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Bupp Filmology Classic and B Movies of 1929 to 1943

1997

Sonny As told by himself, Moyer MacClaren Bupp, if you can believe that name!

Sonny in “No Place to Go” The earliest recollections of my “show business” career date back to around 1934 or 1935. This was before being in a picture where my part was important enough to warrant official “record keeping”, that is the who, what, why, when, etc., of a film. My mother, a very aggressive woman, was bent on having all five of her children in show business, three boys and two girls. With the exception of my oldest brother Paul, she made a real stab at having each of us become actors and actresses beginning with my oldest sister June, followed by my sister Ann, brother Tom and myself, the youngest of the five. My early years were involved in stage plays at the Pasadena Playhouse, a routine source for “discovering talent” by studio scouts, and like Ann, a great deal of “extra” work in the movies, in fact, I made Variety magazine as being the juvenile who made the most money as an extra in, I believe, 1935 or 1936. I did one commercial play put on in a theater in downtown Los Angeles entitled “Excursion”. Among several plays at the Playhouse was Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in which I appeared as “Tiny Tim,” receiving, incidentally, very good “press” (one article described my “God Bless Us Every One” as being so poignant as to make the ladies in the audience weep mightily!) Among my remnants of memorabilia is a playbill from there showing a fellow named Victor Mature having a minor role in one of the plays in which I had a part. God and “Show Biz” do indeed work in mysterious ways! My mother engaged an “agent” for my brother and me, an ambitious fellow named Julian Olynick, who diligently pursued his purchased services (he received 10% of our salaries) by seeking out, and finding , “jobs” (parts) for my brother Tommy and me. Not counting my work as an “extra” (which involved a ga-zillion movies), I guess there are a little over fifty films, in which I appeared, where I had a speaking part. If you had only a few “lines,” and your part was not very important to the story, it was refered to as a “bit” part. A more important role with more lines made you a “feature player,” all the way up to a “supporting actor” and eventually a “starring” role. “Bit parts” frequently hit the cutting room floor, unfortunately. They were the first to go if the movie was “running too long.” Most of my recorded work fell into the bit part category, although I did have some better roles, e.g. Renegade Trail, with William Boyd as “Hopalong Cassidy” (and a dog) and No Place To Go, a Warner Brothers with Dennis Morgan, Gloria Dickson and Fred Stone. No place To Go was a film typical of the thirties - a human interest story about a lonely old man a mistreated orphan boy (with the ever present dog.) Had it not been for the outbreak of the war in Europe in 1939, my entire life might have been changed by this picture. Warner Brothers built a “trailer” for the movie citing a “new child discovery,” etc., etc. A real first class build up, which would have certainly influenced my future life, had the film been officially released (it was previewed somewhere on the east coast.) I even rated a “stand-in,” normally reserved only for the “biggies.” Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending upon your point of view,) the film was never released and thus my bid for “stardom” was eliminated. I continued to work through 1941, including playing the part of Orson Welles’ son, in Citizen Kane. Not a very big part, but nice to have been associated in a small way with one of the most famous motion pictures of all time. I never liked being a child actor in the movies, in fact, I dreaded seeing Mr. Olynick’s car parked in front of our house knowing it meant going on another “interview” (a visit to the casting director) for a movie part. On the other hand, working on the stage was really fun. When you work in a stage play it’s “live,” playing to real people watching and listening to you from the audience. You and the other players start off by stumbling through your lines, working with a script until, after much rehearsing, all of you have your parts memorized, and are ready to “let the show begin.” you develop a camaraderie among players, not like the movies, where you seldom develop any kind of a personal relationship with anyone, since it’s a “one shot” deal. On the stage, you work with each other night after night. Besides, a play starts at the beginning and ends at the finish - not like shooting a movie, where there’s no continuity during the filming whatsoever. You might start in the middle, do the end then the beginning, etc. But, because of Hitler’s own “special program,” Warner Brothers shelved the film in favor of one they had just finished shooting entitled, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, starring Edward G. Robinson. From that point on “war movies” dominated the movie screen and my potential career fell off very quickly. Ironically, my brother Tommy had a part in that very film. Of considerable dismay to me was the fact that, despite earning a considerable amount of money (I was paid $50.00 to $75.00 a day, when a regular man’s salary was good at $25.00 a week,) my mother never put aside a red cent of it for me. This was, incidentally, against the law, which required that 50% of a minor’s earnings be put into a trust fund (the Coogan Law.) My mother apparently felt that law didn’t apply to her! I also got $18.00 a week unemployment compensation for any week I didn’t work! I can still recall the looks the adult peoples faces as stood in line with them! (My mother made certain she picked me up from school and took me to get my check.) We never did find out what for sure she did with the money, although each in the family had their individual ideas and suspicions. Of significant note is the fact that, at the time, juvenile’s incomes were not subject to federal income tax! (Adding, of course, to my unrealized net worth!) Despite the fact that I hated the work, in retrospect, it’s pleasant to reflect on appearing with so many famous people, such as: Raymond Massey, James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, Lloyd Nolan, Humphrey Bogart, Dennis Morgan, The Three Stooges, Orson Welles, Edward Arnold, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Houston, John Wayne, Edgar Kennedy, Dick Powell, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Coleman, Thomas Mitchell, Sam Jaffe, H.B. Warner, John Howard, Edward Everett Horton, John Payne, “Our Gang,” Fred Stone, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Frederick March, Jack Carson, “Dead End Kids,” William Boyd, “Gabby” Hayes, Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Noah Berry Jr., Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Preston Foster, Andy Devine, Frank McHugh, Charles Coburn, Wayne Morris, Charles Boyer and others ( not to mention many ladies of the silver screen.) Thanks to all of them for allowing me to share the tiniest part of their fame. Oddly enough, one of the biggest problems to me as a child was my hair. In the thirties boys did not wear their hair long! But, if you were a child actor, you never cut your hair. That’s because if the part called for long hair, such as a period picture, you had long hair. If the part required short hair then they (the studio) cut it - simple. Simple except for the razzing and hazing I got every time I went back to regular school (when you worked in a movie the studio provided the teachers.) The “hair” problem then being a not so pleasant experience most people would not know about. For many reasons I would never recommend that parents seek an acting career for their children. It’s a very unnatural environment that, in many cases, can adversely affect a person’s entire life. I was fortunate in not wanting or liking this type of lifestyle. Well, then, my life as an actor was ultimately put to rest (or so I thought) until after more than fifty years I began receiving fan mail! Old movie buffs and their clubs ran me down and began writing letters requesting, if you can believe it, autographs and autographed pictures! Incredible. At the same time my nephew Tom, (my brother Tommy’s oldest son,) began compiling data on his father’s and uncle’s careers in show business. He has done a remarkable job in accumulating material I would have believed impossible to acquire, including a tape of the movie No Place To Go which, incidentally, I had never seen! (It only took fifty-six years!) So I dedicate this recollection to my nephew Tom, A truly remarkable young man, whose patience and perseverance, has made this presentation possible. And to his wife Sandy who has endured his incalculable trips to God knows how many little shops that might have a bit of memorabilia. Back