At the Movies
A
Fool There Was (1915)
Theda Bara, right, sinks her
teeth into her role of vampire in this 20-minute
silent, which was directed by Frank Powell and
based on a Rudyard Kipling poem. One of the
creature's victims is Reginal Parmalee
(Victor Benoit). It is from Bara's role in this
film that we have the word "vamp" -- a
woman who saps the last sexual energies from
respectable middle-aged men, making them no more
than slaves crawling at her feet.
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A Society Sensation
(1918)
Believing himself to be of
noble blood, fisherman Captain Parmalee
(Alfred Allen) tries to foist daughter Sydney
(Carmel Myers) off on high society. Amused by
Parmalee's pretensions, a wealthy dowager tells
her friends that Sydney is a duchess. The ruse
works so well that socialite Dick Bradley
(Rudolph Valentino -- in his first important role
-- at left with Myers) falls in love with Sydney.
When Dick's mother learns the truth, she forbids
the lovers to marry, but the dowager comes to the
rescue once more. Also in the cast: Zasu Pitts.
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White
Banners (1938)
A homeless Hannah Parmalee
(Fay Bainter, left, who was nominated for a best actress
Academy Award for this role) drifts into the lives of the
kindly Ward family in a small Indiana town in 1919. She
makes herself useful as a cook and housekeeper, but her
real interest is in meeting their teenage neighbor, Peter
Trimble (Jackie Cooper). It turns out Peter is the son
out of wedlock that she gave up for adoption, and now she
has tracked him down to see what sort of young man he has
become. Claude Rains stars as the head of the Ward clan.
Bainter lost this Oscar to Bette Davis who played the
title role in "Jezebel" -- but won one for best
supporting actress for her role in Davis' movie!
Paris
Model (1953)
The story of a dress and the
effects it has on the women who wear it begs the
question of "Where is O.Henry when he is
needed?" A daring new Paris style creation,
"Nude at Midnight,": is donned by Marion
Parmelee (Marilyn Maxwell, at left being
shown the dress by Paulette Goddard) who tries to
charm her husband's retiring boss into letting
her husband, Jack Parmelee (Robert
Bice), take over the company, but the boss's
wife, who really runs the business, has other
ideas. Also in the cast: Eva Gabor, before she
settled on "Green Acres."
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Boy on a Dolphin
(1957)
Italian screen goddess Sophia Loren's
second American film is this glossy romantic
adventure set -- and partially filmed -- on the
Greek island of Hydra. Phaedra (Loren) is a
sponge diver who discovers the wreck of a sunken
ship with a number of fascinating artifacts,
including a statue of a boy astride a dolphin.
Her boyfriend, Rhif (Jorge Mistral), is convinced
that the statue is valuable, and begins making
plans to bring it to dry land for sale. They
approach James Calder (Alan Ladd), an American
archeologist working on a project for a Greek
museum. Calder wants the statue but can't pay for
it; he asks them to donate it to his museum --
hardly what Rhif has in mind. So Rhif turns to Victor
Parmalee (Clifton
Webb, at right, with
Loren), an American art collector, and the two
make plans to salvage the ship's contents for
which Rhif will be paid handsomely. But Phaedra
finds herself attracted to Calder -- especially
after being disgusted by Parmalee's blunt offer
to make her his mistress -- and begins a romance
with the archeologist. Then it's a race to see
who can recover the ship's valuables. (NOTE: Three-time
Academy Award nominee Clifton Webb's middle name
was Parmelee. We've found a scrapbook
that belonged to his mother, Mabel
"Mabelle" Parmelee.)
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True
Grit (1969)
The
murder of her father sends teenage tomboy Mattie
Ross (Kim Darby) on a mission of
"justice" to avenge his death. She
recruits a tough old marshal, one-eyed Reuben J.
"Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne, right),
because he has grit and a reputation of getting
the job done. The duo set off for Indian
Territory to find killer Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey)
and the band of outlaws he's connected with, led
by the notorious bandit Ned Pepper (Robert
Duvall). Minor characters in the film are Harold
and Farrell Parmalee (Jay Ripley and
Kenneth Becker, respectively), but they supply
Pepper one of the best lines of the film:
"All the Parmalees is touched, but Harold's
the worst -- no, their ma's the worst, then comes
Harold's brother, Farrell -- but they're all good
shots."
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True
Grit (2010)
The "touched"
Parmalee brothers ride again in the Jeff
Bridges-Matt Damon-Josh Brolin remake. This time
it's Bruce Green as Harold, on the right; Mike
Watson as Farrell, second left; and Scott Flick
as Clement, bottom; who are members of the Lucky
Ned Pepper gang.
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In Books
John Parmelee's Curse
(1886)
by Julian Hawthorne
The author was the son
of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
With the copyright long expired, Google has
put the New York Public Library's copy
online to read.
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Murder at Union
Station (2004)
by Margaret Truman
In her 20th mystery in
the Capital Crimes series, the late author uses
Washington's refurbished railroad station as the
locale of a sensational shooting whose
consequences ricochet from seedy bars to the
halls of Congress. President Adam Parmele
makes an appearance.
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Legacies (1996)
by Janet Dailey
Two lovers -- Lije
Stuart, a part-Cherokee Indian with a Harvard law
degree, and Diane Parmalee, his
childhood sweetheart and the daughter of an Army
officer -- must fight to stay together as their
respective families take opposite sides during
the Civil War.
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Merton of the Movies
(1922)
by Harry Leon Wilson
Harold Parmlee appears as an
actor of "society dramas" who is a
well-known idol of Hollywood flappers in this
show-biz novel.
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Fugitive's Trail
(2000)
by Robert J. Conley
Scrawny, young Melvin
Parmlee lit out of Texas riding a
swayback horse. His crime: killing a man with an
ax handle for shooting his dog, Farty. Ahead lay
a land of prairie, mountains, boomtowns, whores,
gold and outlaws; behind him was a long trail
growing more crowded with enemies every day.
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The Devil's Trail
(2002)
by Robert J. Conley
Kid Parmlee's tail
continues. The West's scrawniest gunslinger has
been recruited into a bounty hunt for a gang of
criminals. For the Kid, it's the beginning of an
explosive adventure on both sides of the law, in
the company of bank
robbers, friends, traitors, a woman named
Doc--and a pot of gold at the end of the trail.
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