Forgotten Actresses of the 30's...

[traceyk]

Watched "Girls about Town" and "Millie" this week. Lilyan Tashman is funny--in that witty, sly Pre-code way that I love. Didn't she die really young? Of cancer or something?

[mongoII]

tracey, the beauty from Brooklyn, New York past away at age 34 following cancer surgery.

[traceyk]

It's too bad. She was fun to watch. Though I wonder if her type of character would have survived th3e Post-code era? A lot of them didn't.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Ann Dvorak is definitely underrated, she has such a unique presence it's unfortunate her peak was so short.

I really like Miriam Hopkins, she's great in the Lubitsch films, as well as The Story of Temple Drake, I wish she got more recognition. Temple Drake really should be on DVD.

I am currently watching a bunch of Joan Blondell stuff, and she's great too, the personification of sauce. Hopefully more of her stuff becomes available for the DVD buying world to see.

Ruby Keeler isn't necessarily a great actress, but I love her dancing, and she plays the naive young girl really well.

And of course Mae Clarke is probably the poster-girl for forgotten 1930's stars, heck she was forgotten in her own time. At least Waterloo Bridge is now readily available.

Anna Mae Wong is absolutely beautiful and it's a damn shame she never got a chance to do anything really substantial because of her race.

[CineMaven]

MissGoddess: "Margaret Lindsay seemed to often play the girl who lost the guy to some other actress or was an all-purpose good gal. I always liked her."

Hi there...I'm invading your territory over here; trying to get used to the interface of SSO. I'm a darn slow learner. I saw Margaret Lindsay's name and I had to add my 2 cents (probably an inflated 2.5 cents).
I thought she was great. She was very pretty and had a very smart and sophisticated air about her. And her voice...that was the thing that mostly got my attention. There were soooooooo many actresses working back then and vying for a shot of the spotlight, that one had to, probably, be absolutely exceptional to stand out. Davis, Crawford, Stanwyck, Ava, Lana, Rita, Hedy, Vivien, Greer, Tierney etc.etc.etc. I'm just glad that Lindsay hung in there for that "B"-rung of the ladder. My surprise to see her in "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" starring Doris Day. She was the society matron host of a party. Never marrying piques my interest in her as well.

I love Margaret Lindsay. She needs to be talked about more.

[MissGoddess]

Welcome to SSO, CM! Lindsay stood out in her quiet way. I think most the actors and actresses back then, whether stars or supporting or "B" players were very individualistic and so to be a mega star you really had to have the Studio behind you pushing that or else be very ambitious as a free-lancer (Stanwyck, Cary Grant, et al).

I love how you can close your eyes and recognize literally scores of performers just by the sound of their unique voices...

[Dawtrina]

I'll second the inclusion of Joan Blondell and Ruth Chatterton on a list like this. Very different actresses, but both always very watchable indeed.

I'd throw into the hat Helen Chandler. Sure, her name is well known because of Dracula, but she did so much more than that and nobody seems to remember any of the rest. She nailed her part in The Last Flight amazingly well and the few other films I've been lucky enough to see her in have only served to highlight how underrated she is.

[ken123]

MissGoddess: "Margaret Lindsay seemed to often play the girl who lost the guy to some other actress or was an all-purpose good gal. I always liked her."

Hi there...I'm invading your territory over here; trying to get used to the interface of SSO. I'm a darn slow learner. I saw Margaret Lindsay's name and I had to add my 2 cents (probably an inflated 2.5 cents).
I thought she was great. She was very pretty and had a very smart and sophisticated air about her. And her voice...that was the thing that mostly got my attention. There were soooooooo many actresses working back then and vying for a shot of the spotlight, that one had to, probably, be absolutely exceptional to stand out. Davis, Crawford, Stanwyck, Ava, Lana, Rita, Hedy, Vivien, Greer, Tierney etc.etc.etc. I'm just glad that Lindsay hung in there for that "B"-rung of the ladder. My surprise to see her in "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" starring Doris Day. She was the society matron host of a party. Never marrying piques my interest in her as well.

I love Margaret Lindsay. She needs to be talked about more.

I started a tread about Ms Lindsay a few months ago, it somwhere on this site.