After nearly 30 years out of feature films, he returned to perform character roles. He appeared on Broadway in Shinbone Alley, Hello, Dolly!, The Odd Couple and Sugar Babies. He made numerous radio broadcasts during this era, notably on The Eddie Bracken Show. Due to the popularity of these films, Eddie Bracken was a household name during World War II. In the 1940s, director Preston Sturges cast Bracken in two of his best-loved films, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, opposite Betty Hutton, and Hail the Conquering Hero. The military drama, co-starriing Richard Cromwell, opened to much fanfare but closed after 14 performances at the 46th Street Theater. In 1936, Bracken pursued success on Broadway with his starring run in the Joseph Viertel play So Proudly We Hail. He had performed in a short film series called The Kiddie Troupers prior to that, but that film was his big break. Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940 film adaptation. © 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc.Edward Vincent “Eddie” Bracken was an American actor.īracken was born in Astoria, New York, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. This rare still is from Simpson College in Iowa, which has a Lane Sisters collection. Her last film, in 1948, was “Bodyguard” opposite Lawrence Tierney - co-written by Robert Altman! Priscilla, who had a Boston TV show in the ’50s, died in 1995. (Bracken wasn’t much of a draw after he left Paramount). The Jack Benny vehicle “The Meanest Man in the World” (1943) ran a mere 58 minues and she didn’t film again until “Fun on a Weekend,” a United Artists release that apparently never had a New York City playdate. By that time, Lane’s freelance career was flatlining despite a strong start in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Saboteur,” which she got because Hich’s first choice, Barbara Stanwyck, was unavailable. Lane and Warner parted company after her delightful performance opposite Cary Grant in “Arsenic and Old Lace.” The latter was filmed by Frank Capra in late 1941, but was contractually held out of circulation until the play closed in 1944. Priscilla is memorable as James Cagney’s unrequited singer love interest in the classic “The Roaring Twenties” (1939) and adorable as the lead in the little-known “Million Dollar Baby” from the same year, gifted with a fortune by May Robson much to the dismay of her Bolshevik composer boyfriend, played by … Ronald Reagan. as the youngest and prettiest of the Lane sisters (Lola and Rosemary were the others) in “Four Daughters,” its two sequels and its near-remake “Daughters Courgeous” (all with the unrelated Gale Page as the fourth sibling after the Lanes’ actual sibling Leota, who appeared in some early talkies, was deemed unsuitable). “Fun on a Weekend” was the penultimate big-screen appearance for Priscilla, who rose to stardom at Warner Bros. “Scatterbrained fluff as Bracken and Lane manuever their way from penniless fortune to love and riches, all in the course of a day,” Leonard writes. I’ll take it! He gives it two stars despite the general zippiness of Stone’s comedies from this era (Quentin Tarantino, no less, is a fan of “Hi Diddle Diddle”) and a cast that includes Tom Conway, Allen Jenkins, Arthur Treacher, Clarence Kolb and Fritz Feld. Though I am a big fan of Eddie Bracken and especially Priscilla Lane, my knowledge of this film is pretty much limited to an entry in Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide. Starring : Eddie Bracken, Priscilla Lane, Tom Conway. EST, has shown up in the last half-century or so on TV, if at all. This is too good to last, but may have anyway if true love hadnt reared its ugly head. Stone’s “Fun on a Weekend” (1947), premiering tonight on TCM at 8 p.m.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |