So it’s come to this: I’m no longer the most enterprising Scrappy scholar in my own family. Once again, my sister–with the able assistance of my brother-in-law–has made an astonishing discovery. Namely, an appearance by Scrappy (and Margy, and Yippy) in a Humphrey Bogart picture.
The film in question is 1942’s All Through the Night, and it’s got an all-star cast: Bogie is joined by Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, William “You kids get out of my kitchen” Demarest, Phil Silvers, Jane Darwell, Jackie Gleason, and others. The plot involves Damon Runyonesque types and Nazis; Bogie, playing “Gloves Donahue,” has suffered the assassination of the baker of his favorite cheesecake and has been framed for (another) murder himself. Amazing stills after the jump….
A dame may be able to clear him, and Bogie has reason to think she may be at a warehouse on East 61st. He goes there with Demarest…
They break into the warehouse, which is chockablock with toys…
Including a SCRAPPY, MARGY, AND YIPPY PULL TOY (!!!)…
Attempting to sneak around the warehouse, Demarest accidentally gives the pull toy a kick…
And it goes careening, causing Scrappy to energetically play his xylophone whilst Margy does the hula…
A nonplussed Bogie tells Demarest to can the noisy tomfoolery…
And it turns out the whole thing is the setup for a gag in which Demarest gets buried in a veritable avalanche of toys.
What to make of this? If this had been a 1930s Columbia flick, I’d accuse Harry Cohn of product placement. (I don’t know of any Scrappy appearances in live-action Columbia pictures, but the studio sure tried every other avenue to promote the guy.) But All Through the Night was a Warner film, made the year after the Scrappy series ended. So maybe the use of the Scrappy toy was random rather than an intentional promotional effort.
In any event, I’m pleased to say that The National Scrappy Gallery‘s collection includes an example of the toy in question, in absolutely wonderful condition.
Great post. This was Scrappy’s last theatrical appearence. At least he went out co-starring with Bogie.
Maybe the name on the hat was for a more sinister reason — like they were selling hats with “SCRAPPY” on it, and making sure they were plugging it even in the other toys. Just a thought.
This is merely a test comment. I’m tweaking my blog settings in hopes of ridding this site of spam. It seems to be working–but it’s possible that I’ve become so restrictive that non-spam won’t get through. If this one shows up, I’ll feel better.
Here’s (a href=”wwww.scrappyland.com”>a test link.
–Harry