Doro
Merande (Dora Matthews 1892-1975)
The
specialty of the angular, stiff-framed Doro Merande was her comedic
interpretation for any number of eccentric characters, whether a
dowdy small-town snoop, a maid, gossip, a terse secretary, or a sour
neighbor. Her dry wit, high nasal warble, half‐opened eyelids, a
smile of childish innocence, or a bewildered look, made her one of the
most endearing characters of
stage, film, and television. It might have been overkill to have her
in lengthy roles, but she pops up delightfully in small doses. It is
easy to understand that live theater was her first love. I can only
imagine the effect she had on a live audience. Staying focused on my
Obscure Cinema blog, I offer a couple of Merande performances in film
and television plus a film of considerably less obscurity.
Prior
to television's rising popularity, she could be captured in all her
comedic glory in Cover Up (1949). Starring Dennis O'Keefe,
Barbara Britton, and Williams Bendix, the mystery-romance film is
easy to like with some lighthearted scenes. But by far the most
amusing performance is Merande's character, Hildy, the maid to end
all maids, with her casual asides suggesting she is completely out of
touch with reality. Far from it. She is a walking encyclopedia of
everything that goes on in the family and in town, delivering astute, cutting opinions as if they were compliments. Britton's father, Art
Baker, appears to be the prime suspect in an assumed murder according
to O'Keefe's investigation. Hildy takes it upon herself to
deliberately set fire to Baker's old college coat—a
key piece of evidence—in the
backyard. She nonchalantly confesses to him in passing, "I had
a little accident with your beaver coat. I was cleaning it and it
caught fire—burned up
completely." As she exits the scene, Baker looks at her in
confused amusement.
With
the dawn of television, Merande could be seen on a number of popular
shows through the Sixties. A memorable small-screen performance was
from a 1958 black comedy episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents
entitled, "Mrs. Herman and Mrs. Fenimore." Merande is a
poor widow who has devised a fool-proof plan to kill her crotchety
live-in uncle, Russell Collins, for the inheritance money. Merande is
delighted when a struggling actress, Mary Astor, becomes her new
tenant. Through feigned empathy, Astor elevates Merande to a new
level of sophistication and they agree to work together on Collin's
demise. But the gullible Merande is unaware—as
is the viewing audience—she
has been duped. Her dumbfounded big-eyed stare at the end seals the
episode.
There
are many other roles of varying length for Merande, of course, but
she was never quite so visually funny in her sporadic appearances in
the Cold War paranoia spoof, The Russians Are Coming the Russians
Are Coming (1966). Merande is one of the few things that
has remained timeless about the film. Dressed in pajamas and robe,
she is the ever-vigilant beacon during the assumed invasion. In a
burst-out-laughing scene, we see Merande—about
four feet off the floor still seated in a chair—placed
upon the wall by the Russians to keep her away from the
telephone. Her stone-deaf husband, Parker Fennelly, not only cannot
hear her muffled screams behind her scarf, he is completely unaware
that she is on the kitchen
wall. Kind of funny just key stroking that. When a friend arrives to
rescue her, he finally turns around to ask what she is doing hanging
up on the wall. It is a hilarious cartoon moment.
Merande's
final role was in the remake of The Front Page (1974). The actress was attending a "Honeymooners"
anniversary special in Miami when she suffered a stroke and died at a
local hospital. Gone but never forgotten.
A
special thanks goes out to Aurora for hosting the tenth-anniversary WHAT A CHARACTER! Blogathon on
December 4, 2021.
