Eddie Fetherston

Why the devil did Eddie Fetherstone appear more than forty times on the screen as a reporter, a newspaperman, a news or cinema operator, a photographer? It is a mystery that only the casting directors of the golden age of Hollywood could solve. For Eddie had nothing to do with journalism. For an unknown reason, his physical appearance was once associated with the aforementioned type of trade and on they went! In fact Eddie Fetherstone had been a vaudevillian from the start and comedies were more in his line. He did some for Capra, La Cava, McLeod, John Ford, but his roles were most often so tiny that you had to keep your eyes wide open not to miss his appearance.He fared better with Harold Lloyd in two of his feature-length talkies and in shorts for Columbia alongside Buster Keaton, the Three Stooges and Harry Langdon. Nevertheless he WAS the quintessential reporter, often wisecracking to be honest, the latter fact paying tribute to the comic he was at core. On the other hand, Eddie Fetherstone often found himself at the wheel of a cab or barking for shows. Another oddity was that directors found him excellent in roles of henchmen, thugs and other hoods. So much so that B-directors such as D. Ross Lederman or C.C. Coleman could hardly make their run-of-the-mill cop and robber adventures without his presence. Eddie Fetherstone was never a star but remained one of the movie industry's faithful companions for no less than four decades.