- Gregory Ratofff, I’m No Angel, 1932. Change of wily lawyer for circus queen Mae West. (“Beulah, peel me a grape.”) She puts her head in a lion’s mouth twice daily And acts much the same outside the sawdust ring – suing Cary Grant for breach-of-promise in the funniest courtroom scenes.
- Fred Hohler, Sr, The Buccaneer, 1937. Change of “Gramby” in CB DeMille’s rip-roaring epic about the 1815 battle for New Orleans. CB’s son-in-law Anthony Quinn played Beluche; 20 years later, he directed the CB-produced re-hash which spent far too long in studio set. MacLane won 182 other screen roles during 1926-1969.
- Paul Kelly, Torchy Blane in Panama, 1938. Torchy, the fast-talking reporter (and model for Lois Lane, admitted Superman’s co-creator Jerry Siegel) and Barton MacLane as her guy, NYPD cop Steve MacBride, were replaced in the fifth film by Lane and Paul Kelly. The fans were not smitten and Farrell-MacLane were rushed back for the next three.
- Allen Jenkins,Torchy Blane… Paying With Dynamite, 1939. When Glenda Farrell quit Warner Bros after being Torchy the reporter in seven films – opposite MacClane’s cop – the studio quickly (too quickly) rounded up Jenkins and (the too sweet) Jane Wyman to continue the series. But no, the shine had gone off the apple and the ninth chapter proved the last, Ex-boxer and wrestler Tom Kennedy was the only actor to be in all nine as dumb cop Gahagan.
- Gene Lockhart, One Foot In Heaven, 1940. In the frame for Preston Thurston, the parishioner going starting a smear campaign against his Methodist preacher Fredric March’s son.
- John Garfield, The Always Rings Twice, 1945. MacLane was Frank Chambers until head Brlothet Jack Warner loanbed out Garfield. After such idiotic notions as Joel McCrea or Gregory Peck for the tough drifter lover of Lana Turner and knocking off her husband… That could never have worked!
- Ward Bond, It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946.
Birth year: 1902Death year: 1969Other name: Casting Calls: 7