Billy Bevan: A Genial Character

 

Billy Bevan is best known today for devoting ten years (1919-1929) to being regularly swept in the lunacy and mayhem at the Mack Sennett studio.

Bevan's best films at Sennett were directed by comedy master Del Lord, who later guided the Three Stooges through their funniest and wildest antics.  Lord was proud enough of his work with Bevan to have the Stooges recreate a number of Bevan's routines.

Bevan in Ice Cold Cocos (1926)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Three Stooges in An Ache in Every Stake (1941)

 

 

 

 

 

While perusing old journals for this article, I found something written about Bevan's Circus Today (1926) that clarifies the sort of work the comedian performed at Sennett.  Pathéscope, who offered a cut-down version of Circus Today for 9.5 mm home projectors, described the film in their 1957 catalogue as follows:

Billy Bevan, the odd job man, takes over the work of the high-diver who, blindfolded, plunges into a small tank of water.  Unfortunately for Billy, an elephant with a long thirst gets to the tank before him and Billy from then onwards plunges head first into trouble.

 

 
In 1924, Bevan bought a fifty-acre citrus ranch in Escondido.  Bevan came up with a creative solution to combat the virulent frost that blanketed his fruit and trees during most winters.  He remembered a large machine with airplane propellers that had been used to create a storm scene in one of his films.  He had a similar machine constructed to blow warm air across the grove.  The machine proved to be more effective than the orchard heaters used previously to protect crops from the costly freeze damage.   Bevan was well-regarded for his clever invention in the growers' community.  In time, Bevan became the chairman of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, president of the Escondido Country Club, and the vice president of the Escondido Chamber of Commerce.

By the end of the 1920s, Bevan devoted most of his time to growing avocados.  But, still, he found the time to travel the 100 miles between Escondido and Los Angeles to make brief appearances in feature films.  It was not uncommon for a silent film comedian to have a second career in Hollywood as a character actor.  It proved to be a calmer existence for Bevan.  No more headfirst high dives into an empty water tank.  He now got to play small funny roles as a bartender, or a cabby, or a butler.  In 1930, Bevan told Los Angeles Times reporter Elena Boland that he preferred these amiable, gentle comedy bits to his old large-scale slapstick pranks.

Bevan was in fact a character actor in Hollywood far longer than he was a star at Sennett.  Today, I will be your guide on a tour through Bevan's twenty-three year career as a character actor.

If you have to go the bathroom, I recommend that you take care of that now.

In 1927, Bevan took a brief break from his Sennett series to play a detective in an "old dark house" thriller called Easy Pickings.

Bevan became more and more committed to being a character actor within the next two years.  Boland listed several roles that the comedian played in his transition from comedian to character actor - a Hungarian hussar in The Stolen Bride (1927), a flight commander in Lilac Time (1928), and a press agent in Footlights and Fools (1929).  She also reported that the actor turned up in Her Summer Hero (1928), a romantic comedy about a college swimming team.  But I can find no evidence of these roles - no credits on Internet Movie Database, no production stills, no mention in newspaper or trade journals.  I examined a print of Lilac Time and could find no sign of Bevan among the film's eager squadron of aviators.  A flight commander that appears in the film is played by Cleve Moore.  Could Bevan's scenes have been excised?

Bevan was more prominent in later roles, starting with High Voltage (1929).  At the time, he said:

I discovered that after having been with Sennett for so long no one thought I could do anything but tumble and sling custard.  The comedian in this country is not as important as he is in Europe.  Over there, if he is good, he is classed as an artist; here he is a clown.  People don't realize what he must know in order to do comedy.  In 100 feet of film he must get over what the dramatic actor can take 400 or 500 feet to accomplish.  He has to be a master of tempo.

 

 

Google Play provides the following plot summary for High Voltage:

A blizzard forces a busload of passengers to seek refuge in an abandoned church. The group includes Billie (Carole Lombard), a young woman being taken to prison, and her police escort, Detective Dan Egan (Owen Moore). But they're not alone. The mysterious and edgy Bill (William Boyd) is already there and sitting on a supply of food that he's determined to control. Billie and Bill, who have bonded, plan an escape, but in doing so they'll be endangering the lives of the others.

This sounds more than a little like the premise of Quentin Tarantino's 2015 film The Hateful Eight.

The Trespasser (1929)

Role: Reporter

 

Journey's End (1930)

Role: 2nd Lt. Trotter

David Manners and Billy Bevan in Journey's End (1930)

David Manners, Billy Bevan and Colin Clive in Journey's End (1930)

Bevan said, "Slapstick has not gone out, but it is incorporated now in the dramatic film and it is all the more outstanding because of the contrast. Take Journey's End for instance: in one place I actually fall in the mud just as I used to in the old days. The gags that comedy considered too old and worn for further usage are now thought to be great as relief in the heavier sort of picture."

Monte Carlo (1930)

Role: Train Conductor

 

 

 

 

Peacock Alley (1930)

Role: Walter, Bell Captain

 

 
For The Defense (1930)

Role: Drunk

Waterloo Bridge (1931)

Role: Soldier on the Make

Vanity Fair (1932)

Role: Joseph Sedley

Billy Bevan and Myrna Loy in Vanity Fair (1932)

Sky Devils (1932)

Role: The Colonel

 

 Payment Deferred (1932)

 Role: Hammond

 

 

 

A Study in Scarlet (1933)

Role: Will Swallow

 

 

Looking Forward (1933)

Role: Mr. Barker, Night Watchman

Billy Bevan, Colin Clive and Phillips Holmes in Looking Forward (1933)

Alice in Wonderland (1933)

Role: Two of Spades

 

Midnight Club (1933)

Role: Detective

 

 

Luxury Liner (1933)

Role: Schultz

The Way to Love (1933)

Role: M. Prial

Cavalcade (1933)

Role: George Grainger

 

 

 

 

 

Stingaree (1934)

Role: Mac

 

 

 

The Lost Patrol (1934)

Role: Hale

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)

Role: Man in Hotel Room

 

 
The Last Outpost (1935)

Role: Private Foster

Billy Bevan and Cary Grant in The Last Outpost (1935)

 

 

A Tale Of Two Cities (1935)

Role: Jerry Cruncher

Bevan plays porter (and sometimes grave robber) Jerry Cruncher, who helps Sydney Carton (Ronald Colman) to defeat a deadly scheme by evil aristocrats.

Here is Jerry in illustrations from the famed Charles Dickens' novel from which the film was adapted.

Messrs. Cruncher and Son by Fred Barnard (1870s)

Here is Bevan's rendition in the film.

Donald Haines and Billy Bevan in A Tale of Two Cities (1935)

Here is an illustration of Cruncher and his wife from a 1867 edition.

Here is Bevan with Mrs. Cruncher (Eily Malyon).

Here are a few other images from the film.

 

 

 

Vanessa, Her Love Story (1935)

Role: House Auctioneer

 

 

 
Private Number (1936)

Role: Frederick

 

 

 

Champagne Charlie (1936)

Role: Mr. Boswick, Ship Bartender

 

 

Lloyds of London (1936)

Role: Innkeeper

 

 

 

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Role: Cabby

In the 1920s, a young gagwriter named Frank Capra co-wrote a number of Bevan's Sennett comedies, including The Iron Nag (1925) and Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies (1925).  Now, more than a decade later, Capra was one of the biggest directors in Hollywood and he turned to Bevan to play a hansom cab driver in his latest opus Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.  The cabby testifies in a competency hearing for the eccentric Deeds about an incident in which Deeds fed a generous helping of donuts to the cabby's horse.

 

Dracula's Daughter (1936)

Role: Albert

 

 

Slave Ship (1937)

Role: Atkins

The Wrong Road (1937)

Role: McLean

Another Dawn (1937)

Role: Private Hawkins

Bevan was teamed up with fellow Australian funnyman Clyde Cook in Another Dawn.

 

 

 

 

Here is Bevan and Cook together in an earlier time.

Personal Property (1937)

Role: Frank the Waiter

Billy Bevan and Robert Taylor in Personal Property (1937)

Blond Cheat (1938)

Role: The Bartender

 

 

Shadows Over Shanghai (1938)

Role: Gallicuddy

 

 
Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938)

Role: Customs Official

 

 

 

 

 

The Girl of the Golden West (1938)

Role: Nick

 

 

 

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Role: Joe, Bartender

 

 

 

The Young in Heart (1938)

Role: Kennel Man

 

 

 Billy Bevan, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Paulette Goddard

Captain Fury (1939)

Role: Duffy

 

 
A Christmas Carol (1938)

Role: Street Watch Leader

Bevan, as Street Watch Leader, can't resist laughing when Scrooge claims to have received an unwelcomed visit from ghost.

Street Watch Leader: Your intruder seems to have extruded, if I may say so, sir.

Ebenezer Scrooge: He was here! He was a spirit!

Street Watch Leader: [laughing]  Of course, sir! A fine night for spirits - of one form or another, sir!

 
Pack Up Your Troubles (1939)

Role: British Sergeant

 

 

 

 

Tin Pan Alley (1940)

Role: Stage Doorman

 

 
The Long Voyage Home (1940)

Role: Joe, Limehouse Barman

 

 

 

The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

Role: Jim

 

 

 

 

The Earl of Chicago (1940)

Role: Castle Guide

Robert Montgomery repeatedly interrupts the tour guide to point out errors in his commentary on the castle's history.  The tour guide becomes increasingly annoyed until he learns that Montgomery is the latest owner of the castle and a descendant of the royal family at the center of the castle's history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

Role: Mr. Weller

 

 

Suspicion (1941)

Role: Ticket Taker

Joan Fontaine, Billy Bevan and Cary Grant in Suspicion (1941).

 

 

Confirm or Deny (1941)

Role: Mr. Bindle 

 

Counter Espionage (1942)

Role: George Barrow

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Role: Bus Conductor

This Above All (1942)

Role: Farmer

 

I Married a Witch (1942)

Role: Puritan Vendor

Bevan hawks snacks at a Salem witch-burning. 

 

 

The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942)

Role: Phillips, the butler

 

 

 

 

 

 

London Blackout Murders (1943)

Role: Air Raid Warden

The Return of the Vampire (1943)

Role: Civil Defense Worker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane Eyre (1943)

Role: Bookie

 

 

The Pearl of Death (1944)

Role: Constable

 

 

 

 

 

Once Upon a Time (1944)

Role: Police Officer

 

 

The Lodger (1944)

Role: Bartender

 

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

Role: Malvolio Jones, Chairman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight And Every Night (1945)

Role: Cabbie

Terror by Night (1946)

Role: Train Attendant

Cluny Brown (1946)

Role: Uncle Arn

Uncle Arn is upset with the unconventional behavior of his orphaned niece Cluny (Jennifer Jones) and, in hope of making her understand her place in society, he sends her off to be a parlor maid at a country estate.

 

 

 

 

 

Billy Bevan and Jennifer Jones in Cluny Brown (1946)

Devotion (1946)

Role: Mr. Ames

 

It Had To Be You (1947)

Role: Evans, the Butler

 

 

Love from a Stranger (1947)

Role: Taxi Driver

The Black Arrow (1948)

Role: Dungeon Keeper

 

 

 

 

The Swordsman (1948)

Role: Old Andrew

Bevan plays Old Andrew, a faithful servant to Lady Barbara Glowan (Ellen Drew).

 

 

 

Let's Live A Little (1948)


Role: Morton

 

 

 

The Secret Garden (1949)

Role: Barney

 

 

That Forsyte Woman (1949)

Role: Porter

Tell It to the Judge (1949)

Role: Winston, Kitty's Butler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bevan spends most of the film opening the door to guests, removing guests' hats and coats, serving food.  But, later in the film, he shares a funny scene with leading man Bob Cummings.

 

 

 

Three Secrets (1950)

Role: Ed Jackson

Hans Christian Anderson (1952)

Role: Town Councilman

 

Reference source

Elena Boland, "He Never Threw a Pie!" The Los Angeles Times (May 4, 1930).
The Los Angeles Times (November 26, 1937).