Mae Clarke, 1910-1992

It was 100 years ago today that actress Mae Clarke was born. She had substantial roles through the 1930s, but never really became a big star. Ironically, her most iconic moment in film came in a picture where she didn't even get billing: The Public Enemy, where she plays the girlfriend who gets a grapefruit pushed in her face.

You probably know The Public Enemy is the movie about a man who shoots his way to the top, but there's actually quite a bit more interesting trivia about it. First, regarding the famous grapefruit scene, it was apparently not in the script; instead, it was either a practical joke by Cagney and Clarke, or ad-libbing. Director William Wellman liked the scene so much, however, that he decided to keep it in the final cut of the movie. To be fair, it does effectively show just how capricious Cagney's violent streak is.

As for Cagney, it's also thanks to Wellman that he's playing the lead. When Warner Bros. originally cast the movie, they had Cagney as the second man, with actor Edward Woods getting the lead. However, Wellman saw the early footage and realized that Cagney was by far the more charismatic actor, and knew that putting Cagney in the lead role would make it a much more forceful movie.

Jean Harlow gets second billing as one of Cagney's girlfriends, although the character of his wife is actually played by Joan Blondell. And in addition to Clarke being uncredited, the child star who plays the Woods character as a boy is also uncredited: Frankie Darro.