A Jumble of James Murrays

I categorically discourage this sort of thing but an acquaintance recently approached me and asked whether the James Murray he saw in some vintage advertising for a vaudeville bill that featured Bob Hope, Toby Wing, and Arthur Tracy could have been the same James Murray who starred in The Crowd (1928). I refrained from giving my frank answer, which would have been “I don’t know and I don’t care.”, because my mother taught me to be polite, but on the other hand in the interest of avoiding future discord, I place this information here: a good rule of thumb is don’t come to me with questions. This blog is born of my selfish desire to write about what interests ME, not a generous desire to write about what interests YOU. Glad when those things coincide, but make no mistake — I’m not your wetnurse. Got a question? Research it. Have a topic you’d like to see in print? Write it and publish it. I’m not remotely here to do that on your behalf.

That said, the gent did remind me of the sad story of James Murray (1901-1936), and it does appear that Murray resorted to vaudeville, or what was left of it, when his movie career was on the skids. Murray’s story is often skewed to emphasize a certain narrative, and I love to dispel such things, and so I will. The story that’s usually told is that King Vidor plucked him from nowhere to star in The Crowd, that he’d been at most an extra in films prior to that. That makes a dazzling yarn, but it’s not how it went. The Bronx native had a role as John Alden in an independent short called The Pilgrims, released in 1924 (a century ago this year). Encouraged by a positive response, he said goodbye to his large Irish family and went out to Hollywood.

A bit part in Tillie the Toiler (1927) led immediately to a co-starring role opposite Helene Costello in In Old Kentucky (1927). He was also fourth-billed in The Lovelorn (1927), and second-billed to Joan Crawford in Rose-Marie (1928) prior to the release of The Crowd (1928). The Crowd did prove to be a major success, however, and established Murray as a proper star.

Murray had top billing in about a half dozen movies over the next couple of years until a severe alcohol problem began to interfere with his work. Worse, it began to become public. There were incidents such as an occasion when he showed up inebriated to a court hearing on his drunk driving arrest! This resulted in his having to do four months hard labor in 1930.

Naturally Murray career was in a different place when he finished his incarceration, but it was not over. He appeared in a couple of Mack Sennett comedy shorts, and starred in low-budget crime dramas for independent studios. For the big studios, he was down to smaller supporting parts, now around sixth in the billing. Frisco Jenny (1932) with Ruth Chatterton was one of these. But the booze remained a worsening problem. Ironically one of his last starring parts was in a grade z production of the old melodrama classic The Drunkard (1935).

Though he continued to work as an extra in major movies like John Ford’s The Informer (1935) and the big budget classic San Francisco (1936), to make ends meet Murray was reduced to panhandling in the street. A famous anecdote has Vidor approaching him in that state in 1934 to try to persuade him to star in his sequel to The Crowd, Our Daily Bread — if he could pull himself together. Vidor was rebuffed for his pains. The part went to Tom Keene.

In July, 1936, Murray’s body was found floating in the Hudson River. The story bothered Vidor so much that he wrote a screenplay about it, which never got made.

James’s brother Harry Murray (1903-2002) followed his brother into show business, and became best known as the producer of the long-running game show To Tell the Truth. He also had one significant movie roll, third-billed in King Baggot’s 1928 The House of Scandal.

To add to your confusion, there was another James Murray with a February birthday who appeared in silent films. James S. Murray (1862-1939) starred in a couple of dozen comedies for Thanhouser between 1914 and 1916. Born in the UK, he was primarily a man of the stage who acted with regional stock and musical comedy companies, and appeared on Broadway in such productions as Naughty Marietta (1910, 1929, 1931), His Honor the Mayor (1907), The Highwayman (1917), and Three Cheers (1928). His last performance was in the London production of Ayn Rand’s The Night of January 16th.

And HE had a brother, too! His brother was Irish comedian and singer J.K. Murray, who appeared in vaudeville as well as a small handful of silent movies.

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