Another screen still from our brief acting careers. One of the rare occasions that Vance and I played opposite each other in the movie "Mr. Muffin goes Downshore." Vance played the part of L. Theodore Muffin, a Maryland widower with 27 children who takes the kids crabbing so he can feed them. Rick played "Smelly Bill" Putridity, a crotchety but stinky, truant officer/moonshiner who tries to get Mr. Muffin and the 27 little Muffins (Martin, Stud, Blueberry, Puddin', Pissant, Geoffrey, Abercrombie, Fitch, Ollie, Ozzie, Winifred, Alyouisious, Cosby, Kareem, Obama, Millicent, Foureyes, Jodphur, Pinkeye, Timmy I and Timmy II, Lemonjello, Oranjello, Kissemee, Bytemee, Junior, and Spegmo) thrown into the debtor's prison. In the end the kids go out in a blaze of glory in a whacky but whacked out gun battle with martians. It's a heartwarming story that makes absolutely no sense. Vance tended to get the Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck sorts of roles, where I was more in line for the parts turned down by Walter Brennan. All those crotchety old coot sort of things -- despite the fact that I was in my 20's. In every movie I did I had a scene where I "Talked tot he man upstairs" and said something along the lines of "Lord. You know I ain't know prayin' man. But if you could see fit to cure little Agnes of the D.T.s why, heck, I'd sure appreciate it." After little agnes was cured, I'd dance on the porch, one boot on and one off, jumping from foot to foot, drinking from a jug of moonshine and shooting a shotgun off in the air. Vance always got the girl.
I often tired of being cast in those roles. Sometimes my bow-tie and kerchief didn't match and I would go on a bender for weeks. This behavior infureated producers and directors but I was so damn handsome, they kept calling me back. Sure, it was neat to have these leading roles with the likes of Boo Radley and Clarance the angel, but being the good guy in Hollywood during the 40's and 50's was a drag. Sure, in the movies I always got the woman in the end, but Rick was nailing every split-tail on Van Nuys Blvd. Rick and I both gave up acting in 2015, the pressure was too much. We felt it was more important to salvage our friendship and start a blog in 2009.
ReplyDelete*writers note: stay tuned for more acting macth-ups from Rick and Vance.
Great call with Boo Radley and Clarence the Angel -- Those were the exact movies I was thinking of when I mentioned Peck and Stewart.
ReplyDeleteI took a class on Hitchcock films last semester. Jimmy was a favorite of Hitch. As we learned in the class, though Jimmy Stewart has a "nice guy" reputation, in fact he played some very dark roles. Look at Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, or Cheyenne Social Club. OK, maybe not the last one.