The FRiday Night Movie - Never Give A Sucker An Even Break (1941)

Youtube ^ | N/A | N/A

[ETL]

Fields had a small cadre of supporting players that he employed in several films:

• Elise Cavanna, whose onscreen interplay with Fields was compared (by William K. Everson) to that between Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont^[101]
• Jan Duggan, an old-maid character (actually about Fields' age).^[102] It was of her character that Fields said in The Old Fashioned Way, "She's all dressed up like a well-dressed grave."
• Kathleen Howard, as a nagging wife or antagonist
• Baby LeRoy, as a preschool child fond of playing pranks on Fields' characters
• Franklin Pangborn, a fussy, ubiquitous character actor who played in several Fields films, most memorably as J. Pinkerton Snoopington in The Bank Dick
• Alison Skipworth, as his wife (although 16 years his senior), usually in a supportive role rather than the stereotypical nag
• Grady Sutton, typically a country bumpkin type, as a foil or an antagonist to Fields' character
• Bill Wolfe, as a gaunt-looking character, usually a Fields foil
• Tammany Young, as a dim-witted, unintentionally harmful assistant, who appeared in seven Fields films until his sudden death from heart failure in 1936

[greene66]

Ah, yep. I knew about all that. And I held back my inclination to sarcastically ask her “eh, real shame about the Soviet Union breaking up, huh?” I was really tempted! But, my deep affection and personal nostalgia for “It’s A Gift” (which I first saw on tv when I was in grade-school), kept me from opening that can of worms! Probably the only commie actor I’d bit my tongue for.

[ETL]

Yeah, I would have done the same given those circumstances.

[greene66]

Indeed, over the years I had the opportunity to meet a handful of other blacklisted/commie types, and I deliberately avoided doing so. I always found it particularly repellent how many of them used this as some kind of victim-oriented status symbol or badge-of-honor in modern (70s/80s/90s) left-wing Hollywood. Never knew, per se, of Rouverol doing this, although it’s not inconceivable. Whatever the case, I made an exception for her, specifically because of “It’s a Gift.” Which I view as such a marvelous piece of americana, and in some ways, even seems to mostly pre-date that Red attempt at infiltrating Hollywood.

[Silentgypsy]

Thank you!