American Rural Comedies of the Sixties Part One

Today the vast majority of American television shows, whether they are dramas or comedies, take place in urban settings. Indeed, some seasons one can be hard pressed to find shows that are set somewhere other than New York City or Los Angeles, California. This has not always been the case, as the decade of the Sixties saw a cycle towards rural comedies. These were comedies set in either small towns or the country, or whose main characters came from the country. In the decade of the Sixties the genre would become particularly associated with CBS. Not only did CBS have more rural comedies than either NBC or ABC, but they had also had the most successful rural comedies of the decade. Indeed, some of the rural comedies aired by CBS in the Sixties rank among the most successful shows of all time.

While CBS became strongly identified with the genre of rural comedies in the Sixties, they were not alone in airing shows in the genre. While they did not have nearly as many as CBS, both NBC and ABC broadcast their own rural comedies during the decade. What is more, while it had by far the most success with the genre, contrary to poplar belief CBS did not start the cycle towards rural comedies in the Sixties. Regardless, the cycle towards rural comedies in the Sixties would prove to be one of the longest and most successful in the history of American television. Starting in the very late Fifties, it lasted into the very late Sixties (very nearly ten years in all) and produced some of the most successful shows of all time.

While the words "rural comedy" probably bring to most people's minds television sitcoms of the Sixties, the genre actually has a long history in media other than television. With regards to film, rural comedies date back to the Silent Era. Indeed, the early career of actor Charles Ray saw him playing a succession of country bumpkins. Silent films such as The Cub (1915), the Mack Sennett feature Down on the Farm (1920), and the Buster Keaton vehicle Our Hospitality (1923) all presented comic portraits of rural life. Rural comedies continued to be popular with the advent of talkies, with films such as Wheeler and Woolsey's Kentucky Kernels (1934), Abbot and Costello's Comin' Round the Mountain, The Egg and I (1947) and the "Ma & Pa Kettle" series of films that were spun off from The Egg and I.

Rural comedy occurred in other media besides film. In fact, two of the most popular comic strips of the 20th Century utilised rural humour. Li'l Abner made its debut in 1934 and ran until 1977. It was so popular it was spun off into a series of animated cartoons, a Broadway musical, and two feature films (one based on the Broadway musical). Barney Google and Snuffy Smith started in 1919 and centred on the title character Barney Google, but shifted to rural humour after the introduction of hillbilly Snuffy Smith in 1934. Snuffy has remained the star of the comic strip for decades and, even though his name remained in the title, Barney Google would not appear in it for years at a time. Radio also featured its share of rural comedies. Among the most popular and longest running shows of Old Time Radio was Lum and Abner, which ran from 1931 to 1954.

Even with regards to to television rural comedies pre-date the late Fifties when the cycle towards rural comedies began. Prior to 1949 at least two pilots were made for a proposed Lum and Abner television series. In 1951 three episodes of a proposed Lum and Abner television series were made. This series did not sell either and the episodes were later compiled into the film Lum and Abner Abroad (1956). What may have been the first rural comedy on television was an adaptation of  The Egg and I. It was a fifteen minute serial that aired on weekdays. It starred Bob Craven and Pat Kirkland in the roles played by Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert in the film. Oddly enough, this TV version of The Egg and I included Ma and Pa Kettle (played by Doris Rich and Frank Tweddell), even though the pair were still appearing in the film series at the time.  The Egg and I lasted from  September 3, 1951 to August 1, 1952. Perhaps fittingly enough given the network's later identification with rural comedies, it aired on CBS.

After the demise of The Egg and I rural comedies were absent from American television screens for much of the Fifties. All of this would change in the 1957-1958 season when a comedy about hillbillies would debut that would not only prove to be a hit, but would also mark the beginning of the cycle towards rural shows that predominated the Sixties. The Real McCoys debuted on 3 October 1957 on the American Broadcasting Company. While CBS may have had the most rural comedies and by far the most successful rural comedies, it was then actually ABC that started the cycle.

The Real McCoys was created by Irving Pincus, a television writer who had previously written episodes of the early Fifties show The Adventures of Ellery Queen. Despite the continued success of the "Ma & Pa Kettle" films at cinemas, Mr. Pincus did not have an easy time selling The Real McCoys. In an article in the 28 December 1958 issue of The Milwaukee Journal, Mr. Pincus said of network executives that "Most of them said it had no audience identification." Eventually NBC took a year long option on the show and apparently a pilot was even delivered to the network (according to the 22 December 1956 issue of Billboard). Unfortunately, in the end NBC let their option on the show lapse and did not buy the series. Fortunately, the William Morris Agency took an interest in the prospective show and eventually it was sold to ABC.

The Real McCoys centred on the McCoys, a family of hillbillies from fictional Smokey Corners, West Virginia, who moved to California after inheriting a farm there. It starred Walter Brennan as the head of the family, the irascible Grandpa Amos who had difficulty to adjusting to life outside the hills. Richard Crenna (who had just finished up a stint on Our Miss Brooks) played his grandson Luke, who brought his new bride Kate (Kathleen Nolan) with them to California. The family was rounded out by Luke's teenage sister and his eleven year old brother Little Luke (Michael Winkelman). As to why both brothers were named "Luke", it seems their parents were so excited by the birth of Little Luke that they forgot they already had a son named "Luke". The cast was rounded out by the McCoys' farmhand Pepino Garcia (Tony Martinez).

While The Real McCoys would be the show that would start the cycle towards rural comedies in the Sixties, in some ways it differed quite a bit from the broader rural comedies that would follow it. In some respects it was closer to such contemporary domestic comedies as Leave It to Beaver or Father Knows Best than it was the later The Beverly Hillbillies or Green Acres. Like the domestic comedies of the era, each episode would see a minor crisis in the family (Kate's mother visits with her fiancé and he runs afoul of Amos; Grandpa Amos takes over raising the children from Kate) that is resolved by the end of the episode. The humour tended to be of the gentler sort seen in many of the era's domestic comedies, not the sometimes outrageous comedy sometimes seen in other rural comedies (The Beverly Hillbillies in particular).

The Real McCoys proved the network executives who thought television viewers would not watch shows about rural folk wrong. In its first season it ranked #30 for the year according to the Nielsen ratings. Its second season it became a top ten hit, ranking #8 for the year. For the next few years The Real McCoys remained one of the top rated shows on television, ranking #11 for the 1959-1960 season, #5 for the 1960-1961 season, and #14 for the 1961-1962 season. While the ratings of The Real McCoys proved that television audiences would watch rural comedies, the show may have also had an influence in one other way. While it may not have been the first show to do so, The Real McCoys was one of the earliest sitcoms to have a theme song that explained the show's premise. This would become a hallmark of many rural and other situation comedies of the Sixties.

Unfortunately, such success was not to last. During the fifth season Kathleen Nolan left the show due to a contract dispute. Kate was written out of the show as having died. The show also changed networks. The Real McCoys moved from perennially third rated ABC to CBS. At the time this must have seemed like a very good thing. After all, CBS was the perennially top rated network and had many more affiliates than ABC. Unfortunately, The Real McCoys' fortunes turned sour after its move to CBS. Not only was Kate written out of the series, but the characters of Hassie and Little Luke appeared in only a few episodes during the season. This was explained by Hassie having gone off to college and Little Luke having joined the Army Even with these changes in the cast, it is still possible The Real McCoys could have survived. Sadly, CBS placed the show in what could have been the worst possible time slot on the schedule--opposite Bonanza on NBC (then the 4th rated show on the air) on Sunday nights. Against the juggernaut that was Bonanza the ratings for The Real McCoys plummeted and CBS cancelled the show at the end of the season.

While today The Real McCoys is not nearly as well remembered as many of the rural comedies of the Sixties (indeed, some younger viewers may have never heard of it), the show occupies an important place in the history of American television. As its creator Irving Pincus learned while trying to sell the show, prior to The Real McCoys network executives were convinced that American television viewers had no interest in watching rural comedies. The success that The Real McCoys experienced during its run proved network executives wrong, so much so that other rural comedies debuted in its wake: The Andy Griffith Show in 1960, The Beverly Hillbillies in 1962, and yet others. While The Real McCoys may not be as well remembered as some of the other rural comedies today, it paved the way for every rural comedy to come. The Real McCoys may have been the only rural comedy on the air for a time, but it would not be so for long.

Autumn Leaves by Stan Getz

Today has been a busy day for me, so I have had no time for a blog entry. This weekend was the county's Old Settlers' Reunion and Fall Fair. Regardless of what the calendar says, it is pretty much the official beginning of autumn here. Indeed, it is more or less a guarantee that the weather will get cooler the weekend of Old Settlers'. Since it is the official start of fall here and the whiff of autumn is in the air, I'll then leave you with "Autumn Leaves" by the great Stan Getz

Claudette Colbert: A Pictoral Tribtue on Her 110th Birthday

It was 110 years ago today, on 13 September 1913, that actress Claudette Colbert was born. She remains popular today, over fifty years after her last appearance in a feature film and over twenty five years since her last appearance on television. And there should be little wonder that Claudette Colbert's popularity should continue over the years. She was undoubtedly a beautiful woman, and a woman whose beauty did not fade over the years. She was 39 when she made The Palm Beach Story, yet she did not look much different than she did in her twenties.

Of course, while Claudette Colbert was beautiful, it is because of her talent that she has remained popular over the years. While Claudette Colbert made her share of dramas, it is for her skill as a comic actress that she is perhaps best remembered. She was the star of some of the greatest screwball comedies of all time, including It Happened One Night, Three-Cornered Moon, Midnight, and The Palm Beach Story (my personal favourite screwball comedy of all time). While she was incredibly gifted when it came to comedy, Miss Colbert was also a dramatic actress of great depth, appearing in such dramas as Private Worlds, Since You Went Away,  So Proudly We Hail, and Imitation of Life. Beautiful and versatile, Claudette Colbert could play nearly any role given her, and played a wide variety of roles, from Cleopatra to a widow with a young daughter (in Imitation of Life).

In honour of the 110th anniversary of Claudette Colbert's birth, I thought I would share a few photographs of an actress who was as talented as she was lovely.

The 10th Anniversary of Johnny Cash's Death

I have never been a fan of country music. In fact, I can count the artists considered "country" (to me it is a matter of debate as to whether they actually are country music artists) on one hand. Among those artists is Johnny Cash. I have been a fan of Johnny Cash for as long as I can remember, and to this day I count him as among my favourite music performers of all time, right up there with The Beatles, The Who, and Frank Sinatra. Sadly, it was ten years ago today that Johnny Cash died at the age of 71.

It is hard for me to explain precisely why I love Johnny Cash, but I think it is because, contrary to those who would classify him as a "country music singer", he actually transcended genres. Over the years he performed songs that could be considered rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, bluegrass, gospel, and, yes, even country. Today Johnny Cash's music is counted as part of the genre of Americana, a loose subgenre of folk that blends folk, rock, country, and other roots music genres together. In the end, however, I think it can be said Johnny Cash's songs were all his own. Quite simply, Johnny Cash was his own, one man genre.

Indeed, much of what set Johnny Cash apart from other musical artists was his choice of subject matter. At a time when rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues, and country were generally concerned with matters of the heart, Johnny Cash explored deeper themes.  Of his well known songs this may be best seen in "Man in Black", a protest song in which Johnny Cash explains that he wears black for those who are on the periphery of society. Another one of his famous songs, "Folsom Prison Blues", dealt with a prison convict who now regrets the path that his life has taken. Even when Johnny Cash did write a love song, it often went well beyond a simple, romantic expression. His first big hit, "I Walk the Line", is obviously a love song, but it also an expression of being true both to those one loves and to oneself. Throughout his career Johnny Cash examined the human condition in his song, often dealing with such themes as morality, redemption, and sorrow.

Of course, that is not to say that all of Johnny Cash's songs were dark and serious. He performed several humorous songs over the year as well.  His best known humour song, "A Boy Named Sue", was written by poet Shel Silverstein and dealt with an unfortunate whose father decided to give him a feminine name. Another humour song performed by Johnny Cash was "One Piece at a Time". Written by Wayne Kemp, the song deals with an auto worker who builds his own car by swiping "one piece at a time" from the factory at which he works. Johnny Cash even wrote his own humour songs. "Chicken in Black" was a bit of self parody in which his brain is transplanted into a chicken's body.

As hard as it is to believe now, Johnny Cash's career faltered in the Seventies and the Eighties. Columbia Records, with whom he had been since 1960, dropped him in the mid-Eighties. A stint with Mercury Records proved no more successful than his later work with Columbia. Fortunately, his career was rejuvenated in the Nineties after signing with American Recordings. A whole new audience discovered Johnny Cash and, like many of his earlier fans, they were not necessarily country music fans. He recorded four more albums during his life, with two more released posthumously.

Although Johnny Cash is still regarded by many (perhaps most) people as a country music artist, his influence would go well beyond that genre. He had an impact on a wide array of artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen to Tom Petty to Chris Isaak to U2. Arguably Johnny Cash's shadow looms over music genres as diverse as Americana and punk rock. Indeed, Johnny Cash is the only music artist to have ever been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, the Country Music Hall Of Fame,  and the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame. Johnny Cash transcended genres and as a result he had an impact that only a very music artists ever have.

Godspeed Sir David Frost

Satirist, journalist, writer, and television personality Sir David Frost died 31 August 2013 at the age of 74. The cause was a heart attack.

Sir David Frost was born on 7 April 1939 in  Tenterden, Kent. As a child his family moved rather often, first from Tenterden to Kempston, Bedford, then to  Gillingham, Kent, and finally to Raunds, Northamptonshire. While young Mr. Frost excelled at both football (or "soccer" as Americans would call it) and cricket in school, he displayed a considerable talent for satire even then. He attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. There he met other would play a large role in the genre of satire in the United Kingdom of the Sixties: future comedian John Bird; future comic actress Eleanor Bron; future comedian Peter Cook (he would find fame as part of the comedy team Cook and Moore with Dudley Moore); and future theatrical director and author Jonathan Miller. While at Cambridge he edited the magazine Granata and was a member of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club (most often simply called "the Footlights"). It was while he was a student at Cambridge that Sir David Frost made his first appearance on television. He appeared in a segment of f Anglia Television's show Town And Gown.

After leaving Cambridge Mr. Frost took a position with t Associated-Rediffusion. He supplemented his income by working in nightclubs. It was while he was doing an impersonation of then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at the Blue Angel in London that he was discovered by  Ned Sherrin. Mr. Sherrin hired young Mr. Frost as the linkman for his new BBC satire series That Was the Week That Was. That Was the Week That Was debuted on 24 November 1962. That Was the Week That Was proved extremely successful and turned "David Frost" into a household name. When it was cancelled after two years it was not due to declining ratings, but instead to bypass any possible controversy in the months leading up to the 1964 General Election. An American version of That Was the Week That Was aired on NBC from January 1964 to May 1965. While Sir David Frost was not a regular on the American programme, he did write for some editions of the show.

Following That Was the Week That Was Sir David Frost appeared on another Ned Sherrin show, Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life. While the show lasted only a few episodes (cancelled due to sketches deemed to be offensive), Mr. Frost appeared in several more shows throughout the Sixties:  the comedy programme The Frost Report, the talk show The Frost Programme, the talk show Frost on Friday, and the comedy and talk show Frost on Sunday. In 1968 Sir David Frost signed a contract to appear in an American talk show, and The David Frost Show debuted in 1969. He continued to appear on British television for a time on Frost on Saturday.

In the Seventies Sir David Frost appeared in a new version of The Frost Programme. He also interviewed former United States President Richard M. Nixon in a series of specials called David Frost Interviews Richard Nixon. He also hosted the specials David Frost Presents the Guiness Book of World Records and David Frost Salutes the Beatles. In 1978 he was the host of another American television series, Headliners with David Frost.  In the Eighties Sir David Frost hosted the specials This Is Your Life: 30th Anniversary Special, David Frost Presents: The Fourth International Guinness Book of World Records, and That Was the Year That Was (an update of That Was the Week That Was). For only a few weeks he was an anchor on the American tabloid show Inside Edition. He was also the host of the political programme Frost on Sunday. Later retitled Breakfast with Frost, it ran until 2005.

From the Nineties into the Naughts Sir David Frost was the host of another incarnation of The Frost Programme, Talking with David Frost, and Through the Keyhole.

In the entirety of the English speaking world Sir David Frost may well have been unique. As anyone who has seen clips of That Was the Week That Was knows, he was a brilliant satirist. There was very little that was too sacrosanct for his razor sharp wit, so much so that the BBC was sometimes very uncomfortable with his programmes (indeed, it is why Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life was cancelled). Quite simply, Sir David Frost could be very funny while at the same making a point.

While Sir David Frost was a gifted satirist, he was also one of the best interviewers of all time. Indeed, Mr. Frost went head to head with such heavyweights as Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher. He even did what many might have thought impossible, eliciting a grudging apology from Richard M. Nixon for the Watergate scandal. As an interviewer Sir David Frost could be friendly and personable, but, just as he was as a satirist, he could be fearless as well. Few trained journalists were as ever as good at interviewing individuals as Sir David Frost was. As a gifted satirist and talented interview, Sir David Frost was an entirely singular individual.

Why Twitter Should Ditch the Blue Lines

I use HootSuite to access Twitter and as a result it is rare that I visit the Twitter interface. Yesterday I did so and I noticed something that looked very odd to me: blue lines connecting individual tweets. As it turns out, this is Twitter's new way of viewing conversations. Quite simply, most or all (if it is brief enough) of the tweets in a conversation are displayed together, linked by these blue lines, and in chronological order. It is unclear at the moment whether this is a permanent change or if it is simply an experiment Twitter is performing. Some people had the blue lines, only to have them to disappear and be replaced by the old way of viewing conversations. Others had different coloured lines from blue. Regardless, after reading several news articles on this new way of viewing Twitter conversations as well as doing an advanced search on Twitter, I learned that the vast majority of Twitter users hate the blue lines. I have to count myself among them.

From my standpoint there are two basic problems with Twitter's new way of viewing conversations. The first is that the Twitter has always been displayed in strict reverse chronological order. Twitter's new way of viewing conversations is in chronological order. This means that one will be reading his or stream in the usual reverse chronological order, only to hit groups of tweets (that is, conversations) that are in chronological order every so often. This is confusing enough for an experienced Twitter user such as myself. I can imagine how it would be for someone totally new to Twitter. It could discourage them from using Twitter entirely.

The second problem with Twitter's new way of viewing conversations is that it disrupts the stream. One will be reading one's stream only to have it interrupted by several tweets linked by a blue line. To me this makes the stream harder to read. The old way of viewing conversations, where one could simply click the "View Conversation" link beneath a tweet to do view a conversation, is much more user friendly and does not disrupt the stream at all.

It is for those reasons that I think it would be a mistake for Twitter to go forward with this new way of viewing conversations. While many have theorised that Twitter may see it as a way to attract new users, I think it would have the exact opposite effect. It would only serve to confuse new users and ultimately drive them away. For a company with an IPO coming up, this is hardly desirable. As it is changes to the interface have already driven some experienced users (I have no idea how many) to Twitter clients other than Twitter itself. I started using HootSuite as my Twitter client of choice after Twitter did away with the separate stream for "retweets". I can imagine that many more users would desert the Twitter interface for HootSuite, Twitscoop,Tweetie, and so on if they go forward with this new way of viewing conversations.

Alan Ladd at 100

It was 100 years ago today, on 3 September 1913, that Alan Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He would become one of the best known and most popular leading men of the late Forties and early Fifties. Indeed, he ranked as one of the top twenty box office stars in the Motion Picture Herald poll from 1943 to 1954, ranking in the top ten three times. He has maintained a following of fans to this day, nearly 50 years after his death on 29 January 1964.

While Alan Ladd would become one of Holllywood's top stars, he did not have a particularly easy time getting there. His father died when he was only four years old and his mother later moved the family to Oklahoma City. In Oklahoma City his mother married a house painter named Jim Beavers. When young Mr. Ladd was eight years old the family moved again, this time to North Hollywood, California. As a child Alan Ladd was not very big and as a result he was called "Tiny". Regardless, he proved a gifted athlete, proving particularly adept at swimming and track. In fact, he had planned on training for the 1932 Olympics, but was sidetracked by an injury. Of course, Mr. Ladd was also interested in acting and while at North Hollywood High School he performed in many of the school's productions. After graduation he pursued acting, working jobs ranging from gas station attendant to lifeguard. He even operated his own hamburger stand called  Tiny's Patio. For a time he was also a grip at Warner Brothers.

In his pursuit of an acting career Alan Ladd applied to Universal Pictures' acting school. He was thought both too blond and too short, but Carl Laemmle approved him for a "provisional trial contract" to study acting at the school. It was during this period with Universal that he made his film debut, in an uncredited bit part in Tom Brown of Culver (1932). Unfortunately, in the end Universal dropped him. Alan Ladd appeared in bit parts for the next few years, including a chorus boy in Murder at the Vanities (1934) and the Chief Quartermaster  in Hold 'Em Navy (1937). He found work in radio, working on the soap opera Jerry at Fair Oaks and Lux Radio Theatre.  He continued to play small parts in film in the early Forties, including a student pilot in the serial The Green Hornet, a storyboard artist in Disney's The Reluctant Dragon, and perhaps his most famous bit part of them all, a reporter in Citizen Kane. At the same time, however, his career was on the rise. His big break came in the form of agent Sue Carol, who signed him after hearing him on the radio.  With the 1939 film Rulers of the Sea, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Margaret Lockwood, he had a somewhat more substantial role than he had in previous films.

It was with the film noir This Gun for Hire that Alan Ladd finally achieved stardom. In the film Mr. Ladd played one of film's first anti-heroes, the hit man Raven. Playing opposite Mr. Ladd was another actor of short stature, Veronica Lake. The two proved to be a good team, appearing together again  in The Glass Key (1942) and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Following This Gun for Hire the man that Universal had thought was too blond and too short would be one Hollywood's top stars. He made a number of successful films between the years 1943 and 1954, including The Glass Key (1942), The Blue Dahlia (1946),  Whispering Smith (1948), Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950), and Shane (1953). As mentioned above, he was in the top twenty of the Motion Picture Herald poll of top box office stars every year from 1943 to 1954. What is more, he was a popular star outside the United States as well. From 1946 to 1951 he ranked in the top ten most popular stars in the United Kingdom. In 1954 he ranked #1 on the list.

Alan Ladd's status as a top box office star for eleven years can perhaps be best explained by his flexibility as an actor. Then as now, actors often played one sort of role and rarely strayed from it. Even at the height of his career however, Alan Ladd played a wide variety of roles. Raven in This Gun For Hire was an amoral hit man. In And Now Tomorrow (1944) he played Dr. Merek Vance, a physician who helps the poor. While Alan Ladd is well known for his films noir of the Forties, later in his career he began to appear more in Westerns. He played the railroad detective of the title in Whispering Smith (1948).  And, of course, his most famous film may well be Shane, in which he played the title character. Mr. Ladd even played Jay Gatsby in the 1948 version of The Great Gatsby and did rather well in the part. Alan Ladd could play nearly any role, from a U.S. Postal Inspector (Appointment with Danger) to a spy (O.S.S.) to a commoner posing as a knight (The Black Knight). What is remarkable is that he was convincing in nearly all of these roles. As an actor Alan Ladd was truly a chameleon.

Sadly, after leaving the studio where he had made his best known films, Paramount, Alan Ladd's career went into decline. The late Fifties and early Sixties he appeared in rather undistinguished films, such as The Proud Rebel (1958) and One Foot in Hell (1960). His role as Nevada Smith in The Carpetbaggers in 1964 could have led to a comeback, but sadly it was not to be. On 29 January 1964 Alan Ladd was found dead at the age of 50. The cause was a cerebral oedema brought on by alcohol and a mixture of three other drugs.

 While Alan Ladd has been dead for nearly fifty years now, he remains remembered for the many films made at the height of his career. As mentioned above, he was a talented actor capable of playing a wide variety of roles, everything from a hit man to Jay Gatsby. Mr. Ladd possessed a charisma that often carried over to his characters, making audiences often sympathise with characters who would not have been necessarily sympathetic otherwise.  On a personal note, I have to confess I have always liked Alan Ladd because he was a short man in a career where height is a valued commodity. While reports of his height vary,  5 foot six appears to be the most commonly cited. Regardless, he stood below the average height for men of the era, and yet he played gangsters, spies, and Western heroes. While this may not seem important to many, for young men self conscious about their height, it is something that is very good to know. Regardless, Alan Ladd was a remarkable actor of considerable talent. It should be little wonder that he had the success that he did and that he is still remembered today.