Tonight's Movie: Little Miss Roughneck (1938) at Cinecon

One of the five films I saw on Labor Day last week at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival was LITTLE MISS ROUGHNECK (1938).

LITTLE MISS ROUGHNECK was a 64-minute film from Columbia Pictures. It was the weakest film seen that day, although it had its moments.

Edith Fellows stars as Foxine LaRue, an overly vivacious (to put it mildly!) child performer whose "stage mother" Gertrude (Margaret Irving) wants Foxine to be in movies. Foxine's long-suffering older sister Mary (Julie Bishop, billed as Jacqueline Wells) helps support her mother and sister.

Agent Al Patridge becomes interested in Foxine -- or perhaps he's more strongly interested in pretty Mary -- and has Foxine and family travel to Hollywood, where he endeavors to find Foxine film work.

Al gets Foxine in the door at studios, and she even merits some brief praise from a director for a bit of improvisation when she's working as an extra, but Foxine and her mother are both so obnoxious her career doesn't end up going anywhere.

Foxine decides to run away as a publicity stunt and jumps on a freight train; she later ends up living in the humble home of Pascual and Mercedes Orozco (Leo Carrillo and Inez Palange) and their children. While the Orozcos try to figure out who the secretive Foxine is and where she came from, Foxine is treated as an ordinary child for the first time ever, and it might be the making of her.

However, complications arise, including the authorities and local community erroneously believing Pascual kidnapped Foxine...

The first part of this film was admittedly fairly difficult to watch due to how incredibly obnoxious Foxine and her mother are; in fact, one of my friends said he "couldn't take it anymore" and left the theater!

Fortunately, the movie improved considerably once the engaging Carrillo entered the film; not only is he a delight, but at this point in the story Foxine's behavior begins to calm down considerably and the movie correspondingly becomes more enjoyable.

That said, towards the end the film unexpectedly grows very dark, threatening to turn into something like the conclusion of the later TRY AND GET ME (1950)! The direction this ostensibly lightweight film centered around a child went with the story was frankly shocking.

All is well by the end, though, with a reformed Foxine singing a piece from RIGOLETTO as the movie comes to its conclusion.

I've seen Fellows in several dramas and comedies, including HIS GREATEST GAMBLE (1934) and SHE MARRIED HER BOSS (1935), but along the way I somehow missed the realization that she was a singer.

I'm curious to now find more of Fellows' movies and learn more about her musical career, while hoping she didn't usually play characters as unpleasant as Foxine! I'm particularly curious about her Gene Autry films HEART OF THE RIO GRANDE (1942) and STARDUST ON THE SAGE (1942). I've also got a copy of PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (1936) in which she costarred with Bing Crosby.

I'd also like to see CITY STREETS (1938), which reunited Fellows and Carrillo later the same year as LITTLE MISS ROUGHNECK. I assume that title might be as hard to find as LITTLE MISS ROUGHNECK, but perhaps it will play at a future Cinecon!

I've long been a fan of Julie Bishop, who began as a child actress herself in 1923 under the name Jacqueline Wells, which she was still using at the time of this film. She transitioned to the name Julie Bishop in 1941, not long after signing with Warner Bros.

At Warner Bros. Bishop appeared in a wide variety of parts, from bits to leads, including playing Humphrey Bogart's wife in ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC (1942) and Errol Flynn's fiancee in NORTHERN PURSUIT (1943). Bishop's long career included one of my favorite films, MGM's WESTWARD THE WOMEN (1951). She left movies after playing a supporting role in the Warner Bros. Western THE BIG LAND (1957) with Alan Ladd.

Julie Bishop died in 2001. Her survivors included her daughter, actress Pamela Susan Shoop, a familiar episodic TV presence in the '70s and '80s. In 2016 I was able to pay my respects at Bishop's final resting place at Forest Lawn Glendale, where she's buried under the name Julie Shoop Bergin.

For that matter, now that I think of it, I've also visited the final resting place of Leo Carrillo. Edith Fellows has a niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery which I'll look for on my next visit.

LITTLE MISS ROUGHNECK was directed by Aubrey Scotto and filmed in black and white by Benjamin Kline. It was written by Fred Niblo Jr., Grace Neville, and Michael L. Simmons based on Niblo and Neville's story.

The supporting cast included John Gallaudet, Thurston Hall, Ann Doran, George McKay, and Al Bridge.

While LITTLE MISS ROUGHNECK only partly succeeded as enjoyable entertainment, I was glad to see it in a very nice print, especially given its rarity, and to learn more about the career of Edith Fellows. With rare exceptions, I find even the most minor films valuable viewing, for a variety of reasons.

Tweet