Ed Wood's Jail Bait -- a look at it through old newspaper clippings

Another series of Plan9Crunch looking at the history of a cult film through clippings.

 

Jail Bait, 1954, 72 minutes, Howco, B and W. Directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. Starring Lyle Talbot as Inspector John, Dolores Fuller as Marilyn Gregor, Herbert Rawlinson as Dr. Boris Gregor, Steve Reeves as Lt. Bob Lawrence, Clancy Malone as Don Gregor, Timothy Farrell as Vic Brady, Theodora Thurman as Loretta, Bud Osborne as the night watchman, and Mona McKinnon as Miss Willis. Conrad Brooks has a cameo. Schlock-Meter rating: 8 and 1/2 stars out of 10.

Jail Bait is a cult film lover's delight. It's Ed Wood's first foray into crime pictures, and except for a very annoying musical score, it's not a half-bad film. Of course, it has Wood's mark of organized chaos, where he simply didn't have the budget to make this picture, but that just adds to the viewing fun.

The plot concerns a young man gone bad from a nice family (Malone) and his sinister confederate in crime (Farrell, who really is good in the role). Malone is eventually killed by Farrell, who then takes the slain gangster's sister (Fuller) and father (Rawlinson) hostage. The dad is a plastic surgeon, and he has a few tricks up the sleeve for Farrell at the end of the film. Talbot and strongman Reeves (in his first film) play cops assigned to catch Malone and Farrell. Theodora Thurman, who was a top model in the 1950s, plays Farrell's moll. (According to the new book on Wood's films, Malone delivered Wood's groceries prior to his sole acting credit.)

The acting is, of course, weak, and Wood hurries through each scene, reflecting the tiny budget. But Wood's eccentric personality is on full display. Depending on which print you view, action is interrupted for a blackface show (Cotton Watts) or a very faded scene of a striptease. (my copy shows the striptease) Also the climax of the film takes place at a motel, where Wood stole shots. Wood tries hard to achieve a type of film noir atmosphere, and almost succeeds at times, particularly with Farrell.

Like any Wood film, the story behind the movie is just as interesting as the film. Watch silent film star Rawlinson very closely during his scenes as the aging dad/plastic surgeon. If he appears tired it shouldn't be a surprise. He died the morning after filming. Rawlinson's role, in fact, was intended for Bela Lugosi, but he was too sick to do it. Also, Reeves took 27 takes to tie his tie, which must have driven the thrifty Wood mad. The great actor Jimmy Cagney was visiting the motel where Wood and cast was stealing a scene shot. Cagney offered to be in the film, but everyone was chased from the motel by the irate manager. If you are a Wood fan, buy Jail Bait. It's a must for your cult films collection. But even those who aren't Wood fans will find it worth a $2 rental. By the way: Jail Bait in the title refers to a gun, not a woman.

I, Doug Gibson, wrote that review long ago. I like the second newspaper clip because it mentions a star, Dolores Fuller. The above clip at top mentions many stars of the Howco film, including Lyle Talbot, Steve Reeves, and Theodora Thurman. I think the woman in the ad is Mona McKinnon, who had a smaller role.

Jail Bait played in many areas, Ohio, California, but it did a lot of business in the South, where Howco marketed their films heavily. My friend David Grudt, who helps with these searches, located an actual newspaper review from the Elizabethtron, Tenn., Star edition of Sept. 25, 1955. I know the review is lifted -- likely -- from a press package, but it's great to find records of reviews for these films. They didn't get many published. It's below:

Nice to see Clancy Malone, Timothy Farrell, and Bud Osborne get mentioned too. I am sharing several clips that David Grudt unearthed for this blog post. The first and second are from the Sacramento, Calif. Bee editions of Aug. 15 and 16, 1954. The third is from the Columbian, Miss., Progress of Nov. 18, 1954. The fourth is from the Greenville, S.C., News of Aug. 16, 1954, and the final is a blurb notice of Jail Bait playing in the Tampa, Fla. Times of Nov. 13, 1954. You will notice that Jail Bait played in some "adult" theaters with burlesque-type films. I hope the burlesque films satisfied any prurient interest of attendees, because is at best a mild PG film. I guess the adult houses used the hard-to-see sequence involving a striptease, Other theaters used the cringeworthy blackface routine The last time I saw Jail Bait on television - this year - neither sequence was used. The scene, not needed for story flow, was excised. 

It might interest readers to know that a Sam Katzman-produced film, Teenage Crime Wave, was also released in 1954, a bit later than Jail Bait. However, Teenage Crime Wave in some locations used the name Jail Bait as its title. We had to watch for this while we researched Wood's film. In the early process, I downloaded ads with the wrong Jail Bait. The ad below for an all-night drive-in showing of thrill films includes Jail Bait. It was published in the Jackson, Tenn., Sun on July 9 1954. I am at least 80 percent sure this is Wood's film.

Finally, enjoy a few more ads of Jail Bait that I located, as well as noting the films that played with it. I love the diversity of the films that Jail Bait played with. Everything from Untamed Mistress and Naughty New Orleans to Our Miss Brooks and Heidi! Even today, Jail Bait frequently airs on The Movies Channel in the middle of the night.