Pert L. Kelton was an American stage, movie, radio, and television actress. She was the original Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason. During the 1930s, she was a prominent comedic supporting and leading actress in Hollywood films such as Gregory La Cava's Bed of Roses with Constance Bennett and Raoul Walsh's The Bowery with Wallace Beery and George Raft. She performed in a dozen Broadway productions between 1925 and 1968. Most famously, she created the role of 'Mrs. Paroo' in the original production of the musical The Music Man, which she reprised in the movie adaptation. In the early 1950s, her career was interrupted as a result of Hollywood blacklisting, leading to her departure from The Honeymooners.
Bed of Roses is a 1933 pre-Code romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Constance Bennett. The picture was released by RKO Radio Pictures with a supporting cast featuring Joel McCrea and Pert Kelton.
The Daring Years is 1923 American silent melodrama film directed by Kenneth Webb and produced by Daniel Carson Goodman. The film starred Mildred Harris, Clara Bow, Charles Emmett Mack, and Tyrone Power Sr.
The Big Timer is a 1932 American Pre-Code sports drama film directed by Edward Buzzell and starring Ben Lyon, Constance Cummings and Thelma Todd. Produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures, it is about a boxer whose success goes to his head.
Nevada is a 1927 American silent Western film directed by John Waters and starring Gary Cooper, Thelma Todd, and William Powell. Based on the novel Nevada by Zane Grey, the film is about a former outlaw hired to protect a ranch owner's daughter, which angers the ranch foreman who is in love with the girl. The villainous foreman spreads a rumor of his rival's dark past to the sheriff, and the former outlaw is soon on the run again. Eventually he captures a gang of cattle rustlers led by the foreman, and with his reputation restored, he marries the girl. This lavish Western film was remade in 1944 as a B movie version titled Nevada starring Robert Mitchum—the only time Cooper and Mitchum played the same role; the remake was so early in Mitchum's career that he was billed with "Introducing Bob Mitchum as Jim Lacy."
The White Moth is a 1924 American silent drama film produced and directed by Maurice Tourneur from a magazine story by Izola Forrester, and distributed by First National Pictures. Barbara La Marr was the female lead supported by young Ben Lyon.
A Self-Made Failure is a 1924 American silent comedy film distributed by Associated First National Pictures, later First National Pictures. It was directed by William Beaudine and starred silent comic Lloyd Hamilton and then child actor Ben Alexander. At the time it was released, it one of the longest comedy features ever made.
Heart to Heart is a 1928 American silent comedy film directed by William Beaudine and produced and distributed by the First National company. The film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection, Packard Campus.
Misbehaving Ladies is a 1931 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Lila Lee, Ben Lyon and Louise Fazenda. It is also known as The Queen of Main Street.
Hot Curves is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-drama film produced and distributed by Tiffany Pictures and directed by Norman Taurog. A print is held by the Library of Congress.
The Meanest Gal in Town is a 1934 American Pre-Code romantic comedy, directed by Russell Mack from a screenplay written by Richard Schayer, Russell Mack, and H. W. Hanemann, and starring Zasu Pitts, El Brendel, Pert Kelton, and James Gleason.
Sing and Like It is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy film directed by William A. Seiter from a screenplay by Marion Dix and Laird Doyle, based on the unpublished short story So You Won't Sing, Eh? by Aben Kandel. The film stars ZaSu Pitts, Pert Kelton, and Edward Everett Horton.
My Past is a 1931 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Bebe Daniels. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and was also known under the alternative title The Ex-Mistress.
The Making of Maddalena is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and written by L. V. Jefferson based upon a play by Samuel Service and Mary Service. The film stars Edna Goodrich, Forrest Stanley, Howard Davies, John Burton, Mary Mersch, and Colin Chase. The film was released on June 8, 1916, by Paramount Pictures. It is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
Broadminded is a 1931 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Joe E. Brown, Ona Munson and William Collier Jr.
Her Majesty, Love is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy drama film directed by William Dieterle for First National Pictures, starring Broadway stars Marilyn Miller and Ben Lyon, and in his talking feature debut, W. C. Fields.
The Hot Heiress is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and written by Herbert Fields, with three songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The film stars Ben Lyon, Ona Munson, Walter Pidgeon, Tom Dugan, Holmes Herbert and Inez Courtney. The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 28, 1931.
Finders Keepers is an extant 1928 American silent military comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and Otis B. Thayer and starring Laura La Plante and John Harron. Due to the public apathy towards silent films, a sound version was prepared late in 1928. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it features a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film may or may not be a remake of a 1921 film Finders Keepers singularly directed by Thayer.
By Whose Hand? is a 1932 American mystery film directed by Benjamin Stoloff and starring Ben Lyon, Barbara Weeks and Kenneth Thomson.
Aloha is a 1931 American drama film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Ben Lyon, Raquel Torres and Thelma Todd. It was produced and distributed by the independent studio Tiffany Pictures, one of the largest companies outside of the major studios. It was released in Britain by Gaumont British Distributors under the alternative title No Greater Love.
