It could have been a project that was shelved or renamed between the time the picture was taken and the time it was released.
One of my Hail Mary e-mails came through!
An individual at Scarecrow Press passed my email along to Rudy Behlmer, who in turn emailed me a response in person. He also passed my research project along to the currator at the Warner Bros. Corporate Archives, and she just wrote to me today asking for my mailing address to send me the payroll records she had found for my grandfather.
I’ll post any new information that the payroll records provide.
This is so cool!
My great uncle, Leo Forbstein, was the Musical Director for Warner Brothers Studios from 1926 until his death in 1948. I wonder if he and your grandfather might have known each other, or even just met in passing on the lot. I have no idea how much contact, if any, my uncle had with any of the actors or stunt people, since his work didn’t involve actually being on the set during filming.
I’ve met with the Warner Brothers archive people – I contacted them when I first moved out here and did a similar project to yours. They were very, very nice people who obviously love the nostalgia of the era and talking to descendents of former Warners “family members.”
Cool – we’re sortof related. 
You might want to find the M-G-M short Donkey Baseball (1935), part of the Pete Smith series. It shows minor character actors and stunt men (Eddie Baker, Bobby Dunn) playing donkey baseball in Culver City, California. Maybe your grandfather is there too. Turner currently owns the short; it may eventually show up on Turner Classic Movies as a “One Reel Wonder”.
(By the way, the director John Waters is not the same John Waters who directed Hairspray. This one was principally an assistant director in Hollywood.)
Very cool! Thank you.
How on earth did you find that?
The Turner Corporate offices are just across the freeway, I may just have to go over in person and plead my case.
I’m actually very over-due for an update to this thread, but it will have to wait till a break in how busy things are at the moment. 
I was reading the official Laurel & Hardy website, and an article about rare L&H footage mentioned the short Donkey Baseball. Not because L&H are in it, but because on a billboard in the background was an advertisement for Mrs. Hal Roach, who was running for Culver City council at the time. L&H were under contract with Hal Roach Studios for many years, and did their best work there.
I’ve been corresponding with both Rudy Behlmer and the amazingly nice and helpful currator of the corporate archives, Pat.
[QUOTE=Rudy]
Dear Kate Trower:
Scarecrow Press passed along your letter to them requesting my contact information.
I have already spoken to Pat <snip> at the Warner Bros. Corporate Archives in Burbank, CA. I’ve known her and Leith <snip> of the Archives and Museum for many years. They deal with questions like you posed regarding your grandfather often as they have payroll records, corporate records, etc.
I suggest you contact Pat and mention my name to refresh her.
Her e-mail address is: <snip>.
And her fax number is: <snip>.
Unfortunately, I do not have any information regarding your grandfather but, hopefully, Pat <snip> will be of help.
Best wishes,
Rudy Behlmer
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Pat]
Dear Ms. Trower,
Your request about your grandfather has been forwarded to me at the Warner Bros. Corp. Archive. We were able to access Mr. Trower’s payroll records. I will be happy to send them to you, but I need your address. You can contact me, either by email or phone <snip>. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Pat
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Me]
Hello Pat,
Thank you so much!
I have been meaning to email you and to thank Mr. Behlmer for his very kind referral to you and your archives.
My mailing address is:
<snip>
It is so wonderful of you to have researched this for me and my family. I am truly, truly thankful.
My grandfather’s second wife, Pat Trower, was also employed in Hollywood as a costume designer, but my mother and I are having trouble finding her full name (prior to their marriage) or the range of years that she would’ve been working in our family records. We will keep looking.
Could I trouble you to also look for any records for a Pat Trower in your archives?
And lastly, I will be passing through southern California while on vacation this summer. Would it be at all possible to arrange a personal visit to your archives? I have a variety of scrapbook photographs that I’m trying to associate with the films from which they originated. Some of them have notes written on them that I cannot decipher.
Thank you again.
Kind regards,
Kate
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Pat]
Kate,
I will check on your grandmother and see if I can find anything. I won’t send anything to you until I’ve done this further research. Our archive is not open to the public, but if you would like to see the Warner Bros. Museum on the lot I can arrange that.
Best,
Pat
[/QUOTE]
I then wrote to Rudy again and thanked him for his help, provided more details (many of which came from this thread) and just generaly gushed at him for awhile. I also asked him for any further advice in how he aquired the details he used for the DVD narration. I’ll spare you my mail, as it pretty much rehashes this thread, but he did send a response:
[QUOTE=Rudy]
Dear Kate Trower:
Glad I was able to be of help to you regarding your grandfather, Chadwick Trower.
My research on THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD goes back many decades, so I’m not always certain now as to where I found some of my information.
However, the Daily Production Reports at the Warner Bros. Archive are extremely revealing and helpful. They are chronological sheets for each production that contain listings of the key members of the crew, the cast members, and what was being filmed each day. A great deal of specific information came from those records.
These are from the Warner Bros. Archive, which is part of the University of Southern California and lodged a few blocks off the USC campus in Los Angeles. The primary archivist is Randi <snip>. Her e-mail is: <snip>. The telephone number is: <snip>. The Archive has files on all the Warner Bros. films, which include production, legal, advertising, and story information. You have to make an appointment in advance to view the materials. They do have facilities to do research at the Archive but don’t, as a rule, look up things for people via e-mail or phone.
Other things I perused at the time are the two motion picture industry trade papers Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter, etc. I also knew Fred Caven’s son, Al, in the 1960s. Fred and Al, of course, worked on ROBIN HOOD and Al had a wealth of information.
As you probably know ROBIN HOOD was in production from late September 1937 through mid-January 1938.
I wish you well with your research and best wishes.
Sincerely,
Rudy Behlmer
[/QUOTE]
I’m hoping to stop in at the Archive near USC on our roadtrip this summer, but that hasn’t solidified yet.
honeydewgrrl, help set me straight. Is your grandfather’s second wife, Pat Trowers, your grandmother? Because I discovered an earlier wife that you didn’t know about, I’m not sure how you are counting wives.
Did your grandfather and Pat Trowers have any children in California? If so, it should be easy for me to find Pat’s maiden name.
Pat isn’t my grandmother, but I didn’t correct the archivist because I figured she might’ve referred to her that way because she was my ‘grandmother-in-law’. shrug
I’ve been referring to my grandmother (Ronnie/Veronica) as his first wife, and Pat as his second wife, only because no one in our family was aware that he may have been married prior to my grandmother. I’m not knocking your info or anything, it is just habit, and I would really like to confirm it with more than the census record if possible.
Pat did have children, but they were from her marriage prior to my grandfather. It was within the will of one of her children that my father was originally left the inheritence that ended up going to a charity.
Pat’s maiden name, as well as the names of her children and her grandchildren, are all somewhere in a box or 12 at my Mom’s house. My Mom’s memory is as bad as mine, and she can barely remember what room of the house the boxes might be in, let alone remember any names.
I’ll be home visiting for a couple of weeks in July, and I will certainly be sifting through boxes for more information.
[QUOTE=honeydewgrrl]
Pat isn’t my grandmother, but I didn’t correct the archivist because I figured she might’ve referred to her that way because she was my ‘grandmother-in-law’. shrug
[/QUOTE]
:smack:
I meant ‘step-grandmother’.
Guess what arrived today in the mail?
My very own VHS copy of Donkey Baseball. 
Here’s hoping that the narrator mentions his name, if he is indeed in the movie at all. I’m guessing that I’ll have a hard time recognizing him on 71 year old footage of people riding donkeys around in a field.
Thanks again Walloon!
[QUOTE=honeydewgrrl]
Thanks again Walloon!
[/QUOTE]
:smack: And samclem!