Born on this day – Alfred E. Green:

 

Alfred E. Green

Director

July 11, 1889 – September 4, 1960

Credits:

20,000 Men a Year (1939); A Dip in the Briney (1913); A Double-Dyed Deceiver (1920); A Lost Lady (1934); A Thousand and One Nights (1945); A Western Romance (1913); Adventure in Washington (1941); Appointment in Berlin (1943); As the Earth Turns (1934); Baby Face (1933); Back Home and Broke (1922); Badlands of Dakota (1941); Blind Youth (1920); Central Airport (1933); Colleen (1936); Come on Over (1922); Come to My House (1927); Copacabana (1947); Cover Up (1949); Daddy-Long-Legs (1919); Dangerous (1935); Dark Hazard (1934); Disraeli (1929); East of the River (1940); Ella Cinders (1926); Flowing Gold (1940); For Reward of Service (1917); Four Faces West (1948); General Electric Theater (1953–1954); Gentlemen Are Born (1934); Grand Slam (1933); Here's to Romance (1935); Hollywood (1923); Honor Bound (1928); Housewife (1934); I Loved a Woman (1933); Impulse! (1952); In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter (1924); In Old Kentucky (1919); Inez from Hollywood (1924); Invasion, U.S.A. (1952); Irene (1926); Is Zat So? (1927); It Must Be Love (1926); It's Tough to Be Famous (1932); Just Out of College (1920); King of the Turf (1939); Ladies at Play (1926); Let's Get Married (1937); Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921); Little Lost Sister (1917); Lost and Found (1917); Making the Grade (1929); Meet the Stewarts (1942); Men of the Sky (1931); M'Liss (1918); More Than a Secretary (1936); Mr. Dodd Takes the Air (1937); Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944); Northern Hearts (1913); Old English (1930); On the Breast of the Tide (1914); Our Leading Citizen (1922); Parachute Jumper (1933); Paris Model (1953); Pied Piper Malone (1924); Pierre of the North (1913); Pride of the Range (1910); Ride a Crooked Mile (1938); Sally (1925); Shooting High (1940); Side Streets (1934); Sierra (1950); Silk Husbands and Calico Wives (1920); Silver Dollar (1932); Smart Money (1931); South of Pago Pago (1940); Strange Affair (1944); Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930); Sweet Music (1935); Tars and Spars (1946); The Auctioneer (1927); The Baby Spy (1914); The Bachelor Daddy (1922); The Crisis (1916); The Dark Horse (1932); The Duke of West Point (1938); The Eddie Cantor Story (1953); The Fabulous Dorseys (1947); The Friendship of Beaupere (1917); The Garden of Allah (1916); The Ghost Breaker (1922); The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935); The Girl from Manhattan (1948); The Girl from Montmartre (1926); The Golden Arrow (1936); The Goose and the Gander (1935); The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939); The Green Goddess (1930); The Jackie Robinson Story (1950); The Jolson Story (1946); The Lad and the Lion (1917); The League of Frightened Men (1937); The Lone Wolf (1954–1955); The Man from Blankley's (1930); The Man Who Found Himself (1925); The Man Who Had Everything (1920); The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1922); The Mayor of 44th Street (1942); The Merry Frinks (1934); The Millionaire (1955–1958); The Narrow Corner (1933); The Ne'er Do Well (1915 / 1923); The Princess of Patches (1917); The Reformation of Dad (1913); The Rich Are Always with Us (1932); The Road Is Open Again (1933); The Road to Singapore (1931); The Spoilers (1914); The Talker (1925); The Temptation of Adam (1916); The Tree and the Chaff (1913); The Unpardonable Sin (1919); The Web of Chance (1919); There's Something About a Soldier (1943); They Met in a Taxi (1936); Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937); Through the Back Door (1921); Top Banana (1954); Trials and Tribulations (1917); Two Gals and a Guy (1951); Two Girls Wanted (1927); Two in a Crowd (1936); Union Depot (1932); Until the Sea... (1913); Woman-Proof (1923); Your Jeweler's Showcase (1953).

On this day in movie and book history - The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939)

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

directed by Alfred E. Green,

written by Nat Perrin, and based on the novel by S.S. Van Dine,

was released in the United States on June 2, 1939.

Music by Gerard Carbonara and Leo Shuken.

Cast:

Gracie Allen, Warren William, Ellen Drew, Kent Taylor, Judith Barrett, Donald MacBride, Jed Prouty, Jerome Cowan, H. B. Warner, William Demarest, Sam Lee, Al Shaw, Richard Denning, Irving Bacon, Lillian Yarbo.

Recommended reading:

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

a.k.a. The Smell of Murder

by S.S. Van Dine.

Filmed as The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939), directed by Alfred E. Green.

Published by Felony & Mayhem Press.
First published 1938.

ISBN-10: 1631942069
ISBN-13: 9781631942068
 
Description:

“Mr. Van Dine’s amateur detective is the most gentlemanly, and probably the most scholarly snooper in literature.” – Chicago Daily Tribune.

Gracie Allen breaks the Philo Phormula in a number of ways. First is its title: this is the only book in the series to modify “Murder Case” with more than one word, much less with the name of a character. And then there’s that character: Gracie Allen was a very real, much-loved comedienne in the 1930s, famous for her double act with George Burns, and in fact the plot revolves around her. Gracie’s centrality is no accident: Van Dine wrote the story as a vehicle for Allen, and actually created the novel only after the film had come out. So, do all these departures pay off? We’d be lying if we said that Gracie hits every single mark, but Van Dine does a surprisingly entertaining job of translating Ms. Allen’s delicious Ditzy Blonde persona to the page, and she makes a charming foil for Philo’s evergreen erudition.