Anyone who ever visited Joe Franklin in his office, and found his/her way out again, should tell the tale.

It began for me in a line of travelers waiting for a Greyhound in the dismal departure area of the Port Authority bus terminal in midtown Manhattan. I was returning home from a writer’s conference; nestled in my carry-on were the drafts of some work which I intended to develop into a book but that has, instead, landed on this website. Idly, I noticed a dark-haired man wearing a necktie with a portrait of silent screen star Theda Bara on it. (No, the man was not Joe Franklin.)

The audacious tie was such a welcome sight in the dreary setting that I tuned up my energy toward the man to catch his attention. He looked over. “Great tie,” I said with a combination of words and gestures to make myself quickly understood over the metal bar that divided the passengers into sections. He smiled. “Theda Bara,” I said, nodding my appreciation and approval.

A flash of amazement crossed his face. “How did you know?” he quizzed.

I smiled back and answered, with an off-handed sincerity that would only be appropriate if the world were a perfect place, “I thought everybody knew.” Read more ->

“You know, if you’re not in a scene together you never even see their face.”

That was what veteran Hollywood actress Marsha Hunt (pictured left above) said to me in a recent phone interview when I questioned her about what memories she may have of such staples of the supporting player community as actors Paul Fix – who appeared in two of her films in the 1930s – and Milton Selzer – who shared billing with her in a 1972 made-for-TV movie called Jigsaw. As with many a fan in the street, their names were vaguely familiar to her but, despite their enormous bodies of work, she didn’t know who they were.

Was I unfair to castigate Laurence Fishburne (pictured right above) for referring to actor Larry Gates as just, “some old guy,” when referencing the famous slaps in In the Heat of the Night, and not being able to acknowledge the veteran character actor by name? Well Fishburne, an obviously experienced professional, says that he cherishes that moment which sent a message to cinematic and American history; and Gates was proud of being half of that moment. Yes, I believe Laurence could afford to have the respect – and the curiosity – to link Gates’ familiar face with a name.

So, that’s why I do this – for the Hunts and the Fishburnes, and the Gateses, and for myself. And for you.

(Read recollections of a treasury of supporting players in Your Face is in the Script, a profile of Marsha Hunt.) ~FW