Actors are remebered through the eyes of their children

By: Kate Gaddis, communication major.

Jobyna Ralston

With the Oscars vastly approaching, it is a good time to remember the stars who have gone before us and paved the way for the actors of today.

Jobyna (pronounced Joe-bean-a) Ralston was a silent screen movie star. She began her career in 1922. The ’20s were just the beginning of feature-length silent films. It was the time flappers, night clubs and men actually wore decent clothes.

Ralston starred in some of the most beloved films of all time, and yet this generation has never heard of her. Ralston was part of the first movie to ever win “Best Picture” at the Academy Awards: “Wings,” made in 1927. Ralston made a 30-minute appearance in the film, as the movie was really centered around Clara Bow. Ralston got the job as a freelancer.

Ralston starred alongside silent-era stars such as Eddie Cantor, William Powell, Harold Lloyd and Richard Arlan, whom she later married.

Ralston made over a dozen pictures, but only a few survived.

Some of her talkies have surfaced, but many are lost. One that did survive in addition to “Wings,” is the silent movie “Special Delivery,” starring Ralston, Eddie Cantor and William Powell. Ralston played a waitress turned secretary who falls in love with a postman.

In 1927, Ralston married co-star Richard Arlen. They had one son, Richard Arlen Jr. before divorcing in 1945.

Ralston died in 1967 at the age of 67. She left behind an entire legacy, one that her son did not know she even had.

Richard Arlen Jr., a retired architect, is now 83 and lives on a ski resort in Bishop, CA. Ralston’s fame does not affect him. He is surprised by the fans who know about his mother.

“To me, she was just mom,” Arlen Jr. said. “She raised me the best she could.”

Arlen Jr has a hard time visualizing his mother as famous.

“Mom did not talk about the movies; we very seldom ever spoke about the movies,” Arlen Jr. said. “Mom was a pretty private person.”

Arlen Jr. understands what the world sees in his mother, an actress who paved the way for others.

 

Freddie Bartholomew

When Freddie Bartholomew died of lung cancer in 1992, he left his family a legacy of classic movies.

Born Frederick Cecil Bartholomew March 28, 1924 ( According to his son, Fred Bartholomew Jr.,, this was not his  real birthday. It is not certain when his actual birthday is.), in London, England.  At the age of seven, his mother and father had a bitter custody battle over him.

“It caused family trouble, legal trouble and financial trouble, all that was none of his doing,” said Bartholomew Jr.  

At a young age, the child was given to his aunt.  While with his aunt, Louis B. Mayer, founder of the MGM Studios in Los Angeles, found him and signed him to a contract.

Changing his name from Frederick to Freddie, the child was placed in the film “David Copperfield,” which made him an overnight success. He was quickly cast in “Captains Courageous” co-starring Spencer Tracy. It was the first time a child got top billing over Tracy. Even though Tracy won an Oscar for his performance as Manual – a Fisherman, many felt that the Oscar really should have been given to Bartholomew whose performance was heart wrenching.

Bartholomew went on to star in more films, usually being paired up with Mickey Rooney or Jackie Cooper. Then came “Little Lord Foulternory,” a film about a noble family. He was considered as one of the top male child stars in the 1930s.

Bartholomew’s career was flourishing until WWII hit. He decided to enlist in the Air Force in 1943 at the age of 18 and train in aircraft maintenance. While training, he fell and hurt his back and had to be hospitalized for several months. He was discharged honorably in 1944.

When he came back to Hollywood in 1944, he starred in one film, “The town went wild.” This would be his last film for many years.

He married a few times, and had three children: Kathleen, Frederick and Celia.  

“You know he was just my dad,” Bartholomew Jr. said. “He wasn’t a movie star to me. We grew up in Leonia, NJ, and lot of respected people lived there.”

Bartholomew Jr. said his father was recognized there, but people did not try to interview him.

“People didn’t really bother him; they knew him or knew of him,” Bartholomew Jr. said. “He was just my dad, and he was a wonderful dad. It took me after ten years after he died to watch the documentary ‘When the Lion Roared’ (1992) again. He had great charisma, and he didn’t do it by being obnoxious or loud. You asked what kind of father he was, and I miss him so much.”

Bartholomew Jr. says his father never stopped working. He was an executive producer for “As The World Turns,” and he did a radio program.

In 1992 Bartholomew appeared in the documentary “When the Lion Roared.”

“As you see him in the documentary, he was like that most of the time, as I would say all of the time,” Bartholomew Jr. said.

In the early ‘90s, he developed a type of lung cancer called Emphysema.

Jan. 23, 1992, Freddie Bartholomew died. He was 67.

“I always love it when someone remembers my dad,” Bartholomew Jr. said.