MONTY BANKS (1897-1950)

From left: An undated studio portrait and a frame from Wedding Bells (1924).

CAREER OVERVIEW / THE CRITICS RAVE / THE CRITICS RAGE / MONTY IN THE NEWS / A MONTY BANKS MYSTERY / A LOST MASTERPIECE FOUND / FILMOGRAPHY /

Monty (nee Mario Bianchi) Banks was a diminutive comic who specialized in the kind of "average man" situation comedy that later became Charley Chase's hallmark. He usually played a family man thrown into the most absurd situations. His Italianate good looks allowed him to creditably play romantic leads.

Debuting in 1917, he quickly rose from supporting the likes of Roscoe Arbuckle and Larry Semon to star in his own series, and shortly thereafter in a series of feature films. Handicapped by releasing through Grand Asher and Pathe rather than one of the major distributors, Bank's features were generally ignored by both trade and mainstream critics, and he found himself off the screen by 1929. Banks' work is best remembered through a clip from one of these failed features, Play Safe (1927). As excerpted in Robert Youngson's Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961), Banks, stuntman Harvey Parry and director/gagman Clyde Bruckman executed one of the greatest thrill sequences ever committed to film.

He began a second career as a director of musicals, comedies, and musical comedies in Great Britain. Perhaps the most fortuitous event of Banks career was directing music hall star Gracie Fields in 1936. The two were married and stuck together through thick and thin and World War II. Banks died of a heart attack after a brief career resurgence with 20th Century-Fox, better known as Gracie Fields' husband than as a star in his own right.

CAREER OVERVIEW:

• July 17, 1897: Born in Cesene, Italy
• circa 1916: His family decimated by World War I, young Mario Bianchi arrives in New York and finds work as a dancer.
• 1917-1920: Under his birth name and various stage names, Banks played supporting roles in comedies for Universal, Keystone/Triangle, Fox/Sunshine, Comique, Bulls Eye, Educational and others.
• 1920-1924: As "Monty Banks", starred in shorts for Warner Brothers and Ben Wilson, both series released through Federated Film Exchanges.
• 1923-1925: Starred in shorts and features for Grand Asher.
• 1925-1928: Starred in features for Pathe.
• 1928-1939: Directed and acted in shorts and features for various British companies.
• 1941-1945: Directed and acted in features in U.S. for 20th Century-Fox.
• January 7, 1950: Died of a heart attack on a train in Arona, Italy.

THE CRITICS RAVE:

"F.O.B. Africa"...represents Monty Banks' best two-reel comedy, for the picture in vernacular of show business contains a "million laughs". It is replete with novel stunts that fairly make one's side ache.Monty unfolds some new tricks in a jungle scene that could easily have been developed and the picture itself built up into a five reeler, for certainly there are enough laughs crowded into the two thousand feet of this picture to satisfy an ordinary feature length production.

In "Horse Shoes", Monty Banks newest feature comedy picture, to be released by Pathe on April 17, the popular comedy star is said to have surpassed the high standard of comedy production set for himself in "Atta Boy" and "Play Safe", his previous successes.

THE CRITICS RAGE:

This so-called comedy is neither funny, witty or intelligent; although there, possibly, will be a certain amount of enjoyment obtained from it by the indiscriminating.

Monty Banks' expansion from two-reelers to full length comedies is of recent date. In "Play Safe" he seems to be trying to emulate the type of picture and comedy done by Harold Lloyd in his early successes for Pathe. There is a "chase" sequence reminiscent "Girl Shy" and some stuff on top of a runaway freight train cut from the same cloth as the "dizzy" scenes in "Safety Last". Also Banks goes in for an under dog characterization, the poor boy who triumphs over enemies and adversity more by dumb luck than anything else.

However, beyond this outward similarity resemblance of banks to Lloyd ceases. "Play Safe" is simply a two-reeler done in five. Banks is constantly tripping over himself, constantly pursued by a pack of wolfish thugs, and constantly ducking missiles which bounce back and hit his opponent. He peels a banana, throws away the fruit and eats the skin. And that about tabs the quality and date of the gags.

...Perhaps contain laughs, but not enough to justify its claims to be a straightaway comedy. The plot is a mere flimsy skeleton on which the gagmen worked. No heart interest because there is no reality or illusion to the characters. Virginia Lee Corbin, who has frequently shown to advantage in flaming youth roles was blankly negative in this one.

Production and direction of Joseph Hennaberry on a dead level. Strictly program and with Banks as yet hardly even a "name".

Feature length comedy of this kind impossible except in daily changes or in spots will anything will go. This merely a two-reeler padded with extra falls and ineffective mugging as filler for the additional running time.

Monty Banks is far too light to carry full length feature comedies, rating more in the two-reeler category if anything....

MONTY IN THE NEWS:

MONTY BANKS ENTERS FEATURE COMEDY CLASS. In response to innumerable requests and suggestions from exhibitors and exchange men the country over, Monty Banks, long and favorably known as a comedy star in the two-reelers, is to branch out into the feature comedy class.

According to announcement, he will start his first five or six-reel feature comedy at the Grand Studio shortly, with Herman C. Raymaker directing. The story is now in preparation and a cast of all-star quality will be secured to support Monty Banks. It is stated that these feature length comedies will be released by Grand-Asher.

The Monty Banks Productions was recently formed with Banks as president and H.O. Triplett as secretary and treasurer. Monty Banks has always been extremely successful in short-length comedies. The new features will not be pure slapstick, but will possess a coherent plot and will be made with all due care as to detail. The sets, casts and production in general will be equal in quality to dramatic features.

"I have long wanted to do feature comedies," says Monty Banks. "It gives one an opportunity to develop a characterization and a story, when there are five or six reels to work in. I believe that I have a splendid series of stories, and certainly one of the best directors in the business in the person of Mr. Raymaker. Also the Grand Studios offers splendid facilities for work."

The comedy features will be interspersed in production with the dramatic features, it is understood.

FILM PRODUCER FAILS WITH DEBTS OF $90,701. MARIO BIANCHI, KNOWN AS MONTY BANKS, SAYS HIS ASSETS AMOUNT TO ONLY $150. Mario Bianchi...filed a bankruptcy petition in the Federal court yesterday, estimating his liabilities at $90,701.86 with assets of $150. Bianchi gave his address as the Park Lane Hotel, London, thus presenting in the petition the unusual feature of a native and resident of a foreign country seeking to get rid of debts contracted here. The petitioner said he had no principal place of business or domicile in the United States. In relating his assets he said that in addition to the $150, they were represented by a 40% interest in the film plays "A Perfect Gentleman", "Attaboy", "Racing Luck", "Flying Luck" and "Horse Shoe"...

MONTY BARGES IN. The other disturbance was caused by Monty Banks, newly returned from America, who always wrecks the peace of mind of any studio he visits. He signalised his arrival by having a rough-and-tumble scrap with a prop-man whom he happened to know...at which everybody laughed and promptly began to cough harder than ever.

Monty Banks, 52, actor, film director and husband of British comedienne Gracie Fields, died in Arona, Italy, Jan. 7. Death resulted from a heart attack suffered by banks, while being carried from the Arona railroad station to a nearby hospital. The actor-director was en route with his wife to their home on the Isle of Capri...

A MONTY BANKS MYSTERY:

In his book-length interview with Joseph McBride in "Hawks on Hawks" (Univ. of California Press, 1982), Hawks recalled working with Monty in early Warner Brothers' comedies: "The star was Monty Banks. I named him - his name was Mario Bianchi - and Monty Banks married Gracie Fields and became a multi-millionaire. He got fifty dollars a week. One time he got fresh, so I put a ladder up to the house and had him climb into the chimney. He got all covered with black soot, and he got down on he knees and begged me to let him back. So we let him back, but I always kept the ladder around. The girl was Alice Terry, who married Rex Ingram and became quite a big star."

The mystery? Having researched Banks' entire career, I could find no instance when he had a credit with either Hawks or Terry. In Hawks' telling, he implies he is Banks' director, but may in fact have been in a subordinate (and uncredited) position. Banks also used the name "Monty Banks" on-screen at least two years before he made his first Warner Brothers short, making it unlikely that Hawks had anything to do with the moniker.

A LOST MASTERPIECE FOUND

In 1935, a full seven years after his U.S. starring career ended, Monty made So You Won't Talk? for Warner Brothers British studios. He starred as a chatterbox of a man whose claim on his inheritance depends on his ability to remain totally silent for 30 days. Of course, his greedy relatives try every trick imaginable to loosen his lips. Given Banks' proven ability as a comic pantomimist, the premise is tailor-made for him. 

BACK TO MUG SHOTS HOME PAGE or leap to our other comedians...