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Wisecrackin' Dames

© K Cruver

In the early days of talking movies, actors lost a great deal of flexibility in expressing themselves. The exagerrated movements that had been their bread and butter were difficult to keep within microphone range and seemed silly once dialogue was added. Filmmakers were so occupied adjusting to the technicalities of sound that it took them a while to realize that talkies were not just silent movies with dialogue; a whole new film language was needed.

By the early thirties, Hollywood found that new language. Actors toned down their body motions and facial expressions and scripts were cranked into high gear. Fast-paced dialogue brought energy to movies such as the newspaper comedy Front Page(1931). Carefree flappers, physical comedians and "little girl" heroines were replaced by gangsters, musical stars and a group of sassy characters I like to call wisecrackin' dames.

Though they usually played sidekick to the female lead, wisecrackin' dames often stole the show. They tended to be career women and they were characterized by cocked eyebrows, dialogue so fast it made you cross-eyed and an unsentimental, but humorous view of life. These tough, smart women may have been the first feminists of Hollywood movies.

Though their "dame" roles led them in vastly different career directions, Rosalind Russell, Eve Arden, and Glenda Farrell are all best remembered for their sharp-tongued characters. They did some of their best work in the movies where they cracked wise.

Rosalind Russell
Born: June 4, 1907, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Died: November 28, 1976, Los Angeles, California, USA

Rosalind Russell led a comfortable early life; she attended convent school, college and then completed her education with drama school. Her first professional stage roles were in New York summer stock. It was in a similar traveling production that a talent scout spotted Russell in 1934. She was soon off to Hollywood.

She started her film career playing upper-crust ladies that the hero would leave for the more charismatic female lead in the end. Russell was passed over twice in a row for Jean Harlow in Reckless (1935) and China Seas(1935).

In 1939, Russell changed the course of her career when she played a catty society lady in The Women. The movie was a perfect showcase for her strong comic timing and speedy delivery (it is often impossible to understand exactly what she is saying). A year later, she rattled off dialogue even faster as a reporter in His Girl Friday with Cary Grant. Over the next few years, she made her name in a series of similar comedies.

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