Purnell Busch Pratt (1885-1951) had a strong bass singing voice and ambitions to perform in opera. This didn’t work out for him, which must have given him mixed feelings when he appeared alongside Lawrence Tibbett in The Prodigal.
Pratt did, however, appear on the Broadway stage, including as a regular member of George M Cohan’s troupe. He made a couple of films for New York companies before his career was interrupted by the First World War, but began his run of well over a hundred appearances in 1925. He was always a supporting player, normally in a credited role. He was the focus of the interpolated scene in Scarface (1932), in which, as a newspaper publisher, he makes a censor-required speech condemning gangsterism. He also played Captain Wood in DeMille’s The Plainsman (1936).
In addition to his featured role as the loathsome Rodman in The Prodigal, Pratt was uncredited in two other Metro musicals: A Night at the Opera, as the mayor welcoming the ‘aviators’, and Rosalie.
Esther Louise Worth (1902-94) was the youngest child in a family vaudeville act before starting her film career while a teenager. She was only 22 when she played Mrs Darling in the Betty Bronson version of Peter Pan (1924).
Ralston starred in dozens of films during the 1920s and made a successful transition to sound. But her career faltered, and in her autobiography, published in 1985, she asserted this was the work of Louis B Mayer, whose advances she had resisted. In a familiar story, he ensured she was greylisted at the major studios.
Ralston’s final leading role was in Henry Hathaway’s To the Last Man (1933), though she continued acting, mostly on the stage and in television, until the 1960s.
Ralston was very good as the female lead, opposite Lawrence Tibbett, in MGM’s The Prodigal.
Jeff Farraday is a hobo, riding trains with his friends Doc and Snipe. He often tells them that his family owns a great mansion in the South, but they do not believe him.
Snipe (Cliff Edwards) and Doc (Roland Young) listen to Jeff (Lawrence Tibbett) talk about his home
Some time later, Jeff returns home and is given a lift on a wagon by Hokey. As Jeff walks the final stretch, his mother Cynthia is inside the house, with her son Rodman, her daughter Christine, Christine’s husband George, and Carter Jerome, a friend of Rodman’s. Antonia, Rodman’s wife, is keeping them all waiting while she dresses.
Carter sneaks upstairs to Antonia, and jokes that he is safe from discovery because Rodman never enters Antonia’s bedroom. Carter asks her to go away with him because she is unhappy with Rodman. She refuses, even when Carter tells her he loves her.
Christine sends Rodman upstairs to hurry Antonia. He does not see Carter, who is on the balcony. Rodman criticizes Antonia’s dress and presumes she has bought it for some other man. Antonia insists she has had no lovers since she married him. She asks him to divorce her so she can go away, but Rodman refuses. When she tells him how unhappy she is, he slaps her face. Rodman leaves, and Antonia tells Carter she will go away with him tomorrow night.
Jeff is reunited with his mother, Cynthia Farraday (Emma Dunn)
Cynthia does not go out with the younger people, and is reunited with Jeff after five years. She forces him to take a bath and burns his dirty clothes, giving him some of Rodman’s. Jeff tells Cynthia he plans to leave before the family returns, but she tempts him with fried chicken. They talk in vague terms about why Jeff had to flee the town; it had something to do with Rodman. Finally, Jeff falls asleep.
At breakfast the next morning, the family discusses Jeff’s return. Christine says he is irresponsible, but Cynthia insists he can stay for as long as he wishes.
Jeff plays with Christine’s children and they break his bed. While the family goes to church, Jeff is reunited with the servants and meets Hokey again. Antonia has been riding all morning and meets Jeff when she returns. They have a late breakfast and get along well. But when Jeff asks how she came to marry a stuffed short like Rodman, Antonia leaves to join the family at church.
Jeff finds Doc and Snipe hiding from the dog, and invites them into the house. After an enormous breakfast, while Jeff goes to fetch drinks, Doc relieves Snipe of the silverware he has pocketed.
Antonia returns and finds them singing round the piano [Without a Song]. Rodman, Christine and George return.
Jeff arranges to jump a train with Doc and Snipe that evening. Jeff and Rodman are soon quarrelling. Jeff assures his brother that he will be leaving soon. Cynthia interrupts their argument and expresses her pleasure at having all her children together [Home Sweet Home].
That evening, Jeff is about to board a freight train with his friends when he sees Antonia getting onto a passenger train with Carter. Antonia confesses to Carter that she does not love him, but she has to get away. Jeff, having realised what is happening, lures Carter away, then takes Antonia off the train. He takes her back to the house and explains why he had to stop her from ruining her life.
Back at the house, Antonia tells Rodman she has been with Jeff and he forbids her from having anything to do with his brother. Later, while Antonia rides with the local hunt, Jeff, Doc, Snipe and Hokey are fishing on the river. They see the fox and hide it from the hunt. Antonia sees what they have done and joins them.
Antonia (Esther Ralston) looks on as Jeff quarrels with his brother Rodman (Purnell Pratt)
Carter finds Jeff and Antonia together and warns Jeff to keep out of other people’s business. Carter accuses Jeff of being Antonia’s lover and Jeff knocks him down. Rodman rides up and Jeff takes the blame for the altercation, apologizing to Carter. Before they leave, Carter goads Jeff again with the fact that he loves his brother’s wife. Jeff tells Doc and Snipe that they are leaving soon.
At the Hunt Ball that evening, Cynthia asks Jeff why he is so restless. Jeff tells her he promised to look in at a party being held by Naomie, one of the servants. Rodman accuses Antonia of snubbing Carter because she hates his friends. When Antonia denies that Jeff was responsible for the afternoon’s fight, Rodman leaves to fetch Carter.
At Naomi’s party, the food is being prepared [Chitlins]. Jeff and his friends arrive and Hokey gets involved in a fight. A woman goes into labour and Doc is required to help with the delivery. [By the Riverside (?)]. The baby is born [A Child is Born].
Antonia arrives. Jeff walks her back to the house and tells her he is leaving. They kiss and Antonia tells Jeff that he loves her and asks him to take her with him. But Jeff explains that, whatever his feelings about Rodman, he cannot take his brother’s wife. Back at the house, Rodman confronts them and accuses Jeff of running true to form. Jeff admits that he loves Antonia and would be happy to work to support her, but that he has to leave. Cynthia interrupts and tells them that Jeff going away will not fix anything. She tells Rodman, against his protests, that he must divorce Antonia because she does not love him. She tells Jeff to get wandering out of his system and to come back after the divorce. Jeff leaves with Doc and Snipe [Without a Song].
Harold G Rosson (1895-1988), commonly known as Hal, was one of Hollywood’s most prestigious cinematographers. He filmed over 150 pictures in a career spanning more than fifty years.
Rosson began his career in 1908 as a teenager, acting bit-parts for the Vitagraph Studios in his native New York. He subsequently worked for Famous Players-Lasky as a general dogbody, then moved to Hollywood to work as a cinematographer for MGM’s predecessor, Metro Pictures.
In the 1920s, Rosson frequently photographed Marion Davies, Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. Then he signed a contract with MGM, where he spent the bulk of his career. He had ambitions to be a director, but studio executive Eddie Mannix told him he was far too good as a cameraman to ever be allowed to direct.
Rosson shot Jean Harlow in four films, and was briefly married to her.
Rosson photographed twelve MGM musicals, including two of the most venerated, The Wizard of Oz and Singin’ in the Rain. He started out with Madam Satan, claiming he learned more fromDeMille than anyone else in the business. He went on to shoot The Prodigal, The Cuban Love Song, The Cat and the Fiddle, No Leave, No Love, Living in a Big Way, On the Town, I Love Melvin and Dangerous When Wet. He also did uncredited work on The Chocolate Soldier.
RADA-trained Roland Young (1897-1953) acted on the British stage before working extensively on Broadway.
Young served with the US Army during the latter part of the First World War, then made his screen debut playing Watson to John Barrymore’s Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes (1922). He signed a contract with MGM in 1929, and was again opposite Barrymore in his first sound film, The Unholy Night (1929). Young was rarely top billed, but was a very effective character actor.
Young appeared in three musicals in quick succession in the early 30s: Madam Satan (hosting the crazed zeppelin party), New Moon (as a tramp) and The Prodigal (as a Russian Count).
After 1932, Young worked freelance, returning to Metro to play Uriah Heep in David Copperfield (1935). He was nominated for an Oscar for playing Topper (1937), a role he returned to in two sequels. The size of his roles was less during the 1940s, but he was always a reliable supporting player. He also performed on television in the early 50s.
Lawrence Mervil Tibbet [sic] (1896-1960) was one of the great American opera stars, and also one of the most glamorous. He combined a deep baritone voice, of the quality required by a leading singer at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, with good looks and acting ability. These attributes made it inevitable that, with the advent of sound, Hollywood would come calling. Tibbett had already performed many of the great operatic roles, and developed a successful radio and recording career, when he signed a contract with MGM in 1930.
Tibbett’s career in films did not last long. He starred in four Metro musicals, made a couple of pictures for Fox, and then returned full-time to the stage. But his Hollywood career was by no means a failure. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his debut performance in The Rogue Song, something achieved by few actors. Unfortunately, The Rogue Song, MGM’s first all-Technicolor musical, is now a lost film.
Following this success, Tibbett did not embarrass himself in his other assignments, New Moon, The Prodigal and The Cuban Love Song (in which he duetted with himself).
By the end of his career, Tibbett had been a leading man at the Met for 27 seasons and established himself in the operatic pantheon.
