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Monty Banks

{{Short description|Italian comedian and director (1897–1950)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Montybanks.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Mario Bianchi

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1897|7|18}}

| birth_place = Cesena, Kingdom of Italy

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1950|1|7|1897|7|18}}

| death_place = Arona, Italy

| occupation = {{flatlist|

  • Comedian
  • actor
  • director
  • producer

}}

| years active = 1916–1945

| spouse = {{plainlist|

}}

}}

Montague (Monty) Banks (born Mario Bianchi; 18 July 1897 – 7 January 1950){{cite news |title=Monty Banks, 52, Screen Director |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/01/09/archives/monty-banks-52-screen-director-comedy-star-of-silent-movies-husband.html|agency=Associated Press |work=The New York Times |page=20 |date=9 January 1950 |access-date=16 December 2008}} was a 20th century Italian-born American comedian, film actor, director and producer who achieved success in the United States and United Kingdom.

Career

Banks was born Mario Bianchi in Cesena, Italy. In 1914, Bianchi emigrated to the United States, first trying his luck on the New York stage. By 1918, he was an actor in Hollywood with the Arbuckle Company, performing in over 35 silent short comedies by the early 1920s,{{cite book|author=Robert S. Birchard|title=Monty Banks: A Filmography 1920–1924 |date=2015|publisher=CreateSpace|isbn=978-1511695817|pages=1–72}} and then, starring in feature-length action comedy-thrillers as Play Safe (1927). (A large excerpt from this movie is included in Robert Youngson's compilation film Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961) and the car-to-train transfer stunt explained in the 1980 documentary series Hollywood).

Like Harold Lloyd, the comedy-thrillers he produced were popular but became increasingly risky and Banks was seriously injured after being roped to the back of a car and dragged down a cliff face.Arthur Wise & Derek Ware, Stunting in the Cinema, Constable, London, 1973, p. 89.

With the arrival of sound films, Banks's strong Italian accent forced him to phase out his acting career in favor of working as a gagman and director. He directed Laurel and Hardy in their film Great Guns, under the name "Montague Banks".

By the 1930s he had relocated to the United Kingdom where he produced and directed "quota quickies" for the comedy team of Leslie Fuller and Syd Courtenay, and later the breakthrough films of George Formby and Gracie Fields. After Warner Bros. purchased Teddington Studios outright in 1934, he directed (and occasionally acted in) various comedies and crime stories intended for UK release only, featuring actors of the caliber of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Edmund Gwenn and Margaret Lockwood.Hirschhorn, Clive, The Warner Bros. Story, Octopus Books, London, 1979, p. 446.

Banks subsequently became an associate producer at 20th Century Fox.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Personal life

He was married to American actress Gladys Frazin. The marriage was not a happy one and they divorced on 29 April 1932 as a result of her abusive behaviour.[http://westhollywoodusa.com/page26.html Westhollywoodusa.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618005309/http://westhollywoodusa.com/page26.html |date=18 June 2009 }} She subsequently committed suicide in March 1939.{{cite news |title=Actress leaps to death |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/102812231 |access-date=January 8, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=March 10, 1939 |page=19|id={{ProQuest|102812231}} }}

Banks met British singer and actress Gracie Fields in 1935, subsequently directing her in four of her films, and they married in March 1940.{{cite book|author=Gracie Fields|title=Sing As We Go |date=1960|publisher=Frederick Muller Limited|isbn=978-1245763554}} As an Italian national, he would have been classified as an 'enemy alien' in Britain during World War II. Consequently, he and Fields left the UK for Canada initially, and then the neutral United States in order to prevent his internment.{{cite magazine |date=1 September 1947 |title=Our Gracie |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887621,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514041946/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887621,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 May 2009 |access-date=16 December 2008}} Italian American internment also came into place in the United States during 1941 and 1942, affecting thousands of Italians, but this was eventually relaxed.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Death

Banks held dual Italian and American citizenship.{{cn|date=November 2022}} He died, reportedly in the arms of Fields, while traveling on the Orient Express train just outside Arona, Italy, of a heart attack, aged 52.

Aula Didattica Monty Banks

In his home town of Cesena a Foundation was created in honor of Banks, entitled the Aula Didattica Monty Banks.{{Cite web|last=www.comune.cesena.fc.it|first=Comune di Cesena-|title=Monty Banks: per fare, per scoprire|url=http://www.comune.cesena.fc.it/montybanks|access-date=2020-11-06|website=www.comune.cesena.fc.it|language=it}} It is "an initiative promoted by the municipality, the course is open to all and provides the opportunity to create videos".{{Cite web|title=Aula Didattica Monty Banks – YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AD25B7DA881CF557|access-date=2020-11-06|website=www.youtube.com}}

Selected filmography

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In popular culture

  • French comic artist Louis Forton created a 1925-1927 celebrity comic, Ploum, of which the title character was physically modelled after Monty Banks. {{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/f/forton_louis.htm|title=Louis Fortonwebsite=lambiek.net|accessdate=4 August 2024}}

References

{{reflist|30em}}

= Sources =

{{refbegin}}

  • {{Cite book |last=Birchard |first=Robert S. |title=Monty Banks: A Filmography 1920–1924|pages=1–72|publisher=CreateSpace|location=Seattle|year=2015|isbn=978-1511695817 }}
  • {{Cite book |last=Fields |first=Gracie |title=Sing As We Go|pages=1–228|publisher=Frederick Muller Limited|location=London|year=1960|isbn=1245763555 }}

{{refend}}

External links

{{commons category}}

  • {{IMDb name|0052217}}
  • {{findagrave|12451633}}
  • [http://www.early-american-cinema.com/articles/monty_banks.html Notes for an essay on the film career of Monty Banks]
  • [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/1558/monty-banks Monty Banks] at Virtual History

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{{Monty Banks}}

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Category:1897 births

Category:1950 deaths

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male silent film actors

Category:American slapstick comedians

Category:Italian male film actors

Category:Italian male silent film actors

Category:Italian film directors

Category:Italian emigrants to the United States

Category:American male comedians

Category:Italian male comedians

Category:People from Cesena

Category:Silent film comedians

Category:20th-century Italian male actors

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:American comedy film directors

Category:Italian comedy film directors

Category:Italian slapstick comedians