Frankie Darro (bornFrank Johnson, Jr.; December 22, 1917 – December 25, 1976) was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as achild actor insilent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles inadventure,western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became acharacter actor andvoice-over artist. He is perhaps best known for his role as Lampwick, the unlucky boy who turns into adonkey in Walt Disney's second animated feature,Pinocchio (1940). In early credits, his last name was spelledDarrow.[1]
Frankie Darro was born on Saturday, December 22, 1917, inChicago, Illinois, asFrank Johnson, Jr. His parents, Frank Johnson, Sr. and his wife Ada, were known asThe Flying Johnsons, and had been working for the Cook Shows organization: "The Flying Johnsons have signed with the Cook Shows for the summer season to do their ceiling walking and double ring act."[2] After the baby was born, the Johnsons toured with theSells Floto Circus, doing anacrobatics andtightrope walking act. Frankie's father trained him in the profession, and he cured Frankie's fear of heights by having him walk on a length of tightrope wire, gradually raising the height of it until his son had mastered the trick.
In 1922, while the circus was inCalifornia, his parents divorced, and their circus act ended along with their marriage. The growing film industry, however, found a use for a small child who could do his own stunts. The young Johnson, renamed "Frankie Darro" (evidently in reference to the child's daring), appeared in his first film at the age of six.
As a child actor, he appeared in manysilentadventure,western, andserial pictures of the 1920s. He received good notices for his dramatic ability: "Little Frankie Darro is one of the cleverest child actors on the screen, and he has quite a part inThe Signal Tower."[3]
In 1931, Darro was featured in directorWilliam A. Wellman's major successThe Public Enemy. This led to frequent assignments atWarner Bros., includingMervyn LeRoy'sThree on a Match (1932) andThe Mayor of Hell (1933), in which he was the principal character. Director Wellman cast him as the lead in Darro's most important role during the 1930s,Wild Boys of the Road, an indictment of teens vagabonding across America during theDepression. From then on, Darro was usually cast as a pint-sized tough guy, although he also played wholesome leads in mysteries and comedies.
Frankie Darro was arguably the best juvenile actor in Hollywood, as reflected by his constant employment in the 1930s. ProducerNat Levine ofMascot Pictures valued him: he starred in six adventureserials from 1931 to 1935, with his salary increasing with his popularity: he earned $1,000 a week forThe Vanishing Legion, $2,000 a week forThe Lightning Warrior,$3,000 a week forThe Devil Horse, $4,000 forThe Wolf Dog, and $5,000 a week forBurn 'Em Up Barnes.[4] Darro was reunited with western starHarry Carey in two of the serials; Carey and Darro had worked together in silent features. Darro might have continued as a serial star, but Levine's Mascot studio was bought out byHerbert J. Yates, who created Mascot's successorRepublic Pictures. The cost-conscious Yates opted not to meet Darro's established salary. Darro signed instead with producerMaurice Conn of Ambassador Pictures, where he starred in a series of modestly budgeted action features through 1937.
In 1938, Darro joinedMonogram Pictures to star in a series of action melodramas. Darro's flair for comedy gradually increased the laugh content in these films. By 1940, Monogram hiredMantan Moreland to play his sidekick. The Frankie Darro series was so successful that Monogram used it as a haven for performers whose own series had been discontinued:Jackie Moran,Marcia Mae Jones, andKeye Luke joined Darro and Moreland in 1940, andGale Storm was added in 1941.
Darro served in theUS Navy Hospital Corps duringWorld War II. He contractedmalaria while enlisted. Upon his return to civilian life, Monogram welcomed him back and cast the perennially youthful Darro in itsThe Teen Agers campus comedies. When that series ended, the studio gave Darro four featured roles in its popularBowery Boys comedies, including a co-starring role inFighting Fools (1949). This was the last film in which he played a lead; thereafter he accepted smaller roles and did stunt work for other actors in various films. Darro's last assignment for Monogram was as a stuntman, doubling forLeo Gorcey inBlues Busters in 1950.
Darro's recurring malaria symptoms caused him to increase his alcohol intake for pain management, and this affected his career. As film and TV roles became fewer, Darro opened his own tavern on Santa Monica Boulevard, naming it "Try Later,"[5] after the response he most often received when he askedCentral Casting for work. His new occupation proved unwise, however, given his heavy drinking. By the mid-1950s, he had become too risky for producers to hire steadily.
Frankie Darro is probably best known to modern audiences for two films in which he isn't even seen:Walt Disney'sPinocchio (1940, as the voice of Lampwick), andForbidden Planet (1956, as one of the actor/operatorsinside the now iconic 7-foot-tall "Robby the Robot").[6] He was fired shortly after an early scene because of his having consumed a five-martini lunch prior to the scene being shot; he nearly fell over while attempting to walk while inside the expensive prop.[7][8]
Gloske, John.Tough Kid: The Life and Films of Frankie Darro, Lulu, 2008,ISBN978-0557003815.
Twomey, Alfred E. and Arthur F. McClure.The Versatiles: A Study of Supporting Character Actors and Actresses in the American Motion Picture, 1930-1955, South Brunswick, New York, 1969.
Katchmer, George A.A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses, McFarland, 2002, pp. 85–86.
Holmstrom, John.The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 87–88.
Dye, David.Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, pp. 50–51.
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