Min and Bill
Encyclopedia
Min and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler
and Wallace Beery
and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion
and Marion Jackson.
The movie tells the story of dockside innkeeper Min's tribulations as she tries to protect the innocence of her adopted daughter Nancy, all while loving and fighting with boozy fisherman Bill, who resides at the inn.
Min and Bill stars Marie Dressler
(Min), Wallace Beery
(Bill), Dorothy Jordan
(Nancy), and Marjorie Rambeau
(Bella, Nancy's ill-reputed mother), and was directed by George W. Hill
. Dressler won the Academy Award for Best Actress
in 1931 for her performance in this film.
This film was such a runaway hit that it and its near-sequel Tugboat Annie
, which reteamed Dressler and Beery in similar roles, boosted both to superstar status. Dressler topped Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll
of movie exhibitors in 1933, and the two pairings with Dressler were primarily responsible for Beery becoming MGM's highest paid actor in the early 1930s, before Clark Gable
took over that crown; Beery had a clause in his 1932 contract that he be paid a dollar per year more than any other actor on the lot.
, in On the Road
, has his protagonist-narrator Sal Paradise
compare Dean Moriarity and his second wife Camille to Min and Bill. Kerouac does not explain the reference, but it would be understood by contemporary readers that he was signaling that the couple had a contentious but affectionate relationship, with Dean the weak, ne'er-do-well and Camille the heart and soul of the relationship.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios
in Walt Disney World, homage to Min and Bill is paid in the form of a counter service restaurant. Min and Bill's Dockside Diner is in the shape of Bill's fishing trawler, and "floats" in Echo Lake near the center of the park.
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
and Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion
Frances Marion
Frances Marion was an American journalist, author, and screenwriter often cited as the most renowned female screenwriter of the twentieth century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos.-Career:...
and Marion Jackson.
The movie tells the story of dockside innkeeper Min's tribulations as she tries to protect the innocence of her adopted daughter Nancy, all while loving and fighting with boozy fisherman Bill, who resides at the inn.
Min and Bill stars Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
(Min), Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
(Bill), Dorothy Jordan
Dorothy Jordan (film actress)
Dorothy Jordan was an American movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.-Early career:...
(Nancy), and Marjorie Rambeau
Marjorie Rambeau
Marjorie Rambeau was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:Rambeau was born in San Francisco, California to Marcel Rambeau and Lilian Garlinda Kindelberger. Her parents split up when she was a girl. She and her mother went to Nome, Alaska where young Marjorie dressed as a boy, sang and...
(Bella, Nancy's ill-reputed mother), and was directed by George W. Hill
George W. Hill
George William Hill was an American film director and cinematographer.-Career:He began his film career at age 13 as a stagehand with director D. W. Griffith...
. Dressler won the Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
in 1931 for her performance in this film.
This film was such a runaway hit that it and its near-sequel Tugboat Annie
Tugboat Annie
For the 1957 syndicated television series, see The Adventures of Tugboat Annie.Tugboat Annie is a 1933 movie starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat...
, which reteamed Dressler and Beery in similar roles, boosted both to superstar status. Dressler topped Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll
Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll
The Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll has been published every year, from a poll of movie exhibitors, every year since 1932 by Quigley Publishing Company. The list is based on a poll of movie theater owners, who are asked to name the previous year's top 10 moneymaking stars...
of movie exhibitors in 1933, and the two pairings with Dressler were primarily responsible for Beery becoming MGM's highest paid actor in the early 1930s, before Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
took over that crown; Beery had a clause in his 1932 contract that he be paid a dollar per year more than any other actor on the lot.
Cast
- Marie DresslerMarie DresslerMarie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
as Min Divot - Wallace BeeryWallace BeeryWallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
as Bill - Dorothy JordanDorothy Jordan (film actress)Dorothy Jordan was an American movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.-Early career:...
as Nancy Smith - Marjorie RambeauMarjorie RambeauMarjorie Rambeau was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:Rambeau was born in San Francisco, California to Marcel Rambeau and Lilian Garlinda Kindelberger. Her parents split up when she was a girl. She and her mother went to Nome, Alaska where young Marjorie dressed as a boy, sang and...
as Bella Pringle - Donald Dillaway as Dick Cameron
- DeWitt JenningsDeWitt JenningsDeWitt Clarke Jennings was an American film actor. He appeared in 153 films between 1915 and 1937.-Biography:...
as Mr Groot - Russell HoptonRussell HoptonRussell Hopton was an American film actor. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945.He was born in New York, New York and died of an overdose of sleeping pills in North Hollywood, California....
as Alec Johnson - Frank McGlynn as Mr Southard
- Gretta Gould as Mrs Southard
In popular culture
Jack KerouacJack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, in On the Road
On the Road
On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of...
, has his protagonist-narrator Sal Paradise
Sal Paradise
Salvatore “Sal” Paradise is the narrator and the protagonist in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. Sal, an Italian American youth living in New Jersey with his aunt, is an uninspired writer working on a book who follows and accompanies Dean Moriarty, a young and reckless Denver vagrant, on his...
compare Dean Moriarity and his second wife Camille to Min and Bill. Kerouac does not explain the reference, but it would be understood by contemporary readers that he was signaling that the couple had a contentious but affectionate relationship, with Dean the weak, ne'er-do-well and Camille the heart and soul of the relationship.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
in Walt Disney World, homage to Min and Bill is paid in the form of a counter service restaurant. Min and Bill's Dockside Diner is in the shape of Bill's fishing trawler, and "floats" in Echo Lake near the center of the park.