Thursday, August 18, 2005

With a name like Pangborn....

When I returned to caricaturing for fun recently, I wanted to take it easy on myself, and not start right out with well-known, predictably handsome or beautiful Hollywood stars (Correction: Okay, I did start out with an attempt at caricaturing Cary Grant, who frustratingly kept looking a little too much like George Clooney.), so I decided to focus on personalities that were almost living-caricatures to begin with. One of the first caricatures that I attempted was of Franklin Pangborn.


What can you say about someone with a face like this:

Franklin Pangborn was the type of actor born to play fussy, put-upon, continually exasperated characters...very...very...well.

I first became aware of Pangborn as one of Preston Sturges' most frequently used character actors. Sturges always found ways to write memorable scenes for his friends, and one of my favorites is Pangborn's "Chairman of the Reception Comittee" at the beginning of
Hail the Conquering Hero.

The scene is masterful in showing an over-organized fuss-budget, slowly losing control over the detailed plans in his head, as various bands and a small boy with a trumpet argue over who gets to play "Hail the Conquering Hero" and "Into the Arms of Mother" for returning "war hero" Eddie Bracken. Naturally, other people pop into the frame to suggest other songs ("Let Me Call You Sweetheart"?)

Of course, every song does get played...all at the same time. Which leaves Pangborn hopping up and down, yelling "Not yet! Not yet!!!", and frantically blowing a whistle.

Apart from Sturges, Pangborn was also very memorable in slightly more subdued roles such as
J. Pinkerton Snoopington in The Bank Dick with W.C. Fields, or the Theatrical Producer in Ernst Lubitsch's Design for Living, as well as dozens of other films in the 30's and 40's.

Also, like many men of his time, he was a veteran of World War I.
The idea of Pangborn fighting off a hoarde of bloodthirsty Huns, seems almost incomprehensible. Incomprehensible, but most certainly...funny.

Okay, here's the drawing.



Saturday, August 13, 2005

Goes by the name of Rocky. Alias: Bob Steele?

Considering this is my first official post, I figured I'd address a theory I've had for several years concerning this fella:


You probably recognize him as the Looney Tunes character named Rocky. He was a gangster character that first appeared in the Friz Freling cartoon Golden Yeggs (1950), and was a semi-frequent foil for both Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.


I'm a big fan of the Howard Hawks film The Big Sleep, and after a few viewings I noticed that the character of the hitman, Canino, bore a similarity to Rocky. Canino was played by Warner Brothers character actor Bob Steele, as seen in the picture below.



Dangling cigarette. Check. Fedora. Check. Long coat. Check.
He kind of looks like Rocky, but it is a pretty standard depiction of a gangster.

I figured the similarities were just a coincidence, until I watched the John Wayne movie Rio Bravo (Also directed by Howard Hawks, some 15 years later.), and lo-and-behold, who shows up in a small role, but Bob Steele!



Then I saw this shot:

Look at the guy! Bob Steele was a really small man. According to the IMDB, 5-foot, 5-inches.

Both The Big Sleep and Rio Bravo were made at Warner Brothers, and I think it's very plausable that Rocky's creators saw Steele's memorable hit-man performance, had first-hand knowledge of Steele's real life stature, and saw the comedic potential in the idea of a diminuitive tough-guy as a foil for their star characters.

I've bounced this idea off of cartoon historian Jerry Beck (via his cartoon history forum), but unfortunately, the inspiration for Rocky never came up in any of his interviews with Friz Freling. Freling died ten years ago, and any interviews with him now would be pretty one-sided.

Bob Steele had a very long and varied career. He started out as a child star in silent movies, and eventually became a pretty popular B-western hero in the 30's. In his later life he mainly got work as a character actor and was a regular on the 1960's Warner Brothers TV show, F Troop, in which he had a regular role as Trooper Duffy.


Thursday, August 11, 2005

Introduction

This website will cover my interests in classic movies, television, animation, and caricature, as well as (although, probably less frequently); history, war, capitalism, and freedom. I think of this blog as my right-brained interests mashed-together with my left-brained interests. Some may find (If anyone actually ends up reading this stuff.) the combination of these subjects to be somewhat peculiar.

I do not.

I believe that the latter group is completely necessary for the former group to completely thrive. (Besides, it's my website, and I'll prattle on about anything I darn well please.)


I'm not quite sure when my first official post will be, but...stay tuned.


-Daniel