Poodles Hanneford

June 14 marks the birthday of Poodles Hanneford. Hanneford was a vaudeville-era circus clown who was best known for his horseback tricks. Hanneford made a few silents, and has uncredited roles doing his horse tricks in a number of movies.

However, Hanneford has an interesting place in movie trivia: In the movie All About Eve, about 20 minutes in, Gary Merrill is giving Anne Baxter a speech about how there will always be a theater and people wanting to act on the stage. Merrill starts off his speech by mentioning Poodles Hanneford. Why? Beats me. And I can't help but wonder if audiences of the day knew who Hanneford was. True, he had appeared in The Red Pony the year before in an uncredited part. Also, he hadn't yet retired from performing. But really, how many clowns are known by name?