Hero of the Month: Fred Toones
Many African American actors in the Golden Age of Hollywood have been listed with some amazingly derogatory names, Lincoln Perry was Stepen Fetchit and Willie Best became Sleep ‘N’ Eat, and so too it was for character actor Fred Toones was usually billed as Snowflake. A talented actor, he rarely showed his range, being saddled with domestically employed characters who were sterotypically child like and easily spooked. Yet he had a long career that spanned nearly twenty years.
His first serial appearance was at the beginning of his film career, a small role in Mascot’s The Galloping Ghost (1931). During the early thirties he appeared a variety of films like The Mayor of Hell (1933) and Imitation of Life (1934). Towards the end of the decade he became a regular at Republic studios, where he appeared in many westerns like Gene Autry’s The Singin Cowboy (1936), The Three Mesquiteers’ Riders of the Black Hills (1938), and Don “Red”Barry’s Texas Terrors (1940).
Being at Republic it was inevitable that Toones would make serials. His first was as the servent of a scientist who’s expedition is marooned on an uncharted island and is helped by a Tarzan inspired character in Hawk of the Wilderness (1938). His second and last Republic serials cast him as the servent of a rich business man that is the target of sabotage and helped by the Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939).
During the forties Toones would continue making B Westerns like The Yellow Rose of Texas (1944) and Bells of San Angelo (1947), his final screen credit, but also garnered small roles in A pictures like The Palm Beach Story (1942) and The Lost Weekend (1945).
I do have to make mention of an anecdote William Witney tells in his autobiography In a Door…, after completing filming on the Daredevils serial, Fred came up to thank him for the acting job and Witney mentions that Toones owned a shoe shine stand at the studio. If nothing else it shows that Toones was smart enough to have a second source of income for during the lean times when acting jobs were scarce. If only other stars had been that smart.
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