Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Eddie Quillan - One of the "Old Ones"

Eddie Quillan was a vaudeville entertainer before he entered movies in the 1920s. He had roles in many movies throughout the 1920s into the 1960s, and then made guest appearances on many tv shows into the 1980s.

Mr. Quillan had been in a series of two-reel comedy shorts at Columbia Pictures in the early 1950s, teamed with Wally Vernon. Several of the supporting players had also worked in some of The Three Stooges comedies, and I was trying to locate some of the 'lost' ones.

In 1990, I wrote to Mr. Quillan, asking if he knew the whereabouts of any of those players. He replied with this letter. He also sent this signed photo, with the inscription: "To Bill Cappello - Keep looking for the old ones, Bill -- That's where you'll find me. Best Wishes, Eddie Quillan".

When he died just a few months later, on July 19, 1990, I remembered his words on that photo, and thought to myself: There aren't many "old ones" still around.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Bill,

I was just wondering myself recently about all of the other comdey shorts that must have been done - not only by Columbia, but the other studios. I've seen some from Warner on the "Warner Night at the Movies" DVDs i.e. "The Warner Gangster Collection." Do all of these other films exist? My Mom used to talk about the Leon Errol and Edgar Kennedy comedy shorts.