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Double Feature: Margaret Sullavan

© K Cruver

With her fluffy bangs and husky voice, Margaret Sullavan stood apart from the crowd in an era full of distinctive actresses. Though her Hollywood films made her a star in the thirties and forties, Sullavan never embraced the town or its lifestyle. She was in love with acting, but on the stage; movies were just a high paying diversion. Nevertheless, of her seventeen films, many can be considered classics.

Here are two of her most intriguing performances:

The Good Fairy (1935)
Directed by: William Wyler
Also Starring: Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen

In her breakthrough role, Sullavan plays Luisa Ginglebusher, a young woman fresh out of the state orphanage. Though Luisa is excited about her new position as a movie theatre usher, she is frightened by the outside world, because it does not seem to follow the strict, moral rules of the orphanage.

Fortunately she meets Detleff (Owen), a waiter who tries to protect her. Even he is no match for a wealthy gentleman named Konrad (Morgan) who is eager to have an affair with Luisa (he thinks she is married). He decides that he must make her husband rich. Eager to do a good deed, she picks a name at random from the phonebook and decides he will be her fictional husband and benefit from the windfall.

To ensure that he gets his fortune, Luisa goes to meet the impoverished lawyer (Marshall) she has selected. They become friends and she tries to encourage him to use the money quickly, just in case Konrad changes his mind. It is not long before her lies make a mess, but she so obviously means well, that none of the men in her life can remain angry with her.

Sullavan plays her character with fanciful delicacy. Occasionally she reveals the wounds of her orphan loneliness, but her belief in the values that she learned at the orphanage has also made her strong. She gracefully suggests that while this ingenuous young woman has much to learn about the world, her natural generosity of spirit will help her to survive and even inspire others.

The Shopworn Angel (1938)
Directed by: H.C. Potter
Also starring: Jimmy Stewart, Walter Pidgeon, Hattie McDaniel

In this remake of the 1928 silent film, Sullavan seems less shopworn than romantically confused, but nevertheless, this is one of her more gritty performances. It is shocking to hear her abandon her quiet, husky stammer for the wild yell she uses to call out instructions to her maid (McDaniel, who responds in an equally raucous manner). She also plays a less timorous character than usual; as the actress Daisy Heath, she is worldly and confident.

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