Taking Note of John Carroll

John Carroll (born Julia La Faye, 1906-1979) was the most forgettable and forgotten of the Marx Brothers “leading men”, appearing with the team in their worst film Go West (1940).

A swarthy Frenchman from New Orleans, Carroll was frequently cast as Mexicans in westerns, often bearing names like “Pepe” and “Ricardo”. Occasionally he would get to play men of his own ethnicity in movies such as Pierre of the Plains (1942) and A Letter for Evie (1945). (Good lord! He had a cool French name like Julian La Faye and he changed it to “John Carroll”? Did he actively WANT to be forgotten?) Comedy fans will be more interested to know that he could also be seen in things like Doughboys (1930) with Buster Keaton, and the 1942 remake of Rio Rita with Abbott and Costello. He was briefly married to Hungarian hottie Steffi Duna, his co-star in Hi, Gaucho (1935). His second wife was Lucille Ryman, frequently described as “the first female studio executive in Hollywood”, by people who clearly never heard of Alice Guy-Blaché or Mary Pickford (who just happens to have co-founded United Artists). As for his performance in Go West — I’ve seen the film six times and only just now took note of the fact that he was in it.

For more on classic comedy see Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.