The Unjustly Neglected

[JackFavell]

I'm about to dive into Algiers again, just to watch him more closely, Alison. I know that I always come away from the movie thinking he is interesting, but I want to really see what he brings to the role. And it doesn't hurt that I get to look at Charles Boyer again, either.

I think Rochelle Hudson is very striking, and a good actress as well, Miss G. I wonder what became of her? I only remember her from the early thirties films she did.

[JackFavell]

A few weeks ago, I was watching Love Me Tonight, and I noticed a face. The reason I noticed it was that the face had been in a movie the night before - Dinner at Eight.

The face belonged to a woman who appeared in countless ( and I mean COUNTLESS) movies and TV shows. Never obtrusive, she is sometimes spinsterish, sometimes flighty, sometimes both, but always entertaining. Her turn as the sour secretary in Dinner at Eight showed me something fresh, in a movie I thought I knew backwards and forwards. She had maybe one short line, but she gave it such a spin it made me laugh out loud.

The woman is Elizabeth Patterson.

Who, you say? ELIZABETH PATTERSON. You know her...she usually plays someone's aunt. She played two Miss Tuttles, in two different movies. No? You don't know her? Well, let me show you a picture or two:







Now I think you know exactly who I'm talking about. One of the three maiden aunts who flutter and say oh oh oh in Love me Tonight:

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It turns out I've been watching her for years without even knowing it... that's why she seems such a comforting a presence in movies.

Some of my favorite of her roles are:

Ma in Hide-Out

Aunt Patricia in Doctor Bull

Miss Tuttle in Hold Your Man

Aunt Jennie in The Story of Temple Drake

Mrs. Lippett in Daddy Long Legs

Ma Brannan in Small Town Girl

Ada Lester in Tobacco Road (almost the only reason to see this movie)

Grandma Sherwood in My Sister Eileen

I could keep going, but really we'd be here all night. She shows up regularly on TCM, but look closely, you might not notice her at first!

She went into theatre against the wishes of her straitlaced southern parents, became a member of Ben Greet's Shakespeare troupe at the turn of the century, and studied music, elocution and theatre arts at Martin's College and the Columbia Institute in Tennessee. She appeared in stock companies and on Broadway throughout the twenties.

By the time she came to Hollywood, she was 51 years old. Her best known role was Mrs. Trumbull on I Love Lucy.





So what's your favorite Elizabeth Patterson movie?

[MissGoddess]

What amazed me was that Elizabeth Patterson of the 1930s looked exactly like Elizabeth Patterson in the 1950s.

[JackFavell]

It's true! She never changed at all!

I need to find out her secret.

[Rita Hayworth]

What amazed me was that Elizabeth Patterson of the 1930s looked exactly like Elizabeth Patterson in the 1950s.

I love her in "I Love Lucy" she is one of my favorite supporting characters on that beloved television show that I watched countless reruns of.

Miss Goddess ... you are right on the nose ... hasn't changed much in 20 years!

[moira finnie]

Elizabeth Patterson is a great choice. I liked her as the maiden aunt in Remember the Night as well as the other roles you mentioned. In The Secret Heart (1946) she played the family retainer who seemed to be dusted off along with the furniture when Claudette Colbert reopens her farm house in darkest Connecticut to entertain her step-kids Robert Sterling and whacky June Allyson (whom I really kind of like in this part).

[knitwit45]

My favorite of her movies is Remember the Night, as the spinster Aunt Emma. She has a wonderful, quietly played scene, when she takes out a lovingly wrapped package from a cedar chest. Wrapped in newspapers with headlines of World War 1, it is slowly revealed to be a wedding dress. Her wedding dress. Her hands tremble just a little when she picks up it from its cocoon. No tears, no 'why me'. Her backbone stiffens, and the moment is over.
It made such an impression on me when I saw it on the Saturday night movie, years and years ago. Whenever I hear her name or see her, this scene immediately springs to mind.

[moira finnie]

That's the scene I was remembering too, Knitty. I guess your description makes that fine distinction between "maiden aunt" and "spinster" clearer. Thanks for filling in the blanks so deftly with your lovely account of that moment.

[JackFavell]

I have a copy but have never watched it. You've made me decide to go digging for it.

That scene you describe reminds me of Fay Bainter at the beginning of Quality Street - she's unbelievably great in a very similar scene, giving her wedding dress to Katherine Hepburn's character. It's the scene that made me really notice Bainter. My respect for her went up a thousand fold after watching that movie.

[knitwit45]

Jacks, Remember the Night is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I think you'll really enjoy it.

[JackFavell]

Knitty, I've been meaning to watch it for 2 years, ever since they showed it on TCM. Your thumbs up will give me the incentive I need to go find that disc.

I didn't mention that William Faulkner himself picked Elizabeth Patterson to play Miss Eunice Habersham in Intruders in the Dust.

Booth Tarkington also hand picked her to play the lead in his play Intimate Strangers in 1921.

I guess writers knew all along what a great actress she was.

[JackFavell]

I just saw sweetie Rags Ragland in Girl Crazy, and I fell in love with him. What a doll.

[knitwit45]

Jacks, have you had a chance to see Remember the Night yet? Really interested in your take on the movie.

[JackFavell]

I had a couple of other films to catch up on, so I haven't watched Remember the Night yet - but I took it out of the cabinet! Does that count?

[knitwit45]

Absolutely! you should see the stack I have waiting...I can't seem to get past the NCIS marathons with Mark (gulp) Harmon......