In the year leading up to the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, my grandfather, Harry Foltz, hitched a ride from Portland, Oregon down to Los Angeles to be a spectator. But that spontaneous change in scenery became much more than just a fanciful holiday. He ended up settling in Pasadena, California, and with that move, LA and its surrounding suburbs became the new fixture for the Foltz family.
Some time around 2016 or 2017, my uncle, Roy Foltz, called me in a seemingly talkative mood one evening while I was still stuck at the office working. He began heading down memory lane, touching on all sorts of topics that related to the past. And unfortunately it took me a few minutes to realize I'd need to jot down some notes if I was ever to remember any of the stories he was regaling.
One of the tales took me by much surprise, as he noted that his father had worked as an extra in the background of old movies to make some extra money when he had first arrived in LA. It was the Depression Era, so he was willing to do any odd job to stay afloat. I was quite astonished by this as I thought I had been the first person in our family to work in the entertainment industry! I had even done background work myself during high school, and had never heard this story before.
Not only that, but according to Uncle Roy, Harry had befriended Clark Gable, of all people, and got a gig as a background sailor in the 1935 movie Mutiny On The Bounty!
Mutiny On The Bounty marketing poster, MGM Studios, 1935.
Of course, I had to follow up on this detail after my phone call with him to try and corroborate it in any way. It turns out, it was filmed off the coast of Santa Barbara in the fall of 1934. And I even found a newspaper blurb published in LA announcing the upcoming shoot. So, it was at least plausible that Harry could have learned of the opportunity, given he was living in Pasadena at the time.
LA Times, Los Angeles, California, 11 Oct 1934.
I also inquired with my dad, Gary, and Aunt Sandra to see if they had heard about their father's work on movie sets or could back up Uncle Roy's memory. On 14 September 2020, my aunt emailed me,
"I wish I had some specifics for you but I don't. He did for sure talk about being an extra but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to be able to tell you anything. Maybe Gary knows something. Dad did not have much nice to say about actors/actresses, sort of implying most had loose morals. But again I have no specifics to add."
My dad didn't have any specifics either about Mutiny On The Bounty or any other films; only that he was pretty sure his father had done extra work on the many westerns that had filmed in California in its heyday. Uncle Roy's recall has to stand on its own, but that's not the end of the story!
It got much more exciting. Roy said that even though Harry had warmed up to Clark Gable, the other lead in Mutiny On The Bounty, British actor Charles Laughton, was not a fan of Harry whatsoever. The two did not get along, for whatever reason, and Laughton decided to blackball Harry from the film. He was decidedly kicked off the set! If the story is indeed true, maybe Laughton's actions influenced Harry's later opinions on actors that he shared with Aunt Sandra. Who knows?!
I've purchased the movie and tried scanning the background sailors to try and pinpoint my grandfather, but it's certainly difficult to identify him amongst the crew (assuming the story was true in the slightest). The film was in black and white, and the edits are too quick to make out much of the background extras.
Mutiny On The Bounty still image, MGM Studios, 1935.
It's possible the sailor on the very far left back row of the above photo may have been Harry. The actor resembles him, in any case. But, due to the movie's age, the film credits did not bother including any of the non-speaking roles. Harry's part in the movie will just need to remain as Foltz family legend.
However, that doesn't conclude the Clark Gable connection. Uncle Roy also mentioned that Gable would babysit Aunt Sandra when Harry began working as a bartender and manager at Eaton's Restaurant. This would have been in the '40s. Eaton's was located inside El Presidio in Santa Barbara (across from City Hall).
Eaton's Restaurant postcard, Santa Barbara, California, undated.
Interestingly, Roy didn't mention also being babysat by Gable, which leads me to think there could be some half-truths in this tale, because Sandra was born in 1941 and Roy in '44. Eaton's didn't open until '48. So you'd think if Harry was working at Eaton's when Clark Gable would offer to babysit, he'd also be watching over youngster Roy as well. It's possible Roy got mixed up in terms of Harry's place of employment, as he worked as a bartender and restaurant manager for many locations throughout the years. Or perhaps, it's a tall tale overall (though I'd like to think the truth is always stranger than fiction, and I don't know what pleasure Roy would get out of bragging about his older sister being babysat by a celebrity and not him).
Roy did mention that Gable wasn't the only Hollywood elite hanging around the Foltz family when he was younger. He also name-dropped jazz musicians Louis Prima and Keely Smith, claiming he had spent time at their house, and they were "good and friendly" people. This is where some stretch of the imagination may come into play, as the couple was only married from 1953 to 1961 and as far as I can tell, didn't hold any permanent residence in LA during that time. Although, Louis had moved to LA in the late '30s and expanded his music there in the '40s. He met Keely in 1948, so the timeline doesn't completely rule out Roy's memory, especially if "their house" was technically just Louis' house before they were officially married in '53.
With Harry working at some of Southern California's most hoppin' nightclubs, restaurants, and bars throughout Hollywood's golden era, there's no question he would have hobnobbed with stars and other well-to-do people, many of whom may have been frequent diners at places like Eaton's. So I have no problem believing Uncle Roy's stories, even if I can't fully prove any of the surprising details.
Buster's Place staff, Pasadena, California, circa 1936. Harry Foltz is standing in a suit.
For my own personal connection to Clark Gable, though, I did spend a night at the Weasku Inn on the Rogue River in southern Oregon with my parents last year.
Clark Gable and wife at Weasku Inn, Grants Pass, Oregon, circa 1940.
And there's definitely photo proof that Clark Gable was a frequent vacationer at that same lodge!
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