Alfred John "Alf" Goulding (January 26, 1885 – April 25, 1972) was an Australian-born
vaudevillian
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
, who became an American
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
and screenwriter. He directed more than 180 films between 1917 and 1959 and is credited with having
Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55.
One of the most influential film co ...
wear his trademark glasses.
[
]
Biography
He was born on January 26, 1885, in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
to Francis Thomas Goulding (1860–1940) and Margaret Davies Walsh. He was the youngest brother of the opera singer Elsa Goulding.
As children, he and his brother and sister performed with Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company, a popular Australian juvenile opera company that travelled Australasia, the Orient and North America extensively. By 1900 he was regularly singled out in reviews as one of the Company’s most entertaining performers: "Master Alf. Goulding came in for a lion's share of applause, and he certainly won it fairly in his comic pieces." By 1907, Goulding was stage managing for the company. He arrived with the Pollard troupe in the US in 1908. According to Brent Walker, Goulding then travelled to Britain where he worked on stage with Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Ha ...
, for several years, after which he returned to the US. By 1911 he was performing on stage in North America and directing his own stage shows, sometimes in collaboration with former Pollard performers Daphne Pollard
Daphne Pollard (born Daphne Trott; October 19, 1891 – February 22, 1978) was an Australian-born vaudeville performer and dancer, active on stage and later in US films, mostly short comedies.
Diminutive stage star
Born Daphne Trott, in the in ...
and Harry "Snub" Pollard.
In 1912, he broke into movies, acting and then after 1916, directing two reel comedies for Fox. He then joined Hal Roach
Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr.Randy Skretvedt, Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, a ...
, directing many Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55.
One of the most influential film co ...
shorts. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s his work output was significant, and he directed the likes of Harry Langdon
Harry Philmore Langdon (June 15, 1884 – December 22, 1944) was an American comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films (where he had his greatest fame), and talkies.Obituary ''Variety'', December 27, 1944, page 39.
Life and career
Bor ...
, Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'N ...
and Fatty Arbuckle
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...
, in addition to films starring former Pollard players Daphne Pollard
Daphne Pollard (born Daphne Trott; October 19, 1891 – February 22, 1978) was an Australian-born vaudeville performer and dancer, active on stage and later in US films, mostly short comedies.
Diminutive stage star
Born Daphne Trott, in the in ...
and Snub Pollard
Harold Fraser (9 November 1889 – 19 January 1962), known professionally as Snub Pollard, was an Australian-born vaudevillian, who became a silent film comedian in Hollywood, popular in the 1920s.
Career
Born in Melbourne, Australia, on 9 No ...
Between 1935 and 1938 he worked in Britain again. In 1939 he re-entered the United States illegally and was jailed as an alien.
Goulding directed one of Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...
's final films at the Hal Roach Studios
Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...
, ''A Chump at Oxford
''A Chump at Oxford'' is a Hal Roach comedy film produced in 1939 and released in 1940 by United Artists. It was directed by Alfred J. Goulding and was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Roach studio. The title echoes the film '' ...
'', released in 1940, and wrote and directed a wartime film made in Australia in 1942, ''A Yank in Australia
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
'', which was not a success. His final film was ''Laffing Time'' which he directed in 1959. He had by this time, over 180 directorial credits to his name.
He died in Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
from pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
on April 5, 1972.
Marriages
# He married Gladys Watson (1891–1920) on October 28, 1911, in Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
. She died on April 19, 1920 in Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
.
# On June 17, 1920 in Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
, he married Hazel Marcella O'Brien (1892–1935) and they divorced around 1925.
# His third marriage was on December 8, 1925, when he married Audrey H. Faught (1910–1972) in Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia, Canada. She was 25 years younger than him. They divorced in 1933; she claimed that he beat her and drank excessively. She was awarded custody of their three children.
# He married actress Diana Seaby (1914–1963) (born Dorothea Lillian Siglow) in Mexico in 1934. They married again in San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...
on July 30, 1934, to ensure that the marriage was legal in the United States. She was 29 years younger than him. They divorced in 1941 in Dade County, Florida.
# He appears to have married Suzanne Raphael in 1941 and they divorced by 1952.
# He married his last wife, Rita J. Lunniss (1927–1980) in 1952 in Middlesex, England. She later changed her name to Betty Goulding.[Marriage of Rita J. Lunniss and Alfred J. Goulding in Middlesex, England in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index.]
Selected filmography
* ''By the Sad Sea Waves
''By the Sad Sea Waves'' is a 1917 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Plot
Trying to woo Bebe on a beach, Harold impersonates a life guard. Among his misadventures, Harold is wrongly credited with saving two male swimmers from ...
'' (1917)
* '' Bliss'' (1917)
* '' All Aboard'' (1917)
* '' Bashful'' (1917)
* '' Step Lively'' (1917)
* '' A Gasoline Wedding'' (1918)
* ''Look Pleasant, Please
''Look Pleasant, Please'' is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. A print of the film is held by the Museum of Modern Art.
Plot
Bebe is one of a group of females who go to a photographer's studio to have their pictures taken ...
'' (1918)
* '' Let's Go'' (1918)
* ''On the Jump
''On the Jump'' is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Museum of Modern Art. Like many American films of the time, ''On the Jump'' was subject to cuts by city and st ...
'' (1918)
* '' Follow the Crowd'' (1918)
* ''Pipe the Whiskers
''Pipe the Whiskers'' is a 1918 short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Cast
* Harold Lloyd as Janitor
* Snub Pollard
* Bebe Daniels
* William Blaisdell
* Sammy Brooks
* Lige Conley (as Lige Cromley)
* Billy Fay
* William Gillespie
* Fre ...
'' (1918)
* ''Hey There!
''Hey There!'' is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. Like many American films of the time, ''Hey There!'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required c ...
'' (1918)
* '' Kicked Out'' (1918)
* ''Two-Gun Gussie
''Two-Gun Gussie'' is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Plot
Gussie (Harold Lloyd) is a mild-mannered easterner who finds employment as a piano player in a rowdy western saloon. Dagger-Tooth Dan, the toughest character ...
'' (1918)
* '' Fireman Save My Child'' (1918)
* ''Somewhere in Turkey
''Somewhere in Turkey'' is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Plot
A girl (Bebe Daniels) survives a shipwreck. Upon reaching shore, she is apprehended by several soldiers of a sultan who forcibly bring her to him. The ...
'' (1918)
* ''An Ozark Romance
''An Ozark Romance'' is a 1918 American short film, short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. Prints of the film survive at the film archive of the Museum of Modern Art.
Cast
* Harold Lloyd
* Snub Pollard
* Bebe Daniels
* William Blaisdell
* Sam ...
'' (1918)
* ''Kicking the Germ Out of Germany
''Kicking the Germ Out of Germany'' is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. The film is now considered a lost film.
Cast
* Harold Lloyd as The Boy
* Snub Pollard
* Bebe Daniels
* Lige Conley (as Lige Cromley)
* Mildred Fo ...
'' (1918)
* '' Bride and Gloom'' (1918)
* ''Swing Your Partners
''Swing Your Partners'' is a 1918 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. Copies of the film survive in two collections.
Plot
Harold and Snub are two vagrants who are mistaken for visiting dance experts by the proprietor of Professor ...
'' (1918)
* '' Take a Chance'' (1918)
* ''The Dutiful Dub
''The Dutiful Dub'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Cast
* Harold Lloyd as The Boy
* Snub Pollard
* Bebe Daniels
* Harry Burns
* Billy Fay
* William Gillespie
* Lew Harvey
* Bud Jamison
* Margaret Joslin
* James Pa ...
'' (1919)
* ''Crack Your Heels
''Crack Your Heels'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Cast
* Harold Lloyd as The Boy
* Snub Pollard
* Bebe Daniels
* Sammy Brooks
* Billy Fay
* Lew Harvey
* Wallace Howe
* Margaret Joslin (as Margaret Joslyn)
* M ...
'' (1919)
* ''Ring Up the Curtain
''Ring Up the Curtain'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. The film survives and is available on DVD. '' (1919)
* ''Si, Senor
''Si, Senor'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. It is believed to be lost.
Cast
* Harold Lloyd
* Snub Pollard
* Bebe Daniels
* Sammy Brooks
* Billy Fay
* Estelle Harrison
* Lew Harvey
* Wallace Howe
* Dee Lampton ...
'' (1919)
* '' The Marathon'' (1919)
* ''Pistols for Breakfast
''Pistols for Breakfast'' is a 1919 short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. A print of the film survives in the Museum of Modern Art film archive.
Plot
A young man (Fay) goes out to eat breakfeast with his friend (Harrison). As a restaurant ...
'' (1919)
* ''Off the Trolley
''Off the Trolley'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Plot
Bebe and Snub are employees on a trolley car. Harold sneaks the fare from Bebe's coin dispenser to board the vehicle for the purpose of romantically pursuing ...
'' (1919)
* ''Never Touched Me
''Never Touched Me'' is a 1919 American short film, short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. A print exists in the Staatliches Filmarchive.
Plot
Harold is one of several suitors attempting to woo Bebe. Several fights break out among the hopefu ...
'' (1919)
* ''Count Your Change
''Count Your Change'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd.
Plot
The Boy has just been violently evicted from his boardinghouse for being five weeks behind in his rent. Hungry and penniless, he pilfers a sausage from a ...
'' (1919)
* ''Heap Big Chief
''Heap Big Chief'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. Previously thought to be a lost film, a print was located at the Cinema Museum in London in 2018. The recovered film was later shown to audiences on the second day ...
'' (1919)
* ''Don't Shove
''Don't Shove'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. Prints of the film exist at the Library of Congress, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Cinémathèque québécoise.
Cast
* Harold ...
'' (1919)
* ''From Hand to Mouth
''From Hand to Mouth'' is a 1919 American short comedy film featuring Harold Lloyd. This was the first film Lloyd made with frequent co-star (and future wife) Mildred Davis. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the British Film I ...
'' (1919)
* ''Learning to Love
''Learning to Love'' is a 1925 American comedy film directed by Sidney Franklin and written by John Emerson and Anita Loos. The film stars Constance Talmadge, Antonio Moreno, Emily Fitzroy, Edythe Chapman, John Harron, and Ray Hallor. The film ...
'' (1925)
* ''Don't
Don't, Dont, or DONT may refer to:
Films
* ''Don't'' (1925 film), a 1925 silent comedy film
* ''Don't'' (1974 film), a 1974 film about the monarch butterfly
* ''Don't'', a fake trailer from the film ''Grindhouse'' (2007)
Songs
* "Don't" (Bill ...
'' (1925)
* ''Atta Boy
''Atta Boy'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Edward H. Griffith and starring Monty Banks, Virginia Bradford and Ernest Wood.Munden p.29
Cast
* Monty Banks as Monty Milde
* Virginia Bradford as The Girl
* Ernest Wood as Crave ...
'' (1926)
* ''Should Men Walk Home?
''Should Men Walk Home?'' is a 1927 American short silent comedy film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Mabel Normand and featuring Oliver Hardy and Eugene Pallette.
Cast
* Mabel Normand as The Girl Bandit
* Creighton Hale as The Gentlema ...
'' (1927)
* ''The Honorable Mr. Buggs
''The Honorable Mr. Buggs'' is a 1927 American silent film, silent comedy film featuring Anna May Wong and Oliver Hardy. This film is held by a private owner.
Plot
Cast
* Matt Moore (actor), Matt Moore as Mr. Buggs
* Anna May Wong as Baroness ...
'' (1927)
* ''Hey, Pop!
''Hey, Pop!'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle, and the first under Arbuckle's new contract with Warner Brothers.
Cast
* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as Fatty the Chef
* Billy Heyes as Bill
* Connie Almy as Landlady
* ...
'' (1932)
* '' Buzzin' Around'' (1933)
* ''How've You Bean?
''How've You Bean?'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle, the last short film released before his death.
Cast
* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as Abner
* Jean Hubert
* Fritz Hubert as Willie
* Mildred Van Dorn as The Bride ...
'' (1933)
* ''Everything Is Rhythm
''Everything Is Rhythm'' is a 1936 British musical film directed by Alfred J. Goulding and starring Harry Roy, Princess Pearl and Dorothy Boyd. It was shot at Elstree Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Geo ...
'' (1936)
* ''Splinters in the Air
''Splinters in the Air'' (aka, ''Splinters In The Air Force'') is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Alfred J. Goulding and starring Sydney Howard and Richard Hearne. It is a loose sequel to the films ''Splinters (1929 film), Splinters'' (19 ...
'' (1937)
* ''Sam Small Leaves Town
''Sam Small Leaves Town'', is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Alfred J. Goulding and starring Stanley Holloway, June Clyde and Fred Conyngham. It was made at Highbury Studios in London and released as a quota quickie by the independent ...
'' (1937)
* ''The Gang Show
''The Gang Show'' is a 1937 British musical film about a Boy Scout Troop who stage a variety show to raise funds, when the lease of their meeting place expires.
The film was a vehicle for material from Ralph Reader's Gang Shows that had been ...
'' (1938)
* ''Olympic Honeymoon
''Olympic Honeymoon'' is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Alfred J. Goulding and starring Claude Hulbert, Monty Banks and Princess Pearl. The screenplay concerns a British honeymooner visiting Switzerland, who is mistaken for a leading ice ...
'' (1940)
* ''A Chump at Oxford
''A Chump at Oxford'' is a Hal Roach comedy film produced in 1939 and released in 1940 by United Artists. It was directed by Alfred J. Goulding and was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Roach studio. The title echoes the film '' ...
'' (1940)
* ''A Yank in Australia
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
'' (1942)
* '' Dick Barton: Special Agent'' (1948)
* ''The Dark Road
''There is No Escape'', also known as ''The Dark Road'' and ''The Thurston Story'', is a 1948 British drama film from Hammer Films.
It was Michael Ripper's first appearance in a Hammer Film.
The film was based on the career of criminal Stanley Th ...
'' (1948)
* ''The Devil's Jest'' (1954)
* ''Laffing Time
''Laffing Time'' is a 1959 feature film starring Gloria Jean and El Brendel and directed by Alf Goulding. The film's producer, Edward Finney
Edward Francis Finney (1903–1983) was an American film producer and director.Pitts p.174 He is best k ...
'' (1959)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goulding, Alfred J.
1885 births
1972 deaths
American film directors
American male screenwriters
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Articles containing video clips
Australian emigrants to the United States
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters