Girls, A December Posting, For June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                       
                                Let me explain, darlings!  The ultimate subject of this post concerns the actress above, and her role in a film that is generally shown during the month of December.

                                  Last week our Film Programming Department here showed a classic 1927 silent comedy, entitled "Fluttering Hearts," with the well known Oliver Hardy.  However, another name, more than his, caught my eye on the advertisement, and that is the actress pictured above.  Her name is Martha Sleeper.

                                   Martha was a comedienne during the silent film era.  She made talkies, and was unquestionably a working actress, but never made it to the Big Leagues, as far as Hollywood was concerned.  The reason her name caught my eye, specifically, is the role for which I, and many of you out there of a certain age, will remember her for--Mrs. Gallagher, mother of Patsy (played by the great Joan Carroll) in the 1945 classic, "The Bells Of St. Mary's."

                                       Throughout my childhood, this film was generally shown in December, during those weeks leading up to  the Christmas holiday.  Not surprising, since there is, I believe, a children's Christmas pageant scene in it.  But that's not what fascinated me.

                                         As a child, for reasons I could not fathom, I found Patsy's part of the story vaguely uncomfortable.  Something that I could not then understand always bothered me about it.  As I grew older, and saw the film less, I forgot about this, until, sometime during late adolescence, maybe in high school or college.  When I watched it then, something leapt out at me.  I could not believe what I was thinking;  not because I was thinking it, but because I did not think a film made during this era would have dealt with such a topic.

                                         There are two very specific scenes in this film that suggest Patsy's mother was, or at least might have been, a prostitute.  At least, that is what registered with me.

                                            The first scene is when we first see Mrs.  Gallagher. She approaches Father O' Malley (Bing Crosby; here repeating his Oscar-winning role from "Going My Way") dressed, well, moreso than the average mother of the day.  She plays the scene with the manner of a woman who has been "around the block."  She tells Bing her husband abandoned her shortly after Patsy was born, and she has had to raise the child on her own.  She not only wants to enroll Patsy in St. Mary's, she wants to board her there; even though it is not that kind of a school. When asked why, she says how Patsy is getting to be a big girl, and pretty soon she will figure out that she (Mrs. G) is no good. She then adds, "I want to get her in here....before she finds out she is right."  Then, when O'Malley asks how she has been supproting Patsy, no words are spoken, but a series of knowing looks pass between the priest and the mother.

                                                 You have to see this for yourself, dolls, but I am telling you, what do you think?

                                                  The second scene comes later in the film.  Patsy is about to graduate from eighth grade, and goes over to her mother's apartment (furnished with a piano, and in that 1940s style that I am pretty certain the average single mother back then could not maintain) to show her her graduation dress.
Unbeknownst to her, Father O'Malley has contacted the runaway husband, and has been making an effort to get the Gallaghers back together, not only for their sake, but, my God, this IS the Catholic church, and a Catholic movie!  Patsy sees a man (whom she does not know is her father) come out of her mother's door.She hears him call her "Darling," and Patsy hides behind a wall in the hallway, so she is not seen.  The way Joan Carroll plays the scene suggests that this is a scene Patsy has seen before, and she is a bit ashamed of her mother.

                                                    What other conclusion could there be?????????

                                                      But, girls, see the film and tell me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                      Martha Sleeper's career ended sometime after this film. She then ended up in Puerto Rico, where she made a living selling a jewelry line called Martha Sleeper Creations!!!!  She died in 1983.  Looks like Hollywood taught her something, loves! Even Joan Fontaine did TV ads for Arnold Brick Oven Bread.

                                                       I shared this topic years before, with a former colleague of mine, now retired.  He paused, for a few seconds, and stated that now it makes sense.  The one film he said his mother would NOT allow him to watch during those Christmas seasons of our childhood was "The Bells Of St. Mary's." Evidently, she must have gotten the same impression I did!!!!!!!!!!

                                                         It just goes to show, darlings, you cannot judge a hooker by the tricks she turns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!