Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes

Source Notes

265 SOURCE NOTES Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes is the result of research in film libraries and archives and numerous interviews with her friends, colleagues, and family. Screening Blondell’s film and television work was also critical to research. I was able to see all but two of Blondell’s ninety-two feature films. Convention City (1933) is lost, while Big Daddy (shot in 1965, released in 1969) has never been released to the home market and is apparently too obscure for ebay or private collectors. Through private collectors, the Museum of Television and Radio in New York, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive, I saw Blondell’s television appearances on drama series (Burke’s Law), comedy (Vacation Playhouse), unsold pilots (Bobby Parker and Company), anthologies (The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Dick Powell Show), variety (All Star Revue, Don McNeill’s TV Club), game shows (The Movie Game), commercials (Butter-Nut Coffee), and many others. Many more of her films and television appearances are available on DVD and via Turner Classic Movies, which televises films from the Warner Bros. library. Many newspaper and magazine clippings on Blondell at various archives have no date or source ascription. Available information on printed sources is in the notes that follow. A bibliography also follows, listing books as well as significant articles on Blondell that are cited in this book. The following abbreviations are used in the notes: AMPAS: Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills CKF: Charles K. Feldman Special Collection of the Louis B. Mayer Library, American Film Institute, Los Angeles EP: Ellen Powell JB: Joan Blondell JHK: Joan Hayward Krooms JJ: Jill Jackson KB: Kathryn L. Blondell MK: Matthew Kennedy NP: Norman Powell 266 SOURCE NOTES NYPL: New York Public Library for the Performing Arts PCA: Production Code Administration RB: Ronald L. Bowers’s private clipping collection SA: Shubert Archive, New York UCLA: Twentieth Century Fox Special Collection, Arts Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles USC: Cinema-Television Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles WB: Warner Bros. Archives, School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California Introduction Quotations 3 “Without work”: Kobal 182. 4 “Her voice”: Parish and Stanke 19. 4 “martini olive green”: JHK interview with MK, 29 May 2005. 4 “always sparkled”: Tolsky interview with MK, 1 Aug. 2006. 6 “Ann Sothern”: Kobal 181. 6 “She made everybody’s job easy”: Anzures interview with MK, 19 Jul. 2006. 7 “impulsive, passionate”: Marion (Off with Their Heads!) 303–304. 7 “The most generous”: JJ interview with MK, 29 Aug. 2005. 7 “I don’t know how”: Hanley interview with MK, 11 Jul. 2006. 8 “an incredible history”: Village Voice, 18 Nov. 1971. Chapter 1: The Next Town Family, particularly EP, provided much of the background on JB’s parents and childhood. Additional vital statistics were found in the census records at www.ancestry.com. The Lost Boy characters come from Ann McDowell Traub’s private collection of family ephemera. Written accounts of JB’s early years come from Parish and Stanke, The Leading Ladies; Hunter, “Joan Blondell: Heart of Gold” from Films of the Golden Age (fall 2002); Movie Mirror (Jun. 1934); Hollywood Citizen News (2 Jun. 1937); and various clippings in the JB file of the NYPL. I found the New York Times accounts of The Miracle on 20 Jan. and 3 Feb. 1924 SOURCE NOTES 267 most revealing. The Atlantic City beauty contest is covered in Van Meter’s The Last Good Time. The Dempsey-Tunney bet is in Silver Screen, Aug. 1937. Quotations 12 “streams of laughter”: Brooklyn Eagle, 10 Mar. 1901. 13 “This is a nice”: Variety, 25 Dec. 1909. 13 “In Australia”: Johnson 38. 14 “The Americanisms”: New York Telegraph, 10 Jul. 1910. 14 “Kind audience”: Variety, 31 Dec. 1910. 15 “Life on the boat”: JB file, NYPL. 15 “I became educated”: Kobal 187. 16 “When vaudeville was going”: TV Guide, 19 Apr. 1969. 16 “Just go out there”: AMPAS Special Collections, 22 May 1972. 17 “There is a lot”: Los Angeles Times, 24 Jul. 1918. 17 “I always thought”: JB file, NYPL, 1938. 17 “I got a serious disease”: ibid. 18 “With me protesting”: JB file, AMPAS, 1945. 19 “We gave her vast tureens”: JB file, NYPL. 19 “I have seen”: ibid. 20 “It’s a party”: EP interview with MK, 28 Jul. 2004. 20 “I couldn’t take it”: Bowers...