American card.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. B. 4. Photo: Warner.
A holiday favourite
Dennis Morgan was born Earl Stanley Morner in the small town of Prentice, Wisconsin, in 1908. His parents were Frank Edward Morner and Grace June Van Dusen. Earl attended Carroll College in Wisconsin and belonged to the college football team. Later, he studied voice at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee and the American Conservatory in Chicago.
He joined a troupe of performers at the State Lake Theatre in Chicago and toured the Midwest. He sang in productions of 'Faust' and 'Carmen'. In 1936, after relocating to Los Angeles, Morgan began appearing in films. He signed a contract with MGM as Stanley Morner.
His first jobs were mostly bit parts. He received his first musical film break singing 'A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody' in The Great Ziegfeld (Robert Z. Leonard, 1936). His voice, however, was dubbed by Allan Jones. Subsequently, he moved to Paramount and then Warner Bros., where he was billed as 'Dennis Morgan'.
He scored big after playing opposite Ginger Rogers in the big hit Kitty Foyle (Sam Wood, 1940) for RKO. He starred in films such as the war romance The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944) with Eleanor Parker and Dane Clark, the action film God Is My Co-Pilot (Robert Florey, 1945), and the musical My Wild Irish Rose (David Butler, 1947).
His engaging performance as seaman Jefferson Jones, with Barbara Stanwyck and a wonderful supporting cast, including Sydney Greenstraat, S.Z. Szakall and Una O'Connor have made Christmas in Connecticut (Peter Godfrey, 1945) a holiday favourite.
Spanish postcard by Sobe, Barcelona, no. 222.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 315. Photo: Warner.
The easy-going singer who always got the girl
Dennis Morgan teamed up with fellow Wisconsinite Jack Carson in One More Tomorrow (1946). Warners liked them as a combination, seeing them as similar to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope at Paramount. Morgan was the easy-going singer who always got the girl, and Carson was the loud-mouthed but cowardly braggart-comic who was given the air.
The two buddies did 11 films together. These included Two Guys from Milwaukee (David Butler, 1946) with Joan Leslie, Two Guys from Texas (David Butler, Frank Tashlin, 1948) with Dorothy Malone, and It's a Great Feeling (David Butler, 1949), starring Doris Day. He made a Western Raton Pass (Edwin L. Marin, 1950) with Patricia Neal and Eddy Cochran, and a musical Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (David Butler, 1951) with Virginia Mayo.
He supported Joan Crawford in the Film Noir This Woman Is Dangerous (Felix E. Feist, 1952). Wikipedia: "Jack L. Warner wanted to terminate Dennis Morgan's expensive contract with Warner Bros., and assigned Morgan to Cattle Town (1952), a quickie western to be produced by B-movie specialist Bryan Foy. The director was silent-era veteran Noel M. Smith, known as a fast-and-cheap director who staged reckless action scenes.
Jack Warner was certain that Morgan would refuse the strenuous assignment and break the contract, but Morgan refused to forfeit his salary. He reported for work as scheduled, made the film for Smith, and collected his customary salary. After that, his contract with Warners ended. Morgan later said, 'My mistake was that I stayed at one studio too long. Another mistake: I turned down early television, believing then... that people should pay to see us.'
Dennis Morgan died in 1994 in Fresno, California, of respiratory failure. He and his wife, Lillian Mae Vedder, were married for 61 years. They had three children, Stanley Jr., Kristin and James. Kristin Morgan appeared with her father in My Wild Irish Rose (1947). She was 8 years old at the time. In 1983, Morgan, along with his film pal, Jack Carson, who had died in 1963, was inducted into the Wisconsin Performing Artists Hall of Fame.
Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, no. A.X. 405. Photo: Warner Bros.
Vintage postcard. Photo: Warner Bros.
Sources: Kay Peracca with James Turner (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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