SybilSez...

Sybil Bruncheon has been performing on stage, radio, TV, film, and in various Vaudeville, burlesque, church basement, county fair, and sideshow....uh..."venues" for most of her 29 years. She is available for bookings for just about anything and can be reached at bruncheon@hotmail.com and on her website sybilbruncheon.com. She is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. Her erdo number is 16.

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??? Well let’s not mull it over without a little refreshment, ok? I’ll just ring this little bell, and summon one of the best butler-types Hollywood ever produced. Here he comes, Mr. Eric Blore.

Blore was born in Finchley, Middlesex, England. At age eighteeen, he worked as an insurance agent for two years. He gained theatre experience while touring Australia. Originally enlisting into the Artists Rifles he was commissioned in the South Wales Borderers in World War I. Eventually he appeared in several shows and revues in England. In 1923 he went to the United States and began playing character roles on Broadway beginning with LITTLE MISS BLUEBEARD, which ran 175 performances. After the death of his first wife, Violet Winter, he married Clara Mackin in 1926, and had one son, Eric Jr. His stage work as a waiter in the musical GAY DIVORCE (1932) with Fred Astaire earned him a role in the filmed remake GAY DIVORCEE (1934). He then concentrated his time more in Hollywood, and appeared in over eighty Hollywood films. Blore, in his roles as an English butler, dance school owner, or valet appeared more frequently than any other supporting player in the series of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals at RKO Radio Pictures, five of the ten! Unforgettable for his shameless mugging, bulging eyes, over-the-top grimaces, and triple-takes, and for the exaggerated intonations and sibilant s’s, some of his most memorable on-screen moments took place in TOP HAT (1935) and SHALL WE DANCE (1937). He reprised the role with Astaire for a final time in THE SKY’S THE LIMIT (1943), delivering the line: "If I were not such a gentleman's gentleman, I could be such a cad's cad". Other memorable roles included Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith in the Preston Sturges film THE LADY EVE (1941) with Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, a small part as Charles Kimble in the second of the seven Bing Crosby- Bob Hope "Road" film THE ROAD TO ZANZIBAR (1941), and from 1940 to 1947 in eleven LONE WOLF films as Jamison the butler. Although he appeared in many dramas, and even a few suspenseful adventure films, his legacy will always remain in screwball and musical comedies. Blore died of a heart attack at age 71 on March 2,1959 in Hollywood, California. He was entombed in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Ironically, his death caused an unexpected stir, quite independent of his fame. The British critic Kenneth Tynan, writing for The New Yorker, had recently made a mistaken reference to "the late Eric Blore", and this error passed by the normally vigilant checking department. When Blore’s lawyer demanded a retraction, the editor had no choice other than to refer this demand to Tynan, pointing out in a fury that this was the first retraction ever to appear in that usually authoritative magazine. In disgrace, Tynan prepared a major apology, to appear prominently in the next issue. On the eve of publication, when the edition was printed and ready for delivery, Blore dropped dead. And on the next morning, the daily papers announced Blore’s death, while The New Yorker apologized for any insult to Mr. Blore’s feelings through their erroneous report of his demise. Blore might have found the incident wryly amusing.

[Want to read other fun and funny stories here on SybilSez.com? Just enter any topic that pops into your head in the "search" window on the upper right! Who knows what might come up?...and feel free to share them with your friends!]

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!!! OH! And speaking of which, he IS a Hall, PORTER HALL (September 19, 1888 – October 6, 1953), one of the most recognizable actors ever to grace the silver screen!

Born in Cincinnati as Clifford Porter Hall, his father, W. A. Hall, headed a cooperage business that ended because of prohibition in the United States. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Hall worked for the Fleischmann Company while also directing and acting in little theatre productions in Cleveland. Hall began his career touring as a stage actor with roles in productions of THE GREAT GATSBY and NAKED in 1926. His Broadway credits included THE RED CAT (1934), THE DARK TOWER (1933), THE WARRIOR'S HUSBAND (1932), COLLISION (1932), IT'S A WISE CHILD (1929), NIGHT HOSTESS (1928), LOUD SPEAKER (1927), NAKED (1926), and THE GREAT GATSBY (1926).

Hall made his film debut in the 1931 drama SECRETS OF A SECRETARY at the age of 43, and he made his last onscreen appearance in the 1954 filmRETURN TO TREASURE ISLAND, which was released after his death. But between those films, he appeared in over seventy-six other movies.

He was probably best remembered for five roles: a senator in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) with Jimmy Stewart, Claude Rains and several other major stars directed by Frank Capra, an atheist in GOING MY WAY (1944) starring Bing Crosby, the nervous, ill-tempered Granville Sawyer, who administers a psychological test to Kris Kringle in MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947), a train passenger who encounters a man (Fred MacMurray) who has just committed a murder in DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944), and the title character's lawyer in THE THIN MAN (1934) with William Powell and Myrna Loy. Along the way, he was so respected and valued that he worked repeatedly with some of the greatest directors in the industry (Capra, Howard Hawks, George Seaton, Billy Wilder, W. S. Van Dyke). Hall worked along side Oscar nominated and winning stars; Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart and Leslie Howard in THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936), Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) and has the distinction of having been in six films that were nominated for Best Picture; THE THIN MAN, THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR (1936), MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, GOING MY WAY, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, and MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, with GOING MY WAY winning Best Picture. When reviewing his career and the casts and crews Hall worked with, it’s astounding how many times he worked with the same people again and again; a tribute to his talent and the joy he brought to the industry and his co-workers.

For over two decades, Porter Hall made a career out of playing a wide range of sinister villains, pompous snobs, sharp smart-alecks, and comically incompetent fools. His movie career was not a mirror of his real life, however. He was well known as a generous and outgoing person who was well-liked by almost everybody he knew. It is ironic that the role he is most often seen in today is that of an atheist in GOING MY WAY - ironic because Hall was a deacon at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. He married actress Geraldine Hall in 1927 and had two children, David and Sarah Jane. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles at 65 years of age. He was interred in Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills.