Posts in Category: This Day in History

This Day in Ann Dvorak History: “Sweet Music” Begins

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 284

On October 11, 1935, Ann Dvorak reported to Warner Bros. to begin Sweet Music, a musical comedy starring Rudy Vallee and directed by Alfred Green. Even though Ann had started her film career as a chorus dancer at MGM, by 1935 she had developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress. Ann wanted to return to her roots, so to speak, and lobbied hard for the role in Sweet Music. She finally convinced Green and Warners that she was up to the task and was given the role.

I personally don’t think Sweet Music has held up as well as some of the other 1930s Warner musicals, but at the very least, it’s one of Ann’s bigger budget Burbank flicks.

This Day In Ann Dvorak History: Started “Massacre”

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 282

On October 9, 1933, Ann Dvorak reported to Warner Bros. to begin filming Massacre co-starring Richard Barthelmess. The film, which saw Ann portraying a modern Native American on a reservation was only the second film she made at the studio in 1933, despite having had returned from her extended European honeymoon in March. By this time, Warner Bros. seemed to have gotten over any ire they had towards Ann for walking out on her contract and Massacre would kick-off a very prolific time in Ann’s career, in quantity if not always quality.

This Day in Ann Dvorak History: Suspended!

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 280

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On Monday, October 7, 1935, Warner Bros. officially suspended Ann Dvorak for being too ill to report to the set of her latest film Backfire. Her husband, Leslie Fenton, had called in sick for her a couple of days, and even though Ann soon claimed she was well enough to come back to work, Warner Bros. didn’t buy it.  They kept her on suspension until she received a clean bill of health from one of their own doctors. Ann refused, so the suspension continued and she was replaced on  the film (eventually released as Boulder Dam) with Patricia Eillis.

When December rolled around with the suspension still in place,  the Fentons filed a lawsuit against the studio. Ann Dvorak was going to war with Warner Bros.

This Day in Ann Dvorak History: Court Approval for the Caddo Co.

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 254

On September 11, 1931, a twenty-year-old Ann Dvorak appeared before a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge to receive approval to sign a contract with Howard Hughes’ Caddo Company.

Since she was under twenty-one, Ann was still considered a minor, which is why she needed the judge’s approval to sign the deal. This was not the first time Ann had made such an appearance. She had been required to obtain similar approval when she signed her MGM contract in 1929.

In addition to the court visit, the Caddo contract also had to be co-signed by Ann’s mother, Anna Lehr. What’s also interesting about the document is that Ann signed her last name D’Vorak. She made have already decided how she would pronounce her stage name  (vor-zhak – not that anyone else picked up on this), but she still didn’t know how she wanted to spell it.

This Day in Ann Dvorak History: Begins Production on “College Coach”

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 249

When Ann Dvorak returned from her extended honeymoon abroad in March of 1933, she made amends with Warner Bros., signed a new contract with them, and was ready to get in front of the cameras again. Instead, she waited…and waited.

Towards the end of the summer, the studio loaned Ann out to Paramount for The Way to Love, co-starring Maurice Chevalier. Then, they let her wait a while longer. Finally, they cast her as the leading lady in College Coach opposite Pat O’Brien and Lyle Talbot. Ann began production on September 6, 1933, and while the role was small and uneventful, at least she was working again.

This Day in Ann Dvorak History: Loaned to RKO for “Racing Lady”

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 246

On September 3, 1936, Warner Bros. and RKO Pictures reached an agreement for Ann Dvorak to be loaned out to the latter for All Scarlett, which was ultimately released as Racing Lady. Ann had not made a film for Warners for a year, and actress and studio had spent the first half of 1936 embroiled in litigation over the terms of her contract. The only thing they seemed to have agreed on was Ann making movies for RKO – this was her second visit in less than two months, the first being for We Who Are About to Die.  For her services, RKO handed $3,000 a week to Warner Bros., half of which covered Ann’s weekly salary.

Ann was probably relieved to have the steady work, and to not have it be at the studio she’d been warring with. She didn’t need to worry too much – her days at Warner Bros. were numbered.

This Day In Ann Dvorak History: Production Starts on “Murder in the Clouds”

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 242

On August 30, 1934, Ann Dvorak started production on the Warner Bros. feature Murder in the Clouds. It was her sixth and last film with Lyle Talbot.

I’m suffering from Ann Dvorak one-a-day burn-out, so that’s all I have in me for today.

This Day In Ann Dvorak History – Property of Howard Hughes

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 241

On August 29, 1931 Ann Dvorak signed a contract with Howard Hughes’ Caddo Company. Howard Hawks had selected her to play Cesca in Scarface opposite Paul Muni a few weeks earlier, and the contract officially made her Howard Hughes’ property.

She would only make one other film for Hughes, Sky Devils, before her started loaning her out to Warner Bros. Mere months after signing Ann, Hughes would sell her contract to WB, which she was less than thrilled with. It was downhill from there.

At least in August 1931, the world was hers.

This Day in Ann Dvorak History: Homeward Bound

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 239

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Image from Ancestry.com

On August 27, 1943, Ann Dvorak and Leslie Fenton boarded the S.S. Mauretania in Liverpool and headed back to the Unites States. Fenton, a British citizen by birth, had enlisted in the Royal Navy and returned to his homeland in September 1940. His wife followed him in December.

By August of 1943, each had endured their fair share of war-time misery and were ready to come home. With Fenton having recovered from injuries sustained during the Battle of St. Nazaire resulting in an honorable discharge, the time seemed right.

When the couple went aboard the Mauretania, Fenton identified himself as film director, his occupation both before and during the war. Ann on the other hand, listed herself as a journalist. Even though she had made movies while in England, Ann had also served as a war corespondent, which is the post she clearly felt was more important. She had harbored a desire to be a writer from a young age and despite the horrors of the war years, the experience had enabled her to fulfill a lifelong dream.

This Day in Ann Dvorak History – Reunited with Father

Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 232

On August 20, 1934, Ann Dvorak stood on the platform of a Pasadena train station, anxiously awaiting the next arrival. She was wearing a dress from the movie Gentlemen Are Born which she had just finished filming three days before and had her husband, Leslie Fenton, by her side. Any moment now, the twenty three-year-old actress would be reunited with a man she had not seen in over ten years – her father.

Like Ann’s mother, Edwin McKim had been a theater and vaudeville performer before entering the burgeoning film industry around 1912. Despite his background as an actor, McKim’s film work consisted almost exclusively as a director and scenario writer. When the marriage to Anna Lehr started to unravel, he took work at the Lubin studios in his home state of Pennsylvania while his wife split her time between Los Angeles and New York. The couple divorced around 1920, which also ended McKim’s relationship with his only child.

Ann had wanted to renew ties with her father, but expense and know-how had prohibited her from looking. Once Ann became an actress of note, she used the newspaper press in December 1933 to make an appeal for her long-lost father to get in touch with her. There were many false leads, but the real Edwim McKim finally stood up.

Ann offered to pay for his transportation from Philadelphia, but McKim insisted on saving up the fare himself, which took six months. He finally pulled into Pasadena in August where his was greeted by his daughter, son-in-law – and some press photographers who were on hand to document this intimate moment.