Jackie Robinson would have been 93 on January 31st. He’s today’s Friday Face.
Jackie put up with a lot of bullshit in the Army, where they tried to court-martial him with trumped up charges after he refused an order to the back of a bus. He was eventually acquitted and given an honorable discharge.
Robinson shattered the color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in April 1947, a watershed moment in the Civil Rights movement.
In his 10 seasons, he appeared in six World Series games, including the Dodgers’ 1955 win.
He portrayed himself in “The Jackie Robinson Story.”
He played in 6 All-Star Games and was MLB Rookie of the Year in 1947 and MVP in 1949. He made the Hall of Fame in 1962. His number, 42, was retired from all major league teams.
He was the first black TV analyst in MLB. He helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem.
Robinson died of a heart attack at age 53 in 1972.
Jackie Robinson, Spingarn Medal winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, is today’s Friday Face. Donate to his foundation here.
Today’s Friday Face for Veterans Day is the positively delicious Franklin Pangborn of Newark, New Jersey, whose face you’ve probably seen if you’ve spent any time watching old movies.
Born in 1888, Pangborn served in World War I with the 312th Infantry, and despite his modesty, he was known as a hero of the Battle of Argonne.
He began his stage career appearing in stock. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1920 and continued playing stock at the 1,700 seat Majestic Theatre at 8th and Broadway, which was demolished in 1933. He appeared on stage and on screen with all of the great stars of the day, and would eventually work at nearly every studio. Cecil B. DeMille placed him under contract for several years.
He began in silent films with “Exit Smiling” in 1926, and was a favorite of Mack Sennett and Hal Roach.
By the 1930s, with his quick delivery and perfect diction, he was the character actor of choice to play frustrated hotel clerks, prissy department store salesmen and befuddled headwaiters — the “foremost interpreter of covert gay roles of the 30s and 40s,” says film critic Michael Guillen.
Here’s Pangborn in one of his typical roles, a brief appearance in “Hollywood Victory Caravan.”
During the days when homosexuality was not discussed, he appeared with W.C. Fields in “International House.” In one scene, pre-censorship, Fields has just arrived to the hotel in the Chinese city of Wuhu, but has no idea where he is. Pangborn, playing the hotel manager (of course) has this exchange with Fields:
Fields: Where am I?
Pangborn: Wu-hu!
Fields (giving him a sharp look and removing a flower from his lapel): Don’t let the posy fool you!
While some say he played a stereotype, he nonetheless played it, and how.
Here he is with Shirley Temple, in one of two films he did with her in 1938.
He was among the great company of players used time and again by the great comedy writer/director, Preston Sturges. If that name is new to you, do start watching his films. Start with “Sullivan’s Travels.”
Pangborn appeared in over 200 films.
Here’s his final performance from April 1958, on The Red Skelton Show, with John Carradine.
Franklin died following cancer surgery in July of 1958.
His star on the Walk of Fame is at 1500 Vine, on the East side, right at Sunset… not far from the Arclight.
For being fabulous in his own time, Franklin Pangborn is today’s Friday Face.
Actor Sean Penn as he appeared Monday at the Brookings Institution in a discussion about Haiti, marking one year since the massive earthquake there… and Wicked Witch of the West actress Margaret Hamilton.
One has been tireless in helping repair the devastation, and the other was upset that a house fell on her sister.
Just short of 50 years ago, one of the brightest lights in the comedy world went out at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Beverly Glen, when Ernie Kovacs crashed his Chevy into a pole during a rainstorm — perhaps while trying to light a cigar. He was 42.
Here are a few classics from Ernie. First, the continuing gag of the Nairobi Trio.
An early portrayal of an ostensibly gay character on TV — Percy Dovetonsils.
The Battle of Pearl Harbor, memorialized at the site of the Battleship Arizona, and the memory of beleaguered political wife and mother Elizabeth Edwards, who put on a brave face and carried on, no matter what.
Prince Chuck hits Kevin Spacey with an honorary CBE (Commander of the British Empire) medal for his “services to drama,” as seen at Clarence House today.
No, Donna Douglas and Jo Anne Worley have not teamed up for a reading of “Love Letters.”
Those two savagely hot broads are Dee W. Ieye and Lotta Slots, “color commentators” at last night’s “Best in Drag” show at one of L.A.’s great movie palaces, the Orpheum Theatre.
This outrageously camp “beauty” pageant has been running since 1983, first as “Battle for the Tiara,” then as “Quest for the Crown,” and finally as its current incarnation, since 2003, as a fundraiser for Aid for AIDS, a non-profit organization providing financial support and services for people living with HIV and AIDS in L.A. County. Remarkably, 92% of every dollar raised goes directly to client services.
Kathy Griffin opened the show with a blistering monologue, and celebrity judges included Ana Faris, Linda Hamilton, John C. Reilly, Holland Taylor, Kathy Kinney, Lara Spencer, and “Glee’s” Jayma Mays and Dot-Marie Jones.
Actor and “Little People of America” founder Billy Barty was born on this day in 1924. He got his little break in show biz when director Jules White (of “Stooges” fame) was shooting a scene in his neighborhood when Billy was a toddler. He tugged on White’s leg and showed him how he could spin on his head. He had steady work from then on.
His early introduction to fame came in the early 1930s as Mickey Rooney’s brother in the “Mickey McGuire” er, shorts.
He has a few great bits in “Gold Diggers of 1933.”
Billy founded the Little People of America organization in 1957, after a meeting in Reno with about two dozen little people. He eventually served on the board that helped pass the Americans with Disabilities Act. The organization now has almost 7,000 members.
In the 1960s, he hosted a local kiddie show in L.A. that introduced a new generation to The Three Stooges. Moe made an appearance. Barty was also Sigmund the Sea Monster.
Many remember him as High Aldwin in 1988′s “Willow.”
Barty received his star on Hollywood Blvd. in 1981, it’s near Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
In the early 1990s, I was working on the Warner Bros. lot and ran into him between sound stages — he couldn’t have been nicer. It’s not every day you meet a legend. He was 3’9″.
