Virginia Weidler Remembrance Society

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Gosh! I went a full year between web posts. That is bad.

It is again the day of days! The one that sadly comes but once a year! Yes, I do realize all days come but once a year, except February 29, but I digress.

IT’S GINNY’S BIRTHDAY!!!

Most of you know the rules, but for any newcomers here we go. On Virginia’s birthday, Ginnyfans worldwide (which I can now safely say since Danny is in England) watch her films or at least clips from her films while eating cottage cheese, which was her favorite childhood food. For those looking for a non-dairy alternative, Ginny often ate raw veggies on set, and those are also acceptable.

If you are looking for Ginny material, YouTube is the go to source. Girl of the Ozarks, a film starring Virginia from 1936, resides there. You will also find Outcasts of Poker Flat (1937), The Under-Pup (1939) starring Gloria Jean with Ginny in strong support, Souls at Sea (1937) with Virginia in a smaller yet pivotal role, and The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) with Ginny as his would-be detective daughter. For the most part, these are films not available on TCM.

One later film, The Youngest Profession (1943) can be found there, broken into ten parts to avoid fair use problems, I guess.

Stuck for time? Check out the Ginny clips there, especially ones on the ginny fan channel.

Mostly, have fun! And enjoy the celebration! And thank you for caring and participating!

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Oh, happy day! Kahloo, kahlay! Or something like that.

It’s Ginny’s birthday! It is that day when we ginnyfans take time out to watch a Weidler film or maybe some Ginny clips on YouTube. Or even a Weidler film on YouTube. I saw Girl of the Ozarks, The Under-Pup, Outcasts of Poker Flat, Men With Wings, and Souls At Sea all there…there may be more! So grab a bowl of cottage cheese (or raw veggies if you are on the lactose wagon) and enjoy!

BTW, we are offering a couple of alternative suggestions this year. You could play Chinese checkers with your dog or plan out a fully choreographed hoedown with 100 or so of your favorite chums. Your choice!Happy 96th Virginia’s birthday!

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It is Prime Day, and in honor of this special day I ask everyone in the VWRS community to do one thing. Go to your Alexa enabled device (you know you have one somewhere) and ask in a loud clear voice, "Alexa, who was Virginia Weidler?"*Alexa knows.*-The VWRS cannot confirm that this works with Siri, Cortana, or that unnamed Google assistant. Results may vary.

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Happy birthday today to Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx.Comedian, television host and the second greatest singer of Lydia, The Tattooed Lady.  Newspapers reported he was present when Virginia sang it, but could it have also been the other way around? We hate to speculate.

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After a special proclamation from our governor that the VWRS is indeed essential, we are back on duty. There was a brief delay while we debated with VWRS union steward Miranda Sommerfield over whether fictitious characters serving as loyal assistants are actually essential...but clearly they are. With a quick doubling of their salaries, everyone is back in action.

If you are confused by the paragraph above, I suggest you go to the actual VWRS Facebook page and read the pinned glossary for an explanation.

My first post back is a retraction from at least four years ago. I have attached the original graphic which accompanied that post. I had found a gossip item from 1943 indicating that Virginia had turned down a chance to be in a picture with Frank Sinatra because the role called for a bobbysoxer and Ginny wanted more mature roles after she had finished at MGM with THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION and BEST FOOT FORWARD.

In 2015, I determined that the film being spoken about was probably MEET MISS BOBBY SOCKS, which ended up starring Bob Crosby instead of Frankie and had Louise Erickson as the "soxer". I based this on the plot sounding right, the time being right, and the fact that Frank had been featured in a Columbia musical around that same time.

This week I discovered I was probably wrong. TCM showed a rather awful B musical this week called DING DONG WILLIAMS. It is about a clarinet player hired to write a musical score for a picture when he can't read or write music. He can only play. And the perky production assistant who loves him is played by singer, dancer and RKO jitterbug Marcy McGuire. Not being an expert on Ms. McGuire, I looked her up. To my surprise I found that when Sinatra played himself, third billed to Michele Morgan and Jack Haley, in HIGHER AND HIGHER, Marcy played a girl who swoons at Frankie's feet. That sounds like it probably is the role. I skipped it before because Frank wasn't the lead.

Marcy has a career much shorter, but of a similar path to Virginia's. She started in her teens and was quickly moved by RKO into jitterbug roles similar to what Gloria Jean and Peggy Ryan were stuck in at Universal. She slowed her career when she married actor Wally Cassell in 1947 and retired by 1952. Virginia also married in 1947 and although she last appeared in a feature in 1943 she continued to act on stage, radio and television until about...1952.

So HIGHER AND HIGHER is now the film I think the gossips were pointing toward, although I am unsure how serious RKOs efforts toward landing her were. After all, Marcy was comfortable in the soxer/jitterbug roles and was already under contract.-

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This is Ginny's 73rd wedding anniversary. The story is that she and Lionel eloped, but I've always wondered if this was a family approved elopement rather than the kind dramatized in films. After all, both she and Lionel Krisel were great catches and I have to doubt either family would have disapproved.

Anyway, a virtual toast to the happy couple!

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Ginny and her St. Bernard set an example by practicing social distancing.

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It's Ginny's birthday! It's Ginny's birthday! And we would like to wish her all the very best It's Ginny's birthday! It's Ginny's birthday! And it's so nice to have you back to be our guest (h/t to Bill Martin / Phil Coulter...and George Harrison)

It is here! That day of days. And we should have a little more time to participate than in most years, I'm guessing.

As usual, we at the VWRS celebrate Ginny's birthday-number 93 by my count-by watching Ginny's films and clips and eating cottage cheese (Ginny's favorite food), although I will be lenient on the CC requirement this year only.

There are three Ginny films on YouTube, two in complete form and one broken up into around ten separate parts. My ginny fan channel there still has our short clips as well.

I have also opened up my public page as I do each year. There you will find five films, several clips, and Jean Porter's wonderful salute to Ginny from Classic Images magazine.

My page can be accessed from https://tinyurl.com/ginnyday. Click on the item you wish to view...and be patient. I have tested them and they do load for viewing.

There are three Ginny films on YouTube, two in complete form and one broken up into around ten separate parts. My ginny fan channel there still has our short clips as well.

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It is a necklace with an interesting backstory, the Manchester Necklace. And it has fallen into the hands of a noted art collector. Everyone seems to want it...some willing to do anything to get it.

Despite this, I suspect the little girl from Philadelphia would have just two words for it.

Yes, I know they aren't the same, but my ginnyfan mind still went there.

I also suspect the made for TV mystery would have been better with Ginny there, pestering the detectives.

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TODAY IN GINNY! reveal for 11/12

Miranda here. You know me from...well, you know.

It is time for the BIG! TIG! REVEAL! Today we congratulate the John Hyland Army for correctly guessing yesterday's TIG!er.  

* I was in two films with Virginia Weidler. I was Major Lieber in AFTER TONIGHT (1933) and Elder Goode in MAID OF SALEM (1937). Virginia was Nabby in that one.

* I am best remembered for a film I made starring two other TIG!ers (actors who worked with Virginia). The TIG!ers were William Powell (THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION) and Myrna Loy (STAMBOUL QUEST and TOO HOT TO HANDLE) and the film was THE THIN MAN (1934). I, not Powell, was The Thin Man.

* I was a working Broadway actor prior to making the trip to Hollywood. From 1905 to 1932. I played a lot of shady characters. I even found time to write plays and to make a few silent films while in New York.

*Criminals, Doctors, Majors, and two 'Pop's. Some of the characters I played in Hollywood. I also played Dr. John Abbott in the Dalton Trumbo written, Garson Kanin directed A MAN TO REMEMBER (1938). The film was a remake of a Lionel Barrymore film, ONE MAN'S JOURNEY (1933) and both come with the ginnyfan seal of approval.

*Preston Foster, Edward Arnold, Fred MacMurray, Warren William, and Donald Meek. Other TIG!ers I worked with.

Who am I?

Edward Ellis, born November 12, 1870.

If you wish to play TODAY IN GINNY! check out the Virginia Weidler Remembrance Society Facebook page!

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TODAY IN GINNY!- October 21- Delos Jewkes

We used to do this all the time as a quiz. If you still want to play the quiz, you have to go to our Facebook site. Only once in a blue moon did anyone ever answer a quiz here.

Today is the birthday of Virginia castmate Delos Jewkes. He was born in 1895 and appeared in 42 films and television shows. He was also on the soundtrack of many films.

Possessing a very deep singing and speaking voice, he found work often where that was called for. Cecil B. DeMille used him as the voice of God in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

His Ginny appearance was in the 1942 musical BORN TO SING. The finale was a rendition of the wonderful BALLAD FOR AMERICANS featuring baritone Douglas McPhail in his final film performance. Jewkes was in the chorus.

You may have seen Delos if you watched The Andy Griffith Show. He made three appearances there, two as church choir member Glenn Cripe. The video is of his most memorable TAGS moment. he shows up around 2:25 of the video and is featured, along with Don Knotts, thereafter.

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" ... the smartest, most regular-looking, cleverest girl in the room..."

When I first started this "calling" in 2012, it was under the mistaken impression that Virginia Weidler's story was a sad one. I hope the research we have all done here has pretty well established that it was not. Sadly for all of us, the story was too short, but she lived a good life and had an amazing family.

Still, it was the sad story that made me start digging for everything I could, later enlisting Danny and John's help, and seeking people who knew more than I about the feisty one. The first site, at TCM's now defunct Fan Forum, was called In Search Of...Virginia Weidler. Not wanting Leonard Nimoy to sue me, I changed it on Facebook to the much more appropriate Virginia Weidler Remembrance Society.

Early in my search, I found this blog post, written by Beth Daniels, that I think sums up the kinds of feelings Virginia's work brings out much better than I ever have or ever could. That part of her old site now seems unavailable, but she was nice enough to share the post with me so we all can read it once more.

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Birthday of the Week: Virginia Weidler 3/11/2011 I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to write about Virginia Weidler. As the smartest, most regular-looking, cleverest girl in the room, she meant the world to my sister and me. We loved her like a great friend for many years. She was the closest thing to a real person in the classic films we adored and one couldn't help but watch her and hope she'd say or do more.

If you haven't seen her in anything, you must see The Philadelphia Story. Then maybe Young Tom Edison. She's good if less herself in The Women, but that's not her fault.

By the time she was 17, Virginia had made 45 films and had been in the business for 12 years. She retired shortly after Best Foot Forward, a wise move, got married and had two children. She died in 1968 at the age of 41.

Here she is as a rabid autograph hound in her penultimate picture, The Youngest Profession (1943). Her line, "What's more important, Walter Pidgeon or liver and onions?" has become something of a motto for me.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHD9bbyiTAo

Virginia Weidler would have been 84 today. Happy Birthday, Buddy.

An interesting quote lifted directly and wholly from IMDb:

[When asked about her career in later years,] Virginia would always change the subject as quickly as possible without being rude. She never watched her old movies or replied to requests for interviews. Although she was never one to criticize, I think our boys got the impression that their mother didn't think very much of the motion picture industry." -- Lionel Krisel, Weidler's husband ___________________________

" ... the smartest, most regular-looking, cleverest girl in the room..."

That is it in a nutshell. Detractors sometimes derided her as "plain", but that just isn't true. She was girl-next-door pretty, not Hollywood pretty. And her ability to play tomboy well probably didn't help her standing with that detractor crowd, either.

I did a lot of research to find out that Virginia is probably the best friend I never met. Beth and her sister figured that out just by watching the films.

Good for them.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJJsvLYEcEg

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Getting back to our long forgotten look at the boxing career of Virginia "Pigtails" Weidler, this is one I always remember.

It is her one punch knockout of Leo Gorcey, something I think Mr. Gorcey probably deserved a few more times in his career. It ranks right up with Ali-Liston II for post fight controversy.

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Jaeda Lily Miller on Instagram: “What it’s really like to work behind the scenes with @kevin_mcgarry_w he’s the best! #hearties #whencallstheheart @hallmarkchannel…”

1,283 Likes, 93 Comments - Jaeda Lily Miller (@jaedalilymiller) on Instagram: “What it’s really like to work behind the scenes with @kevin_mcgarry_w he’s the best! #hearties…”

I came across this cute BTS video from Hallmark's When Calls The Heart today. The new mountie is played by Kevin McGarry. The girl serving as his wardrober is actor Jaeda Lily Miller, who plays his niece Allie on the show. If you happen to watch PBS Kids, Jaeda is also one of the stars of Ready Jet Go!

Jaeda is near the top of my list of current Weidleresque performers. She can play a feisty, smart kid without being bratty and also did a heck of a crying scene in one of her films. On WCTH this year, she learned a card trick from the local saloon owner and proceeded to win all of her new classmates' lunches. Shades of Luck in the Outcasts Of Poker Flat!

Click on the title link to view the video on Jaeda’s Instagram page

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Doris Day, who died this morning at age 97,  was married to Virginia’s brother George (right) for a couple of years in the late 1940s. They had met while working for bandleader Les Brown, who also headlined with Virginia in vaudeville in 1943-45. So there are, on paper, several connections.

Very early in the VWRS process, I wrote a letter to Ms. Day asking her for any memories she had about Virginia. Unfortunately, she had nothing to tell, as she could not remember their actually having met. I accepted that as possible, since the marriage was very short and, according to the gossip items, very tumultuous. Not like the Virginia-Lionel union at all.

Ms. Day sent me a very kind handwritten note advising me of this and I am quite pleased to have received it.

Ms. Day had a lot of heartache in her life, including the tragedy of burying a son, but always bore it with a smile and good nature.

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A long, long time ago we were discussing Virginia's boxing career and I promised I would go over some of the memorable events.

This one isn't even one I ever think of, but THE GREAT MAN VOTES was on TCM earlier this month and Virginia has a bit of a scuffle in it. It is a slight surprise as Ginny's Joan Vance is defending little brother Donald (Perter Holden) from bully Davy (Bennie Bartlett) when Davy connects with a hard straight right to her left eye. Donald then headbutts the bully into a cement trough to end the contest. In GMV, Bennie is a far cry from the kid who shares sodas, ice cream and Thanksgiving turkeys with Ginny in other shoots.

As a reviewer on IMDb notes we have to mention that, unlike a lot of movies where all is well by the next scene, Virginia carries her shiner through the rest of the picture as seen in the attached photo.