Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Sunday, May 28, 2006




Monday Glamour Starter --- Thelma Todd

If anyone is disposed to finally clear up the mystery of Thelma Todd’s 1935 death, we are eager to take your statement. Having waited for going on a century, we’d all welcome closure (original investigation paperwork disappeared generations ago as part of the "cover-up"). Whatever else she accomplished, Todd will be best remembered as the body slumped over a driver's wheel in the wake of what Double Indemnity's Walter Neff would call a "monoxide job." Fans yet make pilgrimage to the grisly site where speculation continues as to what killed Thelma. I say it was a grotesque accident, involuntary manslaughter at best, the perpetrator, and all of friends and associates, so long dead as to make further clarification all but impossible. We could as profitably unmask Jack The Ripper. What is left of Thelma Todd in a public's consciousness, apart from circumstance of her passing, is support work with comedians whose names do survive, and surely she did something right, because Todd appeared alongside some greats. There was a Thelma Todd starring series at Hal Roach, two-reel comedies where she and ZaSu Pitts (then later Patsy Kelly) paired off as a distaff Laurel and Hardy. The Todd/Pitts/Kelly shorts were a trail mix of mirth and tedium, some pretty funny, others an ordeal. Zazu is easier to take than Patsy. The weakest of these comedies at least had Thelma, always a welcome sight, especially on occasions when she effects costume changes on camera, and there were happily lots of those …
























Thelma Todd's birthplace was Lawrence, Massachusetts. She was born in 1906. There has been local recognition, one most noteworthy for her centennial. There was a New England cousin who spent her life collecting on Thelma. When she died, they auctioned the memorabilia. Sad when product of a lifetime’s pursuit is so casually disposed of, but there is bittersweet finish for most collectors, and their collections. Thelma herself had cleared out of Lawrence by the time she was twenty, gone to Hollywood with an armload of loving cups from various Lion’s Clubs and the promise of stardom to come. That was slow in arriving, as there were tens of thousands out there just like her, but after an uncertain start with ingenue roles, she lucked into comedy parts. This was a niche conventional actresses on the rise were less ambitious to fill, indeed she was typecast from there on, efforts to drama-tize Thelma fallen on deaf casting ears. A new name was tried (Alison Loyd), but doomed to crowd inclination to laugh rather than take her seriously. Corsair with Chester Morris was a 1931 experiment, but crowds wanted her no way other than comedy (two-reel partner ZaSu Pitts had the same problem).




Multiple smash-ups, both on account of drink and ongoing lack of motor skills, nearly got Thelma killed (a palm tree jumped out in front of her car on one occasion), but she'd work steady until that night in December 1935 when lights went out. Short of further and Byzantine detail, we may best concede that Todd’s death has not. likely never will be, satisfactorily explained. Her maid found the body, no signs of violence reported at the time, evidence indicating Todd perished amidst fumes from her car engine. Had she gone there during the chilly night to warm up? There was a quarrel with live-in Roland West, a director down on his luck, but well connected in Hollywood
power circles. He had banished her from the house, then followed her to the garage and by several accounts locked her inside. There was no indication she struggled to get out. In fact, Todd was found in the front seat of her car. West by several accounts, including possibly his own, went down the next day to check on her and found the result of his having sealed the door . From there, it was a matter of waiting out discovery by an innocent third party, then feigning surprise when told. Investigators are said to have got a confession from Roland West, this suppressed "for the good of the industry." Shortly before his own death in 1952, West made his peace again to actor and close friend Chester Morris, which Morris passed it along to producer Alex Gordon and film historian William K. Everson. All this strikes me as more plausible than another Todd biographer who asserts she was offed by Lucky Luciano's mob after being involved with the notorious racketeer and killer. This the naturally the account that has gotten most airplay since. More recent researchers, online and in print, have taken a saner approach and done much to correct the record. Assist toward this has been increased access to Thelma Todd's output and a present generation's embrace of her life and pleasing performances. 






Thelma was known as the "ice cream blonde" ("… and everyone wanted a lick" must surely have been a refrain on the lips of various Hollywood lotharios). This negligee shot with the phone is from the 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon (her part in the remake was played by Gladys George). Laurel and Hardy benefited from Thelma’s presence in several shorts --- too bad there weren’t more --- this one is Chickens Come Home, and she’s gorgeous in it. Monkey Business was one of two Marx Brothers features in which she participated. The other was Horse Feathers, but that one was code-cut in the late forties, and what’s left of Thelma’s key scene with the Brothers is so mutilated as to be almost incoherent. Too bad Universal hasn’t been able to locate better elements on this 1932 release. Buster Keaton was near a point of no return when Speak Easily found him sharing scenes with Thelma. This office exchange with John Barrymore in Counselor At Law also fell before the Code’s ax for a 1953 re-issue --- what’s left is still fine, but this missing footage appears to be gone forever. That's James Finlayson as a suspicious husband in The Devil’s Brother, and ZaSu Pitts poses with Thelma for a portrait heralding another Hal Roach short comedy. Their two-reelers generally ran ahead of Our Gang and The Boy Friends in terms of rentals, but behind Charley Chase
and of course, the Laurel and Hardy series, which was the biggest earner of all. Hard to imagine them beating out Roach’s Rascals, considering how forgotten the Todd/Pitts shorts are today. This final image is something of a rarity --- Thelma Todd in The Bohemian Girl, a feature just completed at the time of her death. Preview audiences apparently saw Thelma, but hasty reshooting in the wake of her mysterious death found the part recast and virtually all her footage removed. This sequence with Antonio Moreno was not seen by the public, and very few stills of Thelma from The Bohemian Girl have been published --- in fact, the only other one I’ve seen is in Randy Skretvedt’s excellent book, Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind The Movies.

6 Comments:

Blogger Dave said...

I've been mocked for this before, but I think Drew Barrymore is a dead ringer for Thelma -- certainly closer in looks than Loni Anderson. I wouldn't want to see another biopic, as Drew lacks the charm, intelligence, and humor that Thelma gave us, but still . . .

10:49 PM  
Blogger Erica Simpson said...

Thelma most certainly had a great career in front of the cameras, working with the greatest comedian's of the day. It would be good if she would be remembered for that alone.

10:49 PM  
Blogger Michael J. Hayde said...

Nevada screened at CINEVENT this past weekend, as did the Todd-Pitts comedy On the Loose and the Todd-Kelly short The Tin Man. All were presented as a Todd Centennial tribute.

11:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

July is going to be Thelma Todd Month at inthebalcony.com. I love her (and also see her in Drew Barrymore). I never discuss her death with anybody, because her life and films are much more worth talking about IMO.

10:09 PM  
Blogger Lionel Braithwaite said...

@Dave; Bullcrap, she's still here, and she's gone on to do more than Thelma Todd ever did (including having kids and playing one of the ill-fated Bouviers in Grey Gardens.) I'd like to see her as Thelma Todd in a movie, and I have a feeling that she'd pull it off.

People just LOVE to diss current actors, but guess what? After we're all dead and gone, people will be considering these actors just as 'classic' as the ones on this and other nostalgia blogs.

11:16 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

In all fairness to Thelma Todd, unlike Drew Barrymore, she didn't start her acting career as a child, but still managed to cram in about 120 films in 9 years by the age of 29 and was highly rated by some serious legends of that era.
It's unfair to compare their careers on any level as Todd never got to complete hers.
However, I do like both actresses and up to about 10 years ago, Drew would have been my choice to play Thelma Todd in a biopic.
Anyone who's seen a hell of a lot of Todd's publicity portraits should have at some point noticed a resemblance between the two, even their profiles are strikingly similar.

5:36 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024