Lee Tracy

[mike]

Gotta love him!
Whaddayathink? Any fans? I first saw him in Doctor X and he annoyed me, especially compared to Glenda Farrell (who played a virtually identical role but was adorable in a similar film, Mystery of the Wax Museum) but as the years have gone on, I'm done a complete 180 on him! Case in point the Strange Love of Molly Louvain and Dinner at Eight. I just watched him in Love is a Racket with Doug Fairbanks Jr. and all his mannerisms and use of his voice and hand gestures - he's just a hysterical character actor! He's really got the same role in each film, fast talking sell his mother up the river newspaper man but he's tons of fun to watch and check out those looooong shirt collars!
Anyone else a fan?!

 

[Patrick Murtha]

Gotta love him!
Whaddayathink? Any fans? I first saw him in Doctor X and he annoyed me, especially compared to Glenda Farrell (who played a virtually identical role but was adorable in a similar film, Mystery of the Wax Museum) but as the years have gone on, I'm done a complete 180 on him! Case in point the Strange Love of Molly Louvain and Dinner at Eight. I just watched him in Love is a Racket with Doug Fairbanks Jr. and all his mannerisms and use of his voice and hand gestures - he's just a hysterical character actor! He's really got the same role in each film, fast talking sell his mother up the river newspaper man but he's tons of fun to watch and check out those looooong shirt collars!
Anyone else a fan?!

Oh my yes, I'm a fan. Here's a review of The Half-Naked Truth that I posted on IMDB:

"Lee Tracy, too little known today, is one of the all-time great comic actors and a personal favorite of mine. He was the original Hildy Johnson in The Front Page on Broadway and although his major films are not numerous, each is a delight. Blessed Event with co-star Dick Powell and Bombshell with co-star Jean Harlow are gems long beloved by Thirties film buffs, but even they may not have seen The Half-Naked Truth, which is a pure jolt of the Lee Tracy magic. His physical and vocal presence are uniquely and unmistakably his: the lankily elastic body, the whirling-dervish energy, the sarcastic tone, the long fingers that always seem to be jabbing in someone's direction. There's not another screen actor I can think of who has quite the manic joie de vivre of the young Tracy. In The Half-Naked Truth, he plays a carnival barker and theatrical promoter who will go to any insane lengths to hog headlines (a very contemporary figure for us!). He's paired with Lupe "Mexican Spitfire" Velez, who proves to be an extremely apt partner for him; you believe in these two together, and that makes their final scene surprisingly emotional. (Tracy's magnetism definitely has its romantic aspect; watching Bombshell, an audience can be driven to heights of frustration waiting for Tracy and Harlow to realize that they are, in fact, perfect for one another.) The wonderful ending of The Half-Naked Truth also crystallizes the Tracy credo in a single line: "What good is life if you don't get some fun out of it?" You can have some of that fun by watching this film."

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Another Lee Tracy fan here! I've enjoyed him in everythin gI've ever seen him in and he was quite versatile. To me, he, along with Allen Jenkins, is the epitome of the 1930s "wiseguy."

 

[Patrick Murtha]

Do you know how Tracy derailed his film career? He was going strong in 1934 and had been cast in the film Viva Villa! (imagine Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa!), which was filmed partly on location in Mexico City. Bad boy Tracy pulled a prank by standing on the balcony of his hotel room and urinating on a passing military parade. This created quite a scandal. He was fired from the film and, although he did not stop working thereafter, he found himself increasingly relegated to second-tier productions.

Tracy did continue to appear in theater and, later, television, and had a bit of a comeback playing the President in Gore Vidal's The Best Man both on Broadway (he was nominated for a lead Tony) and film (he was nominated for a supporting Oscar). But his moment was really that 1925-1935 decade, both on stage in New York and on film in Hollywood.