CINEFILER

H.M. Walker

Born
June 27, 1878
Died
June 23, 1937
WALKER, H.M. (Harley Marquis Walker) started as a telegrapher, tapping out the descriptions of sportswriters at boxing matches and sending them to the offices of their newspapers. In 1903 he became a sportswriter himself and wrote a column, “The Wisdom of Blinkey Ben,” for the Los Angeles Examiner before joining Roach in 1917 as a part-time scenario and title writer for Harold Lloyd. In 1920, he left newspaper work and joined Roach full time as head of the editorial department. A brilliant title writer in the silent era, Walker was less skilled at dialogue; he was credited for providing these elements on more than 350 Roach comedies. He usually came up with the title for each film and also wrote fairly severe critiques after each preview. After leaving Roach in 1932 he wrote dialogue for some features, including Son of a Sailor (1933) with Joe E. Brown, W.C. Fields’ The Old Fashioned Way (1934), and the ZaSu Pitts picture Affair of Susan (1935). Walker died in the home of his good friend Leroy Shield, who had written scores at the Roach lot in 1930 and ’31. Died June 23, 1937, Chicago, Illinois, age 58; of a heart attack. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Harley M. "Beanie" Walker (June 27, 1878 – June 23, 1937) was a member of the Hal Roach movie production company from 1916 until his resignation in 1932. The title cards he wrote for Harold Lloyd, Charley Chase, Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy comedies "have entered legend, both for silent films, and as opening remarks for the earlier talkies." He was also an officer of the Roach Studio corporation. On Roach's "Lot of Fun", script development usually started with meetings among the gag men, who would develop what was known as an "action script": the outline of the story and a description of the scenes and some of the sight gags, which generally would run three to six legal-size pages. This document would then pass to Walker, the head of the editorial department, which oversaw not only script editing, but film editing as well. Walker usually came up with the title of each film, wrote "brilliantly witty" title cards which would be produced and inserted into the film, and wrote a critique before the picture went out to the distributors, Pathé Exchange, or later, M-G-M. Walker's writing did not transition well to talkies and by 1931 he had left Roach studio and wrote dialogue for comedies produced by ex-Roach general manager Warren Doane at Universal Pictures. Later, he worked at Paramount Pictures, where he contributed to the W. C. Fields picture The Old Fashioned Way (1934).
Known For
Beau Hunks
(1931)
Writer
Boxing Gloves
(1929)
Dialogue
Uncensored Movies
(1923)
Writer
Below Zero
(1930)
Dialogue
Crazy Feet
(1929)
Scenario Writer
Sugar Daddies
(1927)
Writer
Come Clean
(1931)
Dialogue
Brats
(1930)
Dialogue
Full Filmography
Writing
By the Sad Sea Waves
(1917)
Writer
Clubs Are Trump
(1917)
Writer
The Flirt
(1917)
Writer
We Never Sleep
(1917)
Writer
Love, Laughs and Lather
(1917)
Writer
Bliss
(1917)
Writer
Rainbow Island
(1917)
Writer
From Laramie to London
(1917)
Writer
Birds of a Feather
(1917)
Writer
All Aboard
(1917)
Writer
Step Lively
(1917)
Writer
A Gasoline Wedding
(1918)
Writer
Here Come the Girls
(1918)
Dialogue
Beat It
(1918)
Dialogue
The Tip
(1918)
Dialogue
Fireman Save My Child
(1918)
Writer
Ask Father
(1919)
Writer
Bumping Into Broadway
(1919)
Writer
Heap Big Chief
(1919)
Dialogue
Chop Suey & Co.
(1919)
Writer
An Eastern Westerner
(1920)
Writer
Number, Please?
(1920)
Writer
Get Out and Get Under
(1920)
Writer
Haunted Spooks
(1920)
Writer
His Royal Slyness
(1920)
Writer
High and Dizzy
(1920)
Writer
Now or Never
(1921)
Writer
Never Weaken
(1921)
Writer
Grandma's Boy
(1922)
Writer
Uncensored Movies
(1923)
Writer
Mother's Joy
(1923)
Writer
The Whole Truth
(1923)
Writer
Heavy Seas
(1923)
Writer
Just a Good Guy
(1924)
Writer
Wide Open Spaces
(1924)
Writer
The Battling Orioles
(1924)
Writer
Brothers Under the Chin
(1924)
Writer
Black Cyclone
(1925)
Writer
Papa Be Good!
(1925)
Writer
Get 'Em Young
(1926)
Writer
Good Cheer
(1926)
Writer
The Nickel-Hopper
(1926)
Writer
Fluttering Hearts
(1927)
Writer
Sugar Daddies
(1927)
Writer
Putting Pants on Philip
(1927)
Writer
The Sting of Stings
(1927)
Writer
Sailors, Beware!
(1927)
Writer
Many Scrappy Returns
(1927)
Writer
Should Men Walk Home?
(1927)
Writer
The Finishing Touch
(1928)
Writer
Their Purple Moment
(1928)
Writer
From Soup to Nuts
(1928)
Writer
Came the Dawn
(1928)
Writer
Early to Bed
(1928)
Writer
Should Married Men Go Home?
(1928)
Writer
You're Darn Tootin'
(1928)
Writer
Playin' Hookey
(1928)
Writer
Double Whoopee
(1929)
Writer
Big Business
(1929)
Writer
Liberty
(1929)
Writer
Men O'War
(1929)
Writer
Boxing Gloves
(1929)
Dialogue
Small Talk
(1929)
Dialogue
Skirt Shy
(1929)
Story
Unaccustomed as We Are
(1929)
Dialogue
Wrong Again
(1929)
Writer
Angora Love
(1929)
Other
Hotter Than Hot
(1929)
Writer
Crazy Feet
(1929)
Scenario Writer
Sky Boy
(1929)
Writer
Moan & Groan, Inc.
(1929)
Story Editor
Bouncing Babies
(1929)
Story Editor
The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case
(1930)
Writer
Night Owls
(1930)
Writer
The Night Life
(1930)
Writer
Dollar Dizzy
(1930)
Dialogue and Story
The Fighting Parson
(1930)
Writer
The Shrimp
(1930)
Writer
The Big Kick
(1930)
Writer
The King
(1930)
Writer
The Head Guy
(1930)
Writer
Hog Wild
(1930)
Dialogue and Writer
Brats
(1930)
Dialogue
Blotto
(1930)
Dialogue
Whispering Whoopee
(1930)
Dialogue
Night of Goblins
(1930)
Dialogue
Bear Shooters
(1930)
Story Editor
Another Fine Mess
(1930)
Dialogue
School's Out
(1930)
Dialogue
All Teed Up
(1930)
Dialogue
The golf player
(1930)
Writer
The golfer
(1930)
Writer
Fast Work
(1930)
Dialogue
Girl Shock
(1930)
Writer
Follies of love
(1930)
Writer
The prince of the dollar
(1930)
Story
Gold Diggers
(1930)
Story
A gray in the air
(1930)
Writer
High C's
(1930)
Dialogue
Below Zero
(1930)
Dialogue
Shivering Shakespeare
(1930)
Story Editor
The First Seven Years
(1930)
Story Editor
When the Wind Blows
(1930)
Story Editor
Beau Hunks
(1931)
Writer
Be Big!
(1931)
Writer
On the Loose
(1931)
Writer
Our Wife
(1931)
Dialogue
Playing at Politics
(1931)
Writer
The Pajama Party
(1931)
Dialogue
War Mamas
(1931)
Dialogue
Let's Do Things
(1931)
Dialogue
The Chiselers
(1931)
Writer
Chickens Come Home
(1931)
Dialogue
Helping Grandma
(1931)
Writer
Shiver My Timbers
(1931)
Writer
Love Business
(1931)
Writer
Little Daddy
(1931)
Writer
Pardon Us
(1931)
Dialogue
Haunted at Midnight
(1931)
Writer
Call a Cop!
(1931)
Dialogue
Catch-As Catch-Can
(1931)
Dialogue
Thundering Tenors
(1931)
Dialogue
The soul of the party
(1931)
Dialogue
Messing Around
(1931)
Writer
Rough Seas
(1931)
Dialogue
One of the Smiths
(1931)
Dialogue
Skip the Maloo!
(1931)
Dialogue
What a Bozo!
(1931)
Dialogue
Hasty Marriage
(1931)
Dialogue
Come Clean
(1931)
Dialogue
One Good Turn
(1931)
Dialogue
Pack Up Your Troubles
(1932)
Writer
Any Old Port!
(1932)
Writer
The Chimp
(1932)
Writer
What Price Taxi
(1932)
Dialogue and Writer
The Nickel Nurser
(1932)
Writer
Red Noses
(1932)
Dialogue
In Walked Charley
(1932)
Writer
The Old Bull
(1932)
Dialogue
Alum and Eve
(1932)
Dialogue
The Music Box
(1932)
Dialogue and Writer
Scram!
(1932)
Dialogue and Writer
The Tabasco Kid
(1932)
Writer
The Pooch
(1932)
Writer
Choo-Choo!
(1932)
Writer
Spanky
(1932)
Writer
Show Business
(1932)
Dialogue
County Hospital
(1932)
Dialogue and Writer
You're Telling Me
(1932)
Dialogue
First in War
(1932)
Dialogue
Young Ironsides
(1932)
Dialogue
Girl Grief
(1932)
Dialogue
Strictly Unreliable
(1932)
Writer
Helpmates
(1932)
Dialogue
They Just Had to Get Married
(1933)
Screenplay
Her First Mate
(1933)
Screenplay
Them Thar Hills
(1934)
Writer
Public Ghost # 1
(1935)
Writer
Crew
Art
Data provided by TMDB