November 7, 2011
Character actor Charlie Arnt and Ned Scott developed a portfolio of character roles in 1936. The chief objective of this effort was the promotion of Charlie Arnt as a specialty actor. It turned out that Ned Scott used it for his own promotional purposes as well. The characters which Arnt portrayed reflected the cultural and political atmosphere of the time. Bums, tramps and hobos are depicted as well as drunks, yokels, country boys, and beach bums. A Nazi appears along with a despotic plantation overseer. Since trains were the preferred mode of getting around the country in the mid 1930’s, the nervous train station clerk and station master show up. A cowboy and a country vet appear. In the varied world of criminal activity of the day, gangsters of several types fill the frame wielding knives or nearly being knifed at the behest of the crime boss. There’s an insomniac and a hen-pecked husband. There’s even a French military general whose fate is sealed by the firing squad. A smooth talking hustler and a carnival barker have their day. The profligate womanizer. And the magician. And the bartender, both legit and speakeasy types.
After 1940, Ned Scott and Charlie Arnt were neighbors, living on the same road in La Canada, California only three doors away from each other. Charlie’s son Derek and I were friends before the the family moved away to Orcas Island, Washington in the early 1950’s. I remember Charlie as being a very warm and funny guy who never failed to be the crowd pleaser wherever he went. I remember Charlie had a basset hound who was fond of howling at the full moon. It drove my father crazy!
Charactor actor Charlie Arnt as the vagabond 1936 by Ned Scott