Mae Clarke, and Other Forgotten Stars

[charliechaplinfan]

I enjoyed watching her in Free and Easy, the movie had the wrong ending but that's another story.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Thanks for all the Mae Clarke information, I watched Waterloo Bridge for the first time a couple days ago, and thought she was fantastic, but I couldn't find anything about her. I actually stumbled onto this forum during my search.

It's unfortunate that she never really got more chances to show her stuff. She was crazy good.

[feaito]

Judith,

Please let us know about Trixie's house when you can. I hope it is still standing. I truly would like to see more of her.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Sorry to dredge up an old topic, but given that I found this forum through Mae Clarke, and just finished her autobiography, I thought I should comment.

Her life is kind of a bummer, it just seems a damn tragedy to me that Mae never got a chance to show her stuff save for Waterloo Bridge. I am totally thankful for that even, given how revelatory it is, but it just feels so pitiful to read about her descent from A-pictures, to B-pictures, to bit parts on TV. She deserved so much better, and she didn't get it. I am thankful that Waterloo Bridge is out on DVD, and can be appreciated by the masses, because it is truly an all-time great performance, and should be seen by everyone.

I know she had 82 years, and she worked as an actress for over 40 years, but her story still feels tragic, given her immense talent. She should be remembered along with Stanwyck and Davis, but instead she only gets remembered as the chick who gets a grapefruit to the grill. She deserves so much better.

[movieman1957]

Don't apologize. Sometimes dredging up an old thread might rekindle it. If there is something new to add go ahead.

[jdb1]

I'm glad that TCM is helping to display the few starring roles of the very talented Mae. She really was remarkable, wasn't she? Wonderful in the drama Waterloo Bridge, and adorable as a screwball comedienne in those early films she made with Cagney.

Hollywood is full of wasted talents. What I did get from Mae's memoirs is a sense of an indominable spirit, and an actor who loved her work, even if it wasn't at the top. She had such a long resume, in films and TV -- we should have a Mae-watching club, and be like birders, hoping to catch a glimpse of our favorite in her natural habitat. Since cable TV is so full of re-runs, we can probably find her in classic films and TV from the 50s and 60s more often than we realize.

She was in numerous TV series, such as Perry Mason, and I think maybe Dragnet, and various anthology series of the kind that were popular in the 1950s. Three movies we are most likely to spot her in, possibly on TCM: A Catered Affair, Singin' in the Rain, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Viva Mae!

[knitwit45]

I didn't know she was in Singin in the Rain Who was she? I'm not familiar with her face, so point me in the right direction, please!

[jdb1]

Mae is, I think, either a hairdresser or wardrobe lady, who tells Lina how good she looks. I think it's a scene where Don and Lina are shooting outdoors. In these bit parts Mae generally had a few lines to speak, since she was more capable of doing so than most extras, and also because she had many friends, directors, producers and such, who wanted to help her to get as much money as possible from these jobs.

[charliechaplinfan]

I never knew that. Thank's I'll look out for her next time I watch it and I do watch it quite often

[moira finnie]

I haven't heard lately from Judith (Jdb1, the originator of this fascinating thread on Mae Clarke), so I hope that means that she is on vacation in some exotic location having fun.

All the same, I wanted to add a couple of Mae Clarke points of interest here. Clarke is appearing in 11 rarely seen films over the summer, all of which you can see listed here. The lady's spirit seems to be on the minds of many bloggers lately. Here are a few links to some intriguing articles about her:

Mae Clarke: Gangster, Grapefruit and Forty-One Seconds to Screen Immortality
by Robert J. Avrech

Mae Clarke in The Public Enemy
by Self-Styled Siren

[jdb1]

Hi, Moira.

I only with I had been on vacation. Where I was, was in lots of pain with an ear infection of epic proportions. I've been checking in here, but simply haven't had the energy to participate. Back at work but still without much energy. As the sage said: It's always something.

Thanks for the leads on Mae. It's a real treat to see her films -- she made so many, and so many of those seem to be lost to time.

[Ollie]

I can't wait to see SINGIN' IN THE RAIN to catch her again.