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121 11 WarnerWorkhorse College Coach marked the beginning of a productive run of filmmaking for Ann Dvorak, though the movies often left a lot to be desired, particularly in regard to the size of her roles. The main part Ann seemed to be playing in the mid-1930s was that of a Warner Bros. workhorse. No studio could churn out films quite like Warner Bros., and generally no one under contract was immune from appearing in his or her fair share of B films, made on the cheap and shot in less than a month or sometimes in a couple of weeks. As one Bette Davis biographer wrote of 1930s Warner Bros. films, “Even a screen buff could not always differentiate between an ‘A’ and ‘B’ film strictly by the players but could make the distinction within the first five minutes by counting the close-ups.”1 Later on, James Cagney summed up Warner Bros.’ vast output in the 1930s: “What is usually not realized is that most of the scripts we were forced to do were acutely dreadful.”2 The number of movies one actor could appear in during the course of a year was impressive. In 1932 alone, eight Warner films had Bette Davis’s name in the credits, and Joan Blondell appeared in an astounding ten movies. However, for all the throwaway quickie programmers the contract players were forced to appear in, there were usually a few choice roles thrown in to keep them happy, like Fog over Frisco and Bordertown for Davis, and Blondie Johnson and Footlight Parade for Blondell. As 1933 was winding down, Ann Dvorak officially joined the Warner ranks, and by the end of the following year had appeared in nine films. Unfortunately, the parts were usually small and the films not always memorable. Even if the movie itself was of higher quality or had an interesting story, Ann’s contribution was usually minimal and saw her playing the stalwart girlfriend. Warner Bros. seemed to have no intention of casting Ann in anything akin to The Strange Love of Molly Louvain or Three on a Match. One news- Ann Dvorak 122 paper even reported that, following her prolonged absence, Warner Bros. had made a conscious decision not to star her in anything. There is no official documentation to back up this claim, but it did seem to be the studio’s intentions. Ann downplayed it, as if the assignments she had been receiving did not bother her . “I may get another chance to become a star, and if I do I’ll try hard to make good, because I don’t believe anything could come between Leslie and myself now. However, I would rather wait indefinitely for a starring opportunity, happy with my husband, than to be a star now, at the possible cost of a matrimonial shipwreck.”3 On another occasion, she proclaimed, “I do not want to be starred at this point in my second career. I really would prefer to play comparatively small parts. But I’m human, and if someone urged me to star in some terrifically attractive picture, I would probably clutch at it with both hands. But, reasonably, I would rather not. I want to start all over again, near the bottom and build up slowly, substantially, growing with my own growth.”4 Ann approached this demotion of sorts with a positive attitude, but would change her mind about the repeatedly drab parts before her contract was over. As for Leslie Fenton, his reply to questions about his wife’s future in film was “Ann has a right to her career.”5 Rumors started floating around that Ann was going to be cast opposite Leslie Howard in British Agent, but instead she was given Massacre with former silent star Richard Barthelmess. Massacre is an interesting film for the time period, as it brings to light the hardships of reservation life and the mistreatment of Native Americans at the hands of government officials. Barthelmess plays a Native American who has escaped the reservation by becoming a noted rodeo personality, donning a “traditional” chief costume. When his family sends a distress call, he returns to the reservation , where his perceived meddling makes him the target of corrupt government employees. The ultimate theme of Massacre seems to be that Native American reservations are A-OK as long as the right people are running them, but even so, the subject matter of the film is still ahead of its time. The...

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