The Detouring Lizard

Director Tex Avery, writer Rich Hogan, animator Paul J. Smith and composer Carl Stalling all get credits on the 1940 Warner Bros. cartoon Cross Country Detours, but there are several whose names don’t get mentioned at all.

Background artist Johnny Johnsen and actors Mel Blanc and Sara Berner may be the most prominent, but there is one person who appeared in this cartoon who got a blurb in the popular press.

Well, sort of appeared.

The Los Angeles Times of August 27, 1939 reports:

Casting of the week: Marcia Eloise, a strip-teaseuse from the downtown Follies, answered a call to model for animators drawing a “Looney Tune” cartoon at the Leon Schlesinger studio.

First, we see a “shy little deer” with a sexy walk strolling away from the camera. I suspect Miss Eloise posed for that. Note: I suspect incorrectly. Thad Komorowski has a negative of the reference footage and says it's someone else.



Later, the narrator (identified by Keith Scott as Lew Marcelle) says “Here’s a lizard which, as you all probably know, sheds its skin once a year. Let’s watch this interesting procedure.”



Avery tops the gag.



Avery spoke about the gag to author Joe Adamson in his tremendous book Tex Avery King of Cartoons. Avery said “We Rotoscoped her action to fit the lizard. Shaped the lizard like a girl, too, took off her skin and she was just a lighter green. It got a great laugh, too.” Avery then admitted he didn’t think lizards shed their skin at all, but they “planted the gag” when, during the story meeting, they didn’t figure a snake would work.

The Los Angeles Daily News story about the casting leaves one questioned unanswered. The August 16, 1939 piece read, in part: “In a recent visit to the downtown theatre, one of the studio officials was intrigued by the talent of Marcia, and when the studio decided to put in a call for a dancer, he called the Follies management and made the arrangements.

Which “studio official” is not revealed.

You can see a picture of her from the August 16, 1939 edition of the Daily News, giving her full name (and lying about her age). A little hunting gives us a bit of information about her. The Times of July 1, 1939 states:

Another “name” artist joins the roster of performers at the Follies Theater today, when Marcia Eloise, who won nation-wide fame as the “girl in cellophane,” begins an engagement.
In 1937, Miss Eloise was signed to a seven-year Hollywood contract. She appeared in a featured role in the Allan Jones-Fannie Brice M.G.M. film, “Everybody Sing,” and also in Paramount’s “College Swing.”

The Follies had a good press agent. Several stories about their girlie shows were planted in the Los Angeles press about this time. The Times of July 10 reveals she was in the musical production “Scandals of 1939.” It tells us “Marcia Eloise, youthful, auburn-haired danseuse who begins her second week, has scheduled an unusual number that also involves intricate tap and toe steps.” Her next production, reported the Times on the 25th, was “Naughty Babies.” The Daily News of August 5 tells of “Grin and Bare It,” a “smartly paced midsummer musical revue.”

You get the idea.

November 1940 saw her perform “her novel and charming act” at the Globe Theatre in Boston, with comedian Joe DeRita on the bill.

She was born October 6, 1922 to Frank Griffin and Marguerite Gibson in Denver. An entry at Geni.com reveals she also used the stage names “Teala Loring” and “Judith Gibson.” It additionally tells the world she was the sister of actress Debra Paget. She appeared in ten films for Monogram from 1945-46.

Griffin married Eugene Bennett Pickler in Los Angeles on June 21, 1950. Her marriage certificate doesn’t give an occupation for her but that was the year of her last movie, Arizona Cowboy with Rex Allen. They lived in Norwalk, California before moving to Houston. She died in a car accident in Spring, Texas, on January 30, 2007 at the age of 84.