Although motion pictures came equipped with sound in 1927, it took two years for Westerly’s United Theater to acquire the machinery needed to offer a “talkie.” That first show containing sound caused a “Standing Room Only” sign to be placed in the theater’s window. The next week would be just as busy — as all the local advertisements screamed “Westerly’s Favorite Actor!” next to posters of the new crime film “Alibi,” starring 28-year-old Chester Brooks Morris as gang leader Chick Williams.
Morris was born in New York City, one of the five children of stage actor William Henry Morris and comedienne Henrietta Luna Hawkins, and grew up on Elm Avenue in Westchester. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school and stepped onto the Broadway stage, opposite Lionel Barrymore in “The Copperhead.” The following year, he filled the big screen, playing the character of Dick in the motion picture “An Amateur Orphan.
” He and his family then hit the vaudeville circuit together, touring and performing at theaters all over the country. Morris had no sooner returned to Broadway when he caught the attention of a talent agent, who signed him to a movie contract. From there on out, Morris was never at a loss for a role.
In 1932 he was cast opposite Hollywood starlet Jean Harlow in the film “Red-Headed Woman.” Two years later he played a man despised by silver-screen bathing beauty Carole Lombard in the film “The Gay Bride.” In 1939, he starred with comedienn.
