ZaSu Pitts

ZaSu Pitts (/ˈseɪzuː ˈpɪts/;[1] born Eliza Susan Pitts;[2] January 3, 1894[lower-alpha 1] – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film Greed, and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the advent of sound films. She also appeared on numerous radio shows. Her career as an entertainer spanned nearly 50 years, and she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

ZaSu Pitts
Pitts in 1930
Born	Eliza Susan Pitts January 3, 1894 Parsons, Kansas, U.S.
Died	June 7, 1963 (aged 69) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1917–1963
Spouse(s)	Thomas Sarsfield Gallery ​ ​ (m. 1920; div. 1933)​ John E. Woodall ​ ​ (m. 1933)​
Children	2

Early life

Eliza Susan Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas, to Rulandus and Nelly (née Shay) Pitts; she was the third of four children. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Infantry in the Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas by the time ZaSu was born.[4]

The names of her father's sisters, Eliza and Susan, were purportedly the basis for the nickname "ZaSu", i.e., to satisfy competing family interests. She later adopted the nickname professionally and legally. It has been (incorrectly) spelled as Zazu Pitts in some film credits and news articles. Although the name is commonly mispronounced /ˈzæzuː/ ZAZ-oo or /ˈzeɪsuː/ ZAY-soo, or /ˈzeɪzuː/ ZAY-zoo, in her 1963 book Candy Hits (p. 15), Pitts herself gives the correct pronunciation as "Say Zoo" /ˈseɪzuː/, recounting that Mary Pickford had predicted "many will mispronounce it", and adding, "How right she was."

In 1903, when Pitts was nine years old, her family moved to Santa Cruz, California, to seek a warmer climate and better job opportunities. Her childhood home at 208 Lincoln Street still stands. She attended Santa Cruz High School, where she participated in school theatricals.[5]

Career

Pitts, c. 1920

Pitts made her stage debut in 1914–15 doing school and local community theater in Santa Cruz. Going to Los Angeles in 1916, at the age of 22, she spent many months seeking work as a film extra. Finally, she was discovered for substantive roles in films by screenwriter Frances Marion, who cast Pitts as an orphaned slavey (child of work) in the silent film A Little Princess (1917), starring Pickford.

Pitts' popularity grew following a series of Universal one-reeler comedies, and earned her first feature-length lead in King Vidor's Better Times (1919). The following year she married her first husband, Tom Gallery, with whom she was paired in several films, including Heart of Twenty (1920), Bright Eyes, Patsy (both 1921) and A Daughter of Luxury (1922). In 1924, the actress, now a reputable comedy farceuse, was given the greatest tragic role of her career in Erich von Stroheim's ​7 ¹⁄₂-hour epic Greed (1924). The surprise casting initially shocked Hollywood, but showed that Pitts could draw tears with her doleful demeanor, as well as laughs. Having been extensively edited prior to release — the final theatrical cut ran just over two hours — the movie failed initially at the box office, but has since been restored to over four hours and is considered one of the greatest films ever made.[6][7] Based on her performance, von Stroheim labelled Pitts "the greatest dramatic actress". He also featured her in his films The Honeymoon (1928), The Wedding March (1928), and Walking Down Broadway, released as Hello, Sister! (1933).

David Butler and Pitts look lovingly at each other while Jack McDonald glares in a scene still for the 1919 silent drama Better Times

Pitts enjoyed her greatest fame in the early 1930s, often starring in B movies and comedy short films, teamed with Thelma Todd.[lower-alpha 2] She played secondary parts in many films. Her stock persona (a fretful, flustered, worried spinster) made her instantly recognizable and was often imitated in cartoons and other films. She starred in a number of Hal Roach short films and features, and co-starred in a series of feature-length comedies with Slim Summerville. Switching between comedy short films and features, by the advent of sound, she was relegated to comedy roles. A bitter disappointment was when she was replaced in the classic war drama All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) by Beryl Mercer after her initial appearance in previews drew unintentional laughs, despite her intense performance. She had viewers rolling in the aisles in Finn and Hattie (1931), The Guardsman (1931), Blondie of the Follies (1932), Sing and Like It (1934) and Ruggles of Red Gap (1935). In 1936 and 1937 she portrayed Hildegarde Withers in two movies, succeeding Edna May Oliver as the spinster sleuth, but they were not well received.[9]

In the 1940s, she found work in radio, trading banter with Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, W.C. Fields and Rudy Vallee, among others. Pitts' activities on radio included playing Miss Mamie Wayne in the soap opera Big Sister.[3] She also was heard as Miss Pitts on The New Lum and Abner Show.[10] She appeared several times in the earliest Fibber McGee and Molly show, playing a dizzy dame constantly looking for a husband.

In 1944, Pitts tackled Broadway, making her debut in the mystery Ramshackle Inn. The play, written expressly for her, did well, and she took the show on the road in later years. Postwar films continued to give her the chance to play comic snoops and flighty relatives in such fare as Life with Father (1947), but in the 1950s, she started focusing on television. This culminated in her best-known series role, playing second banana to Gale Storm in CBS's The Gale Storm Show (1956) (also known as Oh, Susannah), in the role of Elvira Nugent ("Nugie"), the shipboard beautician. In 1961, Pitts was cast opposite Earle Hodgins in the episode "Lonesome's Gal" of the ABC sitcom Guestward, Ho!, set on a dude ranch in New Mexico. In 1962, she appeared in an episode of CBS's Perry Mason, "The Case of the Absent Artist". Her final role was as Gertie, the switchboard operator in the Stanley Kramer comedy epic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Personal life

Pitts was married to actor Thomas Sarsfield Gallery from 1920 to 1933. Gallery became a Los Angeles boxing promoter and later a TV executive. The couple had two children:

• ZaSu Ann Gallery
• Donald Michael "Sonny" Gallery (born Marvin Carville La Marr), whom they adopted and renamed after the 1926 death of Donald's biological mother (and Pitts' friend), actress Barbara La Marr.[11][12]

In 1933, Pitts married John Edward "Eddie" Woodall, with whom she remained until her death.

She was a Republican, and became active in the party.[3]

Declining health dominated Pitts' later years, particularly after she was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1950s. She continued to work, appearing on TV and making brief appearances in The Thrill of It All (1963) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. She died in Hollywood on June 7, 1963, aged 69, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.[3] Pitts wrote a book of candy recipes, Candy Hits by ZaSu Pitts, which was published posthumously in 1963.

Legacy

Trailer for Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)

ZaSu Pitts was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960 for her contribution to motion pictures.[13] Her star is on the south side of the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard.[14]

In 1994, she was honored with her image on a United States postage stamp along with fellow actors Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow and Charlie Chaplin as part of The Silent Screen Stars stamp set, designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.[5][15] Her birthplace of Parsons, Kansas, has a star tile at the entrance to the Parsons Theatre to commemorate her.[16]

In the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, W.C. Fields asks his niece, played by Gloria Jean, "Don't you want to go to school? You wanna be dumb like ZaSu Pitts?" Gloria Jean replied "She only acts like that in pictures. I like her".[17]

Actress Mae Questel, who performed character voices in Max Fleischer's Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons, reportedly based the fluttering utterances of Olive Oyl on Pitts.[18]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1917	Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm	Undetermined Role	Uncredited
1917	'49–'17	Party Guest	Uncredited
1917	The Little Princess	Becky
1918	A Modern Musketeer	A Kansas Belle	Uncredited
1918	How Could You Jean?	Oscar's Sweetheart	Lost film
1918	The Talk of the Town
1918	The Greatest Thing in Life		(scenes deleted), Lost film
1919	A Lady's Name	Emily
1919	As the Sun Went Down	Sal Sue
1919	Men, Women, and Money	Katie Jones	Lost film
1919	Better Times	Nancy Scroggs	Undetermined/presumably lost
1919	The Other Half	Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
1919	Poor Relations	Daisy Perkins
1920	Bright Skies	Sally
1920	Heart of Twenty	Katie Abbott
1920	Seeing It Through	Betty Lawrence
1921	Patsy	Patsy
1922	Is Matrimony a Failure?	Mrs. Wilbur	Lost film
1922	For the Defense	Jennie Dunn
1922	Youth to Youth	Emily	Lost film
1922	A Daughter of Luxury	Mary Cosgrove
1923	Mary of the Movies	Herself	Cameo role, Incomplete
1923	The Girl Who Came Back	Anastasia Muldoon
1923	Souls for Sale	Herself	Cameo role
1923	Three Wise Fools	Mickey
1923	Hollywood	Herself	Cameo role, lost film
1923	Tea: With a Kick!	'Brainy' Jones
1923	West of the Water Tower	Dessie Arnhalt	Lost film
1924	Daughters of Today	Lorena
1924	The Goldfish	Amelia Pugsley
1924	Triumph	A Factory Girl
1924	Changing Husbands	Delia
1924	The Legend of Hollywood	Mary Brown
1924	Wine of Youth	Lucy	(scenes deleted)
1924	The Fast Set	Mona	Lost film
1924	Secrets of the Night	Celia Stebbins
1924	Greed	Trina	Film is extant, but original 42 reel version is lost
1924	Sunlight of Paris
1925	The Great Divide	Polly Jordan
1925	The Re-Creation of Brian Kent	Judy
1925	Old Shoes
1925	Pretty Ladies	Maggie Keenan	Film is extant, but technicolor sequence is lost
1925	A Woman's Faith	Blanche Odile
1925	The Business of Love	Miss Wright
1925	Thunder Mountain	Mandy Coulter
1925	Lazybones	Ruth Fanning
1925	Wages for Wives	Luella Logan	Lost film
1925	The Great Love	Nancy	Lost film
1926	Mannequin	Annie Pogani
1926	What Happened to Jones	Hilda
1926	Monte Carlo	Hope Durant
1926	Early to Wed	Mrs. Dugan
1926	Sunny Side Up	Evelyn
1926	Risky Business	Agnes Wheaton
1926	Her Big Night	Gladys Smith
1927	Casey at the Bat	Camille Gibson
1928	Wife Savers	Germaine	Lost film
1928	13 Washington Square	Mathilde
1928	Buck Privates	Hulda
1928	The Wedding March	Cecelia Schweisser
1928	Sins of the Fathers	Mother Spengler
1929	The Dummy	Rose Gleason
1929	The Squall	Lena
1929	Twin Beds	Tillie
1929	The Argyle Case	Mrs. Wyatt	Lost film, only the sounds to reels 3, 5, 7, and 9 survive, and possibly the soundtrack
1929	Her Private Life	Timmins
1929	Oh, Yeah?	The Elk
1929	Paris	Harriet	Lost, only the soundtrack survives
1929	The Locked Door	Telephone Girl
1929	This Thing Called Love	Clara Bertrand	Lost, only the technicolor sequence survives
1930	No, No, Nanette	Pauline Hastings	Lost, only the soundtrack survives
1930	Honey	Mayme
1930	All Quiet on the Western Front	Frau Bäumer	Silent version trailer only; scenes deleted
1930	The Devil's Holiday	Ethel
1930	The Little Accident	Monica
1930	The Squealer	Bella
1930	Monte Carlo	Bertha
1930	War Nurse	Cushie
1930	The Lottery Bride	Hilda
1930	River's End	Louise
1930	Sin Takes a Holiday	Annie
1930	The Honeymoon	Caecilia	Lost film; released only in Europe
1930	Free Love	Ada
1930	Passion Flower	Mrs. Harney
1931	Finn and Hattie	Mrs. Haddock
1931	Bad Sister	Minnie
1931	Beyond Victory	Mademoiselle Fritzi
1931	Seed	Jennie
1931	A Woman of Experience	Katie
1931	Their Mad Moment	Miss Dibbs
1931	The Big Gamble	Nora Dugan
1931	Penrod and Sam	Mrs. Bassett	Alternative title: The Adventures of Penrod and Sam
1931	The Guardsman	Liesl, the Maid
1931	The Secret Witness	Bella
1931	On the Loose	Zasu	Short film
1932	The Unexpected Father	Polly Perkins
1932	Broken Lullaby	Anna, Holderlin's Maid
1932	Steady Company	Dot
1932	Shopworn	Aunt Dot
1932	Destry Rides Again	Temperance Worker	Alternative title: Justice Rides Again
1932	The Trial of Vivienne Ware	Gladys Fairweather
1932	Strangers of the Evening	Sybil Smith
1932	Westward Passage	Mrs. Truesdale
1932	Is My Face Red?	Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
1932	Make Me a Star	Mrs. Scudder
1932	Roar of the Dragon	Gabby Woman
1932	The Vanishing Frontier	Aunt Sylvia
1932	Blondie of the Follies	Gertie
1932	Back Street	Mrs. Dole
1932	The Crooked Circle	Nora Rafferty
1932	Once in a Lifetime	Miss Leyton
1932	Madison Square Garden	Florrie
1932	They Just Had to Get Married	Molly Hull
1933	Out All Night	Bunny
1933	Hello, Sister!	Millie
1933	Professional Sweetheart	Elmerada de Leon
1933	Her First Mate	Mary Horner
1933	Love, Honor, and Oh Baby!	Connie Clark
1933	Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men	Sybby 'Sib'
1933	Meet the Baron	ZaSu
1933	Mr. Skitch	Maddie Skitch
1934	The Meanest Gal in Town	Tillie Prescott
1934	Two Alone	Esthey Roberts
1934	Three on a Honeymoon	Alice Mudge
1934	Sing and Like It	Annie Snodgrass
1934	Love Birds	Araminta Tootle
1934	Private Scandal	Miss Coates
1934	Dames	Matilda Ounce Hemingway
1934	Their Big Moment	Tillie Whim
1934	Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch	Miss Hazy
1934	The Gay Bride	Mirabelle
1935	Ruggles of Red Gap	Prunella Judson
1935	Spring Tonic	Maggie Conklin
1935	Going Highbrow	Mrs. Cora Upshaw
1935	She Gets Her Man	Esmeralda
1935	Hot Tip	Belle McGill
1935	The Affair of Susan	Susan Todd	Alternative title: Alone Together
1936	Thirteen Hours by Air	Miss Harkins
1936	Mad Holiday	Mrs. Kinney
1936	The Plot Thickens	Hildegarde Withers
1936	Sing Me a Love Song	Gwen Logan
1937	Wanted!	Winnie Oatfield
1937	Merry Comes to Town	Winnie Oatfield
1937	Forty Naughty Girls	Hildegarde Withers
1937	52nd Street	Letitia Rondell
1939	The Lady's from Kentucky	Dulcey Lee
1939	Naughty but Nice	Aunt Penelope Hardwick
1939	Mickey the Kid	Lilly Handy
1939	Nurse Edith Cavell	Mme. Moulin
1939	Eternally Yours	Mrs. Cary Bingham
1940	It All Came True	Miss Flint
1940	No, No, Nanette	Pauline Hastings
1941	Broadway Limited	Myra
1941	Niagara Falls	Emmy Sawyer
1941	Weekend for Three	Anna
1941	Miss Polly	Miss Pandora Polly
1941	The Mexican Spitfire's Baby	Miss Emily Pepper
1941	Uncle Joe	Julia Jordan - the Widow
1942	Mexican Spitfire at Sea	Miss Pepper
1942	The Bashful Bachelor	Geraldine
1942	So's Your Aunt Emma	Aunt Emma Bates	Alternative title: Meet the Mob
1942	Tish	Aggie Pilkington
1943	Let's Face It!	Cornelia Figeson
1946	Breakfast in Hollywood	Elvira Spriggens
1947	Life with Father	Cousin Cora Cartwright
1950	Francis	Nurse Valerie Humpert
1952	Denver and Rio Grande	Jane Dwyer
1954	Francis Joins the WACS	Lt. Valerie Humpert
1957	This Could Be the Night	Mrs. Katie Shea - Landlady
1961	The Teenage Millionaire	Aunt Theodora
1963	The Thrill of It All	Olivia	Released posthumously; filmed in 1962
1963	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Gertie - Switchboard Operator	Released posthumously; filmed in 1962; (final film role)

Television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	Lum and Abner	Miss Pitts	Episode: "Pilot"
1954	The Best of Broadway	Miss Preen	Episode: "The Man Who Came to Dinner"
1955	Screen Directors Playhouse	Selma	Episode: "The Silent Partner"
1956	The 20th Century Fox Hour	Miss Appleton	Episode: "Mr. Belvedere"
1956–1960	The Gale Storm Show	Elvira Nugent	91 episodes
1957	Private Secretary	Aunt Martha	Episode: "Not Quite Paradise"
1960	The Dennis O'Keefe Show	Loretta Kimball	Episode: "Dimples"
1961	Guestward, Ho!		Episode: "Lonesome's Gal"
1962	Perry Mason	Daphne Whilom	Episode: "The Case of the Absent Artist"
1963	Burke's Law	Mrs. Bowie	Episode: "Who Killed Holly Howard?" Posthumous Air Date

See also

• Pitts and Todd

Notes

1. Pitts' year of birth is difficult to pinpoint. Kansas did not keep birth records prior to 1911. Many sources, including Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion, give 1898 as the year; her obituary in the New York Times gives 1900, which also appears on her headstone; Pitts biographer Stumpf gives 1894[3] and Notable American Women points out that the 1900 US Census gives her age as six years old.[2]
2. Todd and she are listed by Variety as the top two actors in number of film roles in the early 1930s (pre-1933).[8]

References

1. Zasu Pitts (1963). Candy Hits by ZaSu Pitts. Duell, Sloan and Pearce. p. 15.
2. Harold J. Salemson (1980). "Zasu Pitts". In Barbara Sicherman; Carol Hurd Green (eds.). Notable American Women: The Modern Period. A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 547–548. ISBN 978-0-674-62733-8.
3. Charles Stumpf (2010). ZaSu Pitts: The Life and Career. McFarland. pp. 3, 82, 100, 103–104. ISBN 978-0-7864-6023-6.
4. Phil Reader. Mike Brown (ed.). "Rulandus Pitts". 76th New York State Volunteers "The Cortland Regiment". Retrieved June 7, 2010.
5. Barbara Giffen (1984). "ZaSu Pitts: Actress 1898–1963". Santa Cruz Public Library. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
6. Koszarski, Richard (1983). Von: The Life and Films of Erich Von Stroheim. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 168. ISBN 0879109548.
7. Klepper, Robert K. (2005). Silent Films, 1877-1996: A Critical Guide to 646 Movies. McFarland. p. 286. ISBN 0786421649.
8. "Who's Grabbin' The Jobs: Hollywood Has Its Chosen Few". Variety. 110 (10): 3. May 16, 1933. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
9. Stuart Palmer (2013). Hildegarde Withers in The Riddle of the Blueblood Murders. Wildside Press LLC. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-4344-4637-4.
10. Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 255. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4.
11. Marston 2010, p. 121.
12. Donnelley 2003, p. 390.
13. "ZaSu Pitts". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
14. Christopher Smith (March 3, 2010). "ZaSu Pitts". Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
15. "29-cent Zasu Pitts single". Arago—People, Postage & the Post: Silent Screen Stars. Smithsonian, National Postal Museum. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
16. "Zasu Pitts". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society. April 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
17. "ZaSu PItts: The Life and Career (2010) – By James L. Neibaur". Rogue Cinema. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
18. Daniel Eagan (2010). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. A&C Black. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-8264-2977-3.

Sources

1. Donnelley, Paul (2003). Fade To Black: A Book Of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus. ISBN 978-1844494309.
2. Marston, Jack (2010). "Siren Song: The Tragedy of Barbara La Marr". In Tibbetts, John C; Welsh, James M (eds.). American Classic Screen Profiles. Scarecrow. ISBN 978-0810876767.

External links

• ZaSu Pitts at IMDb
• ZaSu Pitts at AllMovie
• ZaSu Pitts at the Internet Broadway Database
• Photographs and literature
• ZaSu Pitts at Find a Grave