[The following article was published on December 18, 2008 by Classic Images Magazine]
Wagner’s World Wide Web
"Connie Marshall: Artistic Legacy"
Rudy Carreon is a fan and collector of actress Connie Marshall and has set up a website devoted to her, http://www.conniemarshall.org/. Connie was a little actress (born 1933) who was put under contract to 20th Century-Fox in 1944. Although she did not make many films, she is remembered for her sincere performances in Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944, her debut), Wake Up and Dream, Sentimental Journey, Dragonwyck, Home, Sweet Homicide (all 1946), Mother Wore Tights, Daisy Kenyon (both 1947), and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). Connie also appeared during her short career in The Green Promise (1949) and Kill the Umpire (1950), and entered television in the ‘50s on such shows as Big Town, City Detective, Doc Corkle, Sky King, Your Favorite Story and The Pride of the Family, among others. Although she was not a child star of the first order, Connie Marshall is still fondly remembered by movie fans for her dedication, her captivating presence and fine acting skills. Here, then, is Rudy Carreon, in his own words, talking about Connie and the reasons behind his terrific website:
As a young boy, I watched movies with Cary Grant, Vincent Price, Dana Andrews, John Payne, Betty Grable, Myrna Loy, June Haver, Anne Baxter, Gene Tierney, and many others. But, what remained embedded in my boyhood memory of those wonderful movies was the ever-present young actress Connie Marshall. Connie was there acting out her roles right next to these filmdom giants. And, many times, I recalled her stealing scenes from these same accomplished actors and actresses. For moments and sometimes even minutes, Connie would become the focus of the movie scene.
Decades later, after graduating from high school, serving in the military, and while raising my own family, I began to feel a sense of emptiness inside myself. I needed a source of personally fulfilling entertainment. Current-day movies just weren’t enough. Movie ratings are complicated and the actors of today just don’t measure up.
I began to acquire old movies and eventually expanded my new entertainment hobby to collecting other forms of vintage film and star memorabilia.
I then ran across movies and other memorabilia of Peggy Ann Garner, Deanna Durbin, Margaret O’Brien, Gloria Jean and several male actors as well. I acquired quite a collection until one day when I was watching the movie Home Sweet Homicide and noticed Connie Marshall. I was very impressed with her performance. I recalled seeing her in movies as a young boy. I started acquiring all of her movies. Connie’s vintage photos and other memorabilia were far more rare and difficult to find. Her very first movie, Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, is what finally captured my heart. The movie reminded me of my own family. Even as poor as we were, my parents always felt a compelling Community and Patriotic duty to invite a military person from the nearby military facility for dinner. Many times those visitors were from foreign Allied nations. And, no matter what went wrong, everything would somehow work out well. Just as in the movie.
Connie’s performance in this movie alone is seldom seen in other child actors and actresses. She performed scenes of happiness, sadness, excitement, and anguish. She had the first lines of the movie and nearly the last lines, except for Anne Baxter’s (Tessa) last line of “Come back, Eric…come home.” She ran, she sang and she performed a confession to Tessa about her knowledge of their parent’s death. That was a remarkable moment of acting. Connie had lines injected throughout the movie which would normally be attributed to adult actors filling in the dialogue. Connie truly gave a star performance in this, her first movie.
I really loved her performances in Sentimental Journey, Wake Up and Dream, and Dragonwyck. Then came her pre-teen to teen years in Home Sweet Homicide, Mother Wore Tights, Daisy Kenyon and The Green Promise. All were great performances with a slow but noticeable decline in number of lines and significant movie moments. Connie still had her magnificent acting talent in these movies but not in comparison to her earlier movies. What impressed me about her performance in Daisy Kenyon was that she finally was given a truly complex role. She was portraying a young daughter dedicated to her love for her father despite the abuse and anger of her mother’s wrath. Now, that was not an easy job. Not many young actors and actresses have the talent to handle that type of role.
Connie was such a well-rounded actress. She could act, sing, dance and there was something else - she was always the model. You can see her modeling techniques in the manner in which she stood, walked, moved her arms and hands, posed, held things, and even the way she smiled or held her head. And those eyes - who could possibly forget those eyes? I mention that in one of my commentaries to a particular photo in Connie’s new fansite: “…her eyes are so capturing that you have to blink just to look away.”
In all my movie and memorabilia collecting, I often run across old articles which hailed Connie’s performances. They predicted a great future for her in film. And, then, she disappeared. I could not find a single article or any news explaining what happened to her. So, I continued collecting her memorabilia and researching her legacy with the belief that she must still be alive and well and simply living a private life. As I continued my research and collecting her memorabilia, I found small and large discoveries. For example, I found evidence of two separate modeling projects with truly great artists of the time, William Steig and Norman Rockwell. Norman Rockwell needs no introduction. William Steig was noted as the King of Cartoons in his time. He was also well known for his Small Fry cartoons.
Finally, I learned in December of 2006, from a film site, that Connie had passed away in 2001. That was such devastating news to me. After this heavy loss, I felt it my mission to revive and promote her memory and legacy. So, I asked a dear friend and author, Sandra Grabman, if she would write Connie’s biography based on existing information and using the wealth of memorabilia and information from my personal collection. She answered that she would be happy to but that she preferred to work with the family’s consent and participation. So, now there was the problem of finding Connie’s family. I couldn’t just break away in search of Connie’s family. So, I contemplated doing the next best thing, which was to start up a tribute website to promote her legacy and draw interest and information.
Then, in either late 2007 or early 2008, someone actually found her family and started a fan website dedicated to her. However, as the months went by, the site became more of a Genealogy site mostly focusing on Connie’s private life before and after her film career. Though the loving memory stories from her family are nice reading, I still yearned to know more of her actual film legacy.
Finally, I decided to start construction of a New Connie Marshall fansite which would provide fans, collectors, enthusiasts, and Connie Marshall's family a visual of Connie's Artistic Legacy. I decided to use a portion of my large collection for that purpose.
Note that I refer to Connie’s legacy as her “Artistic Legacy.” That is because Connie’s career spanned the artistic realms of the modeling industry, the art and commercial ad industry, the movie industry, and the television industry.
For the site I constructed several well-organized pages packed with articles, photos, lobby cards, movie ads, commercial ads, and art illustrations. I inserted my personal commentaries into nearly every item to describe and explain how the item fits into my collection and any other interesting facts and, at times, my own opinions. Additional reasons for my commentaries are to entertain, instill discussion, and lend value to the items in my collection.
I named Connie’s new fan site the Connie Marshall Fans and Collectors Forum. My goal is to generate interest in Connie’s legacy so that one day, perhaps, we may petition for and see a Connie Marshall star on the Walk of Fame. I believe that this can be accomplished but will take an enormous amount of work to promote and achieve that level of interest for Connie’s legacy. I have told others that I am not so much a believer in hope as I am a believer in Success.
So, go to Connie’s fan site, http://www.conniemarshall.org/, and experience her Artistic Legacy. You will find yourself captivated by this young and extremely talented actress. You, too, will agree that Connie Marshall was sorely underrated. You will also find yourself captured by her glamour and her tenderness. And, finally, you, too, will have to blink to get your eyes off her beautiful Artistic Legacy.
