Mike Donlin’s Second Career As An Actor, With Vaudevillian Wife Mabel Hite

This World Series champion turned to acting during his playing career and wrote a hit play with his wife.

by Rich Watson

In 1905, Mike Donlin was on top of the world. The outfielder and first baseman was third in the National League in hitting with a .356 average and his team, the New York Giants, beat the Philadelphia Athletics in five games for their first championship. 

“Turkey Mike” (he was said to have strutted like one) was known for drinking, partying, and dressing flamboyantly—for the turn-of-the-century era, anyway. One story about him claims he arrived at the ballpark wearing a medallion on his lapel, bearing a newspaper photo of himself. When security didn’t recognize him, he pointed to the medallion and proclaimed “I am Mike Donlin.”

The following season he broke his ankle while sliding into second base. He missed most of the 1906 season and the following one. During this time, though, he got a taste for what would become a second career when he met and married stage actress Mabel Hite.

Before Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio Married a Different Hollywood Actress

When Joe D was coming into his own as a superstar, he met and married a movie star long before his romance with Hollywood’s ultimate blonde bombshell.

by Rich Watson 

When Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe in 1954, it was headline news around the world. They were superstars in their respective fields, adored by the whole country and living their lives in the media spotlight. His relationship with her was abusive and marked by jealousy, yet the truth of it wasn’t well known at the time.

In 1939, DiMaggio was a star, but he was not yet the baseball legend he would become in later years. The fifty-six-game hitting streak, the hundred thousand dollar contract, the ascension to the Hall of Fame, the Mr. Coffee commercials, they all came much later—and before he even knew who Monroe was, a different film actress had caught his eye.

Hometown Manager Has Eyes For New Owner in “It Happened in Flatbush,” With William Frawley

Lloyd Nolan and Carole Landis star in this vintage baseball romantic comedy, also featuring a future legend of the early TV era.

by Rich Watson

This post is part of what’s known as a blogathon. That’s when a bunch of bloggers gather to write about a given topic. This one is called “The What a Character Blogathon,” devoted to supporting actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. In my previous blog I took part in it for years, and 2021 marks its tenth anniversary. At the end I’ll tell you where you can read more entries in this event.

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In 1951, William Frawley was sixty-four, a veteran of not only a hundred-plus movies, but vaudeville as well. Rumor had it, though, he was an alcoholic and difficult to work with. It seemed he was approaching the end of his career in entertainment.

Then he heard about an opportunity in the new medium of television: a sitcom about a ditzy housewife and her musician husband. The show was looking for a duo to play their neighbors, an older married couple. Frawley, eager to land the role of the husband in the older couple, called the lead actors and co-creators of the new program: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. 

They gave him a chance. Despite initial resistance from the network, CBS, Frawley, paired with Vivian Vance, was an anchor of what would become I Love Lucy, one of television’s greatest programs. Years later, Arnaz would testify that Frawley always came to work on time and was a total professional.

Lucy was the highlight of a long career for Frawley, the former court reporter from Iowa who toured the vaudeville circuit with his brother Paul, singing and writing, before moving to Broadway and eventually, Hollywood.