Spring has sprung, which has definitely inspired me to be outside more. And that got me thinking about reel librarians never seen inside their libraries. I also mentioned this sub-category of reel librarian portrayals in a recent post that included a brief list of reel librarians whose professions are merely referred to, separated from their natural work habitats. Librarians in name only?
Here’s to reel librarians on the loose!
Click image for item details and sources
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
This Class II film and classic film noir features ex-convict “Doc” (Sam Jaffe), who plans a big jewelry heist immediately after getting out of prison. We learn in an early scene that he was made assistant librarian in prison, because he caused no trouble to prison authorities. So library duty = good behavior in prison? Didn’t seem like Doc learned that lesson in real life.
At First Sight (1999)
This Class IV film highlights a brief cameo of a local librarian, played by the film director’s real-life wife. Although we see Nancy the librarian for only a few seconds out on the sidewalk while the main stars (Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino) go for a quick stroll through town, the librarian’s spunky, chipper personality lasts much longer.
The Golden Child (1986)
In this Class III film, private detective Chandler Jarrell (Eddie Murphy) sets out to find the “Golden Child,” a Buddhist mystic who has been kidnapped by an evil sorcerer. Early on in a scene set in a nondescript building, a mysterious lady named Kala supplies Jarrell with information about the Golden Child and his quest. It is revealed that Kala is a librarian and a half-dragon lady over 300 years old (!). Although not the only not-quite-human reel librarian (see Necronomicon, Book of the Dead, 1993), she is quite memorable, even outside her Sacred Depository library.
In this dystopian Class II film, fertility becomes a rare commodity (literally), and fertile young women trained as Handmaids are treated as household slaves. Natasha Richardson plays a Handmaid, and we learn in one scene that she used to be a librarian.
Heart and Souls (1993)
This Class II film features Robert Downey, Jr., and his four guardian angels. Charles Grodin plays Harrison, one of the guardian angels, who we learn was a librarian in his past life. Although never seen in a library, he retains an uptight personality, buttoned-up tweed suit, and bow tie.
High School High? (1996)
This Class IV comedy includes a school librarian cameo as well as a fight scene set in the library — but not the two together! The librarian yells out unflattering insults (“You suck!”) to the main character, played by Jon Lovitz, in a couple of short scenes set in the school auditorium, but is nowhere to be seen when a fight breaks out in the school library. Who sucks now?!
The Last Supper (1995)
This Class III black comedy features a group of grad student roommates who kill off right-wing thinkers over dinner. A young librarian makes for a memorable victim. Her character is listed as “The Illiterate Librarian”… maybe she needed to spend more time in the library?
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
This Class III film adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel changes Mr. Collins’s occupation from a clergyman to personal librarian to Lady Catherine de Burgh. Alas, no sight of the library of his esteemed patroness.
Rome Adventure (1962)
This Class I film starts out with an intense scene, in which librarian Prudence Bell (Pleshette) quits her job at Briarcroft College for Women after being reprimanded for recommending a “too adult” book to a student. After setting sail for Itality, Prudence does start working in a bookstore, but we never see her in an actual library.
That Touch of Mink (1962)
In this Class III comedy, Cary Grant and his friend, played by Gig Young, break into a motel room in order to find Doris Day and end up interrupting a romantic tryst between a librarian and her would-be lover. (What a strange line to write — but it does make sense in the context of the film!) One of the rare occasions a reel librarian is seen in states of undress.
This Happy Breed (1944)
This Class III drama follows one British family from the end of WWI through the start of WWII. Aunt Sylvia, a tiresome maiden aunt and whiny hypochondriac, lives with her brother’s family. Although declaring herself too ill to work time and again, we learn late in the film that Sylvia has been working at the library. This job is mentioned only in passing and is not a major plot point or scene setting.
The War of the Worlds (1953)
The main female lead in this Class II film is Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson), who we learn teaches library science courses at a local university. But there’s no time for library science when Martians are invading Earth! So Sylvia teams up with the hero-scientist (Gene Barry) in order to defeat the aliens.
A public librarian (Greer Garson) falls for a roustabout sailor (Clark Gable) in this rocky romantic drama. The two “meet cute” in the San Francisco Public Library.
In this romantic comedy, college library assistant Alex (Robert Downey, Jr.) falls for his girlfriend’s mother (Cybill Shepherd). Oh, and there’s the bit about the mother’s husband having been reincarnated into Alex.
In this sparkling workplace comedy, Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) expertly handles a TV network’s research library, as well as the attentions of an efficiency expert (Spencer Tracy).
More Ali MacGraw! This time, she’s the librarian, or rather, a college library assistant. The first scene, set in the Radcliffe College library, sets up the five-hanky romance between Jenny (MacGraw) and Oliver (Ryan O’Neal).
In this romantic drama, Prudence Bell (Pleshette) quits her job as a librarian at a private college and sets off to Italy in search of adventure and love.
Happy (almost) Halloween! For our last entry for this month’s series, we’ll be shining a flashlight in some dark corners, full of killer librarians. Librarians find themselves as victims/damsels in distress in quite a few scary movies (see Twisted Nerve, The Dunwich Horror, Peeping Tom, The Last Supper), but here are a few films where librarians supply the scares. Beware the terror of the librarian!
All About Evil (2010)
In this campy horror film — which was released via a touring live show with director/writer Joshua Grannell, aka horror hostess Peaches Christ — Deborah, a “mousey librarian” (played by Natasha Lyonne), inherits a movie house (as you do) and unleashes her inner serial killer (as you do). To save the family business, she provides her own victims in order to make her own “snuff films.” This destined-to-be-a-camp-cult-classic takes the idea of an art house movie theater to murderous extremes.
The interior movie scenes were filmed at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. You can read more about the movie here, including a gallery of photos, movie posters, and Deborah’s book club!
Chainsaw Sally (2004)
This one has my vote for best title! Traumatized as a young girl by witnessing her parents’ murder, Sally (played by April Monique Burril) grows up to become a librarian (yay) … and a serial killer (nay). Apparently, she gets good use out of her librarian skills by researching horror films, including the classic 1974 horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which inspire her killings.
The movie has also inspired two seasons (!) of web series, entitled “The Chainsaw Sally Show.”
The Church (1989)
This Italian horror film, also known as La Chiesa, is included in my Foreign Films page.
Evan (played by Tomas Arana), a librarian cataloging a series of historical texts in an old church, removes a rock in the catacombs — thereby unleashing an ancient evil hidden underneath! Turns out the church had been built on top of a medieval devil worshipping site. Whoops. Evan becomes possessed by a demon, and a priest, Father Gus (Hugh Quarshie), is the only one who can save the city — and the librarian!
Co-written by Italian horror film maestro Dario Argento (1977′s Suspiria), the film also includes a small role for his daughter, actress Asia Argento.
Wilderness (TV, 1996)
In this TV movie/mini-series, Amanda Oooms plays Alice White, a university librarian who perhaps isn’t as pure as her surname. She tries to convince her psychoanalyst boyfriend (Michael Kitchen) that she turns into a werewolf every month — but is it all in her head? What about the trail of bodies at the hands of a wolf, starting with the farmhand who attempted to rape Alice when she was thirteen?
This psychological drama (a miniseries tha was trimmed to movie-length when released on video) has some serious pedigree to its name, including screenwriter Andrew Davies (of the recent TV adaptations of Jane Austen’s works) and director Ben Bolt (who has directed episodes of British series Downton Abbey and Doc Martin).
Personals (TV, 1990)
Brunette librarian with glasses by day, a blonde lady killer by night! Jennifer O’Neill plays Heather, a librarian who lures men through newspaper personal ads, only to murder them on the first date. A knife is her weapon of choice, as seen on the video cover (at left). Stephanie Zimbalist (Remington Steele) co-stars.
Although not a horror film, this crime thriller stars one of the most calculating (and scarily successful!) reel librarian killers.
Last week, I highlighted films I have not been able to locate yet. This week, I’m showcasing librarian films that have been presumed lost; not surprisingly, these are films from the early decades of filmmaking. Most of these titles, and description details, come from the invaluable reference book The Image of Librarians in Cinema, 1917-1999 by Ray & Brenda Tevis.
You might be wondering, if these films are presumed lost, how do we know anything about them? Research, of course! From primary sources such as movie reviews, screenplays, publicity stills, film library archives, etc. I have arranged the following titles below by order of release year.
BTW, the earliest film that I’ve personally been able to watch is the 1921 silent film, The Blot. For more on that film, and the significance of director Lois Weber, click here.
The Librarian (1912)
A dramatic short film, starring Mary Fuller as Betty Gibbs, who I’m assuming plays the title character.
I haven’t been able to find out much at all about the film itself (check out its IMDb entry here), and Mary Fuller herself (1888-1973) is also an enigma. Born and raised in Washington, DC, she began as a stage actress and signed with the Edison Film Company in 1910. However, after starring in the first movie serial, What Happened to Mary (1912), and making it to Hollywood and signing with Universal Pictures, she left the movie industry behind in 1917, essentially disappearing from any kind of public life. That movie serial’s title turned out true to life, eh?
She also was a screenwriter, and 8 of her screenplays were made into short films between 1913 and 1915. You can see a complete list of her films here.
A Wife on Trial (1917)
Sounds scandalous, no? This is the first silent film included in The Image of Librarians in Cinema, 1917-1999, and is based off the 1915 bestselling novel The Rose-Garden Husband by Margaret Widdemer. The leading female role, Phyllis Narcissa Braithwaite (Mignon Anderson), is a children’s librarian who dreams of a rose garden. She ends up leaving her position to marry and care for a young man, Allan, who has been paralyzed. As the Tevises write:
A Wife on Trial portrays Phyllis as a poorly paid, hardworking librarian with a work ethic that continues in marriage; she showers her attention upon Allan instead of the children who enjoyed her stories. (p. 5)
It seems odd to me that the film title was changed, especially since it was based on a bestseller! The film’s title sounds more like a courtroom drama than an inspirational love story. And bonus, the original novel is available as a Kindle e-book download (click book cover at left).
The Wishing Ring Man (1919)
A sequel to A Wife on Trial and based on Widdemer’s bestselling novel of the same name. This film follows the romantic adventures of Allan’s friend, Dr. John Hewitt.
Allan and Phyllis — this go-around played by a different actress, Dorothy Hagan — as well as their two children, play supporting roles in this sequel. I agree with the Tevises, it is highly unlikely that Phyllis’s prior occupation as children’s librarian gets a mention in this film (p. 5)
However, this film is significant as the first sequel to feature a reel librarian. Yay?
A Very Good Young Man (1919)
Bryant Washburn plays LeRoy Sylvester, a public librarian and the title role. In fact, in a decidedly rare occurrence, the leading man’s occupation was changed from a brass bed factory worker in the original stage play to a librarian in the film! LeRoy’s fiancee, Ruth, refuses to marry him because he is TOO good, his moral character TOO spotless. So he is too good of a librarian, eh?
It is interesting to note that this first male reel librarian demonstrates ineptitude in social situations outside the library. Also, his ultimate goal is marriage. Does he ultimately get the girl? Of course! Ruth finally agrees to marry him even though he fails at being a thief, gambler, and flirt. (What an odd sentence to write.)
And as the Tevises point out, this seems to be the first film to feature a male librarian (p. 5-6).
You can see more info and pics from this film by clicking here.
The Broken Gate (1920 & 1927 versions)
This film — made twice! — was based on Emerson Hough’s 1917 novel of the same name, which you can read online at Project Gutenberg. I’m not sure why it was remade, as the Tevises share snippets of reviews ranging from tepid (“lacking in real dramatic strength” for the 1920 version) to pretty harsh (“It will have to be a pretty dumb fan clientele that will take the picture seriously” for the 1927 remake, p. 6).
The storyline is pure soap opera, involving an illegitimate child, self-sacrifice, and false accusations of murder. In both movie versions, the librarian, Julia, is a supporting role, played as a spinsterish, poorly paid, physically handicapped, and self-sacrificing town librarian. The character of reel librarian Julia was played by Evelyn Selbie in the 1920 version, and by Florence Turner (see pic above) in the 1927 version. Julia poses as the illegitimate son’s aunt (her friend, Aurora, is the boy’s real mother), and sends her salary, such as it is, to help pay for the son’s education. Apparently, she is “treated as contemptuously by Aurora as by the residents” of the town (Tevis & Tevis, p. 7). Sigh.
This cinematic depiction, however, seems to be quite different from how Julia is described in the book:
These many years “Miss Julia,” as she was known to all, had held her place as ‘city librarian,’ in which quasi-public capacity she was known of all, and loved of all as well.
The Freeze Out (1921)
This one’s interesting… a Western (!) directed by legendary director John Ford. And the librarian is also the town drunk (!!).
Let’s break it down. Harry Carey plays “The Stranger,” breezes into a Western town called “Broken Buckle” and establishes a school and library (rather than yet another gambling house). He also recruits the town drunk (Bobtail McGuire as played by J. Farrell MacDonald) to be the librarian. Wow! That’s ballsy. And this is only the 2nd male librarian onscreen — and such a completely different kind of role than LeRoy in A Very Good Young Man (1919)! And so interesting that to combat the “criminal element” in this rough town, The Stranger elevates the social standing of the town drunk. While reading out this plot, I thought it sounded familiar to films like Destry Rides Again (the town drunk becoming deputy sheriff), and indeed, this comedic device was often used in the Western film genre (Tevis & Tevis, p. 7).
And apparently, MacDonald earned the only bit of praise in movie reviews — mostly for his comedic chops playing a drunk — one of which reemed the movie as having “no excuse in a picture theatre accustomed to program features of merit.” Ouch.
The Lost Romance (1921)
This lost film, starring Lois Wilson as public librarian Sylvia Hayes, also sounds pretty soapy. It involves Sylvia deciding between two proposals, a child’s disappearance, a meddling aunt, and rekindled love. And of course, Sylvia promptly ends her librarian career at the prospect of marriage.
As the Tevises describe, the film opens with a library scene with Sylvia dreaming of a vacation — which, as a side note, reminded me of the opening scene in 1932′s Forbidden. While listening to the children’s storytime hour (daydreaming of her own future?), Sylvia gets reprimanded by the library supervisor, who also reminds her that her vacation doesn’t start until the next day (p. 7-8).
This also appears to the first film to feature a ladder in the library (see left), a prop to establish librarian roles and library settings that will become a familiar sight in future films. Mayme Kelso plays the elder librarian-in-charge (see left), following another frequently used device of pairing, and contrasting, a younger librarian with an older (and presumably single) librarian.
It’s interesting to note that the film’s director, William C. deMille, was the elder brother of director Cecil B. DeMille and father of choreographer Agnes de Mille. William C. deMille also co-hosted the 1st Academy Awards in 1929!
Only 38 (1923)
Out of all the lost films on this list, this one intrigues me the most.
Again, director William C. deMille chooses actress Lois Wilson (a former schoolteacher before turning to stage and screen) to play the lead role, Mrs. Stanley, an “aging” housewife at 38 (!) who wants to assert her independence after sending her 18-year-old twins off to college. The route of this independence? Employment at the college library, of course. This leads to a more youthful appearance (the time-honored cinematic makeover), romance (of course) with an English professor, and confrontations with her outraged children. Sounds very much like a Liberated Librarian story arc.
Apparently, the film follows the original 1921 stage play by A. E. Thomas pretty closely — even adding library scenes! — and earned good reviews. Interesting, in a film ostensibly all about a woman’s independence, she is known only by her married name. Hmmm…. Also interesting that Lois Wilson, herself only 29 at the time, plays a role almost a decade older.
The Tevises also use the film’s title to describe a common reel librarian role, which they refer to throughout the rest of their book. Here’s how they describe it (p. 11):
Throughout the twentieth century, the majority of reel librarians, especially those in supporting roles, will be afflicted with this “only 38″ characteristic. These reel librarians are portrayed as middle-aged or older, a stigmatization of librarians that begins the first time individuals, when as children, enter a library and encounter a librarian, an “only 38″ person.
For some reason, this film title makes me think of silent film star Lillian Gish (probably because of her 1919 film Broken Blossoms), but the film actually stars Pola Negri, a Polish film star who also made a big name for herself in Hollywood.
In this film, she plays Lily, a beautiful young librarian — those eyes! — working in German village where an army garrison is also stationed. Local interest in reading sure goes up after Lily joins the library! She marries an army colonel (Noah Beery), who becomes jealous of the attention Lily receives from other male admirers. The girl can’t help it, eh?
This is another example, as the Tevises point out, of a young reel librarian who “is not hesitant about marriage as a means to improve her social and economic position” (p. 14).
The source of this film has an interesting timeline. It’s based on a 1914 stage play, The Song of Songs, by Edward Sheldon from a 1908 novel by Hermann Sudermann, Das Hohe Lied (you can read the 1909 English translation here on Google eBooks). An original film version was released in 1918, under the original English title and starring Elsie Ferguson, and remade once more in 1933, the only sound version and again titled as The Song of Songs, starring Marlene Dietrich. Hmmm… I wonder if they kept the librarian angle in the original and subsequent screen adaptations? Methinks I need to add these possibilities to the Master List.
The Spirit of Youth (1929)
This film, based on a screenplay and story by Elmer Harris and Eve Unsell and directed by Walter Lang, features a small-town librarian, Betty Grant (played by Dorothy Sebastian) who falls for Jim, a roustabout sailor and boxer (played by Larry Kent). Through various dramatic scenarios, do you think Jim finally recognizes the true heart and love of the local librarian? No points for correct guesses.
Elements of this time-worn plot have been recycled through the years, like in 1945′s Adventure (featuring a sailor and long-suffering librarian love) and in 1978′s Movie Movie (a 1930s spoof featuring a boxer and, again, his long-suffering librarian love).
I do love the lobby card featured above — especially as it looks to feature the library set! (Click the image for a larger view.) And the actress, Dorothy Sebastian, playing the reel librarian has a colorful past of her own. A former Ziegfeld girl and stage actress, Sebastian had a romance with legendary silent star Buster Keaton, and later married (and divorced) Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd.
This lost film, as mentioned by the Tevises in their book The Image of Librarians in Cinema, 1917-1999 (p. 14), also merits a mention as the final silent film to feature a reel librarian.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that I frequently reference my ever-expanding Master List of titles that I am sloooooowly working my way through. Some titles I just haven’t gotten around to yet, but copies of which are readily available via public libraries, Interlibrary Loan, or for purchase. But some of these films have been on this list a long time, movies that have major librarian characters and/or plotlines, movies I STILL have not been able to locate a copy of.
So I’m taking this list (14 titles arranged alphabetically) to the blogosphere. Does anyone have a copy of the following titles, or know how to obtain a copy? Thanks in advance for your help!
Apartment for Peggy (1948)
This 1948 film, a Technicolor romantic comedy about veterans’ wives set during World War II, stars Jeanne Crain as Peggy. William Holden plays her husband, Jason, and Edmund Gwenn plays Professor Henry Barnes, who rents his attic space to the couple.
Prof. Barnes also lends his personal library — I so want to glimpse this personal library in Technicolor! — to the veterans’ wives so they can study up and converse more intelligently with their husbands. Jeanne volunteers to be the librarian — attagirl! — and apparently has a few scenes checking out books from the professor’s home.
This sounds like a fun movie, but its Amazon.com DVD record lists it as currently unavailable.
Beyond This Place (aka Web of Evidence, 1959)
Vera Miles stars as a librarian for the second time! The first time was also the same year, 1959, that she starred as the librarian wife, Lucy Ann Hardesty, of James Stewart in The FBI Story. In this film, she plays Lena Anderson. American Paul Mathry (Van Johnson) returns to Liverpool, England, to research his family’s history and his father’s supposed death as a war hero during World War I. Lena, as a librarian, is obviously the perfect person to help him!
From the poster, the film looks like it’s trying very hard to be dramatic. Not sure why Lena’s holding that pole so tight, but she sure looks earnest, doesn’t she?
Note: Beyond This Place was the film’s original UK title, while it was released in the United States as Web of Evidence.
A Girl Named Tamiko (1962)
Tagline: ”He was half Oriental…but he used the women of two continents WITHOUT SHAME OR GUILT!”
And one of those women is a librarian, the title character of Tamiko (played by France Nuyen). Tamiko, who is from a wealthy Japanese family, works as a librarian for the Foreign Press Club in Tokyo. Apparently, her occupation is not that important to the film, but there are a couple of scenes set in the Foreign Press Club library. Interesting that the title character is about Tamiko, although the plot — and tagline — seem more focused on star Laurence Harvey (star of The Manchurian Candidate, also released in 1962), who plays a half-Chinese, half-Russian (!) man trying to get a visa to the U.S.
It’s based on a book of the same name by Ronald Kirkbride. A used copy of the book is available from Amazon.com, but not the out-of-print DVD.
The Girl Rush (1955)
This mid-’50s musical comedy stars Rosalind Russell (see left) as Kim Halliday, who’s been working at the Information Desk at the Providence Historical Museum, Early American Wing, for “three months, three days.” Her total lack of interest in this job is exemplified by turning up a radio hidden in a desk drawer to catch the results of a horse race. She speedily dumps the library gig after learning she has inherited a Las Vegas hotel.
I’m sure comedic mishaps and adventures are set to catchy tunes. Songs from the film include the title song, “Out of Doors,” “Take a Chance,” “Choose Your Partner,” and my personal favorite based on titles alone, “My Hillbilly Heart.”
Hot Spell (1958)
Wow, that movie poster looks steamy, no? Is it wrong that I am now humming the Donna Summers song “Hot Stuff”?
In this drama, Shirley Booth and Anthony Quinn star as the head of a Southern family that’s falling apart. Sounds like shades of Tennessee Williams. One of their sons, Billy (Clint Kimbrough), has started working at the local public library. His mom comes to visit one day and causes a scene, leading to her son to ask, “Do you want to get me fired, or something?” Interesting that the library seems to be a place to escape one’s family, to provide a way of becoming independent.
There are really expensive VHS copies on Amazon.com, with used copies starting at $36 and new copies starting at $89. Has anyone seen this movie around for a lower price?
Mona Freeman in the leading female role as shoplifter Faye Burton, an attractive 22-year-old librarian suffering from kleptomania.
So the title character — a shoplifter! — is also a reel librarian. Based on that alone, I HAVE to see this movie. Plus, there’s a shoplifting gang (!!!) and an undercover agent (!!!). Wow, what a plotline. I wonder if becoming a librarian is her redemption from a life of crime? Or does she meet other members of the shoplifting gang through the library? Oh, the possibilities…
Katie Did It (1951)
Katie did what? Become a librarian?
Ann Blyth stars as the title character, Katie, who works at the local public library in a rigidly Puritan New England town. In this kind of romantic comedy, she’s got to fall in love with someone, and in this case, she falls in love with Peter Van Arden (Mark Stevens), a “city slicker commercial artist.” (Is there any other kind?! )
Apparently, there’s a Meet Cute moment that involves a ladder — this time, outside the library — as well a funny scene that involves a ladder inside the library. Oh, those ladders, they’ll get ya every time.
Margie (1946)
This 1940s film set in the late 1920s stars Jeanne Crain as troubled teen Margie MacDuff. Lynn Bari, seen in the publicity still at left, plays a supporting role as school librarian Miss Isabelle Palmer.
Apparently, there are several bloomer elastic mishaps — not kidding — and the library is a popular place to fix one’s bloomers. Um, OK.
Miss Palmer, an attractive brunette, also garners the attention of the new French teacher, who all the female students are swooning over. Miss Palmer’s age gets a lot of snide comments from the jealous teens, including:
I don’t see what he sees in her. She’s old. She must be 25 at least.
She’s well-preserved for her age.
It would be nice to see this attractive, modern, and “well-preserved” reel librarian up close.
Navy Blues (1937)
This film sounds like an interesting one to watch, if only for the slew of derogatory remarks about librarians, including bow wow, pilgrim, museum piece, freak, crow, and bookworm. Plus the line: “Why, I scarcely know you without your glasses.”
This B-movie plot is a real charmer, too. It centers on 3 sailor pals, who bet that ladykiller Rusty (Dick Purcell) can’t get a woman of their choosing to go out on a date with him. The woman they choose? A librarian, of course. (Sigh.) Mary Brian plays Doris, the librarian in question, and recipient of those rude, stereotypical remarks.
Note: This is not the 1929 fim of the same title, Navy Blues, available on Amazon.com, nor the James Stewart film, Navy Blue & Gold, which was also released in 1937. Nor the 4 other films listed in IMDb bearing this same title.
Update! After I finished this post — but before publishing it — I found a copy of it online via YouTube. So it’s on my list to watch, but I still would like a physical copy, as well. Do you know where one is available?
Peggy (1950)
Nothing more than a short paragraph about this film in The Image of Librarians in Cinema 1917-1999, except to note that it includes long-time comedic actress Ellen Corby in a supporting role as Mrs. Privet, a librarian, and that a review in Variety praised Corby’s comedic contributions.
Diana Lynne stars as the title character, and veteran actor Charles Coburn plays Peggy’s father, Professor Brookfield. I’m hoping that at least a couple of scenes are set in the college library. Interesting to note that the film’s cast also includes a young Rock Hudson.
Quiet Please, Murder (1942)
The major setting in this crime drama — with almost 50 minutes of screen time! — is a library. For that alone, I have to get my hands on a copy of this film! Also, it’s fun to say the title out loud in a dramatic way. Can’t you just hear it? Quiet, please [long pause], MURDER! And the title is a play on being quiet in a library. It all sounds so delightfully British and campy.
Also, according to IMDb, the plot includes Nazis (!), book forgers and rare books (!), and five (!) reel librarians. Seriously, this film sounds AWESOME.
Alas, the only copy I’ve been able to located is a used copy from Amazon.com for $125, and there are only a few clips of the film on YouTube. Please help!
Sea Devils (1937)
The plot of this film sounds very familiar to other reel librarian films of the early 20th century, including The Blot(1921), No Man of Her Own (1932) and Adventure (1945). Preston Foster stars as Seaman Mike O’Shay, who sets his sights on young librarian Doris, played by Ida Lupino. Also like in those other films, there’s an older librarian colleague — in this case, actress Fern Emmett playing Miss McGonigle, and sporting a severe bun and pince nez — to contrast with the younger female librarian. And I’m just guessing there are also closeups of a large QUIET or SILENCE sign, as well as a funny moment or two involving a library ladder.
This short scene I found on YouTube includes a look at Ida Lupino’s legs.
The Trespasser (1947)
This late ’40s murder mystery stars Dale Evans in a rare non-Western film. And although Evans received top billing, she apparently has only a minor role. The real star of the film is Janet Martin, who plays Stephanie “Stevie” Carson, a recent college graduate who starts work at a newspaper’s research library. She teams up with her boss, Danny Butler (Warren Douglas), to investigate a rare book forgery and the frame-up of one of their newspaper editors.
According to The Image of Librarians in Cinema 1917-1999, the character of Stevie “is not only intelligent but also independent.” She certainly sounds scrappy! Also, apparently the library set is very large, a rarity, especially for a newspaper library. From the write-up, this sounds like an interesting title, but I haven’t been able to locate a copy yet.
Young Bride (1932)
There were 3 films featuring reel librarians released in 1932: Forbidden, No Man of Her Own (both of which I’ve seen), and this film, Young Bride, based on a stage play entitled Love Starved. All 3 films sound pretty similar, each featuring a young, attractive actress in a starring role of a librarian dreaming of a future that doesn’t include being a librarian. (Sigh.)
In this film, Helen Twelvetrees stars as Allie Smith, a children’s librarian who marries young, believing in her own fairytale romance. But the plotline sounds like it quickly turns depressing, with an unhappy marriage, financial insecurity, and contemplations of suicide. And apparently, Allie blames books for her downfall:
What good does it do to bring those children up believing in all this bunk. Peter Pan. Goldilocks. Happy ending. Lies! Lies! Lies!
Don’t blame the books, Allie! If I ever get to watch this film, I’m pretty sure I’ll be shouting that at the screen.
So if you have a copy of any of the above titles — or know how to obtain one — please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!
The Church (1989)
Wilderness (TV, 1996)
Personals (TV, 1990)
by Ray & Brenda Tevis.
The Lost Romance (1921)
Apartment for Peggy (1948)
