Does anyone remember Marjorie Beebe?

[Marc Chevalier]

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Just want to know. [huh]


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[HoosierDaddy]

....the Farmer's Daughter?
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[Amy Jeanne]

I know who she is!!

I'm pretty sure I have pictures of her on my home computer!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

 

[Marjorian]

Marjorie Beebe

I've only just discovered this site and I'm about to go away for 10 days but I'm delighted to know that there are fellow Marjorie Beebe fans out there. I'd love to talk more to you all about her. In fact right now I'm putting together an article on her for a magazine- its basically been accepted.

Marc, you set the ball rolling asking if anyone remembers her. So you must. What have you seen her in and read about her?

Hoosier Daddy, yep that's right "The Farmer's Daughter". It was her biggest hit, made for Fox in 1928 just before she joined Mack Sennett. Regrettably the film appears to be lost.

Amy Jeane, those are great pictures. You are certainly a fan of hers if you've got stuff like that to hand.

She was a great little comedienne. Mack Sennett reckoned she had the potential to be the greatest of them all. It never happened; she faded from view after Sennett's bankruptcy in 1933. But she put in some cracking performances for him in his two reel talkie shorts of the early 1930s.

Good luck to you all. Maybe we can talk more when I get back.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Marjorian, you and I know each other indirectly. I'm the one who is searching for copies of Match Play, the 1930 Mack Sennett short with James Oviatt in a bit role.



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[Marjorian]

Marjorie Beebe

HoosierDaddy you immediately picked up on "The Farmer's Daughter" when Marc Chevalier began this thread. Have you actually seen it? I've hunted high and low for the thing but without success.

It was possibly her greatest role; she got lavish praise bestowed on her for it. And it certainly was a great calling card. Mack Sennett himself, The King of Comedy, came calling shortly after she made it and signed her up while she was still a minor (her mother co-signed).

"The Farmer's Daughter" was a feature length film and all bar one of her appearances for Sennett were in two reel shorts but Sennett certainly seems to have traded on her role in that Fox success. He teamed her up with Andy Clyde in a number of films where she played the daughter who gets up to similar antics (I've seen the script for "The Farmer's Daughter).

She made one for Sennett in 1931 called "Cowcatcher's Daughter" which was very clearly based on the Fox original. And since at that point she seems to have been "stepping out" with Mack Sennett (whose relations with his actresses are sometimes a little strange) I suspect that she had her say in the roles she played.

It amuses me to see the long lists of writers credited on these Sennett shorts. Five or six sometimes for a film lasting 22 minutes. But to get back to the point since I could talk about Marjorie Beebe till the cows (or the cowcatchers!) get home:-

HoosierDaddy did you ever get to see "The Farmer's Daughter"?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Yes...I did see the Farmer's daughter...years ago..plus one other film with Mariorie Beebe featured as well. However..so many years ago..that I can't remember exactly where. It would seem most likely on TV..possibly a late night cable channel. Her performance affected me enough to immediately remember her name.
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[Fletch]

If it's Lost, and you saw it on cable, that means it's gotten Lost in the past ±30 years. And that is a crime.

 

[Marjorian]

Marjorie Beebe

That's interesting. I must renew my efforts to track it down. I've always had a feeling it might turn up one day.

Good that she made enough of an impression to enable you to recall her so many years later. I guess she was a slapstick gal who turned up a little bit late for the party. Though there is absolutely no reason why slapstick in the movies should have declined with the coming of sound. The old original slapstick of the Commedia dell' Arte and pantomime was wonderfully raucous.

Mack Sennett's bankruptcy didn't help her. But slapstick did survive for years. The old masters- Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd- had moved on but Columbia still made their two reel talkie slapsticks through the 1940s and beyond with Marjorie Beebe's old sparring partner Andy Clyde and with The Three Stooges.

But she'd turned her back on it. After 1940 there was nothing- no films, no television, no theatre. She just disappeared from recorded history. She died in 1983 completely forgotten. I haven't been able to trace a single obituary.

That wouldn't happen now. We are taking more care to remember obscure jewels from the movies and the music.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Marjorian, the following might interest you.


I've traced the 2 known existing prints of Match Play. One is somewhere within the U.S. Library of Congress but has been misfiled, so it might never be found. The other (nitrate) print is at the Australian National Film and Sound Archive. Not surprisingly, it's in very brittle condition.


Here in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has several original scripts of Match Play. I've read them and was not impressed. A weak effort: I expected more from Roscoe Arbuckle (one of its writers). Marjorie Beebe is completely wasted in the film, whose few chuckles come from the banter between golf champs Walter Hagen and Leo Diegel.

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[zetwal]

Match Play (Hole in One)

 

[HoosierDaddy]

That's interesting. I must renew my efforts to track it down. I've always had a feeling it might turn up one day.

Good that she made enough of an impression to enable you to recall her so many years later. I guess she was a slapstick gal who turned up a little bit late for the party. Though there is absolutely no reason why slapstick in the movies should have declined with the coming of sound. The old original slapstick of the Commedia dell' Arte and pantomime was wonderfully raucous.

One would think that there is a copy of Farmer's Daughter somewhere since it was once shown on TV. Whether it survived since then might be another story. Seems it was on a channel that exclusively or often showed silent films. I do wish that I could remember the name of the other film or even what it was about. I'm not sure just what impressed me. She was cute...had somewhat of a different look compared to other silent stars,perhaps...and of course the name "Beebe" is unusual as well.
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[Marc Chevalier]

One would think that there is a copy of Farmer's Daughter somewhere since it was once shown on TV.

If it's not at EDDIE BRANDT'S SATURDAY MATINEE video store, it's probably not anywhere.


Marjorian, give them a call: http://www.yelp.com/biz/eddie-brandts-saturday-matinee-north-hollywood


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[Marjorian]

Marjorie Beebe

Yes I will contact Eddie Brandt. Thanks for that. That's a good idea, Marc. I've been in touch with that excellent establishment a good few times in the past and I may well have already asked them about "The Farmer's Daughter" but I can't remember.

In fact the last time I was in touch was regarding "Match Play". They hadn't got it. That's interesting that Roscoe Arbuckle was one of the writers. I didn't realise that.

The Australians may be able to get the original nitrate stock copied into some other format like Digibeta. But it can be expensive. And maybe having seen the script you wouldn't reckon the exercise to be worthwhile.

I'll let you all know about Eddie Brandt.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The Australians may be able to get the original nitrate stock copied into some other format like Digibeta. But it can be expensive. And maybe having seen the script you wouldn't reckon the exercise to be worthwhile.

I'd say that it isn't worthwhile. Marjorie Beebe is given very little of interest to do. Several of her lines have snap, but that's about it. No physical comedy on her part, either.



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[Marjorian]

Marjorie Beebe

No I'm afraid Eddie Brandt doesn't seem to have "The Farmer's Daughter". That was by a phone call. I used to be able to access their wonderful catalogue online, but Google are giving me dire warnings that it's a dangerous site and will infect my computer with viruses.

Pity about "Match Play". Mack did make his quota of duds. The thing about Marjorie Beebe was that she was very good both verbally and physically. She was good with the wisecrack and she was very good too at the pratfall.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Mack Sennett (whose relations with his actresses are sometimes a little strange)

No kidding, he sure did a number on Mabel Normand.

 

[Marjorian]

Marjorie Beebe

Indeed. Mabel Normand of course was the principal love of his life, though Sennett in his relationships never seemed ready or willing or able to progress them. At heart he seemed to prefer the life of a bachelor with his golfing and drinking buddies.

There seem to have been others after Mabel such as Mae Busch and Phyllis Haver. Marjorie Beebe is the last actress with whom he was associated, the one who seems to have been his sweetheart while he was making talkies between 1929 and 1933.

The newspapers carried reports that they were going to marry but Sennett was quick to dispel these rumors while at the same time complimenting Beebe. After Sennett went bust they seem to have drifted apart. Sennett's ego and Beebe's finances must both have taken something of a battering.

Marjorie Beebe's career went into decline. Her drinking had always been something of a problem (Sennett had special clauses inserted into her contracts) but seems to have increased and she embarked on a series of unsuccessful marriages. I have found contemporary evidence of four marriages, two divorces (and I suspect there was also an annulment) and a further engagement and a woman has posted on a genealogy site to say that her grandfather was married to her as well, but has not responded to enquiries.

All pretty chaotic for a while but things seemed to have calmed down as she grew older and found some measure of happiness.