Many years after he directed Jack Oakie in Thieves’ Highway, his excellent 1949 film noir about the dangers confronting wildcat California truckers trying to make a buck transporting fruits and vegetables, Jules Dassin remembered.
The director’s recollections are included as an extra in the Criterion release of the Thieves DVD, and capture his near incredulity.
It was only after working weeks — WEEKS! — that I realized that Jack Oakie was deaf — DEAF!, said Dassin. And by what magic or instinct, he would pick up the cues. He never failed a moment. He was miraculous to watch.
Oakie was deaf throughout his long career, and he certainly made the best of it. In Thieves’, for example, he plays with likeable energy a righteous but roughhouse trucker on the make called “Slob.” A trimmed-down version of Oakie is shown above as “Shorty Hoolihan,” Clark Gable’s pal in 1935’s Call of the Wild.
Ok, let’s see what else you know about this durable, noteworthy and versatile comedian-actor.
1) Question: Oakie successfully labored through a serious physical handicap to achieve what he did. What was this handicap? a) He was blind in one eye; b) He was deaf; c) He suffered from constant acid reflux; or d) He had a speech impairment.
1) Answer: As mentioned above, he was (b) deaf.
2) Question: Long before Lucille Ball became Lucie on tv’s I Love Lucy, she played opposite Oakie in a pair of RKO comedies. Name the pictures, and tell us what was her role and what was his?
2) Answer: Oakie and budding RKO star Ball costarred in a pair of light comedies about a budding, desperate for work actress (Ball, of course) and her manic Hollywood press agent (Oakie). The first, 1938’s The Affairs of Annabel, was a hit, and the second title, Annabel Takes A Tour, didn’t do badly. RKO had hoped to continue the series but balked when Oakie demanded what the studio deemed was too much money. The two-titles gave Ball her first exposure as, as she termed it, “a second-rate star.” Little did she know.
3) Question: Oakie’s most famous role, in Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 comedy The Great Dictator, earned him a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his spoof which one of the following dictators? a) Adolph Hitler; b) Joseph Stalin; c) Benito Mussolini; or d) Hideki Tojo.
3) Answer: c) Benito Mussolini. The character in The Great Dictator was “Benzino Napaloni,” but as Oakie played him, there was no doubt about the source.
4) Question: In director Jules Dassin’s excellent film noir, 1949’s Thieves Highway, Oakie actually plays a character by the name of “Slob.” a) True; or b) False.
4) Answer: True. See above.
5) Question: In the Thirties, Oakey appeared onscreen in various college comedy settings. Which one of the following titles did he NOT appear in? a) 1933’s College Humor; b) 1934’s College Rhythm; c) 1936’s Collegiate; or d) Jack Oakie’s College.
5) Answer: This is a bit of a trick question. Sorry. Oakie actually appeared in ALL these titles. Except (d) was the title of his own show — on radio and not on the big screen.
It’s funny these old movies we all love and talk about… well at least some of us talk about. But anyway, for decades they just sat in the studio archives decaying, then digital re-mastering came along and they were reborn.
Film Noir’s like THIEVES HIGHWAY continue to generate residual free income for the studios through what they call in the business “various platforms” like pay-per-view streaming, BLU-RAY and DVD releases, Amazon etc. And of course, they’re not being offered at 1940’s or 50’s prices.
From the very beginning I was a big supporter of TCM, even knew host Robert Osborne personally, attended various events and festivals. But like everything else, as a premium cable/satellite channel, their soaring rate priced a lot of people out of the market. That, plus constantly showing the logos, not making full use of their film library, the largest in the world I might add, and of course with Robert’s death… TCM has lost a lot of it’s magic.
Again, I champion YouTube or rather the dedicated fans who post these same re-mastered movies for all of us to enjoy. When the studios aren’t getting them taken down that is.
Let’s face it, we paid to see these films in the theaters, we paid again for Beta/VHS tapes, we paid yet again for Laser discs, DVD’s and Blu-Ray… and now it’s all about pay-per-view streaming. Just like the music business which the studios also own.
Movies are totally unique, in that they are the ONLY commercial product that NEVER stops making money for their owners. And, in the year that will see the Walt Disney Company acquiring 20th Century-Fox, and possibly AT&T getting approval to buy Time-Warner… you better catch your favorite films whilst you still can afford them, as DVD (the perfect copy) recorders have already ceased production, and DVD/Blu-Ray players are being phased out in favor of much more profitable downloads.
For the studio conglomerates it really is a THIEVES HIGHWAY!