Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy during a War Bond parade, sitting up on the rear body ledge. The newsreel was made in Des Moines in 1942. A Des Moines Tribune photographer was on hand and shot a photo for the paper. Till we can find a copy of the Newsreel, I have an amateur photo also taken at the event as a place holder?
"The
Crystal Ball" (1943):
Lots of footage of a 2-cylinder convertible without door-window frames
driven by wealthy bachelor Ray Milland who's dating Paulette Goddard.
(In real life, Paulette owned a 2-cylinder Crosley, which was a
gift from her mother.) At one point, Ray gets a flat and pulls
over. He complains to Paulette that he has no spare, and says "If I
had a rubber band, I could fix it myself!"
Later at a shooting gallery, Ray comes back to his car to find a lipstick message on the windshield.
Later in the film Ray pulls onto a nighttime highway without looking and sideswipes a watermelon truck, and dozens of watermelons spill into the open Crosley, one of which knocks Ray out. (I don't think the vehicles actually touched.) The next day there's a newspaper article telling of the accident, saying that Ray was "driving his interim wartime vehicle".
"Abbott
and Costello in Hollywood" (1945):
Lou is a uniformed delivery man, and has a brief scene with a
2-cylinder Parkway Delivery. (There's a famous publicity photo
with Bud and Lou by the car.)
"The
Noose Hangs High" (1948):
Lou Costello backs his car hard into a line of parked cars, locks
bumpers with ALL of them including a CC sedan, and then drives
off, pulling the empty cars behind him.
"Africa Screams" (1949): 49-50 CD Station wagon, Abbott & Costello Right at the end, Speedo, one of the richest guys in the world arrives at his own building in a chaffered Crosley wagon.
O'Donnell. The main character Joe Norson, a letter carrier, has just gotten done stealing some money from a filing cabinet early in the movie. As he is crossing the street leaving the scene he walks in back of a postwar CC Crosley wagon. Unfortunetly the car does not show up in the rest of the movie.
"Follow
the Sun" (1951):
A CC pickup truck is in a generic street scene right at the
beginning. This has also been called "The Ben Hogan Story".
Nice scene of a 1950 Super Sports in traffic jam. 8 guys (including 2 cops) pick up the car with driver up and carry her out of the traffic jam. Lots of close up shots including a cop repeatedly leaning on the windshield, I cringed as it flexed knowing how weak the casting is in the standoffs. Link to YouTube clip, look at around 2:45 to 7:15.
I got a report that either in one of the last Boston Blackie movies (1949) or possibly the TV program (1951-1953), the main character drove a Crosley Super Sports of or HotShot. Anybody remember this? It was reported that there were a few chase scenes where he used the handling of his car to great advantage.
New info is that at least one car was built on a Super Sports or a HotShot frame but has entirely different body work. The current owner says this car was used in the 1950s television series but not the 1940s movies. I have seen pictures of the car but not the TV clip to verify.
"Three Ring Circus" (1954): A red 49 or 50 CD Sedan painted with black top so it looks like a convertible with the top up. Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
CC Sedan parked on left side in parade scene. Only a little over a minute in to the movie, right after parade starts. This frame shot was from the TV show The 20th Century-Fox Hour release. Looks like they used the footage from the 1947 film as the back drop and put new actors over the canned footage but I didn't have the earlier version to check. It is only there for a frame or two so keep a close eye out. Click on image for full frame of movie.
Short lived series, a 1948 wagon made it into episode 1.
"National
Lampoon's Animal House" (1978):
A CC pickup is among some disabled cars on the "lawn" of the
fraternity house. At times the hood is open, other times closed. At one
point, John Belushi chugs down some alcoholic beverage and flings the
bottle backward over his shoulder seemingly into the Crosley, which is
otherwise never referred to. (In the book, the Crosley is
referred to by name several times there.)
"The Long
Summer of George Adams" (1982):
A newspaper reporter interviewing George Adams (James Garner)
happens to drive a CD station wagon.
"Porky's
II, the Next Day" (1983):
The adventures of a high-school boy and his pals. He owns a yellow CC
convertible which is seen and driven a lot but never referred
to otherwise. ( It is believe the car was borrowed from Lewis
Crosley, and was repainted by the studio after shooting was
completed.) At one point the boy jumps out of the car, but the
engine obviously was still running and it jumps forward a bit,
which is seen to surprise him and the others standing by. He
puts his hands on the hood and says "Whoa!". They decided to
leave that in the final print.
"Avalon"
(1990):
Right after World War II, a father and his young son are driving down
wintertime streets in Baltimore. Suddenly the dad points to a
parked car (a red CC convertible) and asks the boy "What
kind of car is that?" The boy answers "Crosley!" The dad
says
"And that one?" (pointing to a Nash sedan across the street.)
The boy: "Nash!" The dad smiles and says: "Pretty
good!" (Later there's a spectacular streetcar wreck which
looks real, but it's only a plywood replica.)
"Gone In
60 Seconds" (2000):
An engine in [remake] is sitting on a workbench in the scene
when the police inspector visits the shop.
Taking place in 1953 a self-absorbed woman leaves her philandering band-leader husband and takes her two teen-aged sons across the country, searching for a new husband.
Lots of nice vintage cars and trucks including a 1951-52 yellow Crosley sedan sitting by a drive-in restaurant. The Crosley got a fair amount of background time about 23 min 30 seconds into the movie. 3 frames from the scene to the right, notice the car hop on rollerskate.
