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'Snub' Pollard

Birthday: 1889-11-09 Place of Birth: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Synopsis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Snub Pollard (9 November 1889 – 19 January 1962) was an Australian-born vaudevillian, who became a silent film comedian in Hollywood, popular in the 1920s. Born Harold Fraser, in Melbourne, Australia on 9 November 1889, he began performing with Pollard's Lilliputian Opera Company at a young age. Like many of the actors in the popular juvenile company, he adopted Pollard as his stage name. The company ran several highly successful professional children's troupes that traveled Australia and New Zealand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In 1908, Harry Pollard joined the company tour to North America. After the completion of the tour, he returned to the US. By 1915 he was regularly appearing in uncredited roles in movies, for example Charles Epting notes that Pollard can clearly be seen in Chaplin's 1915 short By the Sea. In later years, Pollard claimed Hal Roach had discovered him while he was performing on stage in Los Angeles. Pollard played supporting roles in the early films of Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels. The long-faced Pollard sported a Kaiser Wilhelm mustache turned upside-down; this became his trademark. Lloyd's producer, Hal Roach, gave Pollard his own starring series of one- and two-reel shorts. The most famous is 1923's It's a Gift, in which he plays an inventor of many Rube Goldberg-like contraptions, including a car that runs by magnet power. In early 1923, shortly after his second marriage, Pollard returned with his wife Elizabeth to see his relations in Australia. His visit attracted considerable attention, and he appeared again in several theatres to speak about the motion picture business. On his return to the US, he left Roach and joined the low-budget Weiss Brothers studio in 1926. There he co-starred with Marvin Loback as a poor man's version of Laurel and Hardy, copying that team's plots and gags. In later years, Pollard claimed the Great Depression wiped out his investments, and he had been unable to "adjust to the talkies." However, in the 1930s, he played small parts in talking comedies, and was featured as comic relief in "B" westerns. Pollard's silent-comedy credentials guaranteed him work in slapstick revivals. He appeared with other film veterans in Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), The Perils of Pauline (1947), and Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). He also appeared regularly as a supporting player in Columbia Pictures' two-reel comedies of the mid-1940s. Forsaking his familiar mustache in his later years, he landed much steadier work in films as a mostly uncredited bit player. He played incidental roles in scores of Hollywood features and shorts, almost always as a mousy, nondescript fellow, usually with no dialogue. Snub Pollard died of cancer on 19 January 1962, aged 72, after nearly 50 years in the movie business. His interment was at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). For his contributions to motion pictures, Pollard has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6415½ Hollywood Boulevard.

Acting

Unknown Island
as    Extra in Dive, Pointing Out Tarnowski
Adventure-seeker Ted Osborne has convinced his finacee Carole to finance his expedition to an uncharted South Pacific island supposedly populated with dinosaurs...
Lure of the Wasteland
as    Cookie
A "special" by Monogram standards, Lure of the Wasteland was lensed in a not inexpensive process called Telco-color. Grant Withers takes a break from his duties in the "Mister Wong" series to play Smitty, a US marshal assigned to track down $250,000 in stolen bonds.
Rollin' Plains
as    Pee Wee
It's cattlemen versus sheepmen and Trigger Gargan appears to be the leader of the gang causing the trouble. But unknown to Ranger Tex Lawrence, the respected town citizen Barrow is the boss and is tipping off the gang as to the Ranger's activities.
Hittin' the Trail
as    Bartender
his was one of the earlier uses of Robert Tansey's favorite plot (only the 3rd time he had trotted it out of the stable, but he got six more films out of it in later years) in which a group of outlaws (wrongly jailed this time) are let out to join up with the good guys against a worse bunch of outlaws. And, not unusual in the B-western genre, most of the production crew wore several hats; director Robert N. Bradbury and supervisor Lindsley Parsons wrote a song for Tommy Bupp, one of the actually good kid actors of the time who proved real quick-like that singing wasn't his strong suit, while Robert Emmett Tansey worked three jobs under three names... Robert Emmett on story and screenplay, Robert Tansey as the production manager and Al Lane as the assistant director. And, for a change, music director Frank Sanucci actually earned a composers' credit as he did write a song... Written by Les Adams
Arizona Days
as    Cookie
Tex and sidekick Grass join McGill's traveling show. When Price has McGill's wagons burned, Tex becomes the county tax collector to earn money. This leads to trouble as one of those owing money is Price who says he will not pay. Business doesn´t go as plan.
Tex Rides with the Boy Scouts
as    Pee Wee
Tex is after the gang that robbed a train of a gold shipment. He suspects Dorman is the culprit and is hiding their gold at his mine. When Stubby sees Dorman's henchman Stark cash in some gold nuggets, Tex tricks Dorman into moving the gold. He hopes to round them up with the help of the posse and the local Boy Scout Troop.
Sing Cowboy Sing
as    Prisoner
Kalmus is after the freight contract held by Summers. When his gang kill Summers, Tex and Duke step in to help Madge keep the freight line going. When they foil the gang's further attempts, Kalmus gets the Judge to jail the two.
The Crime Patrol
as    Gyp
Prizefighter Bob Neal (Ray Walker) is in debt to gangster Vic Santell (Hooper Atchley) for training expenses. Santell orders Bob to take a dive in the fourth round so Santell can recoup prior gambling losses. Taunted by his ring opponent, Bob wins the fight. Realizing that his profession and underworld characters connected to it are causing him problems, Bob decides to join the police force. After taking nurse Mary Prentiss (Geneva Mitchell) to a drive-in restaurant where the total bill is a depression-era cheap eighty-two cents, Bob and his fellow officers round-up a gang of fur thieves in a warehouse shoot-out.
The Black Coin
as    Vic Moran
Government agents try to thwart smugglers, while some sort of plot unfolds, about a hidden treasure revealed by cursed coins.
Stingaree
as    Victor
A young lady named Hilda who works as a servant for the wealthy Clarksons, sheep farmers, and dreams of being a great singer. An upcoming visit by Sir Julian, a famous composer arriving from London, drives jealous Mrs. Clarkson (an interfering biddy who fancies she can sing - but can't) to send away Hilda, so he doesn't hear Hilda has a good voice. Meanwhile, an infamous outlaw named Stingaree has just arrived in town and kidnaps Sir Julian, then poses as him at the Clarksons, where he meets Hilda a few hours before she is to leave.
One Good Turn
as    A Community Player (uncredited)
Down and out Stan and Ollie beg for food from a friendly old lady who provides them with sandwiches. While eating, they overhear the lady's landlord tell her he's going to throw her out because she can't pay her mortgage. They don't realize that the old lady is really rehearsing for a play. Stan and Ollie decide to help the old lady by selling their car. During the auction a drunk puts a wallet in Stan's pocket. Ollie accuses Stan of robbing the old lady, but when the truth is revealed Stan takes revenge on Ollie.
Sold at Auction
as    The Auctioneer's Helper
This Hal Roach comedy short I found on the "American Slapstick" DVD collection of rare silent comedies starts bizarre and has an anything goes-quality one rarely sees in Mr. Roach's output. It stars Snub Pollard who is initially introduced as a baby left on a doorstep before we see him fully grown about 20 or so years later still in that basket! From there, he gets bumped car to car crossing the street prior to getting literally thrown through a window as an auction is taking place! Also appearing is James Finlayson as a man who's items accidentally get sold.
Whirl o' the West
as    The Tenderfoot
A tenderfoot arrives in a western town and the inhabitants give him a rough time.
The Dippy Dentist
as    The Dandy
The film begins with a girl who is supposedly irresistible to all men. Several guys all come to her to pledge their undying love--including Harold Lloyd's brother, Gaylord (who is a dentist). Shortly after this, a new dentist (Snub Pollard) arrives to work in an office across the hall. In a very funny scene, Pollard manages to steal all of Gaylord's patients from his waiting room. However, when it comes to dental work, Snub is highly unlikely to receive the American Dental Association's seal of approval. That's because he's incredibly rough and manages to toss a guy out the window when he pulls his tooth.
Billy Blazes, Esq.
as    Sheriff 'Gun Shy' Gallagher
Billy Blazes confronts Crooked Charley, who has been ruling the town of Peaceful Vale through fear and violence.
Captain Kidd's Kids
as    The Valet
After a wild bachelor party, our hero finds himself aboard a sailing vessel where he encounters numerous adventures. In a dream sequence, he fantasizes that the ship is seized by a band of female pirates.
Take a Chance
as    Simplex Joe
It's a classic boy-meets-girl story, boy-loses-girl, boy gets mistaken for an escaped convict and ruthlessly chased by armies of cops across the countryside in a thrill-packed stunt-addled climax.
Two-Gun Gussie
as    Snub
A mild-mannered young man has left home, and is now playing the piano in a bar in the west. The dangerous criminal Dagger-Tooth Dan enters the bar where the young man is playing. Soon afterwards, the local sheriff also arrives, with some letters that he has received. Dan notices the letters, and he switches the information in them to make the sheriff think that the piano player is the dangerous one.
By the Sad Sea Waves
as    Spectator at Beach
Our vagabond hero dons a lifeguard's uniform and madcap antics ensue on the beach, and in the changing stalls!
Police
as    First Flophouse Customer
Charlie is released from prison and immediately swindled by a fake parson. A fellow ex-convict convinces Charlie to help burglarize a house.
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