Talk:Wallace Beery

9 Feb 09 reversion

Sorry for the unexplained rollback reversion--I hit the wrong button and couldn't stop it. But the edits which I reverted were changes to useful and properly styled material, none of which needed changing. Certainly eliminating the references to the Beerys' brother William was non-helpful. Jean Harlow doesn't need to be referred to by her full name every time she's mentioned in the same paragraph. And edits which merely switch one word for a synonym for no particular advantage are unnecessary. Monkeyzpop (talk) 07:48, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Wallace Beery shirt

I seem to rememeber that a certain style of men's shirt, one with a full column of buttons but no collar, was called a "Wallace Beery shirt." Last time I heard that reference, however, was in the 1960s. WHPratt (talk) 12:46, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

This same shirt was popularized by Joe Cocker. Maven61 (talk) 04:58, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, Beery wore that shirt in his gigantic hits with Marie Dressler in the early '30s. I remember then being for sale back in the '60s myself. Trocadero Thunder (talk) 17:51, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

Census is not birth record

The text in the article mentions unspecified "U. S. Census records" as evidence of birth parentage. The Census is not a birth record, and cannot be used as evidence of biological or adoptive parentage. Birth or adoption records would provide evidence, but census records don't provide any evidence at all, of actual parentage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.154.250.135 (talk) 17:05, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

True. However, census records are highly suggestive of parentage in some cases and can be useful in the absence of more definitive records. As census records indicate that Noah and Wallace Beery's parents were married to each other prior to the birth of either child and were still married to each other following the birth of the younger child, it is highly indicative that the two sons are of the same parentage. Even actual birth records are merely records of what the recording agencies are told. I daresay quite a few official birth records have the names of fathers who had little to do with the conception of that child. Barring something more concrete, census records are the only citable data available that suggest with any substance other than hearsay what the state of Noah and Wallace Beery's parentage was. I agree, however, that the actual records should be cited.Monkeyzpop (talk) 03:16, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it seems that they were full brothers. They sure look like it. Trocadero Thunder (talk) 17:54, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

Beery's Sea Bass

How can Beery catch a world record Black Sea Bass off Catalina Island when they only exist in the Atlantic?Maven61 (talk) 20:04, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Evidently you've never seen a Wallace Beery film. Beery could do anything. Roccobam (talk) 02:57, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

Although admittedly in this case an unprecedentedly long fishing line might have been required. Roccobam (talk) 02:58, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

Place of birth

There seems to be confusion among various sources as to the birth location of both Wallace Beery and his brother Noah. A source I've found to be highly reliable on multiple articles (Dictionary of Missouri Biography, Lawrence O. Christensen, University of Missouri Press, 1999) says they were born not in Kansas City, but in rural Clay County, Missouri on the family farm not far from Smithville, Mo. Since Clay Co. is now heavily populated and part of the K.C. Metro perhaps thats the reason for the ambiguity. Unless proof positive to the contrary is presented I feel we should leave it as Clay County, as I've recently changed to. Sector001 (talk) 08:52, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Phyllis Ann, adopted daughter

I corrected the spelling of Ann (which is without an "e" in newspaper articles at the time) and added more info from a news article where Beery stated he didn't go through formal adoption proceedings. Clockster (talk) 09:51, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

THANKS Clockster! Good work diggigng up more info on the child. When I did some revisions last year I really struck out finding much info about her. Maybe someday she'll resurface (born in the 30s it's possible she's still alive) and will give an interview or something with info about her time with Beery, what bcame of her in later years, etc. One can hope anyway. Have a great Wiki kinda day! Sector001 (talk) 14:59, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

The 1940 census for 816 N. Alpine Dr. Beverly Hills (Wallace Beery) lists Phyllis Riley, age 1, as his foster daughter. She was born in Nevada. Also listed are Daughter Carol Ann, 9, and his maid and chauffeur.Zoot54 (talk) 19:22, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Let's SETTLE this!

Ok, I've sat back and observed the edits and counter-edits regarding Beery possibly murdering Ted Healy the past few days. BOTH seem to cite sources that are a bit dubious perhaps. Whether it takes a neutral arbitrator or whatever I suggest we settle the issue one way or the other. Further, I'm somewhat circumspect about the Gloria Swanson rape allegation too. Problems like this are why Wikipedia continues to struggle against negative stereoyping and claims of unreliability. SO, lets get some consensus please. Keep the murder allegations, Remove them, or something in between? What say you, folks? Sector001 (talk) 08:23, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

My vote is Remove until such time as a reliable secondary source (or preferrably several) besides "The Fixer" can be found. Sector001 (talk) 08:23, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Remove This is serious business. To make a claim that strong needs really good, multiple sources. TREKphiler ^{any time you're ready, Uhura} 00:40, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

Why do we want to be taken seriously when we have a "30 year newspaper man " like Doctor JoeE promising to bring his book from home any day now while Wikipedia accuses the James Bond producer of MURDER Finkellium (talk) 08:43, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

@ Finkellium -- Please avoid any personal attacks against other Wikipedians. This thread is intended to try to come to a reasonable compromise or consensus to remove-keep. Comments like the one you posted above are not helpful. Thank you.Sector001 (talk) 14:09, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm sorry, where is the attack? This is how the gentleman describes himself. Thank you for writingFinkellium (talk) 15:13, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

Ted Healy's death remains one of those murky conundrums, right up there with Thelma Todd's, that other death possibly involving the dashing Pat DiCicco. I looked through the "Daily Mirror" blog in which someone tried to analyze all the known information over the course of eighteen entries, and remain unconvinced of anything one way or the other. Believe it or not, just because a coroner says something about a body that was cremated doesn't necessarily make it so, nor does any official conclusion in a place like that, especially with so much money at stake (i.e. Beery's career, one of MGM's most lucrative properties and contractually their highest-paid star just four years earlier) and fixers like Mannix in the mix, who was so savvy and powerful with the front office as well as the authorities that he ultimately wound up running the entire studio. The truth is we'll never know much more about Healy's death than casual newspaper readers did the next morning, only that he obviously died quite young. His widow's claims being eventually jettisoned doesn't cut much ice under circumstances like this, and the mysterious story that "three college boys" killed Healy was indeed the accepted version for decades even though it apparently can't be traced to any specific source. I have a gut feeling that it happened just the way it was indicated in Fleming's book, given what we know about the sundry participants (although I've never run across the book itself), but ever proving anything unless some shattering new evidence somehow comes to light will be simply impossible and most people will eventually settle for whatever the authoritative line wound up being, i.e. whatever the coroner said or was told to say. So whether we mention Fleming's book in the article or leave it out altogether doesn't make much difference. Wallace Beery was one of the cinema's finest and most powerful actors but unfortunately his offscreen personality had its quirks, to put it charitably. Cinerama Comment (talk) 22:45, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

My gut feeling is that your gut feeling is quite correct. Nevertheless, I removed the reference to Healy in this article some time ago because (a) I have been unable to uncover any published evidence corroborating Fleming's allegation (supposedly obtained from an unnamed eyewitness) that Beery was a participant in the Healy fistfight; and (b) the coroner specifically ruled out Healy's head injuries as the cause of his death, so it's a moot point. (Broccoli did admit to being present, and admitted to one reporter that he struck Healy, but later said he only shoved him; the sources are cited in the Healy article.) I'm continuing to sift through the archival material available to me as time permits, and if I run across any credible evidence either way, I will certainly post it. DoctorJoeE ^{review transgressions}/_{talk to me!} 16:31, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Just so we'll have an accessible record of the offending paragraph, I'm going to paste it into the Talk section here. Someone at one point uploaded a multi-part blog reproducing that section of the Beery article and dissecting it, and I think that's still available for perusal online. Astonishingly, though, its author gradually concludes that this couldn't have happened because there were no newspaper articles at the time stating that it did, which was the whole point of Eddie Mannix's "fixing." Here's the original paragraph from the Beery Wikipedia article, posted below, so that current readers can know what we're talking about: Trocadero Thunder (talk) 17:03, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

According to E.J. Fleming's book "The Fixers" (about MGM's legendary "fixers" Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling) Beery, gangster Pat DiCicco, and Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli (who was also DiCicco's cousin and eventual producer of the James Bond films) allegedly beat comedian Ted Healy to death in a brawl. The book went on to claim that Beery was then sent to Europe by the studio for a few months until the heat was off, while a story was concocted for the public that three college students had killed Healy instead. (Immigration records confirm a four-month trip to Europe on Beery's part immediately after Healy's death, ending April 17, 1938.)[1] Oddly, a superb pencil drawing of Beery survives that was drawn on a film set by Healy, an amateur artist as well as the organizer and original leader of the Three Stooges (the act was originally known as "Ted Healy and His Stooges").

Just noticed an unusually striking phrase in DoctorJoeE's paragraph above that drives home my earlier point about giving too much credit to a coroner: "...the coroner specifically ruled out Healy's head injuries as the cause of his death, so it's a moot point." Are we to infer from this remarkable observation by the coroner that Healy's untimely death in the wake of this severe beating was merely an unrelated coincidence? Trocadero Thunder (talk) 16:47, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

I realize the above post is old, but yes, that was the conclusion drawn by the coroner -- that he died of acute nephritis and alcohol poisoning, and his head injuries, while significant, were not mortal wounds. DoctorJoeE ^{review transgressions}/_{talk to me!} 22:45, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

I have a feeling that an examination of the coroner's bank account might prove instructive if only it were available. Trocadero Thunder (talk) 18:02, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

References

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