Chip Off the Old Block

Ann Blyth is about 15 years old here in her first movie, Chip Off the Old Block, which was released in February 1944.  Ernest Truex is on the left, and Helen Hinson, center, played her mother.  In this Universal musical, Ann is the third generation of actresses in her family.  Donald O'Connor is her persistent beau and first co-star.  From my book on Ann's career: Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:


Our introduction to Ann Blyth is on a train.  Donald sits apart from her, doing eye exercises for his lousy vision, and she misinterprets it as somewhat grotesque flirting.  After a spat and reconciliation, they are cozily ensconced on the rear train observation platform (a much-used movie setting for tête-à-têtes) and sing a duet “It’s Mighty Nice.”  Her voice is a pleasing soprano, but nowhere near the range, control and richness she developed with more training by the next decade... 

Sally and Saint Anne

Ann Blyth ages from 12 years old to eighteen in Sally and Saint Anne (1952), but she was really 23 at the time.  A charming and funny coming of age story where a spunky young Catholic school student first picks a fight with a statue of St. Anne, and then develops a warm and chummy relationship with her saintly patroness, the movie is filled with daffy characters and nutty shenanigans.  One particularly absurd scene I like: when their house is being moved across town to a new location, the family innocently stays inside it as it's rolling along.  Ann, coming home from a late-night date, has to run to catch up with it.

Pictured along with Ann in the photo above are Kathleen Hughes as the senior class snob, and Gregg Palmer (aka Palmer Lee) as the local heartthrob.  Edmund Gwenn plays her irascible grandpa, patriarch of her crazy family.  From my book Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:

Especially endearing is the exchange between Ann and Mr. Shapiro, the local grocer, played by Joe Mell.  His wife’s expecting and he desperately wants a boy this time because he’s already got three daughters.  Ann writes down his wish in her notebook.  “One boy.  Mr. Shapiro.”  He’s officially on her list of petitions to St. Anne.

He’s a jovial guy who shakes his head at her innocence.  “Why would an Irish saint go out of her way for a guy like me?” 

“Mr. Shapiro, Saint Anne was the grandmother of Jesus.”

He shrugs, “So?”

“So she isn’t Irish at all.  She’s Jewish.”

Mr. Shapiro gives her fond grins and free pickles.

Happy 89th Birthday to Ann Blyth!

Today we wish Ann Blyth a very happy 89th birthday!  The cake in the above photo says, in part, "To OUR ANN, from Universal-International..."  Charles Boyer stands beside her, as the cast and crew take a break from filming A Woman's Vengeance (1948).

Here's another shot with Boyer and costar Jessica Tandy:

For more on the A Woman's Vengeance, have a look here at my Another Old Movie Blog.

Happy Birthday and continued good health and happiness to our Ann Blyth!

Ann Blyth in MURDER, SHE WROTE - today on COZI-TV

Ann Blyth appeared in an episode of Murder, She Wrote called "Reflections of the Mind" in 1985. It was her last television acting role. It will be rerun today on the COZI-TV cable channel at 4 p.m. Eastern.  Check your cable provider listings.

The above photo shows Angela Lansbury, who stars as the mystery writer and sleuth, Jessica Fletcher, comforting her old pal, because Ann is going crazy, and tried to stab her husband, and maybe killed people. I'm not telling you here, but you can get more info on the episode - warning, with a spoiler -- at my post at Another Old Movie Blog here.  

This is from my book, Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:

Most especially enjoyable to fans was the matchup of Ann and Angela, who four decades earlier were both nominated in the same Best Supporting Actress category for the 1945 Oscars.  Ann, seventeen years old, had been nominated for Mildred Pierce.  Miss Lansbury, twenty years old, had been nominated for The Picture of Dorian Gray.  Both lost out to veteran actress Anne Revere.

A fond and teasing reference to their earlier careers must be the framed photograph we see at the very beginning of the episode of a young Ann and Angela standing together before what appears to be a microphone, possibly in the early 1950s.  


Martin Milner and Ben Murphy also appear in this episode.  Remember to tune in, or set your recorder!

Ann Blyth - Winner of Star of the Year - 1954

Ann Blyth was chosen as the Most Popular Actress of the Year by the readers of Modern Screen magazine for 1954, as Claire Trevor noted in a chat on the Lux Radio Theater episode we covered last week.  Above is a photo at the party handing out the awards, published in the February 1955 edition of Modern Screen.  Rock Hudson was chosen as Most Popular Actor that year.  Syndicated columnist Louella Parsons joins Ann and Rock in the above photo.

In her column for the magazine that month, Louella described the festivities at the Crown Room of Romanoff's restaurant.  She wrote:

Ann Blyth, looking like a big, beautiful doll in a blue taffeta cocktail dress with a slight bustle effect, and good-looking Rock Hudson in the proverbial black suit, were the center of attention, naturally.

Other guests at the party included Howard Keel, Tony Curtis, Tab Hunter, Shirley Jones, June Allyson and Dick Powel, Ann Sothern, and many others.  Barbara Stanwcyk was awarded  special "Star of Stars" award.

Have a look at this page from Modern Screen that lists the famous runners-up whom Ann beat out for the top honors of 1954:

Not too shabby company.  This issue of Modern Screen, and many others, are available online for viewing at the wonderful Internet Archive website.  Have a look at this link and enjoy browsing around a year's worth of issues from December 1954 to December 1955.

(Thanks to my pal, Ellen, for digging up this story for me.)

Ann Blyth on radio in All About Eve

Ann Blyth played the notorious Eve Harrington in "All About Eve," an episode of Lux Radio Theater.  It's a fine performance, with the wonderful Claire Trevor as Margo Channing.  William Conrad, whom many Old Time Radio fans will recall did a lot of radio work and was splendid as radio's Matt Dillon in the original Gunsmoke plays Margo's lover Bill.  He's great in the part, battling and butting heads and throwing wisecracks.  Eve attempts to seduce him (only one of her many conquests, attempted or successful).   Here's the blurb from my book Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:

Lux Radio Theater.  November 23, 1954.  “All About Eve.”  Adaptation of the hit film about a conniving woman with ambitions for an acting career, no matter who she has to stab in the back.  Ann Blyth as Eve, with Claire Trevor, Don Randolph, William Conrad, Betty Lou Gerson, Carleton Young, Ruth Perrott, Eileen Robin, Herb Butterfield, and Edward Marr.

Conrad, Trevor, and Ann are terrific in this tightly-written adaptation for radio.  At the very end of the show, host Irving Cummings brings Ann and Claire Trevor out to the mic for a closing chat, and when Mr. Cummings marvels at Ann's work as an evil character, Claire remarks, "I'll never forget Ann's performance as the daughter in Mildred Pierce."  They joke a bit, and then Claire adds her congratulations to Ann for being chosen as the Most Popular Actress of the Year by Modern Screen magazine.

Now you can listen to the episode here on YouTube: Lux Radio Theater - All About Eve.

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid - a summertime sail

A leisurely summertime sail with Ann Blyth as the mermaid and William Powell as Mr. Peabody in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948).  Powell plays a man facing a mid-life crisis who catches the lovely mermaid while fishing, and so begins his ethereal, and hilarious, adventure.

From my book Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:

William Powell is so entertaining and so sweet in his role, which is basically comic, but lends it such skillful depth and poignancy.  Ann Blyth’s work here is luminous and captivating.  It is a non-speaking role, but there is remarkable and touching eloquence in the way her eyes roam over his face, as if trying to read him, trying to understand his words and his facial expression.  Middle-aged Mr. Peabody is wondrous and fascinating to her, and her unlikely crush for him alone adds another level to the comedy, and the poignancy.  We can see why he might take a fancy to her, but her radiant and achingly silent adoration of him is charming.

Fortunately, the movie is apparently now available on DVD from Olive Films, but you can see it here on YouTube at the moment.