Patricia Ellis...

Putting the spotlight on one of my fave Warner Bros. starlets of the early 1930's...

Perhaps some of you remember her from "The Picture Snatcher" or "The St Louis Kid" with James Cagney or "Snowed Under" or "Stranded" with George Brent? All totalled, lovely Patricia appeared in 42 films in a 7 year period! Her early appearances were small uncredited roles in films like "Three on a Match" and "42nd Street" but soon after she was co-starring with Cagney, Brent, Paul Muni and others. She was especially good in "The St Louis Kid", proving quite a worthy adversary to Cagney and looking good doing it too!

This weekend I watched 2 films that she made towards the end of her short career, "Postal Inspector", a rather forgettable B-picture co-starring Ricardo Cortez and Bela Lugosi and "Back Door to Heaven", a fascinating, exceedingly downbeat but worthwhile drama starring the great character actors Wallace Ford, Aline MacMahon and Van Heflin. Patricia gives an earnest performance and its a shame she only made 1 more film after this one. The pic above is a vintage 5" x 7" promo picture I picked up several years ago. The signature is a fascimile.

However the one above is authentic! I found this autograph book tear out on ebay for a song. Rosemary Lane's signature is on the reverse side!
So already I have 2 "new to me" films in the can this weekend and it's only Saturday, woo hoo!