Jenks Alert!

[klondike]

Hey Folks!
I missed you all so much these past few weeks, as business called me far afield!
J'all miss me?
No, disregard that; age is supposed to reinforce dignity, and that was just plain fishing!
What this post is about is CCC's very own Frankie Jenks, known by too few movie mavens (at least by name), for very little more than that most peerless of cameos, the irrepressible "Sienkewicz" from Christmas in Connecticut, even though for a good twenty-five years he was nearly everyone's first casting choice for a memorable bartender/ cabbie/ soldier/ grease monkey/ counterman/ reporter (that last in quite sterling fashion in His Girl Friday), resulting in literally dozens & dozens of memorably unique, but uncredited, bit parts.
Small wonder he shares Motor Pool duty on the CCC Campus with those 2 other Kings of the Cameos, Robert Armstrong & Frank Faylen.
And tomorrow a.m. @ 11, it's "Seven Miles from Alcatraz"; Lenny Maltin's kinda lukewarm on this one, but I say, anytime you can pit escaped American convicts against Nazi fifth-columnists, directed by Dmytryk and featuring our beloved FJ, how can you go wrong??
Yep, that's me, end of day, with no one lookin', I am an optimist.
So sue me . . I dare ya!

[mrsl]

Fish away my friend! Yes, I always miss you when you're gone! It's about time you're back.

Anne

[Hollis]

Hello there, Sgt Preston!

Haven't had the opportunity to talk with you for quite some time. Glad that you're staying busy and out of trouble. Forgive my ignorance, but the only CCC I'm aware of is the long since departed Civilian Conservation Corps, which was part of the NRA under Franklin Roosevelt in the Early 30's. Please edify, enlighten and educate me if you will, by disseminating the information which you hold so tightly to your fur covered chest! Mush!

As always,

Hollis

[moira finnie]

Forgive my ignorance, but the only CCC I'm aware of is the long since departed Civilian Conservation Corps, which was part of the NRA under Franklin Roosevelt in the Early 30's. Please edify, enlighten and educate me if you will, by disseminating the information which you hold so tightly to your fur covered chest!

Dear Hollis,
Just in case our favorite musher finds himself too busy to answer, I hope that you won't mind a little insight into the CCC. The initials stand for Classic Cinema College, a little brainstorm I had originally about a year and a half ago on the ol' TCM boards, which seems to amuse many contributors, who--thankfully, have added their own ideas about who should populate the institution. It's an imaginary college where the professors, staff students and visiting dignitaries are all drawn from our favorite classic movies. You can read the origins of this cockamamie college on TCM here and we have a section of our newly established site that's devoted to it, found here.

Klondike has contributed nobly to our motor pool dept. as well as numerous other branches of the CCC. I'm hoping that you and others will also feel inspired to add your ideas for courses, instructors and events that might enliven our cinematic reverie. Feel free to enjoy and matriculate in the silliness, Hollis and friends!

Moira

[moira finnie]

For those of us who might be wondering about Klondike's pal mentioned in his above appreciation, scratching our heads and saying "Who the heck is Frank Jenks?", here's a picture that will have us saying, "Oh that guy!"



My fave Jenks appearance (uncredited, alas), was as an inconveniently overly friendly drunk on a rainy night in High Wall (1947), one of the better MGM noirs with Robert Taylor and Audrey Totter. Frank Jenks seems to have spent his career playing a man whose presence was usually inconvenient for someone...he was usually a crowd filler or spear carrier for the plot and atmosphere in his appearances, but he gave life to many films.

Does anyone else think that he could easily have played Frank Faylen and Dabbs Greer's brother?

[vallo]

Or... Dennis O'Keefe

I'm taping Seven Miles from Alcatraz with Jenks.

Welcome back Moira


vallo

[klondike]

Or... Dennis O'Keefe

I'm taping Seven Miles from Alcatraz with Jenks.

Welcome back Moira


vallo

I envy you, Vallo; I thought there'd be no need for me to tape it - I gave myself the morning "off" (or almost: time spent @ home, catching-up on the Company documentation backlog), and was looking so forward to enjoying this fun little flag-waver over an early lunch I got inspired to launch this thread.
And then -
That most infamous of Gaelic demi-gods, Murphy (who evidently keeps my "number" on speed-dial), brewed me up a nice little batch of mid-morning jobsite snafu's, from which I returned home @ 11:49 . . just in time to watch the film's climactic lighthouse donnybrook . . and that was all!
And seeing that other Frank (Faylen, that is) pop-up as the press-harassed police chief in Sniper is doing little to break my pout!
In the words of Bill Bendix: "What a woild, hunh?!"
My luck, it'll be another year or three before it's run again!
(Mope!)

[vallo]

Well klondike, I missed Raw Deal yesterday. I forgot all about it. I really wanted that one. I need a giant post-it board over my T.V. to remind of certain films to tape.


vallo