Boswell: Classic films still entertaining

Posting a very young picture of Frances Bavier on Facebook spurred a lot of old movie discussion and some further investigating on my part.

For those of you who don’t know, Frances Bavier played Aunt Bea on “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s; it was one of my favorite shows growing up and still is, along with

the “Dick Van Dyke Show.”

I don’t really remember why I looked up “The Andy Griffith Show” on Google the other day, but when I did, I clicked on Frances Bavier out of curiosity, because I really didn’t know much about her. After finding some very young pictures of her, I posted one on Facebook, saying, “guess who this is.”

There seemed to be some debate on whether the photo was actually Bavier or not. Whoever the woman was, she is the epitome of the gorgeous pinup girl.

Numerous photos of this young woman popped up under Bavier’s name, so it seemed like it was her. Journalism 101 lesson 526: Never trust the Internet without doing further research for a legitimate source.

Sure enough, the person who mentioned to me on Facebook that there was some debate on whether the photo was Bavier or not was quite right.

The photograph is not Bavier. According to Drew Friedman’s blog, the photo is a 1936 picture of actress Gloria DeHaven. Friedman is not quite an official source, but I think he is probably more likely to be accurate than the other sites, posting the photo as Bavier. Plus, he addresses the fact that people have claimed the photo is Bavier.

I did find a younger photo of Bavier, however, that is very obviously her, and she is still beautiful.

I learned a few other things from this research adventure.

First is that Bavier did play small, secondary roles in two films in her younger days: 1931 film “Girls About Town” and 1943 film “O, My Darling Clementine.”

I found the full film of “Girls About Town” on YouTube and watched it. I could never pick up on who Bavier was out of all the extras. Give it a shot and see if you can find her.

She also played in a movie with two of my favorite actors, James Stewart and Rock Hudson. The 1952 film is called “Bend of the River.”

And after getting into a texting conversation with David Stevens about old movies, I also learned there is another Jimmy Stewart film I have never seen from his later days. I believe I recall hearing about it, but now I must go find it. The 1983 film is called “Right of Way” and stars a much older Stewart and Betty Davis.

If you are a lover of classic films as I am, this might give you a few viewing ideas to try out.

“Girls About Town” might have been a little “racey” in 1931 and has its cheesy moments, but it is worth watching.

Other 1930s titles YouTube suggested after I watched it are:

• Topaze (1933)

• The Witching Hour (1934)

• Behind the Make-Up (1930)

• Misleading Lady (1932)

I don’t know anything about any of them, but I might just give myself a bigger taste of 30s cinema for fun.

Speaking of classic films, I grew up on the Cary Grant version of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” and Portales High School just happens to be putting on the live production version of it this weekend. I highly recommend it. It’s an off-the-wall but fun story.

Alisa Boswell is managing editor at the Portales News-Tribune. Contact her at [email protected]