Post-Star: LOCAL HISTORY: From Glens Falls to the big screen: John Boles appeared in more than 50 movies

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LOCAL HISTORY: From Glens Falls to the big screen: John Boles appeared in more than 50 movies

MAURY THOMPSON Special to The Post-Star Aug 7, 2021

Actor John Boles, who co-starred with child actress Shirley Temple in “Curly Top” and “The Littlest Rebel,” said in 1946 that his two greatest inspirations in life were Oscar Seagle of Schroon Lake and the Rev. Charles Otis Judkins of Glens Falls.

Actor John Boles, as seen in a 1946 edition of The Post-Star.
Post-Star archives

Boles, an actor, concert soloist and nightclub entertainer, had lived in Glens Falls, where he taught French and music at Glens Falls High School in the 1920-21 and 1921-22 school years.

Seagle, the baritone operatic and concert soloist who founded Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, taught Boles music and was believed to have used his connections to get Boles started in show business.
'The Age of Innocence'

Movie actor John Boles, who taught French and music at Glens Falls High School, starred in the 1939 movie version of "The Age of Innocence."

Judkins was pastor of Christ Church Methodist in Glens Falls, where Boles attended and was interim music director for about three months in 1922.

“From him (Judkins) I derived a philosophy and a faith whose sustaining power grows as the years go by,” Boles said in a 1937 Hollywood radio interview, previous to his 1946 comment.

Boles returned to visit Glens Falls in 1946, one of his many visits over the years, when he was performing at the Arrowhead Club in Saratoga Springs.

“I drove by my old home on Grove Avenue, and it brought back many happy memories of my life here,” he told Post-Star reporter Marilyn Pepin in an article published Aug. 31, 1946.
'Child of Manhattan'

John Boles, as seen in a movie publicity photo for 1933's "Child of Manhattan," with actress Nancy Carroll.
Post-Star archives

They were lean years financially for Boles, who lived to savor his name placed on a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame in 1960.

“In those (Glens Falls) days, I couldn’t afford the luxury of playing golf. I did well to pay my grocery bill,” he quipped.

But he did play baseball.

Boles, a University of Texas star athlete in his college days, was pitcher in 1921 for the Professional Men’s recreational baseball team in the Glens Falls Industrial League.

Boles also was a standout pitcher in high school, setting a southwest Texas record of 19 strikeouts in one game.

Big League scouts attempted to recruit him, but Boles’ father rejected the offers without telling the son.
'Frankenstein'

Movie actor John Boles, who taught French and music at Glens Falls High School, was featured in the 1931 movie version of "Frankenstein."

“But that was where fate intervened,” The Post-Star reported on Jan. 24, 1929. “Boles’ father disliked the idea of his son becoming a professional baseball player. It was all right just for fun and for the school. But as a life profession, the senior Boles felt there were other things in store for the boy.”

The younger Boles did not learn of the baseball offers until years later.

In addition to teaching and choir directing while in Glens Falls, Boles staged and promoted fine arts concerts at Glens Falls, including bringing the world-famous Flonzaley Quartet to perform at Christ Church.

He frequently performed and sometimes spoke at local civic events, including a Court McDermott Daughters of Isabella meeting on Feb. 15, 1921, when he spoke on the topic “Better Music in Glens Falls.”

In the 1946 interview, the 6-foot-tall Boles said he preferred operatic, concert and nightclub performing to film because live performances require perfection the first time, whereas film scenes can be shot over and over again.

“Regardless of which part of theatrical entertaining I stay in, I intend to work as long as I can fool the public,” he said.

Boles appeared in more than 50 movies over 28 years, beginning with the silent film “The Sixth Commandment” in 1924.

The innovation of talkies enabled Boles, who was most prolific in the 1930s, to showcase his singing, as well as acting, talent.

“The adaptation of music to motion pictures has opened a new route to stardom for many actors who otherwise would remain in the more or less obscure class,” The Post-Star editorialized on Oct. 15, 1928, writing about Boles’ route from Glens Falls to movie stardom. “Producers are now going over their files of young hopefuls to find a chosen few who may give promise of being fitted for this specialty.”
John Boles in the movies

Here are the Glens Falls area moviehouses and the films shown in them featuring John Boles:

Paramount, Glens Falls: “I Believe in You,” 1934; “Stand Up and Cheer,” 1934; “Orchids to You,” 1935; “Redheads on Parade,” 1935; “Rose of the Rancho,” 1935, 1936, 1938; “Romance in the Dark,” 1938; “Road to Happiness,” 1942; “Thousands Cheer,” 1943, 1944
Empire, Glens Falls: “Man-Made Woman,” 1929; “Romance of the Underworld,” 1928; “Captain of the Guard,” 1930;“Resurrection,” 1931; “Seed,” 1931; “Frankenstein,” 1932; “Back Street,” 1932; “Child of Manhattan,” 1933, 1934; “My Lips Betray,” 1933; “Only Yesterday,” 1934; “I Believe in You,” 1934; “Bottom Up,” 1934; “The Life of Vergie Winters,” 1934; “Stand Up and Cheer,” 1934; “All Men Are Enemies,” 1934; “Wild Gold,” 1934; “The Age of Innocence,” 1934; “The White Parade,” 1935; “Music in the Air,” 1935; “Curly Top,” 1935; “Orchids to You,” 1935; “Redheads on Parade,” 1935; “The Littlest Rebel,” 1936. “A Message to Garcia,” 1936; “Craig’s Wife,” 1936; “As Good as Married,” 1937; “Fight for Your Lady,” 1938; “Between Us Girls, 1943; “Thousands Cheer,” 1944
Rialto, Glens Falls: “The Shepherd of the Hills,” 1928; “We Americans,” 1928; “Fazil,” 1928; “The Desert Song,” 1929; “Good Sport,” 1932; “Six Hours to Live,” 1932; “King of Jazz,” 1933; “Only Yesterday,” 1933; “Beloved,” 1934; “The Life of Vergie Winters,” 1934; “The Age of Innocence,” 1934; “The White Parade,” 1934; “Music in the Air,” 1935; “Curly Top,” 1935; “Red Heads on Parade,” 1935; “The Littlest Rebel,” 1936; “A Message to Garcia,” 1936; “Craig’s Wife,” 1936;“As Good as Married,” 1937; Stella Dallas,” 1937; “Fight for Your Lady,” 1937; “She Married and Artist,” 1938; “Sinner in Paradise,” 1938; “Between Us Girls,” 1943
State, Glens Falls: “Virgin Lips,” 1928; “Scandal,” 1929; “Rio Rita,” 1929; “Song of the West,” 1930; “One Heavenly Night,” 1932, 1947; “Seed,” 1931, 1932; “Frankenstein,” 1932; “Good Sport,” 1932; “King of Jazz,” 1933; “Careless Lady,” 1933; “Back Street,” 1932; “Six Hours to Live,” 1933, 1934; “Child of Manhattan,” 1934; “Beloved,” 1934; “I Believe In You,” 1934; “Bottom Up,” 1934; “Stand Up and Cheer,” 1934; “Wild Gold,” 1934; “The Age of Innocence,” 1935; “The White Parade,” 1935; “Music in the Air,” 1935; “Curly Top,” 1935; “Orchids to You,” 1935; “Redheads on Parade,” 1936; “The Littlest Rebel,” 1936; “Rose of the Rancho,” 1936; “A Message to Garcia,” 1936; “Craig’s Wife,” 1937; “As Good as Married,” 1937; “Fight for Your Lady,” 1937, 1938; “She Married and Artist,” 1938; “Romance in the Dark,” 1938; “Sinners in Paradise,” 1938
Strand, Hudson Falls: “Excuse Me,” 1925; “The Shepherd of the Hills,” 1928; “We Americans,” 1928; “Fazil,” 1928; “Man-Made Woman,” 1929; “Romance of the Underworld,” 1929; “Rio Rita,” 1929; “Resurrection,” 1931; “Good Sport,” 1932; “King of Jazz,” 1933; “Only Yesterday,” 1934; “Beloved,” 1934; “Wild Gold,” 1934; “The White Parade,” 1935; “Music in the Air,” 1935; “Curly Top,” 1935; “Redheads on Parade,” 1935; “The Littlest Rebel,” 1936; “Rose of the Rancho,” 1936; “A Message to Garcia,” 1936; “Craig’s Wife,” 1936; “As Good as Married,” 1937; “Romance in the Dark,” 1938; “Sinners in Paradise,” 1938; “Road to Happiness,” 1943; “Between Us Girls,” 1943
Bradley, Fort Edward: “Man-Made Woman,” 1929; “Resurrection,” 1932; “Back Street,” 1932; “Bottom Up,” 1934; “The White Parade,” 1935; “Rose of the Rancho,” 1936; “Craig’s Wife,” 1937; “Fight for Your Lady,” 1938; “She Married an Artist,” 1938
Lake, Lake George: “Seed,” 1931; “Careless Lady,” 1932; “Back Street,” 1932
Fairyland, Warrensburg: “The Shepherd of the Hills,” 1928

Source: Post-Star archives

Boles, born in Greenville, Texas, graduated from the University of Texas in 1917 with a pre-med degree.

His parents wanted him to continue medical studies, but he chose the entertainment field after being cast in an opera.

In 1917, the year he graduated college, Boles married Marcelite Dobbs, who was still his wife when Boles died in 1969.

The couple had two daughters.

Reportedly, Boles was a U.S. spy in Bulgaria, Germany and Italy during World War I, under the cover of an interpreter for a group of traveling students, in between college and teaching at Glens Falls.

After leaving Glens Falls, he traveled and studied with Seagle in Europe for several months, before making his Broadway debut in 1923.

A Dec. 16, 1929, Post-Star editorial heralded the “remarkable readjustment” of his career.

“Virtually all of the thousands of persons who enjoyed Mr. Boles’ work in ‘Rio Rita’ in one of our playhouses last week were aware that the young man was not long ago a music teacher in one of the Glens Falls schools, that he was studying voice culture under Oscar Seagle, and that — at least the story goes — it was on the advice, and possibly through the personal help, of the music master, that the young man gave up teaching and went away to seek his fortune in the field of musical histrionics,” the editorial gushed. “Horatio Alger could have taken the story of John Boles and made a book out of it without applying many imaginary details.”

Perhaps it was Seagle who introduced Boles to actress Gloria Swanson.

“His (Boles’) ‘discovery’ by actress Gloria Swanson launched a long screen career,” reported an Associated Press obituary in 1969.

Swanson reportedly had seen Boles’ perform on Broadway in 1923, and a few years later asked him to appear with her in the 1927 film, “The Love of Sonya.”

'Bottoms Up'

An ad for the Paramount Theatre in Glens Falls, from the April 7, 1934, edition of The Post-Star, for a film featuring actor John Boles.
Post-Star archives

After 1946, Boles appeared in one last major movie, “Babes in Baghdad,” released in 1952.

Just after filming of “Babes in Baghdad” was completed in Spain, Boles made another visit to Glens Falls and attended a Glens Falls Operetta Club, now Glens Falls Community Theater, performance of “The Desert Song,” a stage version of one of the early movies he appeared in.

Boles wrote a letter to The Post-Star afterward, praising the performance.

“I have always thought of Glens Falls as my second home,” he wrote. “The people were most gracious and cordial to me and my family.”

Boles retired from entertainment after that to focus on his business career that included real estate investments in Los Angeles, an aviation parts manufacturing plant in North Hollywood and a startup oil business in Texas.

Maury Thompson was a Post-Star reporter for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary filmmaker specializing in the history of politics, labor organizing and media in the region.