Sybil Bruncheon's HOLLYWOOD HULLA-BALLOO!... Coming soon!... a BETTY BOOP movie!!

Yes, folks and fans of the irrepressible Boop-Boop-Be-Doop Girl, a film devoted totally to Betty is in the works at the studios!... the problem is which studio will release theirs first!... and WHAT will it be about? Some of the proposals are listed below;

1) MGM is proposing a lavish blockbusting musical where Betty, a sweet, young, misunderstood girl from Poka-Ma-Hola, Iowa, is under attack by Shawnee Indians in her shabby but immaculate farmhouse when a tornado carries her off to a land of midgets, witches, and yodeling giraffes. Dancing vegetables and an overly friendly banana add mischief and merriment... followed by an uplifting message of redemption and family values as the music swells at the final fadeout. (Possible casting choices include Burt Lahr as Koko the Clown, and Linda Hunt as a "little person".)

2) Warner is finished with a script where Betty, caught behind enemy lines, smuggles Jewish, Bulgarian, and carny-show orphans out of a vaudeville academy to safety somewhere in the USA, possibly Poka-Ma-Hola, Nebraska. Disguising them all as merry midgets in her own touring musical review, she happens to run into her former great-love-that-got-away who is now the resentful-but-successful impresario of a dinner theatre in Bundt-kaka, Hungary. Their romance is swiftly rekindled, and he moves Heaven and Earth to get Betty and 316 orphans out of the country disguised as a giant millipede during a county fair 4H Club jamboree. Mischief, merriment, and machine gun fire ensue... followed by an uplifting message of redemption and family values as the music swells at the final fadeout. (Possible casting choices include the Mormon Tabernacle choir as the orphans.)

3) Universal Pictures is about to start filming a terrifying horror film where Betty Boop is transformed through exposure to atomic radiation, sound-waves from a distant planet, and defective Valentine's chocolates into a snarling, drooling, Medusa-creature!!... right in front of the Girl Scout troop she den-mothers for in a place called Poka-Ma-Hola, Indiana! Needless to say, the young girls are terrified, especially when she eats three or four of them, sashes and all. Crowds of torch-bearing villagers, mobs of pitchfork-waving farmers, and a smallish gang of circus-jugglers hurling spoiled vegetables manage to chase Betty to the haunted castle on the hill where a formerly insane mad-scientist has, through prayer and bathing in llama-milk, become a kindly old yoga-instructor. He cures Betty of her monstrousness, and the crowds of enraged citizens are won over to mercy and forgiveness... fortunately, the girls that Betty killed and ate were orphans and therefore not missed by any family members... the end is an uplifting message of redemption and family values as the music swells at the final fadeout. (Possible casting choices include John Carradine and all his sons as dancing skeletons.)

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A New Sybil's "WHO'Z DAT?"... DENNIE MOORE (December 30, 1902 - February 22, 1978)

Darlings! Mummie has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place"... well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the stars that the public worships...

...I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? …well while you’re considering it, I’d like to introduce one of those special actresses whose voice is instantly identifiable even though technically she had a very small amount of actual “screen time” in any particular picture. Her voice, her face, her mannerisms… all as vivid as the entire careers of many major stars! Her name?...Dennie Moore (December 30, 1902 – February 22, 1978).

Moore was born in New York City to Jewish parents, Oren Moore, a cantor at one of the local synagogues and Gabriella Gefen. Some sources indicate she was born Deena Rivka Moore, or possibly Florence Moore, but she legally changed her name to Dennie so as not to be confused with the Vaudevillian/silent film actress Florence Moore who was twenty years her senior. It has also been reported that she changed her forename given her parents' disapproval of her becoming an actress. In the late 1920s, she began to pursue an acting career on the Broadway stage. Her Broadway shows included A LADY IN LOVE, THE TRIAL OF MARY DUGAN, CROSS ROADS, TORCH SONG, TWENTIETH CENTURY, PHANTOMS, CONFLICT, ANATOL, and JARNEGAN.

In the 1930s, she decided to embark on a film career and in 1935 she arrived in Hollywood and made her screen debut in an uncredited role in the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn film, SYLVIA SCARLETT for RKO Pictures. She primarily was what is known as a "free-lance actress" and floated between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. Studios. In the years to come she would specialize in playing dumb blondes, maids, and wisecracking but gold hearted sidekicks. In the course of her film career, she would appear in twenty-two films between 1935 and 1951. Some of her film credits include parts in TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934), BOY MEETS GIRL (1938), SATURDAY'S CHILDREN (1940), DIVE BOMBER (1941), and ANNA LUCASTA (1949). Of course, for film buffs, especially of Hollywood’s “Golden Age”, her appearance as Olga the manicurist in George Cukor’s THE WOMEN (1939) remains her highest achievement! Even though Moore is only briefly in two scenes, her presence is considered to be one of the most striking in a star-studded cast including the iconic Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, and other character-actress mega-talents; Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard, Phyllis Povah, Lucile Watson, Marjorie Main, Virginia Grey, Ruth Hussey, and dozens of other fabulous women!

By the mid-1940s, Moore found herself getting less work in Hollywood, but more parts on the New York stage. In 1951, she made her last screen appearance as Mrs. Bea Gingras in THE MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE BROKER. During the course of her film and stage career she had acted with the greats including John and Lionel Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Errol Flynn, Marlene Dietrich, John Garfield, Joan Blondell, Edward Arnold, Melvyn Douglas, and Ginger Rogers.

Moving back to New York City she made one final performance onstage in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK in the role of Mrs. Van Daan. In 1957, she retired from acting altogether, aged 54.

After her film career in Hollywood ended, Moore sold her home and permanently moved back to her native New York City, where she lived the rest of her life. Following her retirement she was active in campaigning civil rights for Jewish communities and women's rights. She did have an array of colorful friends from her acting days; they included Sylvia Sidney, Rosalind Russell, and Norma Shearer (whom she was befriended by while they starred together in THE WOMEN), and June Clyde and Fay Wray (both Mormons whom she called the ''Loveliest Latter Days who ever lived." Moore died of natural causes on February 22, 1978, aged 75, in her Manhattan apartment on Park Avenue. She left no immediate survivors. She was cremated and her ashes scattered off her balcony onto the streets far below.

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From Sybil Bruncheon's Merry Memoirs: MGM PROUDLY PRESENTS...

The new celebrity paper doll book for 1939!!!! Complete with fabulous and stylish outfits for "Day" and "Evening" wear...accessories included!...

So there we all were in the first weeks on the set of THE WOMEN directed by George Cukor, and Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer start shoving each other, and I end up taking a tumble into the mudbath in the spa. I break my ankle, and I'm out of the picture. All my scenes end up on the cutting room floor, and my official celebrity paper doll book ends up on the remainder table at a couple of Woolworth's 5 & 10s. Oh, and Crawford and Shearer float off into the stardom stratosphere!!...

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A New Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... FRANK MORGAN (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think???.... while you’re reflecting, I’m inviting into our hallowed hall one of my very favorite people in show biz!!! Mr. Frank Morgan (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949).

Morgan was born Francis Phillip Wuppermann in New York City, the youngest of eleven children (six boys and five girls) born to Josephine Wright (née Hancox) and George Diogracia Wuppermann. His father was born in Venezuela, of German and Spanish descent, and was raised in Hamburg, Germany. His mother was born in the U.S. of English descent. The family earned its wealth distributing the famous Angostura bitters, permitting Frank to attend Cornell University. He then followed his older brother Ralph Morgan into show business, first on the Broadway stage and then into motion pictures. Of all his siblings, Frank was closest to brother Carlos Domaso Siegert Wuppermann (aka Carlyle Morgan) (1887-1919) whose death while serving in the U.S. Army's Corps of Intelligence Police in Germany was initially deemed a suicide. It was later learned he was murdered by a fellow soldier. Carlyle was a writer, poet, playwright and actor. Frank appeared in his deceased brother's play THE TRIUMPH OF X in 1921 on Broadway. Frank’s first film was a silent, THE SUSPECT in 1916. In 1917 he provided support to his friend John Barrymore in RAFFLES, THE AMATEUR CRACKSMAN, an independent film produced in and about New York City. Morgan continued making silent films, but because of his distinctive voice and line deliveries, his career expanded when talkies began and he moved to Hollywood, where his most stereotypical role would be that of a befuddled but good hearted middle-aged man. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1934's THE AFFAIRS OF CELLINI where he played the cuckolded Duke of Florence and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1942's TORTILLA FLAT, where he played a simple Hispanic man. Other movies of note include HALLELUJAH, I’M A BUM (1933), THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936), SARATOGA (1937), THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940), THE HUMAN COMEDY (1943), THE MORTAL STORM (1940), and THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER (1944).

So memorable in comedies, folks often forgot that Morgan was extremely good in dramatic roles and even as unsympathetic ones as well. He also recorded a number of children's records, including the popular Gossamer Wump, released in 1949 by Capitol Records. Appearing in over a hundred films, Morgan's most famous performance was in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), in which he played the carnival huckster "Professor Marvel", the gatekeeper of the Emerald City, the driver of the carriage drawn by "The Horse of a Different Color", the armed guard leading to the Wizard's hall, the apparition of the Wizard as a monstrous disembodied Head, and the Wizard himself. Like Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West, his six characters appear on screen for only a few minutes in total, but they are iconically memorable. He was so popular in everything he did that MGM gave him a lifetime contract. Morgan was cast for the role on September 22, 1938. W. C. Fields was originally chosen for the role of the Wizard, but the studio ran out of patience after protracted haggling over his fee. 

In the 1940s, Morgan co-starred with Fanny Brice in one version (of several different series) of the radio program Maxwell House Coffee Time, aka The Frank Morgan-Fanny Brice Show. During the first half of the show Morgan would tell increasingly outlandish tall tales about his life adventures, much to the dismay of his fellow cast members. After the Morgan segment there was a song, followed by Brice as 'Baby Snooks' for the last half of the show. When Brice left in 1944 to have her own program, Morgan continued in a similar vein for a year with The Frank Morgan Show. One of his last film roles was as Barney Wile in THE STRATTON STORY (1949), a true story about a baseball player (played by James Stewart) who makes a comeback after having his leg amputated due to a hunting accident.

Morgan died suddenly of a heart attack on September 18, 1949, while filming ANNIE GET YOUR GUN! (replaced by Louis Calhern). His last completed film, KEY TO THE CITY (1950) was released posthumously, in which he starred with Clark Gable and Loretta Young. His death came before the 1956 premiere televised broadcast on CBS of THE WIZARD OF OZ which would make him the only major cast member from the film who would not live to see the film's revived popularity and become an annual American television institution. He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn; his tombstone carried his real name on the front, while noting his appearance as the Wizard on the back. Morgan has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for film and for radio. Margaret Hamilton said that whenever she saw the scene in the film where Frank Morgan as the Wizard is giving Dorothy's friends gifts from his "black bag" (a diploma for the Scarecrow, a ticking heart for the Tin Man, and a medal for the Cowardly Lion), she got teary eyed, because "Frank Morgan was just like that in real life - very generous". Morgan was a member of Hollywood’s famous hard-drinking "Irish mafia"--even though he wasn't Irish--which also included fellow film actors James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Frank McHugh, and Pat O'Brien. He was widely known to have had a drinking problem, according to several who worked with him, and he sometimes carried a black briefcase to work fully equipped with a small mini-bar. Honorary pallbearers at his funeral included Clark Gable and Pat O'Brien. Irish tenor Dennis Day sang. He was survived by his wife Alma of 35 years and his only son, George. Morgan has two stars dedicated to him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures at 1708 Vine Street and one for his work in radio at 6700 Hollywood Blvd. Both were dedicated on February 8, 1960.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "Hollywood Fact or Fiction!"… NOW-UR-HERE/NOW-UR-NOT"!...

TRUE STORY!!... this is the only known photo of the horribly tragic incident of "Joan Crawford & The MGM Transporter"...

L.B. Mayer, in an attempt to save travel expenses for his major stars going on location shoots in the 1930s, invested in advanced scientific research at M.I.T.

Albert Einstein and a handful of radical physicists claimed that they could "transport" props, camera equipment, and even movie stars around the globe in an instant and have them back in Hollywood for dinner after a full day of filming on the other side of the Earth. And no more faking foreign sets on Hollywood backlots!! Joan Crawford, being one of the biggest stars at the time, pushed her way to the front of the line on the day that they were to inaugurate the new "Now-Ur-Here/Now-Ur-Not Time Bender".... it was located just off the MGM Commissary near the dessert counters. After knocking Clark Gable and Franchot Tone to the floor, Crawford threw herself into the glass travel-booth!... there was a blinding flash of silvery blue light, a whirring sound of gears and steam.. ending in the grinding of metal like a soda fountain milkshake-maker gone horribly awry... then a scream and maybe some swear-words, and when the brown smoke cleared, there remained only a dish of beans and franks where the great Joan Crawford had just stood!!...

Fortunately with Einstein's great mind, his team's determination, and L.B.'s vast resources, they were able to bring Crawford back, a little at a time, over the following 3 weeks, although cafeteria-goers kept trying to eat her... and complained of gas.

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