Mary Gordon
BILL CROUCH reports
Mary Gordon’s big break
The PICTUREGOER Weekly, 27 October 1934, reported:
Picturegoer readers beyond the Tweed, may, or may not, be pleased to hear that Katharine Hepburn, of the cast-iron voice, has been learning to speak with a Scottish accent for her role in The Little Minister.
Katharine, moreover, so liked her teacher’s Caledonian burr, that she has arranged for her to have an important role in the film.
Hired to give the star some instructions in the Scottish dialect, Mary Gordon not only proved efficient, but impressed Miss Hepburn with her possibilities for a part in the Radio film. A test was suggested, and granted, and an acting contract resulted.
Miss Gordon is cast as mother of the clergyman, who will be portrayed by John Beal. Production is now well under way on this film version of Sir James Barrie’s famous play.
Up until that time Mary had been doing odd jobs and playing extra, and bit parts for fifteen years in Hollywood. Her first appearance (uncredited) in a Laurel and Hardy film was as Mrs MacTavish in the 1932 feature Pack Up Your Troubles.
Bonnie Scotland
Fifty three year old Mary Gordon played a feature role in the 1935 Laurel and Hardy movie Bonnie Scotland as the wee, no-nonsense Scottish landlady Mrs Bickerdike - Bickerdike is definitely not a Scottish name! Her Scottish accent packs a punch, and there is no doubt, with its characteristic thick burr, that it is a Glasgow based accent.
It is an excellent supporting sketch, with petite 158cm tall Mary, auburn hair tied back, grey watchful eyes and her plump figure, clad in what was to become her trademark long black skirt, standing firm and resolute against the antics of Mr McLaurel & Mr Hardy. The scenes are very funny and there are lines of dialogue long remembered 90 years on. The following quotes never fail to raise a smile.
“ I can give you the room, but you’ll have to take the bath yourself!”
“Oh! This has gone far enough! Rent or no rent, get out of my house you, you foreigners!”
“Oh, no you don’t - I’ll hold on to these until you settle up!”
To follow: Mary’s early life in Scotland and her life in Hollywood