Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993)

The great and goofy Vincent Price was born on this day in 1911. We have written nearly 250 limericks on the man and his movies, all of which can be found here. Image: Vincent Price as James Addison Reavis, The Baron of Arizona (Sam Fuller; 1950), the actor's first starring role.

In Deed I Do

A man whose ambitions were great
laid plans that were big and first rate
Why steal something small
when you might get it all?
James Reavis tried stealing a state



Okay, so it was the 1880s and still a territory. Based on an amazing but true story, James Addison Reavis (Vincent Price) forges records and documents in an elaborate scheme to become The Baron of Arizona (Sam Fuller, 1950).

Pick-Up's Line

A stoolie, she still had her pride
As proved by her words when she died
To wit, Thelma Ritter
was never a quitter
Her fitting obit was "I tried."

David Cairns
Character actor Thelma Ritter is unforgettable as Moe in Pick-Up on South Street (Sam Fuller, 1953). Ritter is seen here with Richard Kiley. David first submitted an earlier draft of this rhyme about Moe's last words as a comment on Pigeon Toe-Tagged.

Pigeon Toe-Tagged

The stoolie gets paid for her gab
To cops about crooks she will blab
But dropping a dime
on communist slime
this pigeon winds up on a slab



Stool pigeon Thelma Ritter is saving up for her tombstone in Pickup on South Street (1953). A tale of love and honor among thieves that would have been sentimental glop in the hands of a Damon Runyon, or flag-waving anti-commie propaganda by almost anyone else, Pickup is made tough and truly moving by writer and director Sam Fuller. Pics: top: Nighthawk News; above: My Life in Movies.

The Devil's in the 3-Details

The movie that started the craze
is 3-D that fails to amaze
When Barbara Britton
by lions is bitten
you'll wish you'd averted your gaze



Bwana Devil (Arch Oboler, 1952) was the first American color 3-D feature film of the early 1950s. It was based on the true story of the Tsavo maneaters, which was also the basis for the 1996 film, Ghost and the Darkness. The film starred Robert Stack, Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce. Britton started in films in 1941, and worked in many Westerns including The Virginian, Gunfighters, and Sam Fuller's first film as director, I Shot Jesse James (see below). On television Britton starred in Mr. and Mrs. North and later played Laura Petrie in the original pilot to what became The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Scary in Your Pocket

A pickpocket picks the wrong purse
and into the spy game's immersed
The secrets inside
could get the guy fried
by commies or cops--which is worse?



Richard Widmark lifts "B-girl" Jean Peters' pocketbook in Pickup on South Street (Sam Fuller, 1953). Pickup is certainly the greatest so-called "anti-commie" film ever made--perhaps the only truly good one. It's also a cracking good noir. Here's a review on Noir of the Week.