...Francesca Bahrle?

Today I was working through a seemingly endless pile of photos and magazines to update my Luise Rainer website when I came across a copy of the July 1937 edition of Picturegoer magazine. As is usually the case, after I'd transcribed the Rainer piece for the site I got embroiled in the rest of the magazine. It's fascinating reading gossip and news about stars that are no longer in the public consciousness; it brings home the fleetingness of fame. In their regular All the Gossip section there's a brief mention of a forthcoming picture to be filmed in London:

People who complain that we are never shown London on the screen may be interested to hear that i the new film which Lawrence Huntington is directing at the Highbury studios a girl chases a crook all round the Metropolis, particuarly the West End; finally he gets on a train at Waterloo and is run to earth at Kingston.

Francesca Bahrle (a new one on me, I'm afraid) is the girl, and the cast also includes Anthony Ireland, Paul Neville, and Frank Birch.

It's called Twin Faces.

Francesa Bahrle was a new one on me, too, and a quick Google search didn't enlighten me. Francesca has only five films listed on her IMDb page: Servants All (a short made in 1936), The Bank Messenger Mystery (also 1936), the aforementioned Twin Faces (1937), an uncredited part in What A Man! (1937) and Flying Fifty-Five (1939).

All of these films are British productions, possibly quota quickies, made in London studios (Twin Faces was a Paramount production in the UK). The Bank Messenger Mystery (1936) is notable as an early production from Hammer Films before their bankruptcy and subsequent resurrection in 1938. There's scant information available on the other films, nor why Francesca disappeared so sharply after two lead roles. She did, however, make it into Carreras' popular Glamour Girls of Stage and Films cigarette card series from where this image is taken:

So, that's all I have.... whatever happened to Francesca Bahrle?

...Alan Perl?

The person that really got me started on this blog was Alan Perl.

Who?

Exactly.

As a Luise Rainer obsessive I recently tried to find out if any of her MGM co-stars were still living, or had she outlived them all. Whilst there's a chance that there may be some of the Ziegfeld girls from The Great Ziegfeld still (high) kicking, the likelihood of tracking them down, especially as most were not credited for the film, was zero to very little. There was, however, one person who made a film at MGM with Luise that may still be alive: Alan Perl.

Alan played Luise's son Georgie in The Toy Wife (1938), MGM's jump onto the Gone With The Wind bandwagon, with Luise as a European-Southern belle stealing the hearts of two beaus and getting herself into hot water with her steadfast sister (played by Barbara O'Neil). The film is charming, but doesn't have the quality of Luise's previous Oscar winners. 

This is Alan Perl's only credit. He was only four years old at the time so he would be in his late 70s today. I have been unable to find any further information about him, so....

Whatever happened to Alan Perl?