00:08Good evening, I'm Ben Mankiewicz. Welcome to Turner Classic Movies, where over the next
00:12several hours, we're presenting films starring Warren William, who worked in Hollywood regularly
00:18from 1931 to 1947, but hit the peak of his career during the pre-code era of the early 30s.
00:24By my count, theaters released 23 Warren William movies in 1932, 33, and 34, nearly eight per year,
00:33and in every one of them, William had a prominent part, usually the leading man. Warren William
00:40wasn't born with a movie star name. Born Warren William Kretsch, K-R-E-C-H, in Minnesota in 1894,
00:48he moved to New York after high school to study acting, making his Broadway debut in 1920.
00:53He didn't need Hollywood to re-christen him Warren William. He dropped The Kretsch on Broadway.
01:01William spent the 1920s honing his skills in the theater, becoming one of the many stage-trained
01:08actors brought out to Hollywood at the dawn of talking pictures in the early 1930s. Almost
01:14immediately, William found his niche playing ruthless and sleazy characters, often business
01:19tycoons and lawyers who exploited people who were less powerful. He had a thin mustache that
01:26practically screamed dastardly. That said, Warren William managed to infuse these characters with
01:33a degree of charm that made it difficult to hate him. We begin tonight with a 1933 film that put
01:40a
01:40unique spin on William's typically crooked character. From Columbia Pictures, directed by Frank Capra,
01:46based on a Damon Runyon short story, Lady for a Day. Mae Robeson plays the title role, starring as
01:54Apple Annie, a poor fruit peddler eking out a meager living in Times Square. The money she makes goes to
02:02support her daughter, who's grown up away from her in Europe. They correspond in letters, where Annie lies
02:09about her life in New York, claiming she's married to a rich man and living in luxury. When she learns
02:15that her daughter, played by Gene Parker, is coming to New York to visit along with a fiancé and his
02:21aristocratic father, Annie has to scramble to put on an act resembling the lies she's been telling in
02:29letters. She enlists help from a dapper and wealthy gambler named Dave the Dude. That's Warren William.
02:36The cast also features top-tier character actors like Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbe, and Ned Sparks.
02:43From director Frank Capra in 1933, Lady for a Day.
