I've made it available for sale not as singles but as a complete set. Sales info is found on the Gallery page just below the gallery--oh, that gallery pictures front and back of all 25 cards.

So what do you think, Errol & Olivia:

See the entire 1937 B. Morris & Sons Captain Blood set HERE.

Other Stuff

I posted this one to the Immortal Ephemera Facebook Page yesterday. From the National Park Service it is a list of Conserv O Grams. The list itself is targeted specifically to museum staff but also to "Interested individuals who have collections of fine arts, furniture, ceramics and glass, leather work, books and papers." You get to the info about paper, ephemera, books, etc. towards the bottom of the page.

In case you missed it, though I expect their readership is a bit larger than my own, the New York Times recently published an article about a man who has been mentioned on Immortal Ephemera more than one time. "A Hobby to Many, Card Collecting Was Life's Work for One Man" by Ken Belson is about, you guessed it, Jefferson Burdick.

Burdick is the legendary mid-century collector who brought organization to our hobby in several ways including his most lasting contribution, the American Card Catalog. Check out the Times article here, it runs 5 pages if you print it out.

Coming Soon

Hopefully your inbox didn't explode when I sent you yesterday's lengthy Crime Doctor Episode Guide. It was written as a follow-up to my recent Crime Doctor post and in anticipation of Turner Classic Movies Crime Doctor marathon airing the morning of May 31.

Speaking of TCM I'll be posting my monthly recommendations to Immortal Ephemera some time next week. The tally count of films aired by decade will also be included in that post. I'll also be pointing to my Top 5 TCM picks for June as a contributor to The Cinementals site some time soon.

After pressing the publish button on this tonight I'm going to get back to work on my article about Stablemates (1938) starring Mickey Rooney and Wallace Beery. I'm writing that one as part of the Horseathon being hosted by My Love of Old Hollywood and subscribers should see the finished article within the next 24 hours or so.

Til then, have a wonderful weekend--make that a wonderful Holiday weekend to my friends here in the U.S. Talk soon--
Cliff

Warner Baxter in the first Crime Doctor

Crime Doctor featured Dr. Ordway's origin story. The Ordway character began as a criminal named Phil Morgan who lost his memory after he was double-crossed and thrown from a moving car. Taking his name from the Ordway ward of the hospital where he recuperated the amnesia victim seeks out his past with the aid of Dr. Carey. Frustrated that Dr. Carey can't help him, Ordway decides to help himself and embarks on a period of study leading to his own medical degree.

The Crime Doctor solves his own past in Crime Doctor before being spun off into more familiar mystery stories in the nine sequels to follow.

This page is meant to serve as a Crime Doctor episode guide. No cases are spoiled. Details are kept to the people, places and situations that best identify each movie.

Crime Doctor Index

While the first entry will take you to another page, the subsequent Crime Doctor movies are all covered on this page. At this time six of the nine sequels are detailed. I will add the other three as I gain access to them. Click any title to head directly to that entry.

1. Crime Doctor (1943)
2. Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943)
3. Shadows in the Night (1944)
4. The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945)
5. Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)
6. Just Before Dawn (1946)
7. Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946)
8. The Millerson Case (1947)
9. Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)
10. The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949)

Note: I find it funny that the three I'm missing are those which don't include the words "Crime Doctor" in the title. Somebody at Turner Classic Movies needs to take a little more care when assembling their next Crime Doctor marathon!

Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943)

The first sequel in the Crime Doctor series catches itself up to Ordway's story line from the radio by having him mention that he's resigned from the parole board and setting him off to run his own investigation separate from that of the police.

Crime Doctor's Strangest Case is filled with familiar faces and moves at breakneck pace. It's simple beginning takes place in Ordway's office where Jimmy Trotter (Lloyd Bridges) and his fiancé Ellen (Lynn Merrick), visit. Sometime previous to this Ordway had managed to get Jimmy a second trial that cleared him of murdering his boss, but now he is concerned that Jimmy has taken on a similar position as secretary to Walter Burns. He advises Jimmy and Ellen to wait to get married until Jimmy finds a different job.

Curious as to why anyone would hire an accused poisoner to work for him Ordway heads off to the Burns residence to have a word and that's where the fun begins. When the Crime Doctor rings the bell confused old Miss Patricia (Virginia Brissac) thinks he's come in response to her having called the police. Walter Burns is dead. Poisoned, just like Jimmy's previous employer had been.

Alongside Burns' corpse in his bedroom are his much younger wife, Diana Burns (Rose Hobart); Addison (Sam Flint), brother of the deceased; Paul Ashley (Reginald Denny), his nephew; and the too polite cook, Mrs. Keppler (Gloria Dickson). While Mrs. Keppler speaks softly and kindly the Burns family members are all rather short-tempered with Doctor Ordway and to the viewer any of them seem a possible suspect. Their moods are not improved any when Detective Rief (Barton MacLane) and his sidekick Yarnell (Thomas E. Jackson) arrive. The real police are surprised by Ordway's presence and make it clear that he has nothing to do with them.

While the police question Jimmy upstairs, Ordway feigns his exit and instead heads to the kitchen to have a cup of tea and bit of conversation with Mrs. Keppler. But Ordway's chit chat isn't conducted idly, he concludes by calling her out as a fake but is interrupted by a gun shot from upstairs before he's able to reveal the path of his deductions to us. Leaving the kitchen Jimmy races out the front door with Detectives Rief and Yarnell giving chase and firing their guns after him. Meanwhile Mrs. Keppler hurries to her bedroom, locks the door and slips out of her disguise.

All of those introductions and resulting action and we're only 15 minutes into Crime Doctor's Strangest Case. Directed by Eugene Forde, who had had series experience at 20th Century-Fox in multiple Charlie Chan outings, Crime Doctor's Strangest Case never stops moving, brings several, if not all, characters under suspicion, and even takes an artsy turn with a dark dream sequence recounted by Miss Patricia.

Miss Patricia's dream in Crime Doctor's Strangest Case

Fine acting by all even getting a little more out of Warner Baxter than is summoned in later entries, Crime Doctor's Strangest Case also features a smarmy Jerome Cowan and the return of Doctor Ordway's nurse, Betty, played by Constance Worth. Betty is dropped after this second entry, a shame since she had more to do in this one as sort of a Della Street to Ordway's Perry Mason than she had in the Crime Doctor's initial outing.

Highly recommended and a superior mystery story in comparison to the previous Crime Doctor.

Shadows in the Night (1944)

This space will be filled after I secure and view a copy of Shadows in the Night.

The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945)

A brother and sister dancing combo played by Anthony Caruso and Lupita Tovar figure in the most intriguing bits of The Crime Doctor's Courage. They have what appears to be a gimmicked act where the sister, Dolores Bragga, disappears into thin air in the middle of their performance.

The Crime Doctor rides with the Braggas

When Ordway asks about the origins of the dance brother Miguel Bragga replies that "We have been doing that dance for 300 years." Left a moment on his own in the Bragga's den Ordway spots a painting of the siblings and can't help but to notice that it is dated 1648. The Braggas can't stand daylight and are said not to throw a reflection in any mirror. They employ a mute goon (King Kong Kashey) to move a large trunk that supposedly shields them from the sun so they can come and go from the club. Ordway also bumps into two empty and open coffins secluded away in the Braggas basement behind a padlocked door.

In a fantastic extra little touch Lupita Tovar, making her final film appearance in The Crime Doctor's Courage, had previously played the female lead in the 1931 acclaimed Spanish version of Dracula! Tovar is still with us today at over 100 years old!

This is the Crime Doctor entry with the vampires. Or is it?

The Crime Doctor's Courage opens with newlyweds Evelyn and Gordon Carson (Stephen Crane) honeymooning at a mountainside resort. Dialogue reveals that this is Gordon's second marriage and the first didn't end well. Gordon was cleared of any wrongdoing but his first wife died soon after they were married, drowned at a resort on the coast of Maine.

Wife number two is gone before we even meet Ordway. Our first glimpse of the Crime Doctor this time around finds him on vacation at a California resort taking in some rays and relaxing with a beer. It's there that he bumps into an old New York acquaintance, Kathleen Massey (Hillary Brooke) who quickly notes that her married name is now Carson and that she'd like Dr. Ordway to come meet her husband, Gordon, because "I want you to tell me if I'm married to a madman."

We meet the rest of our characters at the Carson party that evening. Jerome Cowan is back, mentioning he hasn't seen Ordway in three years. Actually it's just over one year since Cowan's appearance in Crime Doctor's Strangest Case, but we can let that slip since he's playing a totally different character here, mystery writer Jeff Jerome.

Jerome Cowan and Warner Baxter

Ordway first spots the Braggas at the party and he's also introduced to Kathleen's father, John Massey, a cabinet maker played by Lloyd Corrigan, then a semi-regular with Columbia's Boston Blackie series. Kathleen's friend Bob (Mark Roberts) is at the party as is "a servant who isn't a servant" who turns out to be David Lee (Dennis Moore), brother to Gordon Carson's late first wife.

Lee breaks the party up by exposing Carson's past sending guests every which way, many for the door, and it's then that someone meets a violent end.

West Coast law enforcement is soon on the scene as Captain Birch (Emory Parnell) arrives to be told what's what by The Crime Doctor.

One of the more intriguing Crime Doctor stories with the accumulating hints pointing to vampirism, but surely one of the most rushed as well with terrible, thankfully brief, performances from Moore and Crane and even Baxter flubbing his lines at least three times. The copy I viewed almost seemed as though it were edited for TV with a handful of scenes ending abruptly and leaving me feeling as though I had missed something. Despite its flaws as entertaining as any of the other Crime Doctor entries.

Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)

The first of four Crime Doctor entries to be directed by William Castle, famed B-movie director best remembered for later chillers such as House on Haunted Hill (1958), The Tingler (1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), Straight-Jacket (1964), and others. Despite being at the start of his career Castle had already directed two of the Richard Dix led Whistler series entries for Columbia prior to his Crime Doctor quartet.

Crime Doctor's Warning opens with Ordway (Warner Baxter) having his silhouette cut out of paper by nervous silhouette artist Jimmy Gordon (John Abbott). It's no surprise when Ordway walks around the corner to hand the artwork off to Inspector Dawes (John Litel) and they discuss whether it's in the same style as cut-out found in the same apartment as a recent murder victim.

Ordway is soon visited by another artist, Clive Lake (Coulter Irwin), who is concerned over some serious memory lapses brought on by a spate of blackouts. Kind-hearted Ordway gives Lake his card and suggests he give him a call the next time he feels one of the warning headaches coming on that trigger the blackouts. A thankful Lake departs and Ordway gets in touch with Frederick Malone (Miles Mander), proprietor of a local art gallery, with the request Malone take on one of Lake's paintings to help boost the young artist's confidence.

While Lake's work is not up to Malone's standards for his gallery, Ordway arranges an acceptable solution and the painting is taken on. Back at Clive Lake's studio he paints his model and girlfriend, Connie Mack (Dusty Anderson), pausing to give Ordway a call when he feels one of his spells coming on. Lake excuses himself from Connie and heads up to the roof of his building for some fresh air.

Immediately after Lake reaches the roof a dark figure climbs down a ladder from that same roof and slides into Lake's apartment through a window Lake himself had just opened prior to his exit from his apartment. It's curtains for Connie whose body is stored under Lake's bed and discovered later at a party Lake throws to celebrate the sale of the painting Ordway had left with Malone's Gallery.

Lake is chief suspect for Inspector Dawes, but Ordway senses there may be more to the mystery than that, especially after meeting Lake's protective mother (Alma Kruger). Also figuring in the mystery are fine artist Duval (Franco Corsaro), eccentric male model Nick Petroni (Eduardo Ciannelli), and a painting titled "The Ring" which includes the original murder victim along with Connie and a third girl who the other two victims knew.

Just Before Dawn (1946)

This space will be filled after I secure and view a copy of Just Before Dawn.

Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946)

Also directed by William Castle and starting out much like Crime Doctor's Warning in that a man calling himself John Foster (Myron Healey) pays a visit to Ordway (Warner Baxter) to inquire about his lapses in memory. When "Foster" exits Ordway's offices we're shown a woman outside who has trailed him. The woman, who we later find out is called Irene Cotter (Ellen Drew) pushes her way into Ordway's office and begs him to tell her what "Foster," her fiance, had talked to him about. Ordway cites patient-doctor confidentiality and the woman is on her way.

Walking home through a dark alley Ordway soon comes upon two thugs who are holding the limp body of John Foster. Spotted before he could duck away Ordway puts on a delightful drunk act, bumps into one of the thugs and spots a trickle of blood running down Foster's temple. Ordway's supposed state helps him escape the same fate himself. The men drop him at a random apartment that Ordway claimed was his own. As soon as he's free the Crime Doctor springs into action putting in a call to Inspector Manning (William Frawley).

William Frawley and Warner Baxter

At first Frawley comes off as a bit too tough as the Inspector but he soon settles into the character and a somewhat enjoyable and unlikely crime fighting duo is formed between himself and Baxter.

Also figuring in Crime Doctor's Man Hunt are a mysterious tough-as-nails blonde in glasses who doles out orders to our thugs; Irene's meek father, Gerald Cotter (Francis Pierlot); Ruby Farrell (Claire Carlteton), another tough dame, who operates a shooting gallery at a local carnival; Alfredi (Ivan Triesault), a fortune teller at the carnival who had set Foster off by predicting his death; the carnival barker (Cy Malis), who we only see a couple of times but who gives Ordway the real stink eye; Marcus Le Blaine (Olin Howland) as a goofy phrenologist who steals the scenes in an apartment that Ordway and the Inspector investigate; Tom, the Cotter's gardener (Paul E. Burns), who the thugs get a little tough with when seeking the whereabouts of Irene's missing sister, Natalie; finally, Mr. Harrera (Leonardo Scavino), a litigious loudmouth who hurls threats at the Inspector for smearing the name of his wife, Natalie Cotter.

Quite the roll call of characters including several suspects in this entertaining Crime Doctor entry!

The Millerson Case (1947)

This space will be filled after I secure and view a copy of The Millerson Case.

Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)

This Crime Doctor entry takes place entirely in Paris as Ordway visits on a two week lecture tour. Beyond Warner Baxter the cast is composed primarily of French and European actors.

Ordway is in Paris to lecture and hopes not to become involved with any criminal cases. Easier said then done when he stops by a Paris police station to visit his old friend Inspector Morrell (Marcel Journet). Apparently the men met nine years previous when Ordway hosted the Inspector at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

Morrell takes Ordway out for a night on the Paris town culminating on the wrong side of the tracks at a club called Le Coo Rouge. The entertainment begins with dancers but when the floor show turns to a hooded knife thrower Ordway soon declares that "That fellow plays with murder!"

Playing with murder!

Inspector Morrell makes it clear that this is exactly what he suspects. When Ordway returns to the station to meet Morrell for lunch the next day, Morrell asks him to wait a moment while he talks with Henri Jardin (Roger Dann), suspect in a very curious murder case.

Jardin is suspected of flying into a rage and killing his own father. Morrell, who spent three years in a concentration camp with Jardin during the war, wants his friend to plead insanity. No go for Jardin who had previously been declared sane and released from an institution.

To connect the dots Jardin has recently married the former Mignon Duval (Micheline Cheirel). Ordway had seen Mignon the night before--when her father, Maurice Duval (Eduardo Ciannelli), practiced his trade throwing knives at her at the Le Coo Rouge.

Oh, Jardin's father was murdered with a letter opener. A weapon not very unlike a knife.

Also figuring in the story are the young artist, Anton Geroux (Maurice Marsac) who is expert in painting reproduction copies of master works and happens to be in love with Mignon; Jules Daudet (Steven Geray), the senior Jardin's former attorney now charged with defending Henri for having killed his father; Louis Chabonet (Henri Letondal), owner of the art gallery who consigns work from Geroux.

Emory Parnell, who previously had a more major role as Captain Birch in The Crime Doctor's Courage, shows up in a minor role as O'Reilly, an American bidder at an auction.

Crime Doctor's Gamble remains intriguing by killing off its most likely suspects early and not giving away the mystery until the trap Ordway sets is sprung.

The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949)

Ordway pays a visit to prison where the Warden (Selmer Jackson) tells him convicted firebug Steve Carter (Stephen Dunne) is being released on parole today. Ordway, who signed off on the parole, is glad to hear it because he always thought Carter innocent of the arson charge anyway.

Bellem Music Company, Steve's place of employment prior to prison, is an interesting and extinct business. They are a storehouse for records, vinyl that is, where requests are taken by phone and the music piped back to their customers on the other end of the line. A bar that Pete Bellem (Whit Bissell) frequents even has a machine that plays back the requests, like a 40's virtual jukebox.

Pete isn't the Bellem in charge of the Bellem Co., though, that would be his brother, Phil (Don Beddoe). Also on the premises are Bellem's partner, Carl Anson (George Meeker), and Jane (Lois Maxwell), one of the girls who takes the requests and plays back the records. Jane is Steve Carter's ex-girlfriend and despite warnings from Bellem and Anson she drives out to the prison to give him a ride back to New York.

Carter comes out of prison with a chip on his shoulder, determined to prove his innocence. He seems rather sure that either the cantankerous Anson or former mobster and head of Bellem's rival company, Goldie Harrigan (Robert Armstrong), set the fire that he took blame for. Complicating matters for Jane is Inez Gray (Adele Jergens) at Goldie's company. Steve is in love with Inez.

Robert Armstrong and Adele Jergens

The first third or so of The Crime Doctor's Diary is spent introducing these characters and following Steve as he attempts to clear himself of past accusations. There's not much for the Crime Doctor to do until one of the characters mentioned above is murdered.

That brings Inspector Manning (Cliff Clark) onto the case. Ordway and Manning don't see eye to eye at all on this one. The Inspector accuses Ordway of believing the crime is part of a gang war angle: jukebox syndicate versus wired music people, a theory the police have already ruled out. But Ordway says no, he thinks it might be a love angle.

Fittingly, Crime Doctor's Diary was the last of the Crime Doctor movies I watched in anticipation of preparing this report. It is also, of the seven entries I watched, the darkest Crime Doctor movie of them all. Directed by Seymour Friedman, who had previously directed two Boston Blackie movies for Columbia, Crime Doctor's Diary was the only Crime Doctor entry (except perhaps Crime Doctor's Man Hunt) that really hints at a film noir style when viewed through modern eyes.

Afterward

Warner Baxter had spent the bulk of the decade playing Dr. Robert Ordway. Between the first Crime Doctor in 1943 and The Crime Doctor's Diary in 1949, he only appeared in two non-series releases and one of those was filmed before the first Crime Doctor. He would appear in three additional films following the the final Crime Doctor with Columbia's State Penitentiary being his final role.

Baxter was ill and would be hospitalized twice in 1951 prior to his death on May 7 of that same year. He was 62 years old.

If you'd like to know more about Warner Baxter's life and career here is a brief biography I wrote about him a little over two years ago.

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SLAVE SHIP / WARNER BAXTER / TAY GARNETT / 1937 / MOVIE POSTER / 138009    US $560.00

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On the Gallery & Guide page I wrote: "While referring to Secrets Magazine it seems to title the set Broadway Fortune-Telling Cards--these seem to be better described as Film Star Playing Cards, so I'm not sure if the set is just poorly named or if I received mine inside the wrong wrapper."

I'm going to correct that at some point--I still don't get the Broadway connection, but with a recently acquired second batch of cards I focused a little better on the text printed on them. They are fortune-telling cards.

Beyond the fact that we'd probably need to miniaturize ourselves to actually play a card game with these tiny 1-1/4" X 1-3/4" playing cards it becomes a pretty quick deck to read seeing that the reverse side of each features one of fifty-two different film star images.

Wait, is that Lew Ayres? Then he does have the Ace of Spades!

Now I'm left wishing that I had a set of directions to go with that wrapper. I have no idea how this game is played or how your fortune is read. But I did get a chuckle out of a few of the fortune telling messages on the cards after taking the moment to actually focus on the text this time.

For instance, reading this:

And turning the card over to see him:

--immediately brought to mind Manners' Jonathan Harker from Dracula (1931).

Sticking in the horror genre this brief message:

Made the Panther Woman's face seem very appropriate:

Reading this:

Almost led me to expect to see every leading lady's best pal on the other side:

Though I should note that Merkel was actually married in real life at this time.

This one seemed a no-brainer:

Even if she is pretty definitely a blonde here:

This one made me giggle:

And then I turned it over and chuckled a bit more:

Well over, I'd say--57 years old in 1935! (Though I must admit the image looks like it's from a few years earlier than that).

Finally, an ominous warning:

Reveals:

As if she needed any more of a complex!

A fun and unusual card set that shows off a nice mix of Golden Age Hollywood film stars with a handful of British stars in the mix as well.

They are all shown on the original Gallery & Guide page HERE.

eBay listings are found HERE with more singles coming soon to the Immortal Ephemera Store.

While I wouldn't call the 1934 Ardath Famous Film Stars set a common set it is one that is typically available if you're looking for it. Murray's most recent guide values a complete set at £50 though I'd say you're more likely to run into a mid-grade set in the $60-$75 bracket. A little better than that even at auction.

If it's singles you're after I've already listed all 50 of the ones shown in the new gallery for sale in the Immortal Ephemera Store at prices approximately 10% under my eBay rates. Spend $20 or more there and enter coupon code 10PERCENT at checkout to save another 10% off Immortal Ephemera marked prices.

The Famous Film Stars set features two cards each of Mae West and Marlene Dietrich plus another 46 individual stars including Clark Gable, James Cagney, Myrna Loy and Joan Crawford. They're pretty cards: not colorful, featuring basically dark tones, but sharp close-up images which make the set extremely recognizable.

As for teaser to the new gallery I've chosen what I consider a typical pose from the set, one which fits the bill of what I tried to describe above, card #40 Lew Ayres:

Once more here's the new Gallery & Guide where you can see all 50 cards in the 1934 Ardath Famous Film Stars set.

Coming soon to eBay: I'm going to be listing several vintage press and still photos including multiple shots of Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edward G. Robinson, Fredric March, and William Powell from the 1920's through 1940's; Also individual press photos from The Jackie Robinson Story (1935); a new set of 1935 Secrets mini Playing Cards will be listed; a set of 1934 Godfrey Phillips Stars of the Screen will be broken and offered for sale soon.

The last 3 complete years of Harrison's Reports (1937, 1938, 1939) are ending in auctions this week.

More soon!
Thanks, Cliff

We've been going through each of the real photo BAT Modern Beauties sets recently. They're gorgeous, but they're black & white. So consider this brief guide and gallery to be my best attempt at staving off any perceived redundancies by chucking some pretty images of colorful cards at you.

The 1924 Moustafa Hand-Coloured Pictures of Cinema Stars is small 25 card set of British tobacco cards. I don't usually do this but my gallery selection is even smaller offering just 16 of those 25 cards for viewing. That's all I have on hand.

At this point my feeling is this: I've been doing this pretty regularly for 10 years now and so if something comes in that I haven't seen before chances are that it isn't offered very often. That's the case with these Moustafa hand-coloured cards.

They remind me a lot of a similar set of Cinema Stars issued a decade later with Abdulla brand tobacco. If the 16 new Moustafa images aren't enough for you, you can revisit the 1934 Abdulla Cinema Stars gallery HERE.

The 1924 Moustafas that I did have included many familiar silent film star names plus a few major or popularly collected stars in Mabel Normand, Mary Miles Minter, Mary Pickford and Tom Mix.

The small handful that I picked up are now available for sale on eBay with those four bigger names currently at auction on the site.

For our sample image I've selected Tom Mix solely because this is one of the few card issues I've seen of him minus a big cowboy hat. In fact, he looks quite relaxed and a bit like a preppy on his 1924 Moustafa card!

See the entire Gallery and Guide HERE.

Coming Articles

I hope you caught yesterday's article about Crime Doctor (1943) starring Warner Baxter. I'm going to have more centered around that character prior to TCM's May 31 Crime Doctor morning marathon.

I just signed up for Page's Horseathon at My Love of Old Hollywood. Do you remember the Dogathon a few months back? I covered The Voice of Bugle Ann (1936) for that one. Page was kind enough to send me along a reminder about her Horseathon and so I'm taking the opportunity to write about Stablemates (1938) starring Wallace Beery and Mickey Rooney for that event. That article will post live to the site on May 25; subscribers should receive it by no later than the following morning.

Talk to you soon ... planned up next is more from Harrison's Reports.
Happy Friday, Cliff

Based on the Crime Doctor radio series, which premiered in 1940 and enjoyed a largely concurrent run with the movie series through 1947, this initial entry to the series, titled simply Crime Doctor, offered the origin story of its title hero rather than what became its more standard murder mystery story.

Very few episodes of the original Crime Doctor radio series appear to be available through Old Time Radio sources leaving me only OTR authority John Dunning's often repeated summary of the series from On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio as final word on the subject. Based on Dunning's entry for Crime Doctor the first film of Columbia's series appears to summarize the first three years of the successful radio program.

An interesting and completely uncredited potential source of Crime Doctor appears to be Columbia's own 1936 B thriller The Man Who Lived Twice. While nothing beyond the Columbia banner links the earlier film directly to the Crime Doctor movie series the stories are too similar for it to be a total coincidence. In The Man Who Lived Twice Ralph Bellamy plays a ruthless criminal who escapes justice by volunteering for an experimental operation at the hands of a respected doctor played by Thurston Hall. Bellamy emerges from this operation as a man with no recollection of his criminal past but a burning desire to figure out who he once was. Like Baxter's Crime Doctor Bellamy undertakes a decade of medical study fueled by his general interest in the criminal mind and a desire to better understand his own case and perhaps rediscover his past. Other similarities exist between The Man Who Lived Twice and Crime Doctor, some of which are revealed further into this article.

Returning to Crime Doctor, you'll find that this first film packs an early punch in quickly revealing Baxter's path to becoming Dr. Robert Ordway.

A black car races down a road passing a Hoover re-election sign along the way to set our date at 1932. A body is dumped out of the moving vehicle to the roadside where it is left for dead. We see what is later referred to as a claw-like hand, two fingers missing, having a hard time pulling the car door shut as the mysterious black sedan races away. A group of teenagers spot the body, realize the man is alive and take him to the hospital.

A pair of nurses banter over our unconscious patient until Dr. Carey (Ray Collins) arrives to check on him. After one of the nurses refers to the mystery patient as Ordway she explains to the doctor that they all call him that because he's staying in room named for the highly respected late Dr. Robert Ordway. The man they call Ordway wakes up confused with bandages wrapped over his eyes. As luck would have it today is the day the bandages come off. Dr. Carey unwraps him revealing Warner Baxter, makes sure his patient can see, and then asks him who he is. Ordway is frustrated by the question and suddenly declares, "I don't know who I am!"

With that we've made it through the first five minutes of Crime Doctor.

It gets even more intriguing in the next scene when a helpless looking Ordway is seated on his own and visited by what at first seems to be a randomly curious passerby played by John Litel. After throwing Ordway a few friendly questions about his well publicized amnesia difficulties, the man suddenly leans in and calls Ordway by the name of Phil as if he knows him. His demeanor changes as he grabs Ordway by the collar and demands to know, "What did you do with that valise?"

After his release from the hospital Dr. Carey takes Ordway under his wing and tries to help him recover his memory. Despite grilling him with names and places, hoping something will ring a bell, no progress is made and Ordway turns to drink after having given up. On New Year's Eve Dr. Carey has it out with him and goads Ordway into declaring that he's going to become a doctor himself because, "If you can't cure me, I'll cure myself." Carey supports him and just like that ten years pass and the amnesia patient reemerges as Robert Ordway, M.D.

Up until now you're going to have to suspend belief some in order to buy Warner Baxter as young Ordway. Dialogue makes it clear that Baxter's Ordway is supposed to be embarking on his medical school journey at age 30. Baxter is 54 and he looks it. But if you can get over this all too young Warner Baxter for the first twenty minutes of this first Crime Doctor movie, then you should have no trouble enjoying him as the more mature Crime Doctor for the remainder of the movie and the series to come.

John Litel is playing the unlikely named Emilio Caspari, who disappears for ten years himself at the same time as Baxter's Ordway. The passing decade is spent behind bars by Caspari, called Emmie by his friends. Almost immediately after his release Caspari is back to tailing Ordway and soon bumps into gang mates Joe (Harold Huber) and Nick (Don Costello) who had just been startled by the appearance of Ordway on a dance floor with Grace Fielding, a social worker the doctor had met in his office played by Margaret Lindsay.

Caspari, Joe and Nick want to know if Dr. Ordway is actually Phil Morgan, their running mate on the Norton payroll job back during the Hoover administration. Morgan double-crossed the others out of $200,000 from that heist which led to his being taken on that ride in the opening scene. Joe and Nick had presumed Ordway dead since that time while Caspari had been biding his time under lock and key of the state for those ten years and is now hellbent on recovering the money.

What none of the three crooks is sure of is whether Dr. Ordway is bluffing them and actually recalls his past, and thus the location of the money, or whether he's on the level about having absolutely no memory of past misdeeds. Neither scenario bodes well for Ordway.

John Litel is effectively menacing as the three-fingered Caspari, de facto leader of Morgan's old gang. Costello comes off as a little goofy during his first meeting with Ordway but is soon playing Nick as just a cutthroat a character as Litel's Caspari. Harold Huber meanwhile, with so many menacing characters under his belt, is nearly invisible as the disappointingly reasonable and jumpy Joe.

Bad guys: Harold Huber, John Litel and Don Costello

Ray Collins is an interesting choice to play Ordway's doctor and role model, Dr. Carey, because Collins himself was the original Crime Doctor on the radio in 1940. A nice touch. He's a kindly Dr. Carey and especially good in his New Year's Eve confrontation with a drunken Ordway whom he spurs on to medical studies through a high volume argument.

Margaret Lindsay plays Ordway's love interest, Grace Fielding, who like Ida Lupino in Warren William's first Lone Wolf movie disappears forever without a mention in subsequent series entries. Lindsay has a couple of good scenes beginning with her first appearance teasing Ordway who confuses social worker Grace with the paroled patient he expected to confront. In her crystal clear speaking voice and educated tone Lindsay's Grace smirks while explaining to Ordway that she and her gang get sailors drunk at a hole in the wall bar before rolling them for their money. After mentioning Vassar as her origins Ordway catches on and romance is soon in awkward bloom. Lindsay is also very good when she tails Litel's Caspari to a dive bar to confront him over his following Ordway. After Caspari goes too far with Grace, whom he calls Bright Eyes with some menace, she smacks his face and spooks him with threats of the police before storming off.

Leon Ames also has a brief part in Crime Doctor as violent criminal William Wheeler whom Ordway reforms based largely upon Wheeler's past military experience from the Great War. Ordway surmises Wheeler's crime was one committed in a fit of passion and despite his hard outer shell he's no career criminal. His past military service served Wheeler in leading multiple prison break attempts, a trait the unorthodox Ordway sees as significant. In an extremely unlikely scene Wheeler leads his fellow inmates in training exercises so revolutionary that they are picked up by multiple media outlets and broadcast live over the radio as if they were on par with the Olympic Games.

Ordway restrains Wheeler

Ordway's success in reforming Wheeler leads to his being named Chairman of the state parole board and eventually brings him into contact with the final member of the Caspari gang, beaten and bitter Pearl Adams, played well by Dorothy Tree. Her time on screen is limited but extremely important in eventually confirming all of Ordway's own suspicions about his past.

Dr. Ordway later confronts Caspari and company and they reenact the events surrounding their crime of ten years earlier. Baxter has some of his best and most emotional scenes in hammering out the details of the past with Caspari, becoming especially vicious with his tormentor once he realizes that as Phil Morgan he was not only the brains behind their outfit but leader of the gang.

Warner Baxter and John Litel nose to nose with Harold Huber in the background

Ordway solves the mystery of himself and the Norton payroll job and Crime Doctor concludes just as the earlier The Man Man Who Lived Twice had: in a courtroom with our reformed doctor fighting for his freedom while admitting his criminal past. The court must feel free to punish who he was in the past but at the same time they will be punishing the innocent and valuable man he has turned himself into over the passing years.

Given that nine additional Crime Doctor movies follow this one, you can guess the verdict.

Crime Doctor is a 66 minute film from Larry Darmour Productions, who were previously behind the Mickey McGuire shorts featuring a very young Mickey Rooney and of greater relevance to this article the Ellery Queen series of movies produced for Columbia between 1940 and '42. Ralph Bellamy and then William Gargan played the lead in these seven movies with Crime Doctor's own Margaret Lindsay appearing all seven films as Queen's secretary/assistant Nikki Porter. Like the Ellery Queen series the Crime Doctor series was distributed to theaters by Columbia Pictures. This first entry was directed by Michael Gordon and starred Warner Baxter as the Crime Doctor with Margaret Lindsay, Ray Collins, John Litel, Harold Huber, Don Costello and Leon Ames in support.

Margaret Lindsay and Warner Baxter

I don't enjoy Crime Doctor as much as the more traditional mystery tales which follow in the series but it does serve a very interesting link to all of the later movies in revealing how Phil Morgan became Dr. Robert Ordway, the Crime Doctor. You can tune in to any of the Crime Doctor sequels without having seen the first one and, in fact, Crime Doctor may actually be most enjoyable after getting better attached to Baxter's Ordway in watching him solve those later crimes.

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You'll find the entire audio podcast at The Cinementals site HERE ... the player is just under the big TV at the top of that page.

I made my regular picks for May 2012 TCM viewing earlier this month on Immortal Ephemera HERE; and I also covered Joel McCrea as TCM Star of the Month HERE on the home site.

A couple of weeks ago The Cinementals invited me to make my top individual picks for TCM's May programming on their site which I did HERE.

So if you like what I like, and if you read my very long articles about old movies you probably do, you might find my recommendations helpful.

Or at the very least you'll find out why Jill and I dislike James Dean, discover Doris Day taking a beating from all three of us, and hear Will scold Jill for talking dirty during her selection of Anatomy of a Murder!

Once more it can all be heard HERE on The Cinementals podcast.