Wilbur Mack (July 29, 1873 - March 13, 1964) was an American film actor and early vaudeville performer from the 1920s through the 1960s. His film acting career began during the silent film era.
Mack was born and raised in Binghamton, New York, and married fellow vaudeville performer and later actress Constance Purdy, forming the husband and wife vaudeville team, "Mack and Purdy". He and Purdy divorced not far into the marriage, and he married vaudeville performer and also future actress Nella Walker. The couple saw considerable success in their vaudeville act, and in 1925 Mack entered into a film acting career. His first film appearance was Gold and Grit, alongside Buddy Roosevelt and Ann McKay. He would appear in twenty films from 1925 to 1929, and his wife entered into her own film acting career in 1929.
Mack made a smooth transition to "talking films", and in 1930 appeared in thirteen films. He and Walker divorced not long after the start of her career, but she saw ongoing success as a supporting and minor role actress, whereas he would continually have film appearances, but with limited success. From 1931 through 1933 Mack would appear in twenty four films. From 1934 until the end of the 1930s era in 1939, Mack would appear in fifty five films. However, as successful as that sounds, forty five of those appearances were uncredited. His most notable credited roles during that period was Million Dollar Baby alongside Ray Walker and Arline Judge, in 1934, and the 1936 crime drama The Crime Patrol, also alongside Ray Walker.
Wilbur de Paris (January 11, 1900 – January 3, 1973) was a trombone player and band leader, especially known for mixing New Orleans jazz style with Swing.
De Paris was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where his father, Sidney G. Paris, who came from West Virginia and who was a musician (trombone, banjo, guitar), a circus barker, a ventriloquist, a minstrel, etc., had met and married his mother, Fannie Hyatt.[citation needed] By the autumn of 1906, when he was five, de Paris had started playing alto saxophone, and a year later was working for his father in one of his plantation shows.
These shows were small travelling theatrical-musical groups of singers, dancers, actors, comedians, and musicians who mainly worked for Theatre Owners and Bookers Association in the South. They performed in small tents and theatres with a mixture of drama, musical and comedy sketches, magic, etc., which would later be incorporated into vaudeville.[citation needed]
De Paris heard jazz first at age 16, circa 1917, as a member of a summer show that played at the Lyric Theatre. He also met Louis Armstrong whilst playing the saxophone at Tom Anderson's Cafe, and with A. J. Piron.[citation needed] After high school, de Paris worked for his father for a time, then worked for more travelling shows in the east, then started playing in Philadelphia in the early 1920s. His first band was Wilbur de Paris and his Cottonpickers. After the Wall Street Crash in 1929 he disbanded his second group and went to New York to play for many years with the greats of jazz and to make records.[citation needed]
Frankie Darro (December 22, 1917 – December 25, 1976) was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist.
Darro was born as Frank Johnson, Jr. in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were The Flying Johnsons, a Flying Circus act with the Sells Floto Circus; it was a profession that his father attempted to train him in, but young Frank's fear of heights became a problem.[citation needed]
In 1922, while the circus was in California, his parents separated; their circus act ended with their marriage. The growing film industry, however, found a use for a small child who could do his own stunts and, renamed Frankie Darro, he appeared in his first film at the age of six.
Dick Purcell (August 6, 1908 - April 10, 1944) was an American actor best known for playing Marvel Comics' Captain America in the 1943 film serial, co-starring with Lorna Gray and Lionel Atwill. Purcell also appeared in films such as Tough Kid (1938), Heroes in Blue (1939), Irish Luck (1939) and King of the Zombies (1941).
Purcell was born Richard Gerald Purcell, Jr. in Greenwich, Connecticut. An only child, he attended Catholic grade school and high school, before enrolling as a student at Fordham University in The Bronx in New York City.
While in New York City, Dick Purcell began his acting career in theatre, appearing in at least three plays: Men in White, Sailor, Beware! and Paths of Glory. During his time acting in Paths of Glory, a talent scout spooted Purcell and this led to a small role in the film Ceiling Zero (1936). His next film was Man Hunt in which Purcell had a larger role as a newspaper reporter. Amazingly, Purcell appeared in eleven films in 1936 alone.
Captain America (1944) is a Republic serial film based (loosely) on the comic book character Captain America. It was the last Republic serial made about a superhero. It also has the distinction of being the most expensive serial that Republic ever made.
Lillian Elliott (24 April 1874 – 15 January 1959) was a Canadian actress. She appeared in 60 films between 1915 and 1943.
She was born in Canada and died in Hollywood, California.