Byron
Elsworth Barr became Gig Young after “Gay Sisters” gig!
Hollywood’s
Original
Gig
by Jamie Jobb
Sometimes
"identity theft" is difficult to comprehend –
particularly when it involves Hollywood, where stolen identity is
nothing new.
Take
"Gig Young", for example. He was a Hollywood actor from
the 1940s to the 1970s who assumed the fictional name of a loutish
character he portrayed in a studio picture three years into his
career.
Once
he assumed the character's on screen name, he reprised that lothario
role repeatedly throughout the twisted fate of his own life off
screen. Until his life ended in a drunken murder/suicide plot right
out of Film Noir.
*
* *
Seven
decades ago, Warner Brothers cast an actor named Byron Elsworth Barr
to play "second banana" in a Barbara Stanwyck feature, "The
Gay Sisters" (1942). The character he plays in that film is
"Gig Young".
You
can see from these clips
that screenwriter Lenore Coffee and the film’s cast had fun with
that character name when the film was in production, joking about it
as often as they could.
Barr
liked the name "Gig Young" so much he decided to keep it as
his own on screen. Warners agreed, and he was so credited in
subsequent roles, right up to his final film role as Jim Marshall in
“Game of Death” (1978). He ended up making 55 pictures in thirty
years, and won an Oscar for his performance in “They Shoot Horses,
Don’t They?” (1969).
The
original credits for "The Gay Sisters" listed "Byron
Barr" as playing "Gig Young" but after Barr assumed
that screen name, the credits were changed in later release prints.
This
creates a confusing mess for anyone who sees the film in the
Twenty-First Century where "Gig Young" is vaguely recalled
from his dim but considerable celebrity from the Twentieth Century.
"The
Gay Sisters" is often screened on TCM. If you get a chance to
see it, note that:
The credits of "The Gay
Sisters" were not changed to read "Gig Young as himself"
– because any actor named "Gig Young" was unknown at the
time, so he could not appear in public "as himself", like
say Liberace or Cantinflas.
Actor George Brent plays a character
named "Charles Barclay" which may sound similar to -- but
is by no means reflective of -- an NBA player who spells the name
differently and was born 22 years after the film was made.
*
* *
Speaking
of shelf life, Gig Young's professional name change was necessitated
by confusion with another actor named "Byron Barr". As
Young's career developed he became typecast as the self-same
cynical-but-friendly drunken buddy of the "top banana".
Unfortunately
that recurring alcoholic role spilled over into his private life and
eventually scuttled his career. When Young passed out drunk on the
set of "Blazing Saddles" in 1973, Mel Brooks replaced him
with Gene Wilder. Brooks tells that story of that first day on the
set with Gig in the saddle:
“We
draped Gig Young's legs over and hung him upside down. And he started
to talk and he started shaking. I said, This guy's giving me a lot.
He is giving plenty. He's giving me the old alky shake. Great. And
then it got serious, because the shaking never stopped, and green
stuff started spewing out of his mouth and nose, and he started
screaming. And, I said, That's the last time I'll ever cast anybody
who really is that person. If you want an alcoholic, don't cast an
alcoholic. Anyway, poor Gig Young, it was the first shot on Friday,
nine in the morning, and an ambulance came and took him away. I had
no movie.”
After
that humiliation, Gig Young's star quickly collapsed like other black
holes which once were Hollywood supernovae. Further sordid details
of his demise may be found in the links below, but Gig's daughter
Jennifer Young has produced a loving documentary that concentrates
on the value of her father's career without ignoring his flaws, which
she has experienced first hand. A portion of her film was once
posted to You Tube, but since has been taken down. These
updated links regard her attempts to distribute the film:
Other
resources:
