Sweet Priscilla Lane
Watched Four Wives today and thought it would be nice to dedicate a little post to Priscilla Lane and list the films I've seen of her, just because I like her.
Priscilla Lane was born on 12 June 1915, as the youngest of five siblings. The Lane sisters (Priscilla, Leota, Lola and Rosemary) entered show business as singers (the fifth sister Martha kept out of show business). Priscilla's film career took off when she signed a contract with Warner Brothers in 1937. She is best remembered for her roles in The Roaring Twenties (with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart), Saboteur (with Robert Cummings) and Arsenic and Old Lace (with Cary Grant). With her sisters Lola and Rosemary she co-starred in four films by Warner Brothers: Four Daughters (1938), Daughters Courageous (1939), Four Wives (1939) and Four Mothers (1941). The fourth sister in the films was played by Gale Page (Leota Lane tested for the part but was considered unsuitable). Daughters Courageous followed Four Daughters, and though it was also directed by Michael Curtiz and co-starred Claude Rains and John Garfield, the story dealt with a different family. The films Four Wives and Four Mothers continue the storyline of Four Daughters with the Lemp family. Four Daughters is also noteworthy for being thé film that made John Garfield a star. He would make two more films with Priscilla Lane (Daughters Courageous and Dust Be My Destiny; he's also in Four Wives but only in archive footage).
The fan magazine Picturegoer wondered in its June 1940 issue why "Priscilla was still knocking at the door of major stardom" and why Warner Bros didn't give her larger and more important roles. Her misfortune was that she was too nice and sweet. Despite her sparkling personality, she was overshadowed by actresses who had more spunk and humour (like Ann Sheridan) or more intensity (like Ida Lupino). She had the-girl-next-door look, fresh-faced and innocent, which made Hollywood cast her in roles of girlfriends, daughters and fiancées. Personally I don't think she was just a pretty face. Her acting range might have been limited, but she was a solid performer who never got a demanding role to prove she could do better. Still, you could always count on her to give a good supporting performance and she handled dramatic scenes perfectly. I absolutely love the pairing of her and John Garfield (have seen all of their three films and I wish there were more). They have such great and natural chemistry, and Priscilla's sweetness balances out Garfield's rough edges and brings out his soft side.
An interesting titbit is that Priscilla was put on suspension by Jack Warner after asking for a raise and turning down roles in Money and the Woman (1940, with Brenda Marshall) and My Love Came Back (1940, with Olivia de Havilland). She eventually retired from acting in 1948. Ten years later, in 1958, she returned to show business to star in her own television show, but this was just a brief enterprise and she stopped after a year.
Priscilla married twice, had four children and died on 4 April 1995 at the age of 79 from lung cancer and chronic heart failure.
I haven't seen that many Priscilla Lane films, only 10 in total, but I definitely intend to see more. These are the ones I've seen — in watching order — and I have enjoyed most of them:
*Arsenic and Old Lace (seen multiple times, first in childhood)
*Four Daughters (December 2015)
*Dust Be My Destiny (November 2016)
*The Roaring Twenties (April 2018)
*Million Dollar Baby (May 2018)
*Daughters Courageous (May 2018)
*Bodyguard (Augustus 2020)
*Yes, My Darling Daughter (December 2020)
*The Meanest Man in the World (December 2020)
*Four Wives (May 2021)
(I think I must have seen Hitchcock's Saboteur way back when but I cannot remember any of it, and since I'm not sure, I'm not listing it here.)
I might watch some more Lane films this month, so stay tuned for my May round-up post to see what other films I've watched with added notes.
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Priscilla Lane; (2 photos)
*Dust Be My Destiny (1939) with Priscilla Lane and John Garfield;
*The Roaring Twenties (1939) with Priscilla Lane and James Cagney;
*Compilation of scenes from the three films Priscilla made with John Garfield (Four Daughters, Daughters Courageous and Dust Be My Destiny), taken from this tribute on YouTube; (3 gifs)
*The Roaring Twenties (1939) with Priscilla singing I'm Just Wild About Harry. (2 gifs)
ALL GIFS IN THIS POST MADE BY ME!
(Below the film posters of the 10 Priscilla Lane films I've seen so far, in order of release date, earliest first.)
