Glenda Farrell — 400 Words In 40 Seconds

"When she talked fast, as she almost always did, it was like the strident clackety-clack of a typewriter; you half expected her to ring at the end of a sentence." — Margaret Talbot, writing about Glenda Farrell

It's said that Glenda Farrell could speak 400 words in 40 seconds which considering how quiet I am could come in handy at a dinner party. She could also act — both comedy and drama — which came in really handy in a career that lasted nearly sixty years.

Unless you're a fan of Pre-Code Hollywood movies, it's likely you've never heard of Glenda Farrell, but she's worth getting to know. Pushed by a mother whose own dreams of becoming an actress were never realized, Farrrell began working on the stage at the age of seven in Enid, Oklahoma, the beginning of a career that only ended with her death in 1971 at the age of sixty-six.

Farrell worked on Broadway in the late 1920s and made her film debut in Lucky Boy, a George Jessel vehicle I've never heard of, but really took off in 1931 with Little Caesar, the gangster classic that made James Cagney a star.

In short order, Farrell appeared in Three on a Match, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (her best performance, as Paul Muni's gold digging wife) and Mystery of the Wax Museum, an early two-strip Technicolor horror classic in which Fay Wray screamed and Farrell did all the acting.

She also had a nice role in the Frank Capra comedy Lady for a Day based on a Damon Runyon story about a poor apple seller's efforts to pass as a classy society maven in front of her long-lost daughter — a terrific movie if you've never seen it.

Come to think of it, maybe that's Glenda Farrell's best performance.

She's best known now for her recurring role as Torchy Blane, a smart, wisecracking newspaper reporter who solves crimes, playing the part seven times in three years between 1937 and 1939.

"So before I undertook to do the first Torchy," she said years later, "I determined to create a real human being — and not an exaggerated comedy type. I met those [newswomen] who visited Hollywood, and watched them work on visits to New York City. They were generally young, intelligent, refined and attractive. By making Torchy true to life, I tried to create a character practically unique in movies."

According to Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, the creators of Superman, Farrell's performance as Torchy inspired the character of Lois Lane.

After she left Warner Brothers in 1939, Farrell split her time between Hollywood and the Broadway stage. A decade later, she made her television debut on The Chevrolet Tele-Theater and worked steadily as a guest star in such shows as Route 66, The Fugitive, Bonanza and Bewitched.

In 1963, she won an Emmy for her supporting performance in a two-part episode of Ben Casey.

Her later film work included roles in the 1942 film noir Johnny Eager, the Cary Grant comedy The Talk of the Town, a funny turn as Dick Powell's secretary in Susan Slept Here, and a part in Kissin' Cousins, one of those million or so movies Elvis Presley churned out in the 1960s.

Farrell was married twice, first in the 1920s to Thomas Richards, and then in 1941 to Henry Ross, an Army Air Force flight surgeon, to whom she remained married until death did them part.

"She was marvelous," said her son Tommy, himself a film actor. "She never got a bad notice in her life."