Friday, November 4, 2011

Teala Loring, poverty row starlet


Teala Loring (1922-2007) was the first of three beautiful sisters to enter show business. The daughters of a vaudeville performer, Marcia, Debralee and Lezlie Gae Griffin became Teala Loring, Debra Paget and Lisa Gaye, respectively, the latter two arguably having more success than Teala, who toiled mostly in low-budget programmers. At first billing herself Judith Gibson only to be constantly confused with another starlet, Julie Gibson, she became Teala Loring for Delinquent Daughters (1944), the moniker, “a good Irish name,” conjured up by producer Irwin Allen. She is actually quite good in Daughters, playing the glamorous and totally unrepentant juvenile delinquent, whose demise becomes the climax of the little thriller. Loring went on to work with everybody on poverty row, from the Bowery Boys to Charlie Chan to Rex Allen. She left the screen after The Arizona Cowboy , with Allen, to become a mother to a brood of six. Luckily, writers Boyd Magers and the late Michael Fitzgerald were able to track down the-then septuagenarian Teala Loring for their fine book “Westerns Women” (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1999).

Dark Alibi (Monogram, 1946)

In Dark Alibi, Teala's poor father, Thomas Harley (Edw. Earle) is sent directly to death row after allegedly killing a guard during a bank robbery. Daddy, you see, had been in prison many years before, a fact that catches poor Teala unaware, and his fingerprints are found on the crime scene. The desperate girl seeks help from Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) and his bumbling sidekicks, Tommy (Benson Fong) and Birmingham (Mantan Moreland), and the Hawaiian detective immediately hones in on the suspicious array of flotsam and jetsam that constitutes the occupants of the Harleys' boarding house. Which, not coincidentally, comes with its very own Mrs. Danvers type (Edna Holland who had replaced that old favorite, Minerva Urecal). Did someone actually manage to plant poor innocent Mr. Harley's fingerprints on the crime scene? Is the pope German? While not exactly prime Chan, this is not too bad at all and the main culprit is not easily spotted. Teala Loring is suitably panicky, and there is a very funny comedy routine involving Moreland and his inmate brother (Ben Carter) that alone is worth the price of admission.

4 comments:

  1. I just watched Delinquent Daughters (Jan 2012) & I was amazed at Teala's acting. Very good!! In fact, I think she steals the film-a real standout. And very pretty, to boot. I live in Texas & if I'd seen this picture 10 years ago, I would've driven to where she was & begged for an audience..even for just 15 minutes. Would've been a big thrill.
    RIP Teala.

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  2. Another very interesting profile of someone I never heard of...although I now see that Teala Loring has a Wikipedia page. You have a genius for finding information on REALLY obscure people. Especially intrigued that Teala was the older sister of gorgeous (and fun) Lisa Gaye and pretty Debra Paget. Keep up the great work.

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  3. We are watching the Charlie Chan movie Dark Alibi, which starred Loring. Enjoyable, and she did a good job.
    http://michaelspappy.blogspot.com/

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  4. If you'd like to know a little more about Teala's B move career (and those of her 2 sisters), check out the following:

    http://bmoviebabes.blogspot.com/2015/07/64-triple-feature-debra-paget-lisa-gaye_24.html

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