ZaSu Pitts

American actress (1894–1963)

Thomas Sarsfield Gallery

(m. 1920; div. 1933)

John E. Woodall

(m. 1933)

Children2Signature

ZaSu Pitts (/ˈseɪzuː ˈpɪts/;^[1] January 3, 1894^[a] – June 7, 1963) was an American actress whose career spanned nearly five decades, starring in many silent film dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic Greed, and comedies, before transitioning successfully to mostly comedy roles with the advent of sound films. She also appeared on numerous radio shows and, later, made her mark on television. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 at 6554 Hollywood Blvd.

Early life

ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas, to Rulandus and Nelly (née Shay) Pitts; she was the third of four children. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Infantry in the Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas by the time ZaSu was born.^[4]

"ZaSu was five when her father died and her mother decided to move ZaSu, her two older brothers and herself to Santa Cruz"^[5]

Her childhood home at 208 Lincoln Street still stands. She attended Santa Cruz High School, where she participated in school theatricals.^[6]

Name

The names of her father's sisters, Eliza and Susan, were purportedly the basis for the name "ZaSu", i.e., to satisfy competing family interests. It has been (incorrectly) spelled as Zazu Pitts in some film credits and news articles. Although the name is commonly mispronounced /ˈzæzuː/ ZAZ-oo or /ˈzeɪsuː/ ZAY-soo, or /ˈzeɪzuː/ ZAY-zoo, in her 1963 book Candy Hits (pg. 15), published the year of her death, the actress gave the correct pronunciation as "Say Zoo" /ˈseɪzuː/, recounting that Mary Pickford had predicted "many will mispronounce it", and adding, "How right she was."

However, when introducing herself on the September 4, 1952 episode of I've Got a Secret, she herself pronounced it as Zay-zoo.^[7] Her comedy series partner Thelma Todd also clearly addresses her as Zay-zoo in the hospital room scene of Alum and Eve (1932).

Career

Pitts made her stage debut in 1914–15 doing school and local community theater in Santa Cruz.^{[citation needed]}

"They ran a boarding house there, but money was very tight so ZaSu, like so many other young women in the teens, left home to try her luck in the movies. She had found small roles in a few short films when she went to nearby (70 miles) Pleasanton where Mary Pickford was filming Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. ZaSu was cast as an extra in the film and then followed the company back to Los Angeles."^[8]

Going to Los Angeles in 1916, at the age of 22, she spent many months seeking work as a film extra. Finally, she was discovered for substantive roles in films by screenwriter Frances Marion, who cast Pitts as an orphaned "young maid called a slavey"^[9] (child of work, twelve or thirteen^[10]) in her silent film A Little Princess (1917), starring Pickford.

Pitts's popularity grew following a series of Universal one-reeler comedies, and earned her first feature-length lead in King Vidor's Better Times (1919). The following year she married her first husband, Tom Gallery, with whom she was paired in several films, including Heart of Twenty (1920), Bright Eyes, Patsy (both 1921) and A Daughter of Luxury (1922).

Pitts enjoyed her greatest fame in the early 1930s, often starring in B movies and comedy short films, teamed with Thelma Todd.^[b] She played secondary parts in many films. Her stock persona (a fretful, flustered, worried spinster) made her instantly recognizable and was often imitated in cartoons and other films. She starred in a number of Hal Roach short films and features, often in partnership with Thelma Todd, as Pitts and Todd, two trouble-prone working girls. At Universal she co-starred in a series of feature-length comedies with Slim Summerville. Switching between comedy short films and features, by the advent of sound, she became a specialist in comedy roles.

Dramatic potential

ZaSu Pitts had hidden talents as a dramatic actress. She was given the greatest tragic role of her career in Erich von Stroheim's 7+1⁄2-hour epic Greed (1924). The surprise casting initially shocked Hollywood, but showed that Pitts could draw tears with her doleful demeanor, as well as laughs. Having been extensively edited prior to release — the final theatrical cut ran just over two hours — the movie failed initially at the box office, but has since been restored to over four hours and is considered one of the greatest films ever made.^[12]^[13] Based on her performance, von Stroheim labeled ZaSu Pitts "the greatest dramatic actress." He also featured her in his films The Honeymoon (1928), The Wedding March (1928), and Walking Down Broadway. Pitts's performance in Walking Down Broadway was dramatic, with her character showing a repressed romantic interest in her girlfriend; the studio reshot these scenes with Pitts, now playing the girl's companion for laughs, and von Stroheim's directorial credit was removed from the film.^[14] The film was finally released in 1933, much changed, as Hello, Sister!.

ZaSu Pitts was so recognizable in comedies that the public didn't take her dramatic efforts seriously. In the classic war drama All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Pitts was cast as the distraught mother of young soldier Lew Ayres, but at preview screenings her intense performance drew unintentional laughs. Her scenes were refilmed with Beryl Mercer. In 1936 RKO needed a replacement actress for its Hildegarde Withers series of murder mysteries; Edna May Oliver had left the studio and Helen Broderick succeeded Oliver in the role. Pitts was chosen to succeed Broderick. In theory, it was a good idea: Pitts seemed to fit the role of a prim, spinster schoolmistress. However, mystery fans couldn't accept the fluttery Pitts as a brainy sleuth who matched wits with the police, and after her two Withers films the series was abandoned.^[15]

Radio and stage

Beginning in the 1930s, Pitts found work in radio. She appeared several times in the earliest Fibber McGee and Molly shows, playing a dizzy dame constantly looking for a husband. When Marian Jordan temporarily withdrew from Fibber McGee and Molly due to illness, Pitts made guest appearances opposite Jim Jordan as Fibber. Pitts also guested on variety shows, trading banter with Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, W.C. Fields, and Rudy Vallee, among others. She played Miss Mamie Wayne in the soap opera Big Sister.^[2], and was heard as Miss Pitts on The New Lum and Abner Show.^[16]

In 1944, Pitts tackled Broadway, making her debut in the mystery Ramshackle Inn. The play, written expressly for her, did well, and she took the show on the road in later years. She was also a familiar attraction in summer-stock theaters, playing annually in the Norma Mitchell play Post Road.

Postwar movies and television

Postwar films continued to give her the chance to play comic snoops and flighty relatives in such fare as Life with Father (1947), but in the 1950s, she started focusing on television. This culminated in her best-known series role, playing second banana to Gale Storm in ABC's The Gale Storm Show (1956) (also known as Oh, Susanna), in the role of Elvira Nugent ("Nugie"), the shipboard beautician. In 1961, Pitts was cast opposite Earle Hodgins in the episode "Lonesome's Gal" of the ABC sitcom Guestward, Ho!, set on a dude ranch in New Mexico. In 1962, she appeared in an episode of CBS's Perry Mason, "The Case of the Absent Artist". Her final role was as Gertie, the switchboard operator in the Stanley Kramer comedy epic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Personal life

Pitts was married to actor Thomas Sarsfield Gallery from 1920 until their 1933 divorce. Gallery became a Los Angeles boxing promoter and later a TV executive. The couple had two children:

ZaSu Ann Gallery
Donald Michael "Sonny" Gallery (born Marvin Carville La Marr), whom they adopted and renamed after the 1926 death of Donald's biological mother (and Pitts's friend), actress Barbara La Marr.^[17]^[18]

In 1933, Pitts married John Edward "Eddie" Woodall, with whom she remained until her death.^[19]^[20]

Declining health dominated Pitts's later years, particularly after she was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1950s. She continued to work, appearing on TV and making brief appearances in the films The Thrill of It All and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. She died in Hollywood on June 7, 1963, aged 69, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.^[2] Pitts wrote a book of candy recipes, Candy Hits, which was published posthumously in 1963.^[21]

Legacy

ZaSu Pitts was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960, for her contribution to motion pictures.^[22] Her star is on the south side of the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard.^[23]

In 1994, she was honored with her image on a United States postage stamp along with fellow actors Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow and Charlie Chaplin as part of The Silent Screen Stars stamp set, designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.^[6]^[24] Her birthplace of Parsons, Kansas, has a star tile at the entrance to the Parsons Theatre to commemorate her.^[25]

In the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), W.C. Fields asks his niece, played by Gloria Jean, "Don't you want to go to school? You want to grow up and be dumb like ZaSu Pitts?" Gloria Jean replied "She only acts like that in pictures. I like her."^[26]

Actress Mae Questel, who performed character voices in Max Fleischer's Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons, reportedly based the fluttering utterances of Olive Oyl on Pitts.^[27]

Filmography

Silent
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1917	Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm	Undetermined Role	Uncredited
	'49–'17	Party Guest	Uncredited
	The Little Princess	Becky
1918	A Modern Musketeer	A Kansas Belle	Uncredited
	How Could You, Jean?	Oscar's Sweetheart	Lost film
	The Talk of the Town		Lost film
	The Greatest Thing in Life		Lost film Scenes deleted
1919	A Lady's Name	Emily	Incomplete Four of five reels survive at the Museum of Modern Art
	As the Sun Went Down	Sal Sue	Lost film
	Men, Women, and Money	Katie Jones	Lost film
	Better Times	Nancy Scroggs	A copy is held at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands
	The Other Half	Jennie Jones, The Jazz Kid
	Poor Relations	Daisy Perkins	Lost film
1920	Bright Skies	Sally
	Heart of Twenty	Katie Abbott
	Seeing It Through	Betty Lawrence
1921	Patsy	Patsy
1922	Is Matrimony a Failure?	Mrs. Wilbur	Lost film
	For the Defense	Jennie Dunn	A copy is held at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands
	Youth to Youth	Emily	Lost film
	A Daughter of Luxury	Mary Cosgrove	Lost film
1923	Mary of the Movies	Herself	An incomplete copy is held at the Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision Cameo role
	The Girl Who Came Back	Anastasia Muldoon	Lost film
	Souls for Sale	Herself	Cameo role
	Three Wise Fools	Mickey	A copy is held at the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique
	Hollywood	Herself	Lost film Cameo role
	Poor Men's Wives	Apple Annie	Lost film
	Tea: With a Kick!	'Brainy' Jones
	West of the Water Tower	Dessie Arnhalt	Lost film
1924	Daughters of Today	Lorena
	The Goldfish	Amelia Pugsley	An incomplete copy is held at the Library of Congress
	Triumph	A Factory Girl	Copies are held at the George Eastman Museum and the Library of Congress
	Changing Husbands	Delia	A copy is held at the Library of Congress
	The Legend of Hollywood	Mary Brown
	Wine of Youth	Lucy	A copy is held at the George Eastman Museum Scenes deleted
	The Fast Set	Mona	Lost film
	Secrets of the Night	Celia Stebbins
	Greed	Trina	Film is extant, but original 42 reel version is lost
	Sunlight of Paris
1925	The Great Divide	Polly Jordan	A copy is held at the Cinemateket-Svenska Filminstitutet
	The Re-Creation of Brian Kent	Judy	A copy is held at the Library of Congress
	Old Shoes
	Pretty Ladies	Maggie Keenan	Film is extant, but technicolor sequence is lost
	A Woman's Faith	Blanche Odile
	The Business of Love	Miss Wright
	Thunder Mountain	Mandy Coulter	Lost film
	Lazybones	Ruth Fanning
	Wages for Wives	Luella Logan	Lost film
	The Great Love	Nancy	Lost film
1926	Mannequin	Annie Pogani
	What Happened to Jones	Hilda
	Monte Carlo	Hope Durant	A copy is held at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film library
	Early to Wed	Mrs. Dugan	Lost film
	Sunny Side Up	Evelyn
	Risky Business	Agnes Wheaton
	Her Big Night	Gladys Smith	A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive
1927	Casey at the Bat	Camille Gibson	A copy is held at the Library of Congress
1928	Wife Savers	Germaine	Lost film
	13 Washington Square	Mathilde	Copies are held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Library of Congress
	Buck Privates	Hulda	A copy is held at the George Eastman Museum
	The Wedding March	Cecelia Schweisser
Sound
1928	Sins of the Fathers	Mother Spengler	Part-talkie
1929	The Dummy	Rose Gleason
	The Squall	Lena
	Twin Beds	Tillie
	The Argyle Case	Mrs. Wyatt	Lost film, only the sounds to reels 3, 5, 7, and 9 survive, and possibly the soundtrack at the UCLA Film and Television Archive
	Her Private Life	Timmins
	Oh, Yeah!	The Elk
	Paris	Harriet	Lost film, only the soundtrack survives
	The Locked Door	Telephone Girl
	This Thing Called Love	Clara Bertrand	Lost film, only the technicolor sequence survives
1930	No, No, Nanette	Pauline Hastings	An incomplete copy is held at the BFI National Archive
	Honey	Mayme
	All Quiet on the Western Front	Frau Bäumer	Silent version trailer only; scenes deleted
	The Devil's Holiday	Ethel
	The Little Accident	Monica
	The Squealer	Bella
	Monte Carlo	Bertha
	War Nurse	Cushie
	The Lottery Bride	Hilda
	River's End	Louise
	Sin Takes a Holiday	Annie
	The Honeymoon	Caecilia	Lost film; released only in Europe
	Free Love	Ada
	Passion Flower	Mrs. Harney
1931	Finn and Hattie	Mrs. Haddock
	Bad Sister	Minnie
	Beyond Victory	Mademoiselle Fritzi
	Seed	Jennie
	A Woman of Experience	Katie
	Their Mad Moment	Miss Dibbs
	The Big Gamble	Nora Dugan
	Penrod and Sam	Mrs. Bassett	Alternative title: The Adventures of Penrod and Sam
	The Guardsman	Liesl, the Maid
	The Secret Witness	Bella
	On the Loose	Zasu	Short film
1932	The Unexpected Father	Polly Perkins
	Broken Lullaby	Anna, Holderlin's Maid
	Steady Company	Dot
	Shopworn	Aunt Dot
	Destry Rides Again	Temperance Worker	Alternative title: Justice Rides Again
	The Trial of Vivienne Ware	Gladys Fairweather
	Strangers of the Evening	Sybil Smith
	Westward Passage	Mrs. Truesdale
	Is My Face Red?	Morning Gazette Telephone Operator
	Make Me a Star	Mrs. Scudder
	Roar of the Dragon	Gabby Woman
	The Vanishing Frontier	Aunt Sylvia
	Blondie of the Follies	Gertie
	Back Street	Mrs. Dole
	The Crooked Circle	Nora Rafferty
	Once in a Lifetime	Miss Leyton
	Madison Square Garden	Florrie
	They Just Had to Get Married	Molly Hull
1933	Out All Night	Bunny
	Hello, Sister!	Millie
	Professional Sweetheart	Elmerada de Leon
	Her First Mate	Mary Horner
	Love, Honor, and Oh Baby!	Connie Clark
	Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men	Sybby 'Sib'
	Meet the Baron	ZaSu
	Mr. Skitch	Maddie Skitch
1934	The Meanest Gal in Town	Tillie Prescott
	Two Alone	Esthey Roberts
	Three on a Honeymoon	Alice Mudge
	Sing and Like It	Annie Snodgrass
	Love Birds	Araminta Tootle
	Private Scandal	Miss Coates
	Dames	Matilda Ounce Hemingway
	Their Big Moment	Tillie Whim
	Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch	Miss Hazy
	The Gay Bride	Mirabelle
1935	Ruggles of Red Gap	Prunella Judson
	Spring Tonic	Maggie Conklin
	Going Highbrow	Mrs. Cora Upshaw
	She Gets Her Man	Esmeralda
	Hot Tip	Belle McGill
	The Affair of Susan	Susan Todd	Alternative title: Alone Together
1936	Thirteen Hours by Air	Miss Harkins
	Mad Holiday	Mrs. Kinney
	The Plot Thickens	Hildegarde Withers
	Sing Me a Love Song	Gwen Logan
1937	Wanted!	Winnie Oatfield
	Merry Comes to Town	Winnie Oatfield
	Forty Naughty Girls	Hildegarde Withers
	52nd Street	Letitia Rondell
1939	The Lady's from Kentucky	Dulcey Lee
	Naughty but Nice	Aunt Penelope Hardwick
	Mickey the Kid	Lilly Handy
	Nurse Edith Cavell	Mme. Moulin
	Eternally Yours	Mrs. Cary Bingham
1940	It All Came True	Miss Flint
1940	No, No, Nanette	Pauline Hastings
1941	Broadway Limited	Myra
	Niagara Falls	Emmy Sawyer
	Weekend for Three	Anna
	Miss Polly	Miss Pandora Polly
	The Mexican Spitfire's Baby	Miss Emily Pepper
	Uncle Joe	Julia Jordan - the Widow
1942	Mexican Spitfire at Sea	Miss Pepper
	The Bashful Bachelor	Geraldine
	So's Your Aunt Emma	Aunt Emma Bates	Alternative title: Meet the Mob
	Tish	Aggie Pilkington
1943	Let's Face It!	Cornelia Figeson
1946	Breakfast in Hollywood	Elvira Spriggens
1947	Life with Father	Cousin Cora Cartwright
1950	Francis	Nurse Valerie Humpert
1952	Denver and Rio Grande	Jane Dwyer
1954	Francis Joins the WACS	Lt. Valerie Humpert
1957	This Could Be the Night	Mrs. Katie Shea - Landlady
1961	The Teenage Millionaire	Aunt Theodora
1963	The Thrill of It All	Olivia	Released posthumously; filmed in 1962
1963	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Gertie - Switchboard Operator	Released posthumously; filmed in 1962; (final film role)

Television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	Lum and Abner	Miss Pitts	Episode: "Pilot"
1954	The Best of Broadway	Miss Preen	Episode: "The Man Who Came to Dinner"
1955	Screen Directors Playhouse	Selma	Episode: "The Silent Partner"
1956	The 20th Century Fox Hour	Miss Appleton	Episode: "Mr. Belvedere"
1956–1960	The Gale Storm Show	Elvira Nugent	91 episodes
1957	Private Secretary	Aunt Martha	Episode: "Not Quite Paradise"
1960	The Dennis O'Keefe Show	Loretta Kimball	Episode: "Dimples"
1961	Guestward, Ho!		Episode: "Lonesome's Gal"
1962	Perry Mason	Daphne Whilom	Episode: "The Case of the Absent Artist"
1963	Burke's Law	Mrs. Bowie	Episode: "Who Killed Holly Howard?" Posthumous Air Date

Notes

^ Pitts's year of birth is difficult to pinpoint. Kansas did not keep birth records prior to 1911. Many sources, including Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion, give 1898 as the year; her obituary in the New York Times gives 1900, which also appears on her headstone; Pitts biographer Stumpf gives 1894^[2] and Notable American Women points out that the 1900 US Census gives her age as six years old.^[3]
^ Todd and she are listed by Variety as the top two actors in number of film roles in the early 1930s (pre-1933).^[11]

References

^ ZaSu Pitts (1963). Candy Hits by ZaSu Pitts. Duell, Sloan and Pearce. p. 15.
^ ^a ^b ^c Charles Stumpf (2010). ZaSu Pitts: The Life and Career. McFarland. pp. 3, 82, 100, 103–104. ISBN 978-0-7864-6023-6.
^ Harold J. Salemson (1980). "ZaSu Pitts". In Barbara Sicherman; Carol Hurd Green (eds.). Notable American Women: The Modern Period. A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 547–548. ISBN 978-0-674-62733-8.
^ Phil Reader. Mike Brown (ed.). "Rulandus Pitts". 76th New York State Volunteers "The Cortland Regiment". Retrieved June 7, 2010.
^ https://marypickford.org/caris-articles/discovering-zasu-pitts/
^ ^a ^b Barbara Giffen (1984). "ZaSu Pitts: Actress 1898–1963". Santa Cruz Public Library. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
^ "I've Got a Secret, September 4, 1952". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021.
^ https://marypickford.org/caris-articles/discovering-zasu-pitts/
^ https://marypickford.org/caris-articles/discovering-zasu-pitts/
^
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/labor/child-labor
- https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/download/43386/43107
^ "Who's Grabbin' The Jobs: Hollywood Has Its Chosen Few". Variety. 110 (10): 3. May 16, 1933. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
^ Koszarski, Richard (1983). Von: The Life and Films of Erich Von Stroheim. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 168. ISBN 0879109548.
^ Klepper, Robert K. (2005). Silent Films, 1877-1996: A Critical Guide to 646 Movies. McFarland. p. 286. ISBN 0786421649.
^ Don Miller, B Movies, Curtis Books, New York, 1973.
^ Stuart Palmer (2013). Hildegarde Withers in The Riddle of the Blueblood Murders. Wildside Press LLC. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-4344-4637-4.
^ Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 255. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4.
^ Marston 2010, p. 121.
^ Donnelley 2003, p. 390.
^ United Press (February 12, 1934). "Zasu Pitts Marries Tennis Instructor". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 5. Retrieved August 6, 2023. "The secret marriage of Zasu Pitts, screen comedienne, and Edward Woodall, tennis instructor, was reported today by friends here."
^ "Comedienne ZaSu Pitts Dies at 63 of Cancer: ZASU PITTS". Los Angeles Times. June 8, 1963. p. 1. ProQuest 168323319. Miss Pitts, wife of John E. Woodall, Los Angeles businessman and former tennis champion, entered the hospital Thursday. [...] Besides her husband, she leaves a daughter, Mrs. Ann Reynolds, and a son, Donald Gallery.
^ Lesem, Jeanne (December 14, 1963). "Books Are Bound for Cook's Shelf". Courier-Post. p. 6. ProQuest 1916485798. If you thought every possible angle had been covered in the cookbook field, look again. [...] 'Candy Hits' by Zasu Pitts (Duell, Sloan and Pearce) is a nostalgic collection of candy recipes sure to whet the sweet tooth of all who remember how delicious homemade goodies used to taste before mass production prevailed.
^ "ZaSu Pitts". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
^ Christopher Smith (March 3, 2010). "ZaSu Pitts". Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
^ "29-cent Zasu Pitts single". Arago—People, Postage & the Post: Silent Screen Stars. Smithsonian, National Postal Museum. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
^ "ZaSu Pitts". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society. April 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
^ "ZaSu PItts: The Life and Career (2010) – By James L. Neibaur". Rogue Cinema. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
^ Daniel Eagan (2010). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. A&C Black. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-8264-2977-3.

Sources

Donnelley, Paul (2003). Fade To Black: A Book Of Movie Obituaries. Omnibus. ISBN 978-1844494309.
Marston, Jack (2010). "Siren Song: The Tragedy of Barbara La Marr". In Tibbetts, John C; Welsh, James M (eds.). American Classic Screen Profiles. Scarecrow. ISBN 978-0810876767.