“Diction! Say! That’s the thing that’s ruined more stars than made ’em. Diction! That’s what’s wrong with half the old-timers. They started learning how to talk and they flounce around the sets with their ‘cawnts’ and ‘Chewsdays’ and all that stuff. Say, audiences don’t want that sort of stuff, see? Audiences want to hear actors that sound natural, that speak like they do. And that’s why they like me, see?” — Jack Oakie, discussing the early talkie days.
Source: an interview conducted by Crosby Frank.
From Hell to Heaven (1933). With Carole Lombard, Jack Oakie, David Manners and Adrienne Ames.
“Somebody is always telling me to cheer up some star who gets the doldrums, and I rush over and scatter sunshine like nobody’s business. Do I get extra dough for that? Not a cent. I suppose they figure sunshine is for free.” — Jack Oakie
Source: 1935
“Of course, anyone could do a double take. It was my triple take and my super triple take with fades that used to put the whammy on the other actors in a scene.” — Jack Oakie
Source: James Bacon (1958)
“It was so cold that we were freezing around the fireplace in the lodge. The assistant director told us we had to go out on top of a mountain for a scene with the dog star. I think he was the first cousin of Rin Tin Tin. We squawked and we moaned, but we went out in that 25-below location. It’s a good thing the picture wasn’t in color, because Loretta was the prettiest blue you ever saw. Pretty soon the trainer comes up with another dog. I said: ‘Where’s the star dog?’ The guy answers me: ‘You think I’m crazy, letting that valuable dog out in weather like this?'” — Jack Oakie
Source: James Bacon (1958)
Photo: Call of the Wild (1935). With Clark Gable and Loretta Young.
“That deadpan was murder to work with. I couldn’t outmug him. Then one day a director friend dropped a hint: ‘Use your hands.’ So when I got in a scene with Sparks, I’d let him tell his deadpan joke, and I’d laugh and push him or slap him on the back. As long as I kept him off balance, I could handle him.” — Jack Oakie
Photo: Collegiate (1936). With Ned Sparks and Lynne Overman.
“He wasn’t hep to me. I covered his face with my hands and got by with every trick in the book.” — Jack Oakie
Source: James Bacon (1958)
Photo: The Great Dictator (1940). With Charles Chaplin.
“The female, when it tries, is much more deadly than the male.” — Jack Oakie
Source: 1941
Photo: She Wrote the Book (1944). With Joan Davis.
