KAY LINAKER

Kay Linaker made several Charlie Chan movies, with both Warner Oland AND Sidney Toler. She eventually left Hollywood to do other things but Ms. Linaker will always be one memorable lady to Chan Fans everywhere.

Kay Linaker appeared in some five Charlie Chan movies (Monte Carlo, Reno, Treasure Island, Murder Cruise and Rio) but had a lot more going for her than considerable acting talent. She went on to co-write the screenplay to the 1958 version of The Blob and to become a teacher (of acting, of course!) at Keene State College in New Hampshire. She was kind enough to enlighten Maven on two subjects:

1. Harold Huber's so-fake French accent in City in Darkness.

2. The suspicion that there was more to Dr. Zodiac then most thought. The Zodiac character in Charlie Chan in Treasure Island (1939) was employed by two different actors as a plot devise. . . . To avoid being a spoiler alert, suffice it to say that it was logistically impossible for either actor to appear as Zodiac in certain scenes. Plus Maven recognized the voice that Zodiac used was a third actor, Gerald Mohr.

Ms. Linaker's reputation in Hollywood doesn't need Maven's help to embellish it but Maven salutes the memory of Kay Linaker as being as fine and gracious a person as she was an actress!

Kay Linaker Letter

Kay Linaker on Harold Huber

Just as a point of reference, here's more information about Kate Phillips' The Blob, from her www.imdb.com entry through excerpts of her script and on!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051418/fullcredits#cast

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051418/goofs

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051418/trivia

Kay Linaker in a very interesting interview with "Scarlet Street" . . . unfortunately, Maven has misplaced Part 1. Please let Maven know at theoldmoviemaven@yahoo.com if you know where a copy can be found!:

Scarlet Street Interview - Part 2

Scarlet Street Interview - Part 3

Scarlet Street Interview - Part 4

CHAD BENNETT ABOUT KAY LINAKER

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2002

Kay Linnaker’s favorite Charlie Chan film was Rio.

Cobina Wright, Jr., and Mary Beth Hughes did not get along on Rio.

Wright was a spoiled brat form New York and stepped on Mary Beth’s toes a lot.

Wright considered herself a [better] actress.

Iris Wong (who played the maid in Rio) was married secretly to a Caucasian man. She kept her marriage a secret, coming from a traditional Chinese family.

She got pregnant with his child and had to tell her parents.

Kay went with Wong to tell her parents and recalled that it didn’t go well.

Kay said that Wong and Sen Yung were both charming and the cast kept trying to set them up together . . . until they found out that Iris was already married!

This was Kay’s favorite Chan to work on; and in her opinion, the best written out of all the Chans.

More from Chad Bennett: