The Industrious Harrison Greene

From a certain standpoint, Harrison Greene (1884-1945) had one of the most impressive film careers I have encountered: over 250 screen credits in talking films spread across a mere 15 year period, which averages out to about 17 movies a year. Greene’s record is rich in classic comedy and B movies, which means our readers have likely seen him in scores of these films. Granted, this career is impressive in terms of volume, as opposed to the size of his parts. Yet he was a valued bit player, no mere crowd extra most of the time. What an enviable life, it seems to me. Constantly busy at work he loved! On the other hand, it was fairly anonymous. I never came across his name until recently, when I saw that he played the part of Ulysses S. Grant in Tennessee Johnson(1942). He was often cast as carnival barkers and similarly blustery characters.

Greene was raised in California. I’ve been able to gather scant info on his early years apart from the fact that he toured in West Coast vaudeville throughout the ’20s in a blackface** two act with his wife Katherine Parker called “At the Depot”. They were billed as Greene and Parker. I suspect, but have been unable to yet confirm a relationship with the important playwright Clay M. Greene (The playwright’s father’s name was William Harrison Greene.)

Greene’s screen career lasted from 1931 until his death. His films include Her Majesty, Love (1931); Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932); Joe E. Brown’s The Tenderfoot (1932), Elmer the Great (1933), When’s Your Birthday? (1937) and The Gladiator (1938); The Vampire Bat (1933); International House (1933); Dames (1934); Kentucky Kernels (1934) with Wheeler and Woolsey; Kid Millions (1934) with Eddie Cantor; George White’s 1935 Scandals; Ants in the Pantry (1936) and Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937) with the Three Stooges; several Edgar Kennedy shorts; The Big Broadcast of 1937; Dick Tracy (1937) and its sequels; the original A Star is Born (1937); Broadway Melody of 1938; In Old Chicago (1938); Pack Up Your Troubles (1939) with Jane Withers and The Ritz Brothers; Blondie Goes to College (1942); Maisie Gets Her Man (1942); Jitterbugs (1943) with Laurel and Hardy; the all-star Atlantic City (1944); and Belle of the Yukon (1944) with Randolph Scott and Gypsy Rose Lee. He is in a large number of westerns, including several with Gene Autry, as well as mysteries in the Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, and Ellery Queen series. His very last film, released posthumously, was Cross My Heart (1946) with Betty Hutton and Sonny Tufts.

**Obligatory Disclaimer: It is the official position of this blog that Caucasians-in-Blackface is NEVER okay. It was bad then, and it’s bad now. We occasionally show images depicting the practice, or refer to it in our writing, because it is necessary to tell the story of American show business, which like the history of humanity, is a mix of good and bad.

For more on show business history,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, for more on classic comedy please check out: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.