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Thelma  Todd
[1906-1935]

short profile movies of Thelma Todd Todd & Chase shorts, 1929-32 Todd & Pitts shorts, 1931-33 Todd & Kelly shorts, 1933-35 works about Thelma Todd image gallery friends & family links

Thelma Todd entry at Wikipedia
Thelma Todd credits [1926-36] at Internet Movie Database

Movies  of  Thelma Todd
Thelma Todd credits [1926-36] at Internet Movie Database
browse Thelma Todd movies on DVD at Amazon

"Thelma Todd In The Movies: A Pictorial Tribute" [2015] by Greg Lenburg CreateSpace 8½x5½ pb [7/2015] for $15.95

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film debut in 1926 with "Fascinating Youth"

"God Gave Me Twenty Cents" [1926]

"Nevada" [Paramount 1927]
Starring Gary Cooper, Thelma Todd & William Powell; based on a Zane Grey novel;
full credits from IMDb

"The Crash" [1928] /tt0018801/
based on short story "The Wrecking Boss" by Frank L. Packard
starring Thelma Todd & William Demarest

"Unaccustomed As We Are" [1929 short] starring Laurel & Hardy

"Chickens Come Home" [1930 short] starring Laurel & Hardy

"Another Fine Mess" [1930] starring Laurel & Hardy

Thelma Todd  &  Charley Chase  Shorts,  1929-32
Thelma was the favorite foil and leading lady of comedian Charley Chase [1893-1940]
at Hal Roach Studios; they appeared together in 12 short films.

"Snappy Sneezer" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1929]
"Crazy Feet" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1929]
"Stepping Out" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1929]
"The Real McCoy" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1930]
"Whispering Whoopee" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1930 sound short]
"All Teed Up" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1930]
"Dollar Dizzy" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1930]
"Looser Than Loose" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1930 sound short]
"High C's" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1930]
"The Pip From Pittsburg" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1931 sound short]
"Rough Seas" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1931]
"The Nickel Nurser" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932] with Billy Gilbert

Thelma Todd  &  Zasu Pitts  Shorts,  1931-33
Zasu Pitts & Thelma Todd appeared in 17 shorts together before Pitts left Hal Roach Studios.

"Let’s Do Things" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1931]
"Catch As Catch Can" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1931]
"The Pajama Party" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1931] /tt0022245/
"War Mamas" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1931]
"Seal Skins" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932]
"On The Loose" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1931]
with a cameo appearance by Laurel & Hardy
"Red Noses" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932]
"Strictly Unreliable" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932]
"The Old Bull" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932]
"Show Business" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932]
"Alum and Eve" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932]
"The Soilers" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1932]
"Sneak Easily" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933]
"Asleep In The Feet" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933]
"Maids ΰ la Mode" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933]
"Bargain of The Century" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933]
"One Track Minds" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933] with Spanky McFarland

"Monkey Business" [Paramount 1931] /tt0022158/
starring The Marx Brothers

"Corsair" independently-made gangster movie [1931]
starring Chester Morris & Thelma Todd {under an assumed name}

"The Maltese Falcon" [Warner June 1931]
aka "Dangerous Female"

Directed by Roy Del Ruth; based on Dashiell Hammett's 1929 novel; starring Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel, Robert Elliott, Thelma Todd, Otto Matieson, Walter Long & Dwight Frye b&w VHS [11/2002] for $9.95 full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia available on DVD on 3-disk set with the 1941 John Huston & Humphrey Bogart version Warner Home Video b&w DVD set [10/2006] 3 disks for $22.99

"Klondike" [Monogram Aug 1932]

A doctor flees judgment after the death of a patient; he crash lands in Yukon Territory, and a local beauty named Klondike nurses him back to health; her lazy boyfriend is discovered to have the same condition that brought about the doctor's disgrace. Directed by Phil Rosen; written by Tristram Tupper; starring Thelma Todd, Lyle Talbot, Henry B. Walthall, Jason Robards Sr., Priscilla Dean, Tully Marshall, Pat O'Malley & George 'Gabby' Hayes Alpha Home Ent. b&w DVD [1/2008] for $7.98 full credits from IMDb

"Horse Feathers" [Paramount Pictures Aug 1932]

The new president at Huxley College bends the rules in order to win the annual football contest against arch-rival Darwin College. Produced by Herman J. Mankiewicz; presented by Adolph Zukor; directed by Norman Z. McLeod; written by S.J. Perelman, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby & Will B. Johnstone; starring The Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd, Reginald Barlow, David Landau, Robert Greig, E.H. Calvert, Nat Pendleton, James Pierce, Theresa Harris, Walter Brennan & Ben Taggart Universal Studios b&w DVD [6/2011] for $5.00 Universal Studios b&w DVD [8/98] for $27.95 MCA Universal b&w VHS [undated] for $5.99 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia

"Speak Easily" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. Aug 1932]

A sendup of 'The Blue Angel'; directed by Edward Sedgwick; co-starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, Ruth Selwyn & Hedda Hopper Triad Prodns 'enhanced' b&w DVD [1/2009] for $19.95 Alpha Video b&w DVD [6/2004] for $7.98 Warner b&w VHS [1/93] for $24.99 full credits from IMDb

"Cheating Blondes" [Majestic Pictures May 1933]
re-issue title "Girls In Trouble"

Thelma plays twin sisters; when one is discovered with the dead body of a lecherous next-door neighbor, the sisters trade places in life. {No awards for the script.} Directed by Joseph Levering; starring Thelma Todd {dual role}, Ralf Harolde, Inez Courtney, Milton Wallis, Mae Busch, Earl McCarthy, William Humphrey, Brooks Benedict VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available • full credits at IMDb

"Fra Diavolo (The Devil's Brother)" feature film [1933]
starring Laurel & Hardy; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fra_Diavolo_(1933_film)

"Counsellor At Law" [1933]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counsellor_at_Law

Thelma Todd  &  Patsy Kelly  Shorts,  1933-35
Patsy Kelly & Thelma Todd appeared in 21 shorts together before Thelma's untimely death.

"Beauty and The Bus" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933]
"Backs To Nature" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933]
"Air Fright" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1933]
"Babes In The Goods" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"Soup and Fish" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"Maid In Hollywood" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"I’ll Be Suing You" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"Three Chumps Ahead" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"One Horse Farmers" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"Opened By Mistake" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"Done In Oil" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"Bum Voyage" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1934]
"Treasure Blues" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"Sing, Sister, Sing" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"The Tin Man" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"The Misses Stooge" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"Slightly Static" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"Twin Triplets" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"Hot Money" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"Top Flat" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]
"All American Toothache" [Hal Roach/M.G.M. 1935]

"Take The Stand" [Liberty Films Sept 1934]
'lost' film; based on the Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933] novel "The Deuce of Hearts"
starring Jack La Rue & Thelma Todd; full credits from IMDb

"Palooka" [1934] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palooka_(film)

"Hips, Hips, Hooray!" slapstick comedy [1934]
starring Wheeler & Woolsey, Ruth Etting, Thelma Todd & Dorothy Lee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hips,_Hips,_Hooray!

"Two For Tonight" musical comedy film [1935]

"The Bohemian Girl" comedy feature film [1936] starring Laurel & Hardy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bohemian_Girl_(1936_film)

Works About Thelma Todd

"The Perfect Crime" (1988) short story by Max Allan Collins

"Hot Toddy: The True Story of Hollywood's Most Shocking Crime - The Murder of Thelma Todd" [1989] by Andy Edmonds Avon TV movie tie-in mass pb [4/91] out of print/used Wm. Morrow & Co. hardcover [5/89] out of print/used

Murder Casebook Magazine Issue #58 [1990s] William Desmond Taylor, : Two leading lights – a director and a screen idol – whose deaths shook Tinseltown weekly magazine published by Marshall Cavendish in U.K. out of print/used: copies for sale on eBay, not found on Amazon Murder In Mind Magazine Issue #89 [2000] Hollywood Mysteries: The murder of Silent Era director Wm. Desmond Taylor and the death of screen comedienne Thelma Todd still raise questions weekly magazine published by Marshall Cavendish in U.K. out of print/used: copies for sale on eBay, not found on Amazon

	"White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd" [NBC-TV May 1991] Directed by Paul Wendkos; script by Robert E. Thompson & Lindsay Harrison, based on the book "Hot Toddy"; starring Loni Anderson, Robert Davi, Lawrence Pressman, Paul Dooley, Marla Adams & Joe Bays • full credits at IMDb Direct Source Label color DVD [1/2006] for $5.98 Shapiro Glickenhaus color VHS [9/91] out of prodn/used
	"Hollywood Blondes: Golden Girls of The Silver Screen" [2007] by Michelle Vogel & Liz Nocera Wasteland Press 9x5¾ pb [3/2007] for $22.45 chapter/subjects include Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Jean Harlow, Judy Holliday, Grace Kelly, Veronica Lake, Carole Landis, Carole Lombard, Jayne Mansfield, Marie McDonald, Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Payton, Lana Turner, Thelma Todd & Mae West
	"The Case of the Ice Cream Blonde" mystery novel [2011] by Michael W. Paulson Wealthy rascal and detective Harper Collins and his butler Rigby set out to solve the murder of movie actress 'Thelma Beale', hoping that they can prove that the killer was gangster Lucky Luciano. CreateSpace 9x6 pb [2/2011] for $12.99
	"The Life and Death of Thelma Todd" [2011] by William Donati Kindle Edition from McFarland & Co. [1/2012] for $14.74 McFarland & Co. pb [10/2011] for $39.95
	"Don't You Know Who I Am?: Discovering My Past Life As Thelma Todd" [9/2012] by Lana Cheryl Johnson The only people who might buy this drivel are those with a past life as a garden gnome.
	"The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd" [2015] by Michelle Morgan Kindle Edition from Chicago Review Press [11/2015] for $19.06 Chicago Review Press 9x6 hardcover [11/2015] for $20.06

Image  Gallery

Crime scene photo of Thelma Todd, found dead 16 December 1935. She was covered with a mink coat and lying on the front seat of her 1932 V12 Lincoln Phaeton convertible, discovered by her maid in a garage on the hill above her Sidewalk Cafe restaurant at Pacific Palisades Beach, California. {This photo is commonly displayed in reverse on the internet; note the steering wheel.}

The Los Angeles grand jury investigating Thelma Todd's death visits her restaurant at 17575 Roosevelt Highway in the Castellamare section of Pacific Palisades Beach, California in early 1936. The downstairs was the restaurant/nightclub, while the upstairs was a luxurious apartment where Thelma lived. The building is currently owned by a filmmaking company connected with the Catholic Church. {view larger version, in new window}

Friends & Family
Thelma Alice Todd was born on 29 July 1906 in Lawrence, Massachusetts; she was discovered & signed by Paramount, then signed by Hal Roach Studios, and became known
as 'Hot Toddy' and 'The Ice Cream Blonde'; she opened a restaurant-nightclub on Pacific Coast Highway in August 1934 and lived on the top floor; her maid found her body
in a nearby garage on 16 December 1935; her death was ruled accidental (possibly suicide), but that verdict was not believed, then or now.

lover director Roland West [1885-1952], circa 1931-35; also partner in Thelma's cafe

actress Jewel Carmen [1897-1984] - West's ex-wife (1918-30) and partner in Thelma's cafe

husband agent & hoodlum Pat DiCicco [1909-78] - married July 1932, divorced 1934

gangster Charles 'Lucky' Luciano [1897-1962], seen with Thelma around Los Angeles in 1935

L i n k s
Thelma Todd entry at Wikipedia
Thelma Todd credits [1926-36] at Internet Movie Database
browse Thelma Todd movies on DVD at Amazon

Thelma Todd photo fansite
{planned} Thelma Todd Society Online
Paulist Productions [est. 1960] is located in the building that was Thelma's cafe

here on the Thelma Todd [1906-35] Page at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store

top of page • short profile • movies of Thelma Todd • works about Thelma Todd • image gallery • friends & family • links

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