Actress Bonnie Bolding from Joppa

 On this blog I've written a number of posts about actresses with Alabama connections, mostly those whose careers began before 1960. These have included Lois Wilson, Gail Patrick, Dorothy Sebastian, Boots Mallory, Lottice Howell, Cathy O'Donnell, Wanda McKay, Viola Allen, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford, Frances Bergen, and women with more recent credits such as Gail Strickland and Kim Dickens. Next up is Bonnie Bolding, who had only seven acting credits from 1956 until 1958, four of them uncredited, but whose subsequent life was even more fascinating. 

According to her BhamWiki entry, she was born February 22, 1933, in Joppa, a small town in Morgan County. I've written about Joppa in a previous post. In his later years my uncle John Shores, mom's older brother, had a goat farm there, and I remember visiting a couple of times. 

Her parents were Aron T. [Oran? Orin?] and Gertha Earwood Bolding. In 1920 they were living in Ryan's Cross Roads in Morgan County according to that year's U.S. Census. He was 20 year's old, a farmer and could read and write. The same census says Gertha was 17 and also able to read and write. 

The Find-A-Grave site tells us more about Gertha. She was born in Hulaco in Morgan County on April 14, 1902 and died December 25, 1973; she is buried in Birmingham's Elmwood Cemetery. The site has an Earwood family photo in which Gertha can be seen. Find-A-Grave also says she married preacher Orin Thomas Bolding in June 1946; he was born in Joppa. His World War I draft registration card has the spelling of his first name as "Oran", and lists Gertha as his wife. 

I don't think I'm going to try and sort out this mess; I'll leave it to a family genealogist. See the map below to locate Ryan Crossroads, Hulaco and Joppa in Morgan County. 

Bonnie attended what is now Samford University, where she was a cheerleader, drum majorette and drama student. She was first runner-up in the Miss Alabama contest on her fourth try, which may have led her to Hollywood. She received a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse, but didn't remain in the business long. By 1969 she had been through two marriages--both to oil tycoons--and then become a stockbroker in New York City. She met  and married John Swearingen, CEO of the company that is now BP America. Her third oil man was the charm.

For three decades she was a major figure in American high society, making frequent appearances in newspapers and various magazines as the couple mingled with the likes of Prince Charles and Pierre Cardin, Bob Hope and Kirk Douglas, and Presidents--or former ones--Johnson, Nixon and Ford. They also engaged in major philanthropic efforts. Samford University received almost $3.5 million, much of it in support of the arts; and a campus building was named after her. 

Bonnie Bolding Swearingen died in Birmingham on August 2, 2020. Husband John had died in 2007. She is also buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Read more about her in the Chicago Sun-Times obituary. You can read a piece on the couple's generosity to Samford here. You can see some of the items at her estate sale held in early December 2020 here.

A very long piece from 2015 about the "John and Bonnie Show" is here. 

Bolding in the "Incident at Indian Springs" episode of the Cheyenne TV series first broadcast 24 September 1957

Source: BhamNow

Bonnie and John Swearingen

Source: Samford University 

On this map we see Ryan Crossroads, Hulaco, and Joppa [not to mention Egypt and Arab!] in Morgan County.

Source: Google Maps

Gail Patrick in "The Maltese Falcon"

For a long time I've been looking for an Alabama connection to the classic Humphry Bogart film The Maltese Falcon [1941]. Well, not really, but I have found one--almost. 

The original novel by Dashiell Hammett began life serialized in Black Mask magazine; the first installment appeared in September 1929. Alfred A. Knopf issued the entire novel in hardback the following year. The work fell between a pair of other Hammett novels, The Dain Curse and The Glass Key. Except for a few short stories, the work is the only appearance of the iconic detective Sam Spade. 

In the years since, the book that chronicles the search for a mysterious bird statue has been adapted in a series of films and other properties. The first one appeared soon after Hammett's novel was published in book form. The 1931 The Maltese Falcon starred Bebe Daniels as the femme fatale Ruth Wonderly and Richard Cortez as Sam Spade. Like the 1941 version, this Falcon follows closely the book's story except more of Hammett's homosexual elements are present in this Pre-Code film and removed in the later one. For a number of years after the mid-sixties this film was known as Dangerous Female to distinguish it from the Bogart remake. I've seen this version and it's pretty enjoyable if you can forget about Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and the other excellent actors. But we do get Bebe Daniels!

In 1936 Bette Davis and Warren William appeared in Satan Met a Lady, a very loose adaptation. Warner Brothers studio owned the rights to Hammett's novel and decided to milk the property for another release. Very little of Hammett's work survived. Then that best known 1941 version has been followed in more recent decades by The Maltese Bippy [1969], a vehicle for Dan Rowan and Dick Martin of Laugh-In fame with Rowan as Sam Smith. In 1975 The Black Bird featured George Seagal as Sam Spade, Jr., in another comedic take. With Hollywood's current fascination with recycle and reuse, a new version could well appear soon. A stage version by Bryan Colley did appear in 2008. 

On February 2, 1943, a serious interpretation of the story was broadcast on the Lux Radio Theatre. Lux [named after its soap sponsor] ran on various networks from 1934 until 1955, adapting Broadway plays in its first two seasons and then films. For eleven of those years the great Cecil B. DeMille introduced the stories, including The Maltese Falcon. That version starred Edward G. Robinson as Sam Spade and Gail Patrick as his female nemesis Miss Wonderly, or Brigid Shaughnessy or whatever. You can read the script of this adaptation here & listen to it on YouTube. 

And there's the Alabama connection to The Maltese Falcon--Gail Patrick. I've written about Patrick's extensive film career as well as her years as executive producer of the classic Raymond Burr Perry Mason TV series. Patrick was born in 1911 in Birmingham as Margaret LaVelle Fitzgerald. She graduated from Howard College, remained there for a brief period as acting dean of women, then spent two years in law school at the University of Alabama. On impulse she entered a contest by Paramount Studios; although she did not win, she was offered train fare to Hollywood for herself and her brother. She made her film debut in 1932; she died in 1980. She had many prominent acting roles before retiring in 1948. I've also written about her early role as one of the murder victims in the very strange, very fascinating 1934 film Murder at the Vanities. 

I wonder what other radio goodies are to be found in Patrick's career? 

A couple of Patrick's studio glamour shots

Gail Patrick Jackson's Final Fade-Out

On May 22 1966, the final episode of the classic TV series Perry Mason aired on CBS. "The Case of the Final Fade-Out" was the 271st episode overall and the 30th of that ninth and last season. I recently re-watched the episode, which is probably one of the best series finales in dramatic television history. Of course, there's also an Alabama connection. Let's investigate....

In August 2015 I posted an item on actress Gail Patrick, born in Birmingham as Margaret Lavelle Fitzpatrick on June 20, 1911. After graduating from Woodlawn High School and Howard College, she headed to Hollywood. You can read about that change and her acting career at the blog post and Wikipedia page linked above. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1932 and 1948, including classics like My Man Godfrey [1936] and My Favorite Wife [1940]. I recently saw that latter film, which is delightful, even if Irene Dunn does get husband Cary Grant back in the end. Patrick is outstanding as the other wife.

Patrick had a second career as producer of the Perry Mason TV series that ran 1957-1966. Let me quote myself to explain how that happened:

"In 1947 Patrick married Cornwell Jackson, who just happened to be the literary agent for Earle Stanley Gardner. Gardner was a prolific author best known for his series of Perry Mason novels. Jackson secured the film rights to those novels, and through his company Paisano Productions Patrick became producer of the very successful Perry Mason television series. Gardner had disliked a series of film adaptations done in the 1930's, and wanted no more appearances by his character outside his novels. Apparently Patrick talked him into changing his mind."

"The Case of the Final Fade-Out" is a self-referential episode unusual for its day and still fun to watch. The murder takes place on the set of a popular TV series; the victim is the insufferable male star, who's made enemies of everyone. The first half  unfolds mostly on the set as police question other actors in the cast and various crew members. Those crew workers and others seen in the background of shots were actually Perry Mason workers. As noted below, even Executive Producer Patrick, one of her fellow producers and her husband appear in a bar scene. 

In addition to the series regulars, the main cast has several film and television veterans. Jackie Coogan began his career as a child in a 1921 Charlie Chaplin film; he later played Uncle Fester in the The Addams Family TV series in the 1960's. English actress Estelle Winwood performed on stage in London before moving to the U.S.; she made numerous film and television appearances until she was 100 years old. She was also a long time friend of Alabama native Tallulah Bankhead. Denver Pyle played first a suspect then a victim in this episode, the last of five appearances he made on the series. He was a prolific film and tv actor perhaps best remembered as patriarch of the Darling family in The Andy Griffith Show. Dick Clark took time out from his duties on American Bandstand to perform in a rare dramatic role. 

Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason character has cut a wide swath through American popular culture. The first novel The Case of the Velvet Claws appeared in 1933; the eightieth was published in 1969. Two more appeared after Gardner's death. Many of the novels were serialized in a popular magazine of the day, the Saturday Evening Post. Gardner was a very prolific author and published much before he created Mason and other novels in between the Mason ones. He also published non-fiction and worked a legal career in there somewhere. When Gardner died in 1970, he was the best-selling American author. 

Mason quickly jumped to other media. In the 1930's Warner Brothers released six films featuring the character, with three different actors in the role. A weekday radio series on CBS ran from 1943 through 1955. Four different actors played Mason. CBS wanted to create a show for daytime television and retool the character for the soap opera audience, but Gardner refused. Instead, CBS used that potential show's writers and staff to create The Edge of Night, which ran for thirty years on television. CBS gave Gardner a show more to his liking which ran 1957-1966.

In 1958 Patrick attempted to bring a second Gardner property to television based on the Bertha Cool and Donald Lam novels. A pilot episode was produced and broadcast, but did not proceed  to series. In 1969 she and Jackson divorced, but the two and Gardner's daughter remained partners in their production company. Jackson later proposed a Perry Mason series revival, and Patrick was the only holdout. She was given a credit of executive consultant on The New Perry Mason but had nothing else to do with it The program, starring Monte Markham in the title role, did not please either critics or audience and only fifteen episodes were made for the 1973-74 series.  

The character returned to success in the 1980's. A television film series began in 1985; thirty films were made by 1995. Burr starred in the first 26. In the final four, Paul Sorvino in one and Hal Holbrook in the final three played lawyer friends of Mason's. Barbara Hale returned as Della Street and her son, William Katt, played Paul Drake, Jr., in the first nine films. 

In 2015 a publishing arm of the American Bar Association began returning the Mason novels to print. On June 21, 2020, the first episode of a new Perry Mason miniseries premiered on HBO. Set before the first novel, Mason is not yet a lawyer and is eking out a living as a sleazy private eye working for an attorney whose secretary is named Della Street. The series is gorgeously filmed, and I'm enjoying Matthew Rhys' performance as the down-and-out Mason. We're learning a lot of the character's back story, including service in World War I. 

Who knows what the future holds for Perry Mason. But one thing's for sure--a woman from Alabama played a major role in creating the most iconic non-print expression of Gardner's character. 

A Patrick glamour shot

Source: Travalanche blog

Patrick in a modest little dress in the film Mississippi [1935] which also starred a couple of guys named Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields. 

Source: Wikipedia

Patrick in Gallant Sons [1940]

Source: Wikipedia

William Hopper and Patrick in a Paramount Pictures publicity photo July 1936. Hopper would take the role of private detective Paul Drake in the Perry Mason series Patrick produced. 

Source: Wikipedia

Cary Grant and Gail Patrick in My Favorite Wife [1940]

Jackie Coogan [1914-1984]

Estelle Winwood [1883-1984]

Denver Pyle  [1920-1997]

Dick Clark [1929-2012]

Producer Art Seid & Patrick are seen quickly in the bar scene. That's Patrick's husband Corney Jackson in the background as the bartender. Anne Nelson, a CBS executive, and Lester Salkow, Raymond Burr's agent, also appear in this scene. 

In the late 1940's Patrick had purchased a gated estate in Los Angles with almost seven acres. The mansion, constructed in 1911, was used in some Mason episodes. 

Source: Jim Davidson's Pinterest board

District Attorney Hamilton Burger, played by William Talman, makes a point to the judge, played by the author of the Perry Mason novels, Erle Stanley Gardner. 

Another shot of Gardner as the judge

And so "The Case of the Final Fade-Out" and the series itself reaches the end. Here we see the main characters together one final time. William Talman played District Attorney Hamilton Burger, Richard Anderson as police Lt. Steve Drumm, Raymond Burr as Mason, William Hopper as private detective Paul Drake and Barbara Hale as secretary Della Street. All but Anderson had been with the series since the first episode. 

Source: Pinterest

In the final shot Mason is talking to Drake and Street about their next case. The source for this image is a blog post from 2014 that discusses this final episode and notes that exteriors were shot at the Chaplin Studios in Hollywood. 

Patrick, Erle Stanley Gardner and columnist Norma Lee Browning on the set of the final episode, April 1966

Source: Wikipedia

Jackson as Executive Producer

Source: Pinterest

March 1958

Source: Pinterest

This pattern was apparently one of several promoting actresses that ran in newspapers; see a few more at the source below. 

Source: Pinterest

Movies with Alabama Connections: Murder at the Vanities

Dear readers, in this post we're going to look at a film that has it all. Two murders by two different killers, for one thing. Lots of high concept musical production numbers, including one at the end featuring Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. Lots of nearly naked cuties in those production numbers. The introduction of a classic big band tune, "Cocktails for Two." The introduction of another song that may not be a classic in the same way, but still--"Sweet Marijuana". All from a film made in 1934 and featuring not one but TWO Alabama connections. Let's investigate.

On September 12 1933, a musical revue/murder mystery opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. "Murder at the Vanities" was just one of many "Vanities" mounted by producer Earl Carroll over the years. One secret of his success was the fact his shows featured the most scantily-clad singers and dancers on Broadway. This particular show ran until early November before moving to the Majestic Theatre and finally closing on March 10, 1934. I scanned the lengthy cast list for this production; the only name I recognized was Bela Lugosi. 

On May 18, 1934, Paramount Pictures released a film version. The movie barely  beat the July 1 final implementation of the Hays Code, which severely restricted subject matter in Hollywood films. Murder was thus one of the last Pre-Code films, those made from 1930 when the code was first accepted by the studios until that final deadline. Many of these films are still striking today in their depictions of drug abuse, crime of all sorts, abortion, prostitution, infidelity, promiscuity, homosexuality and the display of copious amounts of bare female flesh. 

Murder at the Vanities takes place during a performance of a musical review of that title. Danish actor and singer Carl Brisson plays Eric Lander and actress/singer/future game show panelist Kitty Carlisle is Ann Ware; the two are the stars of the show. Ware has replaced Rita Ross (Gertrude Michael) as both the female lead of the show and in Lander's heart. The pair are getting married the next day. Naturally Rita is not too happy about this situation, since she loves Lander, too. 

The film has an interesting structure, alternating between the production numbers and the police investigation going on backstage. Thus the entire film happens in real time except for a few flashbacks near the end. Other stars include Jack Oakie as producer Jack Ellery and Victor McLaglen as police lieutenant Bill Murdock. 

I'm sure by now, dear readers, you're thinking, "This is all very nice, but what are those Alabama connections?"

Those connections are Gertrude Michael and Gail Patrick, both natives of the state. Michael was born in Talladega and graduated from Talladega High School. She started at the University of Alabama, but soon left and spent several years studying music in South Carolina, Cincinnati and Italy. By 1929 she was on stage back in Cincinnati, and Broadway soon followed. She made her first film in 1932. Other films and then television shows followed until her death on Christmas Eve in 1964. 

Patrick's first film was also in 1932. Born in Birmingham, she graduated from Howard College. On a lark she entered a Paramount Studios beauty contest and did not win, but was awarded train fare to Hollywood. She appeared in numerous films, including such well known ones as Brewster's Millions and My Man Godfrey. She retired in 1948, but keep busy with other projects. For instance, she served as executive producer for the entire television run of Perry Mason from 1957 until 1966. She died in 1980. 

I've done a blog post on Patrick in my series on film actresses from Alabama before 1960. I'm planning one on Michael in the future. 

As you might imagine, this film has been discussed by various film bloggers over the years. Some like it for its sheer inventive craziness, others can't seem to wrap their heads around it. You can read some of those takes at The Mystery File, Pre-Code.com, and Random Pictures Blog. The film is 89 minutes long. 

I really enjoyed Murder at the Vanities. The costumes and sets are jaw dropping and the dialog is often snappy and funny. Of course, you have to overlook the silliness of the whole thing in order to enjoy it. Something I did notice is that we hear their applause but never see the audience in the theater.

Murder at the Vanities sort of strikes me as what might have resulted if Samuel Beckett and Busby Berkeley collaborated on a murder mystery musical. Or something.

The full length video of the film is available on YouTube but for some reason is  awkwardly cropped. However, if you watch it you can follow the action pretty well. Murder is also available on the 2009 six disc set "Pre-Code Hollywood Collection." 

More comments are below some of the images. 

A number of posters seem to have been created for this film. 

The film's title card

The film is full of elaborate production numbers featuring numerous young women. This scene appears in the long opening number, "Where Do They Come From and Where Do They Go?" which is sung by Kitty Carlisle wearing a floor-length dress. 

This scene appears in another number in which Carlisle is barely covered by a few strategically placed leaves. That's Kitty lounging at the top of this photo with Carl Brisson. During the number they discuss the need to delay their wedding in the wake of the first murder. 

The sets on this film are something else. Somewhere in the large chorus of young ladies in these production numbers danced future stars Lucille Ball and Ann Sheridan.  

Gail Patrick plays Sadie Evans, private detective, the first of two murder victims. 

Gertrude Michael as Rita Ross in a non-singing moment

And here's Gertrude Michael in the big set and production for "Sweet Marijuana".

Gertrude really gets to make her feelings known in this number. I was pleasantly surprised by her voice, which I like much better than that of Kitty Carlisle. 

"Sweet Marijuana"

Music: Arthur Johnston / Lyrics: Sam Coslow

Soothe me with your caress Sweet marijuana, marijuana Help me in my distress Sweet marijuana, please do You alone can bring my lover back to me Even though I know it's all a fantasy And then you put me to sleep Sweet marijuana, marijuana (Instrumental Break) You alone can bring my lover back to me Even though I know it's all a fantasy And then you put me to sleep Sweet marijuana, marijuana

Source: International Lyrics Playground

The song titled "Marahuana" was recorded in 1976 by Bette Midler for her Songs for the New Depression album.

Oh, wait, in the midst of all this musical excitement, a murder mystery is going on behind the scenes. At the end of "Sweet Marijuana" blood from the first victim Sadie Evans drips from the rafters onto one of the ladies atop a cactus. 

Here's Duke Ellington in the midst of his number near the end of film.

This number, "The Rhapsody, the Rape and the Revenge" is shall we say very strange. Eric Lander, in a white suit sitting at a white piano, sings while dancers in vaguely 18th century wigs and costumes cavort. Before long Rita Ross is singing and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra are playing as a chorus and black and white women sing and cavort wildly. The original classical sounding music is transformed into a very uptempo big band number. 

Eric Lander singing and playing "The Rhapsody"

This spectacle must have jarred movie audiences since blacks and whites were performing together on the same stage. Alas, Lander soon reappears with a machine gun and mows down the offending dancers and musicians, including Rita Ross. As things turned out, Ross has really been killed with a revolver shot. 

These dancers in the Ellington number seem to be wearing someone's idea of erotic maid outfits.

Reality intrudes in a few places in the film. There is Helene Smith, the wardrobe woman working at her sewing machine. Norma, who is dressed like a maid, helps the lovelies get ready for their numbers, and is treated terribly by Rita Ross. And then we see this cleaning lady working under a sign that reads, "Through These Portals Pass the Most Beautiful Girls in the World."  

Gertrude Michael with an accessory in a scene from another film

Gail Patrick a bit later in her film career