1947

Miracle on 34th Street                                

Macy's parade
abt to begin

Percy’s Santa
& blotto

he sings
"Jingle Bells"

before
passing out

an early
anti-hero

           

1949

The Set-Up                     

Red 
ringside rodent

rubbing down
Robert Ryan

 

The Crooked Way                              

“this town’s going to the dogs”
he sez petting his cat

“turkey? tongue? egg salad combination?”
he pretends to order on the phone

“I’m getting pretty tired”
he coughs into shadows

then takes lead from Sonny Tufts
but he comes back to crawl

into the annals of film noir

 

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff  

cheek-by-jowl with classics
our little guy

brought his squeak & sag
to crap as well

here he’s a hotel night clerk
who smokes

& flirts
with Lou in drag

 

1950

Cyrano de Bergerac                          

a theater manager   “beautiful rose”
knows scorn when The Nose
halts a performance

you scold from the apron
till Cyrano throws
a purse of gold

Ferrer won Oscar
but you got
my nod

 

1951

 

Three Guys Named Mike                    

"he's a nice little guy"
Howard Keel tells Jane Wyman

a nice little guy
who isn’t a Mike

a nice little guy
who doesn’t get the girl

a nice little guy
whose name most forget

a nice little guy
who I can’t shake

           

1953

The Robe                   

for the first Cinemascope film
Hollywood adds a beard to Percy so he’ll fill up the screen

he plays Caleb the wine merchant who laughs
& gets pushed into a pool at the baths

no screen was big enough
to contain our little guy

 

1954
 

A Star is Born                

he shares a drunk tank with James Mason 
tells the judge    “I don't feel so good"

a whole story is in his eyes   
in his eyes   his eyes   eyes

 

1955

 

Kiss Me Deadly                  

a morgue doctor
physician to corpses
doc of the dead

Ralph Meeker
slams yr hand
in a drawer

the dead
are more
polite

 

1957

Jailhouse Rock                       

Elvis begs for a chance to sing at his club
Percy sez "What do you think I am   a mental case?" 

after Percy exits Elvis imitates our little guy
an overlay of legends

 

1962

Ride the High Country                        

Peckinpah casts him
as a bank president

voice almost a whisper
he still steals his scene

 

1966
 

Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title                    

restaurant customer
orders soup & steak

cuts thru steak
cuts thru table

Percy Helton
visual poet