#fixer dugan

[virginiaweidlerremembrance]

TODAY IN GINNY! - June 13 - Harry Tyler

Harry Tyler (1888) was a three-time TIGer. He played a newsreel man in TOO HOT TO HANDLE (1938), Mike, the midway ticket seller in FIXER DUGAN (1939), and Joe Green, the ice cream seller with whom Harriet is constantly making deals for some pistachio in KEEPING COMPANY (1940). Harry was also in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, WITNESS TO MURDER, BEDTIME FOR BONZO and THE QUIET MAN among his more than 350 screen appearances. As busy as he was in films, he seemed twice as busy in the early years of television. He appeared in several of the anthology series, including eleven episodes of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. He also appeared multiple times on CHEYENNE and played Mr. Green in Walt Disney's MOOCHIE OF POP WARNER FOOTBALL. In the photo, Joe is disputing Harriet's assertion that "ice cream is the farthest thing from my mind."

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TODAY IN GINNY! - April 16 - Jean Stevens

Actress Jean Stevens (1914) had a bit role in FIXER DUGAN (1939), probably as a background circus performer. She was more often than not a dancer, listed as such in GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS, KING OF BURLESQUE, A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS, and THE MORE THE MERRIER. She was a 'jitterbug' in A LADY TAKES A CHANCE. It appears that all of these roles were under her real first and middle names of Peggy Carroll. Apparently, her name was changed to Jean Stevens when she started being a featured performer in B westerns late in her career. Here's Jean singing and dancing with The Jesters to "When They Fiddle Out The Polka" from THE RETURN OF THE DURANGO KID with Charles Starrett.

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TODAY IN GINNY! - April 14 - Lee Tracy

Lee Tracy (1898) was the rapid fire talking pre-code leading man who later in his career played Charlie “the Fixer” Dugan in Virginia’s film, FIXER DUGAN (1939). Our member Jarrod told me last year that the role was originally intended for Chester Morris, which would have also been very interesting, but Lee is The Fixer to me. A star on both Broadway and in Hollywood, Tracy sabotaged his career though a host of reckless incidents, some apparently bigger than the studios could or would cover up for him. I mean he got himself basically kicked out of Mexico! By the time Ginny was teamed with him, he was one of the few actors working on one film deals, since that’s all the studios would trust him with. In a last hurrah, Tracy received his only Oscar nomination for his final big screen role, that of the terminally ill POTUS in THE BEST MAN. He died of cancer in October 1968, three and a half months after Virginia Weidler.

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TODAY IN GINNY! - March 8 - Walter Miller

TODAY IN GINNY! is once again graced by but a single birthday. Walter Miller (1892) got his start in the movies in 1911 and would literally die on the set, suffering a heart attack in 1940 while filming GAUCHO SERENADE with Gene Autry. In his early days, he worked with D.W. Griffith; in later years, with Virginia Weidler. He was the First Flyer in TOO HOT TO HANDLE (1938) and is seen in the photo here as Joe, The Detective (the only cop the Fixer ever liked) in FIXER DUGAN (1939). Ginny is whittlin' in the background.

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TODAY IN GINNY! - February 18 - John Dilson

John Dilson (1891) was a stage actor who moved in movie character parts in the mid-1930s. He played a lot of politicians, businessmen and board members. In BAD LITTLE ANGEL (1939), he played Mr. Brown, the white haired guy in the middle of the photo. He also played Steve in FIXER DUGAN that same year.

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TODAY IN GINNY! - February 16 - Dorothy Lovett

Dorothy Lovett (1915) played a circus member in FIXER DUGAN (1939). She was a regular in the series of films based on the Dr. Christian radio show, playing Judy Price. She's seen here in a rare non-Dr. Christian appearance, POWDER TOWN.

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Last night, I had a nice email exchange with Tom Bupp, son of yesterday's TIGer Tommy Bupp. He confirmed that neither Tommy nor his brother, TIGer Sonny Bupp, cared much for their movie actor past. I completely forgot to ask about his two aunts and their brief careers. The boys were much more in demand than their sisters. In addition to items he received from his father, Tom has picked up a few items on his own as memory of his father and uncle's youth and took quick photos of a couple for me. The first is one we've seen before, a poster from OUTSIDE THESE WALLS, a movie featuring Tommy Bupp. The second is brand new to me. It's a poster with a representation of Ginny's Terry fighting Sonny Bupp as The Boy Chiseler (the boy trying to sneak in under the circus tent without paying Terry for the privilege) in FIXER DUGAN. I took the liberty of coloring in a light flare in the photo. I've included a screen capture of Ginny and Sonny for comparison. BTW, I like the way the poster depicts the scene better than the film. It's looks like Ginny wins in the poster.

*-This entry has been reedited to correct a misunderstanding I had about whether or not Tommy Bupp had saved any memorabilia of his own from his career. He had. I regret the error.

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I've you look at the scowl Terry O'Connell shot at me a few minutes ago, I'll explain why. I could just claim that I was testing you and you all failed, but I won't. I'll come clean. Terry is upset because she figured out that I ran all the February 5 TIGers on February 4. Now some of her all time favorite actors with February 4 birthdays, like Ivan F. Simpson and Alonzo Price, are going to run a day late!