Shirley Tegge

Shirley Tegge’s selling point were her impressive outdoor abilities. She was a superb fly fisher, and spend a large part of her early life in the forests of Michigan. On top of it all, she was a drop dead gorgeous woman with some theatrical training and not without any acting experience. Yet, like many similar cases with genuinely talented woman, this got her nowhere in Hollywood, and except a few spots of publicity, she did not achieve anything big.

EARLY LIFE:

Shirlee Ann Tegge was born on August 6, 1927 in Iron river, Michigan, to Albert and Esther Tegge. She was the oldest of four children – her siblings were: Elaine “Peaches” (born in 1931), Marilyn (born in 1933) and Richard (born on March 16, 1934).

The family lived in Iron river in 1940, where Shirley attended high school. Shirley had a very outdoorsy, active upbringing. Her father took her trout fishing ever since she was  toddler, and as a result, Shirley became an expert fisher by the time she was in high school. She also knew the woods of northern Michigan like the back of her hand after spending many, many hours there. Shirley’s pretty visage, combined with her rough and tough lifestyle, made for an interesting personality that only further developed as time went on.

Except her fishing activities, Shirley was the Iron River corps drum majorette in 1941 (she made the papers for the first time that year). It was clean an unusual future was waiting for the girl. Shirley’s father owned a hardware store specializing in sporting goods, and among other things, he sold trout baits made by Shirley, named “Tegge Tantalizers”. They were very popular all over the US and Canada.

Shirley graduated from the Iron River high, in 1945. In June of that year, she won a scolarship for speech and dramatics in Illinois. Shirley relocated to Chicago, and started working as a model to earn money on the side. In 1946, she was named “Queen” by the wounded veterans in US naval hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois. Soon, she was doing summer theater work on Cape Cod.

After modeling and sometime acting for years, Shirley was crowned Miss USA in 1949. Her strong point:

“Her recipe for latching onto a lad I is a brand new gimmick in the wiles of women. It is called the “Tegge tantalizer,” which has absolutely nothing to do with her own blonde beauty or her colossal curves. The former Powers model is a one-woman manufacturer of hand-made fishing flies”.

Due to her title and new found fame, in 1950 she finally landed in Hollywood.

CAREER:

Although uncredited in all of her films, Shirley actually appeared in a good number of solid movies, many of them fondly remembered today.

Her first feature was in Where the Sidewalk Ends, a Dana Andrews/Gene Tierney pairing. I’m a fan of this pairing, so I’m not the best judge of their movies, but when I say I think this movie is tops, it seems that most critics and fans agree with me. It’s a stylish, dark and impossibly cool film noir, directed by Otto Preminger (a difficult personality but a top-of-the-shelf director), and with such a great cast you could just lick your fingers with them. Dana Andrews, so underrated as an actor, plays a jaded detective par excellence, and Gene Tierney has just the right mix of stunning beauty, glamour and toughness to make her a perfect femem fatale.  Very good performances are given by Craig Stevens, Gary Merrill and Tom Tully.

Strangers on a Train. What should I say about this movie? Hitch made tons of famous, good movies, and this one falls into the upper echelon category of his work. Take special note of Robert Walker, by far the best actor in the movie (and all the other were nothing to slouch about – Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll). his portrayal is just… W-how. Perfect. Such a shame about his premature death .- he could have developed into a leading actor of the generation.

Take Care of My Little Girl, despite it’s idiotic name, is actually a serious drama hidden by a veneer of a breezy comedy. What seems like a fun loving movie at first, dealing with college, sororities, youth, fun – turns into a dark fable of narcissism, snobbery and greed, showing how those sins penetrate our modern, democratic society like snakes. Jeanne Crain, a mediocre actress in most of her efforts, is good enough, but it is Jean Peters (such a vivacious, interesting actress) and Jeffery Hunter (sadly to much of a pretty boy to be taken seriously, but not a bad actor) who take all the thunder. Dale Robertson is handsome and decent as the male support (although he always sounds like a cowboy IMHO).

The Guy Who Came Back – now we come to the less flashy, but still memorable movies. It concerns an aging football player living in the past until WWII allows him to relive his “glory days”. Part a character study, part a life story, it’s one of those movies that undeservedly slipped into oblivion. Even if you don’t like sports movies, it’s worth watching for the actors alone – Paul Douglas, Joan Bennett, Linda Darnell.

Two Tickets to Broadway is a musical made by Howard Hughes with a roster of former MGM talent – Janet Leigh, Tony Martin, Gloria Dehaven, Ann Miller. As a reviewer succinctly wrote: “This is not a bad musical. It’s also not a good one.” Let’s be realistic for a moment: if you like bouncy, happy-go-lucky 1950s musicals, this will be more than enough – if you’re not a fan, don’t come close. There are no memorable musical numbers, but they are more than amended by the buoyancy and youthful vivacity of the actors – Janet Leigh, despite not being a singer or an dancer, is enchantingly charming, and Ann Miller is as fast in her tapping routines as ever!

The Las Vegas Story is a film noir Robert Mitchum used to make by the bucket load int he 1940s. This one breaks no new ground, nor differentiates itself from the mass of others. The most notable exception is that the lead is not played by Mitchum but by Victor Mature. Mature was not an actor, and he knows it – he always plays himself, but this is exactly what the movie needs – a  hard boiled, stones faced, stoic leading man. Matures chemistry with female lead Jane Russell, the veritable man’s woman – is superb. Vincent Price, another favorite of mine (did you ever see him in Witchfield general? Whoa boy, watch it!) is slimy and hammy as usual.

With a Song in My Heart is that rare musical where much consideration was put not only into the music, but also all the other facets of the production – beautifully written, professionally directed and finely acted. The story is touching enough – songstress Jane Forman’s rocky life story is bound to shed tears from the more demure public, but the underlining message is an positive, upbeat one – proving that “determination and grit” can truly do miracles in anybody’s life. Yet, the true strenght of the movie is the superb song book – when you look at the list of composers, one canot but stop and gape: Rodgers & Hart; Sammy Fain; Harold Arlen, Peggy Lee, Vincent Youmans, George & Ira Gershwin; Arthur Schwartz Frank Loesser; Jule Stein & Sammy Cahn. Nothing could go wrong and nothing did go wrong. It’s a true Hollywood classic, more than worth the watch 5 decades after it was made.

April in Paris is a movie that made Doris Day the Doris Day we all know and love today. I was thrilled that Doris’ leading man was not a square jawed, perfectly handsome Hollywood hunk like Rock Hudson, but Ray Bolger, the wacky looking, tall and reed thin actor, but a dancer to boot! This is a movie where your can truly see how the 1950s (the sunny side of them, anyway) looked and felt like. It’s a time long past, and there is a charming naivete to it I cannot find in today’s movie anymore (even in rom coms and other lightweight comedies). While this is not necessarily a good thing (I don’t think the world was a cute, peaches-and-cream place then), a slight nostalgia creeps up and makes it an interesting viewing experience. Doris is the plucky, likable girl-next-door with a strong current underneath, a role she would play to perfection int he rest of 1950s and the 1960s. While the choreography leaves much to be desired (Doris even noted this in her autobiography), kudos goes to Bolger for milking it to all of it’s worth with his flawless tapping.

Shirley appeared in another of Jane Russell’s movie, The French Line. This movie truly is one of a kind. In a time when elegance and good taste were of paramount importance to the movie industry (just look at the musicals MGM made during this time), we have a crass, vulgar movie that know that it’s crass and vulgar and doesn’t even bother to hide it! Jane Russell is granted, the perfect female lead for such a “travesty”. She was one of the few blatantly sexy actresses who made it to the top (most girls with the same brand of in-your-face sexuality never made it to even mid tier stars, let alone top tier!) and works like a charm here. The whole movie is brimming with primal energy and is untarnished with taking itself too seriously. Gilbert Ronald is a bit of a sore spot (another pretty boy with little to no talent), but otherwise more than a decent viewing.

Shirley made a hiatus from the movies, and returned one last time as a thespian in Half Way to Hell. When I saw the tag line, the rating and the summary, and all I can say it: run. It sound like a horrible movie, and it has no reviews, but let’s take it face value and imagine Shirley was better off without acting in it.

In addition to her acting, career, Shirley made a few appearances in TV series: Mark Saber, The Abbott and Costello Show, Racket Squad and I Love Lucy. They are all small, uncredited appearances that did not warrant her further engagements.

After 1961, Shirley retired for good.

PRIVATE LIFE:

In 1947, Shirley was involved pretty deep with the famous boxer Maxie Rosenbloom, and he wanted to marry her. My guess is that Shirley declined his offer, as the marriage never happened (Maxie was divorced from Muriel Faider, and he never married again).

When the press asked Shirley, who was a an expect in catching trout, how to catch a man, she said:

Elementary. Looks, grooming and domestic ability are necessary to a girl. But to interest a man, to land him and hold him, you have to be able to actively share in his interests.
I can cook, do water colors, embroider and sew as well as any girl. I tool my own leather handbags. But these things don’t interest fellows.
But, I can also ride horseback, swim, play tennis and baseball, fly planes, shot deer and fish with the best of the more virile sex. And I can tie a better fish fly than most men.

It’s an interesting story how Shirley met her first husband. A girl friend showed her a picture of Earl Shade beside Mayor Fletcher Bowron of Los Angeles, posing beside a king size marlin caught at Shade’s La Paz Fishing Club in Raja, Mexico. Shirley was smitten before even meeting the fella, and decided she must “catch” him.

A mutual pal introduced them at a dinner party. Shade ignored her, thinking her another blonde stunner – until her learned she was the creator of “Tegge Tantalizer”. The next week they eloped, during a few days off from Where the sidewalk ends.

Thus, Shirley married Earl Hill Shade in a ceremony in LaPaz, Lower California, Mexico, on Jan. 31, 1950. According to the press, Shirley “wore a white off-the-shoulder gown and a Spanish mantilla of white lace secured by small white flowers”. The newlyweds resided in Hollywood.

Earl Shade, was born on February 15, 1923, the son of the Laren Bartlett Shades of Los Angeles. He grew up in Los Angeles. The marriage was a short lived one, and they divorced in the mid 1950s, after 1953.

Shade remarried to Robin Stroud in 1962 and died on June 18, 1985.

Shirley married Jack Ford, a WWII pilot and actor/technical consultant, sometime around 1957 or 1958. Shirley gave birth to a daughter, Jacquelyn Annelyse Susan Ford, on September 5, 1959. Sadly, tragedy struck just five days before her daughter was born – Jack was killed in a mid air collision.

Shirley remarried to Reginald K. Russell on December 17, 1960. Russell was born on June 1, 1914, in Australia and came to the US prior to 1940. He was married first to Nancy (in the late 1930s). Shirely and Reginald divorced not long after, in 1962 or 1963. Russell remarried to in 1968 to Joan E. Humphrey, and in 1972 to Leona Pendelton. He died on May 23, 1974.

In 1964, Shirley married for the third and final time to Charles F. Stoker. She and Stoker too divorced at a point. Shirley relocated to Simi Valley, California.
Interesting to note, is what happened in September 2003, when Shirley was well over both her modeling and Hollywood days:

Simi Valley, CA — A former actress and model who played “Miss 3-D” in a promo for the first major 3-D film is finally getting her due.
Half a century ago, Shirlee Tegge Stoker was hired to prance around with puppets Beany and Cecil in a short film explaining 3-D technology.
The film ran before the feature, “Bwana Devil” — a movie which ushered in the golden age of 3-D in the 1950s. However, Ms. Stoker missed the premiere of the movie because she was stuck in New York on a modeling assignment. Now 76, Stoker is getting a second chance: She’ll be attending a screening of both movies next Tuesday (Sep. 16) as part of the world’s largest 3-D film festival. It’s truly a redo for Stoker, because the screening will be at the same theater as the premiere was: Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre.
The sassy senior says she’s “delighted to be recycled after 50 years,” but admits the job as Miss 3-D was just “a days work for me.”

She lived in Simi Valley for many years before she fell ill. Her daughter Jesse Lindell, who also had  a career in Hollywood like her parents, came to live with her and take care of her.

Shirley Stoker died on June 12, 2010 in Simi Valley, California.

 

 

Doris Weston

Doris Weston was a lucky, lucky girl who did not come to Hollywood – Hollywood came for her. While this worked wonders in some cases, in others it was a proverbial kiss of death – it’s not easy for a newcomer to carry a movie right off the bat, especially if the said newcomer is a young and relatively inexperienced songstress (like Doris was). She was given a great chance to sing opposite one of the biggest stars of the decade in a A budget movie. What happened next? Fast forward years later, and Doris Weston is but a footnote in Hollywood history. Well, let’s hear her story!

EARLY LIFE:

Thyra Doris Marion Swanstrom was born on September 9, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, to Gustaf and Cecelia Swanstom. She was the youngest of two children – her older brother was named Stanely. Her parents were both born in Sweden and emigrated to the US in the early 1900s.  

The Swanstoms moved to New York at some point in the 1920s. Doris was a talented child with an active imagination and an interest in the performing arts. She spoke  abit ofher parents native language, swedish. When Doris was 9 years old, her parents took her to listen to Irene Bordoni, the famous French soprano. Doris was so spellbound after the performance. There was no doubt – she was to become a singer. Her parents were very receptive of her wish – they enrolled her into the Children’s Professional School. Her mother when she was 16, in 1933, and she was put into custody of her aunt Nan and her husband, Herman Reksting.

Doris worked diligently on her singing skills, and made her stage debut at the age of 17 in “The great waltz” – she was one of the showgirls. This in turn triggered her career in the radio world – at the Major Bowles Hour, a popular radio show in New York. This got her a gig at the Rainbow Room, where she was so popular she lasted nine weeks. Somebody from the Warner Bros stable saw her in the Rainbow room, and decided to test her for the screen. After passing the tests, she departed for Hollywood.

CAREER:

Doris had the luck of being cast into leading roles from the very first day she came to Hollywood. Is it to be a blessing or a curse? Let’s take a look (but I think you can imagine how it ended). The moment she landed in Hollywood, projects were rolled for her. The first one, a George Brent movie, never belted out, but the second one did.. And it was…

The Singing Marine  is great example of the kind of film Dick Powell was making all the time in the 1930s, and perhaps a good example of the general 1930s musical. It’s entertaining and charming in its way, but also has moments of downright silliness. The stories are often cardboard thin and the roles Powell played were different in name only. Powell was already an established star by the time Doris co-starred with him – and by most accounts, while pretty and with a good voice, Doris did not have that extra something to make an impression.

On the superb dick-powell.com site, there is a page about this movie, and I quote an interesting thing:

It seems Warner Brothers though Powell would do well with any innocent actress, but Weston simply did not fit the bill. No one could replace Keeler in the Powell-Keeler team.

Powell admitted that he was lost without Ruby Keeler. “The hardest thing for me to do is listen well. You have to react to what you hear, and as a reactor I’m dead from the neck up. Ruby Keeler used to react to me, and she was good at it. But yesterday I had to react to Doris Weston while she sang a song in The Singing Marine, and I sank like a chain anchor.”

While I have not watched too many Powell musicals, I have to agree – Ruby Keeler, despite her lack of acting talent, angular face and good (but not excellent) dancing abilities, was a perfect foil for Powell. Doris, obviously, not so much. It’s not truly anyone’s fault – they just did not click. And Powell was fed up with playing the singing marine by now and you can register it on screen.

Singing marine was a big moneymaker, and Doris pushed on. Submarine D-1 is actually a pretty good submarine movie. George Brent (finally in a movie with Doris) is remarkably low-key and effective as the Commanding Officer. For a bit of romance, there is a love triangle between characters played by Pat O’Brien, Wayne Morris and Doris Weston. Of course Doris did not come into any prominence in this movie – it’s a mans movie, about military life in general and submarines in particular. The special effects and overall quality of the movie are astounding for that time and place – and there is so much to see, including  (as one reviewer wrote on IMDB): the use of the McCann Rescue Chamber and Momsen Lung in a dramatic rescue of men from a sunken submarine off the coast of Point Loma, California.

Want to see how bikers looked before Marlon Brando? Born to Be Wild is the kind of talky, flashy 1930s movie where the character just trade barb after barb at the expense of pacing and dynamic of the movie. And when the movie is dealing with truckers and bikers, you get the picture. A genre that would one day give us “The wild one” and “Wages of fear” was just beginning to emerge, making this movie a pioneer of sorts. Yet, take note, it is not a particularly good movie, but passable by most accounts. Let’s see what one reviewer wrote:

Look what we have going for us. We have Ward Bond, the major John Ford player, and he does a rumba in one scene. Ralph Byrd, who played Dick Tracy. There are lots of open road photography in semi-arid landscapes and California landscapes, with fast-moving cars and trucks. There’s an explosion of a diversion lock to a dam that’s fun. Plus there are several songs, lip-synched by Byrd I’d guess. These are light opera fare and enjoyable. Throw in a Spanish dance for good measure.

Well, what more needs to be said? Have to watch it to believe it.

Delinquent Parents is a simple, small movie about something that can actually happen in real life (with a bit more drama, but hey, it wouldn’t be Hollywood otherwise). What seems like a low-budget quickie actually turns out to be a half decent effort.

Next, Doris made two short musical segments, It’s in the Stars and Men of Steel , both 20 minutes long, for MGM. Both can be summed up with this great line by an IMDB reviewer:

The story is old, some of the acting is dreadful and it was made on next to no budget but this is still an enjoyable musical short from MGM. Stevens and Weston are young, good-looking and so full of life and energy that it’s hard not to like them

Doris, while no talented actress, was a likable enough performer. Obviously she did not have “IT”, or she would have achieved a more prosperous career (heck, I think everyone can name a few actor who were not huge talents, but had IT and managed pretty decent careers for themselves).

Except for maybe her foray into Dick Powell territory, Doris today is best remembered for the serial Mandrake, the Magician, where she played Mandrake’s girlfriend. The fact that Doris was first pushed into shorts and then into a serial attests that Hollywood was on the verge of writing her off as a major star.  The serial is some mean stuff. First, Warren Hull is a magnificent lead, with an iconography easily recognized today. Secondly, it features an African-American actor in a prominent and active role, as Lothar, Mandrake’s assistant. Third, the overall serial is full of thrills, genuine “edge of your seat” moments and good acting from the leads. Yes, it’s a cheap serial and one can spot the budgeting restrains in almost every scene, but heck, when one knows serials were made on a dime, such technicalities should be pushed aside for some pure, unadulterated fun, and the serial has that in spades. Doris is typical cute, but also a second banana by all standards. 

When Tomorrow Comes is a movie that happens every time Old Hollywood struck gold with something: take the same actors, modify the plot and away we go! A follow-up to the great Love Affair, it only retains the chemistry between the leads – Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer – but everything else falls a few notches down the scale of good/bad. Doris was for the first time uncredited in the movie – not a good omen.

Chip of the Flying U is a GASP! low-budget western GASP!. Yes, Doris came to that last line of defense – when an actress who was once a prosperous contender for stardom fails and ends up billed next to a horse. Seen that scenario quite a few time on this blog, didn’t we? Well, as for the movie itself, you can see it was made by people who made them by the dozens and know their job – as one reviewer wrote: “Directed at a smart enough pace to disguise most of its script and production shortcomings”. Lovers of low-budget westerns fo the 1930s and 1940s should find no great fault in it.

Doris retired after this.

PRIVATE LIFE:

Doris seemed like a nice, down to earth girl who was perhaps too good for the cold, brutal world of Tinsel Town. There is a very telling bit about her written on the superb web page dickpowell.net:

Weston was a newcomer to the screen, and her popularity took her by surprise. When a fan requested an autograph for the first time, she cried. “This is wonderful,” she said. “I never thought six months ago that anybody would ask me for a picture.”

Doris had some decent publicity during the 1937/1938 season. He learned that she was adept at crying on cue (her trick: she imagined what should happen if her movie career failed. We all know what happened later, in a strange twist of irony), that she was one of the lucky ones that never gained weight, that a fan stole her licence plate, that her costar Hugh Herbert gifted her with a cigar box she used as a make up kit later on, and that she changed her surname five times before Warner Bros settled on Weston (that sounded the best, they thought).

As for her private life, Doris dated a Philadelphia manufacturer, name unknown, who almost proposed in August 1937. Even if her did, I somehow doubt that Doris would have given it all up for marriage, after working so hard for such a long time to attain stardom. Later on, his name was revealed to be Joe Linsk, and in October he allegedly dropped by Hollywood with the intention of popping that question (this time for real). No further information was given, so it’s pretty obvious he did not succeed in his endeavor.

Exactly one year later, in October 1938, it was announced that Doris would marry Dave Miller, who worked in the MGM’s shorts department. The wedding was to take place in December. That too never happened.

By that time, Doris was still acting in Hollywood, but was far from the eye of the press. In 1939, Doris married her first and only husband, Martin T. Borden.

Borden was born on January 28, 1907, in New York. Both of his parents were Russian immigrants. He lived in Rhode Island with his mother and siblings after his father died. He worked as a fur and clothes salesman for the Hollywood elite.

The couple lived in Beverly Hills in 1940, but moved later to the East coast. They had two children, a son, Weston Borden (born on October 13, 1943), and a daughter, Patricia Borden (born on December 15, 1946). Her son Weston grew up to be an eminent chemist, currently a professor of Computational Chemistry and Welch Chair in Chemistry at the University of North Texas.

Doris Borden died on July 27, 1960, in Scarsdale, New York, after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.

Her widower, Martin T. Broden, died in March 1982 in King, Washington.

Jan Buckingham

Jan Buckingham was given the huge honor of acting in many a movie made by Preston Sturges, one of the foremost comedic directors of the 20th century. Why? Well, she was his niece – and here we also have the answer of how Jan broke into Hollywood. Yet, Jan was pretty realistic about her capabilities – pretty and not without any charm, but not a trained actress nor a big talent, she played uncredited and supporting roles for several years, made a relatively good run (as compared to some other actresses), and retired to become a wife in 1944.

EARLY LIFE:

Jane Ridgway was born to Edward S. Ridgway and Gladys Ewin Johnson on July 22, 1913, in Los Angeles, California. The press claimed later that she is the famous director Preston Sturges’ niece – but how I have no idea how. Sturges was born under the name of Edmund Biden. His mother, Estelle Dempsey, most certainly remarried, but I think she had no additional children. Now, his father, Edmund C. Biden, had another son, Edmund Biden Jr., but he is a Biden, not a Johnson or Ridgway. The only other viable option was that she was related to one of Preston’s wives, but which one? Neither was a Johnson or Ridgway. Sorry, no additional information here.

Little is known about Jane’s early life. She grew up in the movie colony and mingled with actor, directors and other Hollywood personnel from her earliest years. Being Preston Sturges’s “niece”, it was only natural she traveled the high road. However, it took her a marriage and widowhood before she started acting in movies full time.

CAREER:

Jan was already widowed from her first husband when she entered movies in 1935. Exactly why she did it then and not before eludes me, but it could be that she was feeling lonely after her husband passed, and wanted something to distract her. Truly, acting, could be a pretty good remedy for that. Take note, Jan was to be uncredited in most of her appearances.

The Woman in Red is a Barbara Stanwyck quickie, mid 1930s style. Thin in plot, but Barbara always makes it work. Another meaty role is played by the delicious Genevieve Tobin. Gene Raymond, as the love interest, is his usual wooden self. Recommended only for hardcore Stanwyck fans.

Gold Diggers of 1935 is all you ever  wanted from a Busby Berkeley extravaganza. Thin plot but great dance choreography and that is about it. The Moon’s Our Home is a movie they don’t make anymore – a fast paced, utterly charming and fluffy romantic comedy. In the time of stupid romcoms, I wish they made movies more like this. They are not master pieces, don’t even try to be master pieces, but the rapport between two mains stars (Margaret Sullavan and Henry Fonda – divorced in real life by the time the movie hit the theaters) is pure gold, the script is witty, and the supporting actors are tailor made.

The Case Against Mrs. Ames, made after a well known book, is Madeleine Carroll’s movie all the way. She gets decent support from George Brent (wasn’t he always a second fiddle for a strong female lead? Well he ain’t no Gable, if you catch my drift). As one reviewer wrote on IMDB:

English actress Madeleine Carroll delivers a convincing performance in a dramatic role of the kind that she was, unfortunately, given too few opportunities to exploit during her career. As Hope Ames she reveals a compelling sense of emotionalism that was never over-wrought and remained contained, but not blunted, by a cool, elegant exterior. Every thing about her had a sense of elegance and refinement that is so characteristic of the exquisitely beautiful English actress, from her angelic countenance to her flawless diction. Even in the highly fraught scenes where she tries to regain the love and trust of her estranged son never descend into rank sentimentality, but elicit a welling poignancy at the heart-felt expression of affection that only a mother could feel for her child.

Easy to Take  is another one of those lightweight romantic comedies. You might ask, why should I watch ANOTHER movie like that. Well, one reason only: the two stars, Marsha Hunt and John Howard, both perfectly charming in their own way. Plus, there is a bunch of kid talent displayed during a radio segment. I like Marsha Hunt, she is such a true Hollywood legend! And Howard was very, very handsome.

The Lady Objects is a movie I like from the get go. A story about a successful female lawyer, who proves that she can be both a career woman and a family woman. And the superb Gloria Stuart plays the lead. Even if it’s a little rough around the edges (like most B movies), it makes a fascinating watching experience.

Men Against the Sky is an aviation movie only aviation buffs should watch. It’s not a bad piece of work, but you can only truly enjoy it if you understand the state of aviation in the early 1930s. On a plus side, it featured Wendy Barrie, my absolute favorite!

Christmas in July is a less known, but also a more sedate, mature Preston Sturges movie. Warped up in a Depression era story are some very poignant questions about the nature of success and exactly what does our society deem the most important trait a man has? Dick Powell and Ellen Drew are good as the leading couple, but the supporting actor make this a feast: Ernest Truex and Raymond Walburn give top of the shelf performances!

Mexican Spitfire Out West is a Lupe Velez movie with Lupe Velez in a supporting role. What? Oh yes, exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a Leon Errol vehicle all the way. He plays a double role (both staple of the series, Uncle Matt and Lord Epping), and enjoying it to the hilt! Still, like many from the series, it’s a dim witted movie with little to recommend it. Donald Woods, who plays Lupe’s husband, is easy on the eyes but a sub par comedian, and the great comic actress Elisabeth Risdon is more or less wasted in her role. While it does have a slight charm of it’s own (I sure like the world charm, don’t I?), not worth watching.

Life with Henry is a typical Jackie Cooper movie of the period. A moronic plot but likable enough actors. Let’s Make Music is an unusual but interesting musical. The leading actress is actually Elizabeth Risdon, playing a musical teacher about to retire, and double questioning her life’s work. How many movies can you name with a lead who is both a female and +50 years old? Well, now you have it! The music is supplemented by Bob Crosby and his Bobcats (yes, the brother of that Bing Crosby). It features at least one hit song and turned out to be a good enough musical. Bravo for Hollywood for tackling these kind of stories!

Virginia, a Madeleine Carroll/Fred MacMurray pairing, deals with the aftermath of the American Civil War. The south is slowly disintegrating, and the Yankees are buying the plantations. Melodramatic as it can be, with an unbelievable story and over the top dialogue, it’s still a decent movie, and the leads make it work also (I love, love Madeleine. Such a lady! Fred was a good actor, but I heard so many things about him as a person that I personally don’t like that I can’t separate his movie persona from his real persona. My bad, I admit). Also watch out for Sterling Hayden, that handsome hunk of a man (whom I also like quite a lot).

The Lady Eve is a Preston Sturged classic, and I think it needs no additional words spent on it. Watch it if you haven’t by now!

One Night in Lisbon came next. What to say? As Leonard Maltin wrote about it: Mild screwball comedy with gorgeous Carroll falling in love with flier MacMurray despite interference from his ex (Morison). Looks pedestrian enough. Yet, her next movie is truly a highlight… Sullivan’s Travels is another Sturges classic that needs no introduction. Veronica Lake at her alluring best, mmmm…

Miss Annie Rooney gave Jan a credited role. Hurrah! Still, the movie drew very much mixed reviews – from being a charming Shirley Temple movie to being a brain dead, stupid romcom. I guess you can’t account for taste, but Shirley was growing up and could not be bothered to play girls anymore, so this was not wholly unexpected (I could hardly imagine Shirley graduating to serious, Bette Davis dramatic roles at the age of 14! Give the kid a break!). But if you like cute, endearing movies with little plot and a bit of soul, this is it!

After Midnight with Boston Blackie is a Boston Blackie quickie, short but well made. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek is the last Preston Sturges movie Jan appeared in. It’s another classic and needs no further describing.

Lady in the Dark is another unusual but interesting movie. It progressively melts into a fashion and millinery extravaganza, but the core story is something worth taking notice of – one of the few movies dealing directly with deep psychology and the huge role of subconsciousness in our daily life. And it was a big budget production, surprisingly – meaning Hollywood took could take artistic risks when somebody decided it (often movies with these kind of touchy, double edged themes were low budget ones where there was little to lose). Ginger Rogers gives one of her most inspired performances here. The male supporting roles are also pretty decent (Ray Milland, Warner Baxter, Jon Hall)

Practically Yours is Jan’s last movie. Another Claudette Colbert/Fred MacMurray vehicle, while not a completely pedestrian effort, is not a great piece of worth either. It’s a mediocre, nicely made movie worth watching once if you like the leads and enjoy 1940s screwball comedy.

Jan retired after this.

PRIVATE LIFE:

There is only ONE photo of Jan on the net. I apologize for that, but I could not find more. She was more of a socialite than an actress, so this is to be expected.

Jane married Thomas Buckingham on August 20, 1932, at at the age of 19. Buckingham was born on February 25, 1895, making him considerably older. He was a successful director and writer, making his start in silent movies in 1920 and working steadily ever since.

Tom was Jan’s foray into Hollywood society and movies. By all accounts, their marriage was a happy one.

Sadly, it did not last long – Buckingam died on September 7, 1934, after some surgical complications. Jan was devastated and it took her a long time to get over her loss.

Jan was an active woman who traveled widely (she visited Paris several times before WW2 started), and was best friends with several Hollywood personalities, like Ruth Hilliard, Jimmy Ritz and Bob Armstrong.

She resumed dating other man in late 1936. In 1937, she was dating Al Kingston for a few months. In late 1940, she was seen with writer Robert Buckner, the ex of actress Mary Doyle. There were some bogus rumors the two married. Interestingly, Jan got married, just not to Robert!

Jan eloped with Pasadena oilman, Taber Mahler, to Las Vegas on April 14, 1942. Taber Hasler Mahler was born on July 13, 1895 in Boston, Massachusetts. At some point, he moved to California. In 1935 he married Virginia Alice Baughman, who brought her two daughters in the marriage, Shirley and Antoinette. Virginia’s former husband, Cyril Fay Moseley, left the three to fend for themselves. The marriage ended with Virginia’s death on June 22, 1939. Jan more or less gave up her career to become a society wife.

The Mahlers lived the high life in California. They often commuted to Mexico for holidays, along with Palm Springs and Kona Coast, and mingled with the local genteel society. In 1960, the whole family moved to Mazatlan, into a huge Spanish style colonial home with a living room 66 feet big. They did not have any children.

What exactly happened is a mystery to me, but one moment Jan was happily married to Tabor, even accompanying him to a check up at the St. Luke’s hospital – next we know, she takes a Pasadena home for the summer season. All seemed fine and dandy. However, things were about to change. Her husband got ill, and passed away on April 14, 1962.

After a period of widowhood, Jan remarried on November 21, 1962. Her new husband was named James Robert Moiso and was younger than Jan, born on March 6, 1917 in New Mexico. His parents were of Italian origin.

Anyway, Jan continued her social life, just not as Jan Mahler but Jan Moiso. Her third marriage was a happy one, and was to last until her death.

Jan Buckingham Moiso died on March 12, 1988, in Pasadena, California.

Her widower, James Moiso, died on May 15, 2001, in Pasadena, and was buried next to her.

Gayle Mellott

Gayle Mellott… Stunningly beautiful, not without charm, and with a strong showbiz background… So, what went wrong? I honestly have no idea. Maybe she did not catch the right breaks, maybe she was not “talented” enough, maybe she was too “beautiful”… But, as it happens so frequently in Hollywood, there are no sure answers, and Gayle remains one of many actresses that never realized even a bit of their potential.

EARLY LIFE

Edna Gayle Mellott was born on August 21, 1916, to Lawrence Clement Mellott and his wife Frances Wick in Wheeling, West Virginia. She was the middle of three children – her older brother, Lawrence, was born on March 17, 1914 (in New York). Her younger sister, Nancy, was born on April 27, 1920 in West Virginia.

Her father was from Ohio, and her mother from West Virginia. The family lived in Wheeling with two lodgers. While the papers paint Gayle as a member of a rich southern family, I get the impression her parents were normal, working middle class. Gayle attended high school there, and developed a love for horses, riding form the time she was a child. Her emerging talent in dancing also became a prominent factor in her life from the time she was in her early teens. By the time she graduated from high school, there was no doubt in her mind – she would enter showbiz and make her luck there.

Gayle moved to New York in circa 1935. She used her talent for horse riding, and got a stop at the Billy Rose’s Jumbo revenue. In the meantime, to supplement her income, she modeled for John Powers Agency and did a bit of summer stock. She also studied designing and attended beauty pageants with some frequency. To further her career, she decided to move to Los Angeles in 1938.

Gayle’s father died on November 21, 1938. Her widowed mother decided to move to Los Angeles along with her youngest child, Nancy. In 1940, Frances and her three children (Gayle, Lawrence and Nancy) were living together in Los Angeles.

CAREER

Gayle followed the same old story line many stunningly beautiful girls went through – the town belle comes to Hollywood, hoping to become a star, but in the ultra competitive environment of Tinsel Town, she’s not the best looking gal in town anymore. Usually these girls have little to to no acting experience (and are mostly chorus girls),never break from the uncredited tier, last for a short time and then fizzle away.

Missing Daughters, her first feature, is a crime movie quickie with a solid cast: Richard Arlen, Rochelle Hudson, Marian Marsh and Isabel Jewell. The plot is actually pretty interesting, dealing with a try to break the Broadway Hostess ring, but the movie slid into obscurity and has no reviews on IMDB. Too bad, just one of many with a similar fate.

The Saint in Palm Springs, one of the few George Sanders made playing the famous Leslie Charteris character, this time involved in trying to find priceless stamps. It is an fine, amiable movie, a very good way to spend an hour and a half. Interestingly, Sanders himself hated the movie and considered it the nadir of his career, but he was certainly too harsh with the criticism – while no masterpiece, it’s well made, with Sanders giving his usually cool, sophisticated performance and the plucky Wendy Barrie playing his love interest with her typical gusto (can’t help it, I like Wendy Barrie). The end is quite unexpected and the whodunnit is more interesting than one perceives it at the first glance.

In the Navy  is a level up for Gayle. The plot involves crooner Russ Raymond (Dick Powell) dropping out of the celebrity spotlight, only to join the Navy under the name of Tom Halstead. He is relentlessly pursued by newspaper photographer Dorothy Roberts (Claire Dodd). The movie, despite some shortcomings (silly, silly silly), is a genuinely funny, witty romp. Powell and Dodd are a nice enough couple, and the music is more or less fine. Gayle was seemingly on her way up.

Manpower is Gayle’s most famous movie and most prominent role. The movie boasts not one or two but three top tier names: Marlene Dietrich, George Raft and Edward G. Robinson. Even is teh story was a shallow one liner, it couldn’t have been bad with that cast! While it’s not a top movie for either of the stars, . Gayle has the role of one of Marlene’s “girls”.

And then, poof pow, Gayle’s career started to slide, and slide fast. Just as one would hope better roles were waiting around the corner… No.

Flying Blind did Gayle’s career no favors. A dull, uninteresting B movie about pilots and airplanes. I was surprised how that cast, otherwise not an untalented lot, gives so little, like they didn’t really want to act here. You can still enjoy the sight of pretty Jean Parker and luscious Marie Wilson, but it’s hardy enough to make a compelling viewing.

Hard Guy came next. I already mentioned this movie, and I am goign to quote a revierew from IDB who summer the movie nicely:

The film is set mostly in a nightclub run by Jack LaRue. LaRue had an up and coming career with MGM, but by 1940 was forced to act in anything–and this fit that bill nicely. As he often did, he played a heavy–a cheep hood hiding in the guise of respectability. His specialty was getting the women in his employ to marry rich men and then get quickie annulments or divorces–splitting the money with him. This was a big problem with the film, as there is no reason for any woman to split the money with LaRue–it just made no sense. Nor did it really make sense for them to give up on their ‘sugar baby’ so quickly. When one of the women develops a conscience, LaRue kills her and makes it look like her new husband did it! So it’s up to a bunch of idiots to somehow unravel the mystery

Yup, what more do I need to write?

The Falcon Takes Over is another in the Falcon series of movies with George Sanders. Still, it’s not the typical Falcon movie, having a shade darker atmosphere, a complex story packed into 65 minutes. George Sanders was always the epitome of elegance and charm in his roles, and this one is no exception. This is by far the best of Gayle’s roles in her post-Manpower filmography.

Cinderella Jones is an idiotic film. There, I said it. Okay, while I can’t claim it’s one fo the worst movie or anything similar, it has an absurd story, and the actors were obviously bored by it, you get the idea they wanted to be anywhere but on the sound stage. Just look at this summary:

Judy Jones, sings with a band and also works at an aircraft plant. She takes part in a “missing heirs” radio program and is discovered to be an heiress to a fortune. But the will provides that she must be married by a certain time or lose the inheritance. She then has to decide whether rivals-for-her-hand Tommy Coles or Bart Williams, loves her for herself or for her fortune. What’s a girl to do?

Oh yes, what more is there to add? While some movies take brainless plot but the sheer charm and vivacity of the leads push them into enjoyable viewing, not so much for this movie.

Gayle’s career was, to be frank, on the total downslide, and she retired after this movie.

PRIVATE LIFE

Gayle was a Republican, and passionate about the choice, even trying to run for congress in her home state (she lost, obviously).

In November 1935, Gayle was just beginning to get her name in the papers for the first time, and she was dating a T. Sweeney. In late 1936, Gayle the papers pegged Gayle as a Californian bride to be. We never learn the name of the lucky fella, and it seems the marriage did not happen. In April 1937, she was seen with C. Vanderbilt Jr., who was till convalesing from his car crash. Sadly, Vanderbilt was quite the ladies man, and Gayle was probably just another notch on his (pretty big) belt. In May 1937, Gayle dated the clean cut, perfect American Yale boy, Larry Kelley. This was just what the society of the time expected from a girl like Gayle – date such a steady, dependable guy, get married, have kids. Yet, it seems Gayle was not quite the type to take that advice…

In February 1943, it was reported that the luscious Gayle was dating Al Busiel, the millionaire cosmetics firm executive. The two weer wed in early march 1943.

Alfred Hamilton Busiel was born on 1900, in Chicago, Illinois, to Aaron Cohen and Miriam Cohen. His siblings were Simon Cohen Coates; Esther Wallace; Ida Patten (Padnos, Cohen); Otto (Abraham) Jay Cohen; Syma Busiel; i Florence Hamburg. He was a savvy businessman and became a executive with the lady Esther Comspetics company by the time he was 40 years old. 

He was married once before to Carolyn Busiel, and had a daughter with her. Unfortunately, Gayle and Al’s marriage was a catastrophe from the very beginning. At the time when most newlyweds experience bliss as they will never experience again, Gayle and Al quarreled constantly. Busiel tried to remedy it with expensive gifts, but hey, we all know that never works, right? By September, it was more or less all they could take, and a separation occured. In November, it was in the divorce court.

Some dust was raised int he papers due to the divorce,  but than again, the papers just loved it when a showgirl marries a millionaire after a short courtship and then divorced him not long after. They preyed over such opportunities like vultures. Gayle accused her husband of running away fromt he couple’s shared home with some valuables and the horses her gifted her (WHAT? How?!). After some tiffing, Gayle was awarded a handsome sum (undisclosed in the papers, unfortunately), but had to return the 50 000$ necklace he gifted her. Some fine gentleman he is!

After his divorce from Gayle, Busiel married Suzette Childeroy Compton, a noted writer and member of the jet set. It was her second marriage. Busiel died suddenly in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1951.

Little is known what happened to Gayle after the divorce. She gave up her career, and slipped into total obscurity. I have a nagging feeling I once read that she dated George Raft in the 1950s, but I could not find that newspaper article anywhere. I have no idea if she ever remarried, but she died with her maiden name, signaling she was single at the time.

Edna Gayle Mellott died on in December 16, 1988, in Los Angeles, California.

 

Terry Walker

Likeable, pretty blonde ingenue who started a singer and ended up as a low budget western lead.  Well no, that’s not quite all you can say about Terry Walker. Why? Because, she was “Twice born” in Hollywood – first under the name of Alice Dahl, and then under the name we all know her. Proof that good publicity can change your identity (literary!), Terry Walker and her dual career are great studies of the way Hollywood works and how far it’s ready to go to make someone a success. Hers is a benevolent example, but it’s clear how much illusions, lies and deception play a large part in the Hollywood star machines.

EARLY LIFE:

Theresa “Terry” Norberg was born on January 7, 1913, in Petersburg, Alaska to Adolf and Alice G. Norberg. Her younger brother, born in 1918, was called Zach. Her father was born in Michigan to Norwegian parents, and moved to Alaska in the early 1900s.

Terry was determined to become an entertainer, and was early to start, leaving the family home in the late 1920s, when she was little more than 17 years old (I have no idea if she graduated from high school). She was soon making her living as a lounger singer in Los Angeles, and entered movies under the name of Alice Dahl in 1933.

CAREER:

For all purposed, Terry started her career as Alice Dahl. Her career as Alice was pretty much unremarkable, but hardy a complete waste. She was given leading roles right off the bat, playing in low budgets westerns The Whirlwind, Deadwood Pass and Coyote Trails. I wrote enough about what happends when an actress scores it big in the low budget westenr territory. Not a bad start, but usulaly something extra has to happen to push her career out of the rut. In the meantime, Alice appeared uncredited in several other movies – an early mystery talkie, The Phantom Express, western comedy Thrill Hunter, musical George White’s Scandals, the psychological drama Jealousy, and the Laurel and Hardy classic, Babes in Toyland. Alice had more prominent roles in anther railway mystery, Twisted Rails, and a boy-dog movie, When Lightning Strikes. She also made two comedic shorts, Horses’ Collars and His Old Flame, and ended her career with the great Edward G. Robinson/Jean Arthur comedy, The Whole Town’s Talking.

Then some Hollywood magic happened. A nifty publicist decided to make Terry a star – but Alice Dahl was obviously not star material, so he remedied it by simply changing her complete persona. He even went so far as to claim that Terry had been living for 10 years in Hollywood and that nobody noticed her before this. Quite fishy. Yet, it worked, and Terry Walker was born, to have a slightly better career.

Terry skipped the uncredited grooming period and embraced supporting roles from the start. her firts movie was And Sudden Death. Like most of the quickie movies clocking at below 70 minutes,  is a mediocre fare at best, and a formulaic, uninteresting fare at the worst. Luckily, it was graced by two charming leads, Randolph Scott and Frances Drake, who elevate it slightly. Yes, it had a predictable plot and no great dramatic value, but it’s not a worst case scenario.

23 1/2 Hours Leave is one of those idiotic WW2 musicals with a stupid plot and forgettable music. It was Terry’s first chance to play a leading role, however, and it’s notable if nothing than for that fact. James Ellison plays such a dummy it’s impossible to like him, let alone believe that such a man can be a competent soldier. Terry got some kudos as being a lovely and talented songstress – but no mentions of any acting accolades were given (as her role required none, it’s not surprising).

Mountain Music is a typical Martha Raye/Bob Burns musical. if you like hillbilly humor, by all means, go ahead! Blonde Trouble is an Eleanor Whitney showcase that failed – Eleanor was one of the few girls pushed into massive publicity but  didn’t have the pizzazz to make themselves real stars. The musical is completely forgotten today.

Eleanor continued to appear in mid tier, good but not much more movies: This Way Please, a Betty Grable/Charles Rodgers low budget musical, Federal Bullets a movie about the G men with Milburn Stone in the lead (where Terry again plays a prominent female character), Delinquent Parents the very low budget but surprisingly decent weepie dealing with the aftermath of adoption, the uninspired, muddled musical western On the Great White Trail (where she again was the leading lady), comedy short, America’s Safest Tire.

By this time, terry was pushed into westerns and firmly got stuck in them. While it is a redeeming feature for a few actress, bread and butter for most, it’s a kiss of death for anybody who wants a serious, dramatic career. While I have no idea what exactly Terry went for, she did not get that revered, high quality career. The westerns, all low budget, and all more or less the same to a person ignorant of the genre (like me) are Billy the Kid in Texas, Take Me Back to Oklahoma and The Medico of Painted Springs. 

On the other hand, the rest of Terry’s filmography is more diverse. Invisible Ghost, a horror thriller with a genuine creepy atmosphere but not much else (and let’s not forget Bela Lugosi). Dangerous Lady is, as the reviewer wrote, “Cheap Thin Man ripoff from PRC attempts to use Neil Hamilton and June Storey in the roles of sophisticated detectives, and they are good. The rest of the cast, alas, isn’t up to their acting ability and make a mess of the story. Some interesting early film-noir photography and the leads make this watchable.” Hellzapoppin’ is a very good “chaotic” comedy int he vein of the Marx brothers with the comedic duo Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. And then, like many of her contemporaries, Terry gave up her career for marriage.

Let’s be clear, Terry was not an actress who retired because she was a talentless hack or her career was in shambles. In fact, she could have had a decent careerin the mid tier, and made a living in Hollywood for at least a few more years. While she was not a top acting talent, she was pretty enough, had a good singing voice, and enough charisma to go by (many have succeeded on less). But, she chose marriage over her career and that was that.

Terry returned to the movie set just one more time, in 1944, to act in Voodoo Man, a horror with all the typical cliches – Bela Lugosi playing a quack scientist (who wants to revive his dead wife), Keith Carradine as his dimwitted henchman, Henry Hull as the local sheriff and a tons of pretty girls who just scream (and Terry is among them). This did not lead to further movie offers, and Terry retired for good.

PRIVATE LIFE:

When in transition from Alice Dahl to Terry Walker, a whole web of stories was spun to make it seamless. Her past was forgotten, as were her previous roles and she started from a blank slate. She even had a story about how she was discovered! The story goes: In late 1935, Terry posed for Norman Rockwell, eminent photographer whose subjects often end up as movie starlets, and the painting was used in a cover for a national magazine. Nothing big happened and she continued her singing career. At some point in early 1936, she got a gig in Miami. While she was on the East Coast, a talent scout saw the Rockwell painting, liked what he saw and tried to find the girl. Rockwell  only knew her name, but had no idea what happened to her. Messengers were sent to her home town in Alaska, then to New York City, Phoenix and Syracuse. The chase continued with little success. When he finally located her in Miami, she was asked to return to Los Angeles to take a screen test. After passing it, she signed with Paramount. Nifty story for sure 🙂

Terry got involved with the violinist Jan Rubini in about 1935, while she was still Alice Dahl. When she was resurrected as Terry Walker, she made two movies in Hollywood, and then took a six month hiatus to go to New York and try for a six months trial marriage period. The press ha no idea who the guy was, and there was much speculation over the nature of this unusual decision. And with good cause, it seems.

Basically, there were several problems with this whole set up. The biggest problem was that Rubini was married to Adel Rubini – and she was not thrilled. They made the papers in 1937 when Mrs. Rubini sued Terry for alienation of affection (or something similar, you get the point). In a plot worthy of soap operas, Terry wanted to marry Rubini, but he was reluctant. Unfortunately, it had little to do with any amorous reasons – it was more a matter of figures. After weighting his options, Rubini got his math right – it would be too expensive to divorce Adel now, since she would take pretty much most of his property. The two reconciled and made a pact that he must not be unfaithful to her for the next two years. If he keeps his end fo the bargain, he gets their (formerly) shared property back. I was thinking, reading this, okay, so he and Terry were over and he was back with his wife for good. No! Poof, several months later there are reports that Rubini is divorcing his wife to marry Teresa. They finally did marry in 1940.

Several sources lists Rubini’s birth year as 1904, but that cannot be valid – his son was born in 1919! It is more likely Rubini was born in the early 1890s, but since he was born in abroad, he conveniently made himself at least 10 years younger when he came to the US. (there is another source that claims he was born on April 5, 1897 – this is way more probable. He could have been 22 when his son was born – very much plausible for that time).

Anyway, his life story: Jan Child Rubini was born in either Switzerland or Stockholm, Sweden to an Italian father and a Russian mother, he was a musical prodigy, playing the violin from early childhood. He moved tot he US at some point, and married Diane D’Aubrey in the early to mid 1910s. Diane was older than Jan – she was born on November 11, 1889 in Michigan. Their son Jan Mario Rubini was born on April 29, 1919 in New York. Jan and Diane divorced (have no idea exactly when, but prior to 1928). He moved to Australia at some point, and there met his second wife Adele Crane (she appeared with him in a musical show). He and Adele married in 1929.

Terry gave up movies to raise a family with Jan. The couple had two children, two sons: Michel Rubini, born on December 3, 1942, and David Alan Rubini, born on December 15, 1945. Terry had a miscarriage in 1953. Both children were musically inclined: David ended up a prodity at the piano, and Michel played the violin at only 4 years old.

I quote IMDB for information about terry’s older son, Michael:

Michel Rubini was born into a musical family on December 3, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. He started playing piano at age three and began his professional music career as an accompanist to his violinist father Jan Rubini. Michel started playing blues and gospel music at age thirteen and left classical music behind at age eighteen to focus instead on blues, jazz, and rock’n’roll. Rubini was a much sought after Los Angeles session musician in the 60s and 70s; among the artists he has performed on albums for are Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Barbra Streisand, and Sonny & Cher (Rubini also arranged singles for Sonny & Cher as well as Maureen McGovern). While working for the legendary Motown label he produced and arranged albums for such artists as Junior Walker and Thelma Houston (he also co-wrote three songs for Houston’s album “The Devil In Me”). Moreover, Rubini has toured extensively with several groups that include Seals & Croft and Loggins and Messina. Michel has not only composed the scores for such movies as “The Hunger,” “The New Kids,” “Band of the Hand,” “Manhunter,” and “Nemesis,” but also composed the scores for episodes of a handful of TV shows that include “The Hitchhiker,” “Capitol,” and “Tales from the Crypt.” He has recorded two solo albums and runs the Rubini Gallery of Fine Art. Rubini spends his spare time between his homes in Porta Vallarta, Mexico, Palm Springs, California, and Oahu, Hawaii.

Rubini was a prominent musician of his time, and performer all over the world. Terry followed him dutifully, often with the children.

The Rubinis divorced in the early 1960s. Rubini remarried (for the fourth time) to Helen in 1965. Terry never remarried, and continued living in California.

Terry Rubini died on May 8, 1977 in San Diego, California.

Rubini died on December 2, 1989.

 

 

Janice Logan

Janice Logan was an actress much preferred by her studio, Paramount, and excepted to achieve a top career. Despite the initial burning desire to become a great actress, she changed her priorities and decided to get married, leaving Hollywood behind. It is clear not many actresses were given a chance that she was given, and ever fewer of them chose to forgo it – but the question remains, could Janice have been a true acting tour-de-force? Could she had become the next Bette Davis or Joan Crawford? Since she gave up to soon, before acting in a substantial movie, we can never tell. What we have today shows us a pretty and charming woman, but no great actress. Maybe, if she could have developed her skills… Yet, as I said, we will never know. PS: Much of the information has been taken from Laura Wagner’s superb article about Janice (you can read the article here). Thank you Laura for introducing this fine actress to me 🙂

EARLY LIFE:

Shirley Logan was born on May 29, 1917, to Stuart Logan and Gladys Goodrich in Chicago, Illinois. Stuart Logan, born in 1887, was the son of Frank and Josephine Hancock Logan, both members of prominent Chicagoan families. He was working in the investment firm Logan and Bryan at the time. Her mother was from an equally prestigious family, her father being Horace Goodrich.

They married on November 1, 1910, and three daughters followed: Phoebe (born on December 24, 1911), Shirley (born May 29, 1917), and Laurette (born on October 17, 1918). A double tragedy struck the family in 1922 – first, Gladys gave birth to a stillborn son on February 5, and then died on July 15.

Stuart married to Lulu Logan sometime after 1925. As a member of the upper class, Shirley was nothing if not well educated – first at Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut, and then  Fermata Preparatory School in Aiken, South Carolina. Like many ladies of her generation, she ended her educating at a woman’s liberal arts college, Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She was popular on the campus, and was even voted the best dressed woman.

Already bitten by the acting bug from an early age, after graduation Shirley started acting for a Connecticut stock company, when a talent scount noticed her and suggested she try movies. Shirley landed in Hollywood in early 1939, and her journey began.

CAREER:

Janice appeared in only six movies, and only four were made in Hollywood. Now, this truly is a wasted talent, since Janice was not just an uncredited face, but a leading lady who showed much promise.

Janice was at the right time at the right place, and was a member of the Paramount Golden Circle almost from the moment she signed with the studio (the other in the circle were, Louise Campbell, Joseph Allen, Judith Barrett, Patricia Morison, Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Ellen Drew, William Henry, William Holden, Betty Field, Jayce Mattews, Evelyn Keyes and so on…). When we take the sum of all parts, most of the golden circle never broke into stardom, let alone became lasting Hollywood legends (only William Holden and Susan Hayward did this. Patricia Morrison, Robert Preston and Evelyn Keyes became well known thespians, but never legends, Ellen Drew and Betty Field did some notable B work, and the others did not even scratch the surface).

Janice made her debut in Undercover Doctor, an Edgar J. Hoover penned extravaganza. No, not really an extravaganza, but it’s an interesting experiential that ultimately fails to do its job. It’s neither suspenseful nor dramatic, and falls flat in terms of script writing and acting. Worth watching only if one is interested in Hoover and his work.

Janice appeared with Betty Field, a fellow Paramount Golden Circle, in What a Life . Everybody known this type of a movie – they are small, colorful, low key, feel good movies with no big plot or incredible acting achievements, but solidly done and with a positive message. So, if you are all for that kind of films, by all means go ahead. Janice is overshadowed by Field, who had a better (and much longer), so the comparisons are hardy fair.

Now, if Janice will ever be remembered, it’s because of Dr. Cyclops. A weird movie if there ever was one. We have the lead, a crazy scientist, Dr. Cyclops, who summons three scientists (Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton) to his remote South American laboratory to seek their advice on his secret project. Janice has the good luck of playing the only female role, making her feminine center of attention, but it’s Albert Dekker’s movie all the way. Dekker was unusually the second banana in movies, not being conventionally handsome, but he was a fine actor who could give a very nuanced performance when he was given the chance. His Dr. Cyclops is a powerfully tragic figure, someone you equally pity and hate. To make things even worse for Janice, it you put Dekker aside, the special effects draw much more attention than any of the supporting cast. They are very good for the time, and deservedly got an Oscar nomination.

Opened by Mistake is one hot mess. The movie itself is so obscure it doesn’t even have a summary in IMDB, but I dug up some newspaper reviews from May 1940 and looked it up on Wikipedia, and boy, what a plot! A guile hero who just wants to go on vacation, a crate “opened by mistake” hiding a body, Janice playing a woman who is trying to find a million dollars hidden in a similar crate, a banker who stole those million dollars, the cops hot on their trail, mistaken identities, one nasty publisher, so on and so on. The convoluted plot does nobody any favors, and the mix and match obviously did not work this time. No, it’s not the worst you could find, but not the best either.

Janice left Hollywood for private reasons after this movie. It’s a shame, as she was truly on the way up, and could have been another Susan Hayward. Or maybe not, but we’ll never know now.

Janice made tow more movies, but they are Mexican production and are largely forgotten today (Summer Hotel and El as negro ). That’s all.

PRIVATE LIFE:

Janice was 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighted 118 lbs, and was called “a perfect model” in 1939 by a bunch of photographers. Janice had luxurious, naturally curly hair but like many curly haired woman, wished it was straight (calling it bothersome).

Janice was hailed as a Chicago debutante who decided to make her fortunes in Hollywood. She undetook a European vacation before she came to Tinsel Town, yet, the papers managed to neglect her rather colorful history that included a youthful marriage abd more.

In June 1936, Shirley was married to Jackson Reade, a New York stock broker. Reade was born on May 24, 1900, in Pennsylvania, making him quite a bit older than Janice. He lived in New York City from 1919.

Laura Wagner writes in the article about what happened next:

“Seven months later, Shirley’s father and sister Phoebe persuaded the teenager to leave her new husband and live with Phoebe in Los Angeles. Two months later, Reade filed a $150,000 “lost-love suit” against the Logan family. He claimed they loved each other and wrote letters constantly, but they were being kept apart; he was convinced that his pregnant wife was “being kept a virtual prisoner because she wishes to see me.” His case was thrown out of court and the marriage was annulled. On March 10, 1937, Shirley gave birth to a daughter, Phoebe, who was to be raised by Shirley’s sister Loraine.”

As I said, all of this was hushed when Shirley became Janice and took a new identity. In an early interview, Janice told the press: “I thought when I finally got a motion picture contract, that I was through with schools. I had been in six or seven of them and I thought that was enough. But I didn’t know Hollywood. Today, I’m an actress, but I still go to school. In Hollywood, my education started all over again. I had to go to Paramount’s dramatic school. I took lessons in hair dress and make up. I even learned how to walk, stand and sit gracefully for the benefit of the camera. In the wardrobe department, I learned what clothes to wear – and how to wear them. It seems the studio insists all its younger players to take dramatic coaching when they are not in a picture. I’ve found there is plenty to learn.”

While filming Dr. Cyclops, Janice suffered a wardrobe malfunction – while running around clad only in a sheet, the sheet caught on a nail and she was left naked for a brief while. To stop this from occurring in the future, Janice wore sarongs from then on.

In January 1940, Janice was seriously ill from influenza, but managed to recover in time to continue her film work. In February 1941, she was called the best undressed woman in the States by a group of college students who wanted to parody the “best dressed” title. Her runner up was Marlene Dietrich (some runner up!).

Janice, however, was not happy with the title, fearing what her parents would say if they heard of it. She needn’t have feared – her father was in good humor about it, even teasing her to the press. Not long after, Janice threw a party for nine men that helped her in her quest for cinematic immortality. It was a good publicity play, but Janice seemed like a genuinely nice woman: cameraman Henry Hallenberger, who shot her first Paramount test, said, “I’ve been at Paramount studio for 23 years, and this is the first time an actress has invited me to have my picture taken with her.”

Yet, just as her star was rising, other plans took precedence. Janice met and fell in love with french journalist, Jacques Schoeller. Schoeller came to New York from Europe on the Ille de France and they met while he was in the US. He returned to France at some point in the early 1940, and soon Janice lost all trace of him.

This was sad but understandable – Jacques was in a country soon to be engulfed into chaos of WW2. Janice was so distraught over the fate of her fiancee that she suffered a series of medical maladies – when the situation did not improve, she was made by the doctors to take a three month leave from work. She did not plan to return to the movie lot (opting to get married instead), and, in a very generous gesture by the studio, was given a special contract that stated she could return whenever she was ready to resume. This showed just how good Janice was, and how much the top brass wanted her to continue her career. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

In May 1940 she went to Europe to find Jacques. What exactly transpired in Europe is unknown (why was Jacques missing? How did she find him? Where?), but the two reunited and married on November 25, 1940, in Bougival, a Paris suburb.

Jacques Charles Marie Schoeller was born on August 11, 1909, making him 6 years older than Janice, in Paris, to Rene Schoeller and Suzane Feraud. He traveled a great deal, often to Mexico. They returned the States in February 1941 on board the Monterey, and went on to live in Chicago.

She adopted her husband’s lifestyle and traveled a widely. She visited Mexico several times in the 1940s. She and Schoeller divorced at some point.

Laura Wagner wrote that Janice married Thomas Bell – I could not find any mentions of the union, I just know that it was sometime after 1955. The couple allegedly moved to Glendale, California.

While I could not find a death certificate, Shirley Bell died on October 23, 1965, in Glendale, California, in a house fire.

CORRECTION: Thanks to Becky’s kindness, I found out that Shirley actually died in 1967, under the name of Shirley Logan Schoeller, so it is posible she never married  Mr. Bell and she was definetly not the Shirley Bell who died in a house fire.

Her former husband Jackson Reade died in October 1981.

 

 

 

Tina Thayer

Tina Thayer had excellent newspaper coverage. She had several high profile roles and was praised constantly by the critics. So, what happened? While the answer is impossible to formulate, the fact is that she left Hollywood in 1944 and ended up as obscure as actresses who never made a credited role.

EARLY LIFE:

Thelma Thayer Gibson was born on November 2, 1923 in Boston, Massachusets, to Manual Flanders Gibson and Florence Emsralda Fogg. Her parents divorced in the late 1920s, and Tina and Florence went on to live with Florence’s mother (also called Florence) in Worchester, Massachusests.

Tina’s mother, who was college educated, ran a singing school in Worchester, and Tina, naturally, took up singing from an early age. The mother-daughter duo moved to Boston when Tina was 8, and later to New York when she was 14 years old.

She got into acting by a random act of fate: while on vacation in Provincetown, Massachusetts, she was spotted by a theater director, and given a chance to act. Always a fan of acting, and more interested in it than in singing, Tina was ecstatic at the given opportunity. Her role had only 2 lines of dialogue, but she poured her heart and soul into it, and the critics took notice of her.

Tina returned to New York after her experience, and enrolled into dramatic school under the guidance of her aunt, Draja Dryden, a concert pianist and screen actress working in France. She was a great believer in Tina’s talent and her biggest champion. Soon, she was appearing in Broadway opposite stars like Ruth Chatteron, and this pushed her into Hollywood.

CAREER:

Unlike many other actress of this site, Tina was truly a contender for stardom, not just the recipient of empty promises and meaningless publicity. While she was never cast in leading role in big budget movies, she was given leads in solid B movies and could have achieved much more. It’s hard to say exactly what went wrong with her career, but that’s Hollywood for you – like magic, it’s impossible to understand and analyse (talented actors never get anywhere, and those less talented end up big stars, and many other simply wierd examples).

She made her debut in Girls Under 21 , a movie about juvenile delinquency (Tina played one of the delinquents). Despite it being a low budget programmer (running at 64 minutes) it moves at a brisk pace, has many snappy, funny, irreverent lines, and its ending is surprisingly socially sensitive. Rochelle Hudson is very good as the leading lady (now, Rochelle is a real example of a very talented lady who never got past these kind of movies).

Meet John Doe is the best known movie on Tina’s filmography, and one of the classic of 1940s world cinema.
It a finely crafted meditation about manipulation by the media, democracy, organised religion and simply, life choices. Like all Capra movies, despite it’s blatant criticism, it’s an inheretly optimistic one, giving the viewer the feeling that it can be better if one tries. The actors make this movie a stand-out classic. Barbara Stanwyck is the true American epitome of a sharp, smart woman. She’s no lady, but her gutsy ways make her a very vibrant, assertive character, a reporter trying desperately to climb up the newspaper ladder. Gary Cooper, “Coop”, was at his best playing normal, everyday guys who show surprising courage when the going gets rough, and find that resilience and inner strength they had all the time, but never had the chance to manifest.

Next came an expected letdown in A Yank at Eton , a Mickey Rooney vehicle and a spiritual successor of A Yank at Oxford. Rooney is the typical plucky, althetic and funny self, with a fine supporting cast. The movie is a thingly veiled remaking of Boyswtown, another Rooney classic, and while it’s nowehre the quality of that film, (or indeed many other similar movies) it’s a fine treat for old movie fans.

Secrets of a Co-Ed was the leading role Tina was waiting for. And it’s not the worst one by any strench of an imagination. But, is it a really good one? No to that account too. The plot actually has some potential: A free-spirited college girl insists on carrying on her romance with a young mobster, scandalizing the town and going against the wishes of her father, the town’s most prominent attorney. While cast in a role that doesn’t ask for any acting bravura turns, we still see the type Tina could have played with much gusto in the future had she remained in Hollywood: outwardly sweet, nice, on the inside, complete brats. Tina’s father, played by Otto Krueger, has the best role in movie and plays it very well (sadly, another actor who never got to first base despite a bevy of talent).

The Pay Off is the typical crime movie quckie of the period. The script is full of snappy dialog, some of it having to do with the plot, some just clever filler. Worth a look for those of us who like rapid-fire dialog and don’t mind a few clinkers or clichés. Most of Tin’a thunder got stolen by Evelyn Brent, once a great silent star, and a low tier actress in the 1940s.

Jive Junction is another wartime quickie made purely as escapist fare. It’s a no-name cast with forgettable musical numbers and a non existent plot. With nothing much to reccomend it, it slid into total obscurity over the years. Tina’s career was by now going nowhere, and unless something big hapened anytime soon, she was doomed to either quit Hollywood or to remain in the B tier for a long time.
Henry Aldrich’s Little Secret was not a bad movie, in fact it’s one of the best in the long running Henry Aldrich series. Tina played a supporting role that got her nowhere.

Ready to give up her Hollywood career to start a family, she broke her contract after this and never acted in a movie again.

PRIVATE LIFE:

In a smart publicity move, Tina was introduced as the next love interest of Mickey Rooney, only to reveal it the end that she is not a real love interest, but rather a movie love interest. It was noted how she was a perfect leading lady for Rooney, since she was lower than him by two inches (when several of his other leading ladies were taller than him).

Thayer married Lester Koenig on August 27, 1942. She was just 18 years old when it happened.

Koenig was born on December 3, 1918, New York City, New York. The marriage was a short lived one, and the two divorced in 1944. I quote IMDB on what happened to Koenig after that:

Although never a card-carrying communist himself, Koenig was blacklisted because he refused to name names. The result was that he unable to work in the film business. He began producing jazz records on Commodore Records with some of the best West Coast musicians of that time, among them Art Pepper and Ornette Coleman, whom he was the first to record. K

Koening married two more times, and died on November 20, 1977.

Tina ended her movie career in 1944, moved to Neew York, gave up acting, and took up newspaper work. She joined the Milton Rubin press agent staff, and bought an apartment on the Madison Avenue (Mad Men anybody?). She suffered from bad tonsillitis several times and was living an high class, “urbane” lifestyle many women of the period went after. She most certantly deserved it.

Tina married Eric Wyndham-White on November 1, 1947. They honeymooned in Havana later in the month.

I will quote Wikipedia on Eric:

Born on the 26 January 1913, White was educated at the Westminster City School and the London School of Economics. He graduated as a LLB with first class honours and in 1938 was called to the bar by the Middle Temple.^[1] He was an assistant lecturer at the LSE until the Second World War started when he moved to the Ministry of Economic Warfare.^[1] In 1942 he became the First Secretary at the British Embassy in Washington.^[1]

In 1945 he became Special Assistant to the European Director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.^[1] He became involved in the forming of a secretariat for a new international trade organisation, theGeneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1948 and became the first Director-General.^[1]

Tina and Eric had two daughters, one of whom is named Carolyn (I could not find the name of the other daughter). Carolyn was educated in Geneva, Switzerland, leading to the conclusion that the family moved a lot in the 1950s and 1960s.

Tina divorced Eric sometimes in the late 1960s. She never remarried, and moved to New York City.

Wyndham White died from a heart attack while swimming on January 27, 1980, in Spain.

Tina Wyndham White died on December 27, 2003, in New York City.

Maxine Fife

Maxine Fife was a beautiful blonde who was touted as a future star and ended up nothing but a footnote in Hollywood history. A common enough story in Tinsel Town, sadly.

EARLY LIFE:

Maxine Elinor Fife was born on to Raleigh Oscar Fife and Maxine Elinor Anderson on September 19, 1925, in Los Angeles, California. Her father was  native of Kansas, a college educated engineer, already 45 years old when she was born. Her mother (whose name she bore) was from Missouri and 38 years old. She was their only child.

Maxine had the peculiar fortune to be a class mate of her two future movie co stars, Diana Lynn and Gail Russell. She went to kindergarten with Diana, and Diana used to accompany Maxine on the piano. She and Gail Russell met at the Faifax High School. The two were star struck teens, and often discussed movies during their lunch break. Imagine that 😛

Maxine attended Hawthorne Elementary School and graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1943. That same years she enrolled into University of Southern California. To earn extra money, she was working as an usher at a movie theater in Beverly Hills, California when Zeppo Marx noticed her. Zeppo became her agent and negotiated a contract with 20th Century Fox Studios. So, when Hollywood knocked on her door, she canceled her enrollment and embraced her new found movie work with both hands. Thus, her career started.

CAREER:

Maxine was uncredited for the most of her career, but she appeared in some fine movies! Her very firts one, The Story of Dr. Wassell, can certainly be a feather in her cap. No, it’s not masterpiece nor is it the best movie mae by the legendary Gary Cooper, who played the eponymous Dr. Wassell, but it’s imposible to say anything truly bad about this one. It’s poignant, powerful, beautifully made by Cecil B. DeMille (and as viewer wrote on IMDB, it’s not  a typical DeMielle movie, and many who dislike DeMille and his over the top epics could like this movie). Laraine Day is touching as Wassell’s love interest.

Henry Aldrich’s Little Secret, from the Henry Aldrich series of comedy movies, is one of the better entries and features some fine comedic moments by Jimmy Lyndon. Hail the Conquering Hero is a true shining comedy classic, a Preston Sturges vintage with a great cast, simple but effective story and, like every good comedy, a message. A special plus for the movie is Ella Raines, one of the most intriguing, unusual actresses to grace Hollywood in the 1940s.

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay paired Maxine with her two childhood chums, Gail Russell and Diana Lynn. It’s a breezy, nice, cute movie, one that leaves you with a simple on your face after watching. Russell and Lynn play real life women (Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough) who both have their first taste of romance on board a ship bound for Europe.

One Body Too Many is an unusual comedy/horror movie, and mostly a showcase for the comedy of Jack Haley. Watch out for Bela Lugosi in a small role! Nothing to rave about, but certainly pleasant. Here Come the Waves is a Betty Hutton/Bing Crosby pairing, a good enough movie worth watching but not much more.

Maxine’s next few movies were not her bets moments. Practically Yours is a tedious screwball comedy, saved only by the sheer star power of the leads, Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray. Bring on the Girls is a paper thin plot comedy with only a few good moments thrown in. Watch only if you are a fan or Eddie Bracken or Veronica Lake.

A Medal for Benny is a movie largely forgotten today, and while it’s mostly lackluster fare, it features an Oscar nominated performance by the character actor legend J. Carroll Naish and a fine turn for it’s leading lady, Dorothy Lamour. In a strange twist of fate, the movie resembles Hail the Conquering Hero very much, and Maxine is the only actress to appear in both movies (albeit uncredited!).

Incendiary Blonde is a biography of the legendary Texas Guinan (what a woman that was!). It’s, basically, a typical biopic of the 1940s – take a real person, turn it into a saint, polish up their life story, cut away all the unpleasant things, add a song or two and whoa, we’ve got a winner! Well, not quite, but the movie gives Betty Hutton a chance to really act, and remains one of her most powerful performances.

After this, the quality of the movies Maxine appeared in turned upwards. Road to Utopia is one of the best Bing Crosby/Bob Hope pairings,   The Late George Apley is a wonderful vehicle for Ronald Colman. I’ll say it openly, I’m a sucker for all thing Colman, and this si such a stunning movie! No, it’s not a classic, but it’s a fine outing for Colman in his twillight years.

Copacabana is a weak Grouch Marx/Carmen Miranda movie. Maxine’s last foray into movies was A Song Is Born, a mid tier Danny Kaye vehicle.

That was all from Maxine as far as Hollywood was concerned.

PRIVATE LIFE:

In August 1943, Maxine was dating the handsome George Montgomery, who was also involved with Dinah Shore. Guess which girl he married? Well, let me tell you, it ain’t Maxine. Still, the relationship was not a very brief one, and it lasted for at least six months, so Dinah obviously got some hard competition from Maxine.

In 1944, Maxine was very active in the war effort, touring army bases with fellow actresses. Maxine also got married on September 20, 1944, in Beverly Hills. Her groom was Forrest Fitzpatrick Cory. She was not yet 20 years old.

Forrest was born in 1920 in California, to Mr. and Mrs. Martin Cory, of the prominent Fresno Cory family. He attended Menlo Junior College and Stanford University. He served as a pilot in the US army in WW2, and flew over 50 missions by the time he married Maxine.

Their only child, daughter Maxine Elinor Cory, was born on July 14, 1945.

In an interesting twist of events, Maxine divorced Cory in 1946. Shortly after the war ended, she started working as the secretary of Paul Laszlo. The two fell in love.

Paul was born as László Pál in Debrecen, Hungary, on February 6, 1900, to László Ignác and László Regina (née Soros). His family later moved to Szombathely, Hungary. He had three sisters and two brothers; two of his sisters and both of his parents died in the Holocaust. László completed his education in Vienna, Austria before moving to Stuttgart, Germany, where he rapidly established himself as a prominent designer. Sadly, the rising tide of anti-semitism and Nazism made László’s position dangerous. In 1936 he fled Europe for the United States to escape the Nazis. He settled in Southern California, and established an office in affluent Beverly Hills, California. Despite having no money, he immidiately bought a fancy car and became a member of every prominent clubs. This, combined with his prior reputation, made him an instant hit with the wealthy political and acting elite. He married Anni M. Jurmann in 1938.

Maxine and Laszlo were to be married in July 1948, but she chickened out and remarried her former husband, Forrest Cory. Well, guess what, second chance marriage should not happen just months after the first divorce – usually it takes some time for people to understand what went wrong. Her son, Garth Martin Cory, was born on March 15, 1949. Maxine and Forrest separated just months after Garth’s birth, and she got involved with Laszlo again. Maxine was soon left pregnant by Laszlo, but could not gain her divorce soon enough – their son, Paul Peter Laszlo, was born on June 7, 1950, before they were able to get married. On June 15, 1950, she finally married Laszlo.

The family lived in Brentwood, California, and mingled with the higher ups. Laszlo was a man notoriously devoted to his own style, declining to work with such stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Streisand when he felt his vision could be compromised.

Laszlo retired in 1975, and they sold their beloved Brentwood home and moving into the Park Plaza luxury condos he designed on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

Laszlo died at age 93 on March 27, 1993. Maxine did not remarry. She suffered from dementia in her later years.

Maxine Fife Laszlo died on December 8, 2008,  in Solana Beach, California. Her former husband, Cory, died in 2012.

Adele Jergens

Adele Jergens is undoubtedly one of the better known actresses featured on this site. There is plenty of info about her on the internet, and her career is well covered. So why choose her? First, she is obscure to the general audience of today. Second, Adele was such a likable, interesting actress, a gal who could have gone much further had some opportunities knocked on her door. Actresses who suffered similar fates were a dime a dozen in Hollywood – and I hope to profile more of these as time goes by. Adele is first on the list.

EARLY LIFE:

Adele Louisa Jurgens was born on November 26, 1917, in Ridgewood, Brooklyn, New York City, New York to August and Marie Adele Jurgens. She was the only daughter among four sons.

Adele grew up as a tomboy, playing baseball with her brothers. However, her home life was anything but easy – her father was a difficult man and could barely afford to support the family. Adele attended Southside High School in Brooklyn, and graduated from Grover Cleveland High School.

Adele took ballet classes, but deemed her temperament ill suited for the art, so took to dancing in burlesque. At 14 she won a scholarship to Manhattan’s Albertina Rasch Dance School. Naturally gifted and very ambitious, she was barely 15 years old when she got the nickname “the girl with the million-dollar legs”.

Soon, her hard work paid off and she was steadily working as a chorine in Brooklyn Fox Theatre and the Ziegfeld Follies. To supplement her income, she signed with the John Robert Powers modeling agency. She also worked briefly as a Rockette, and was named the city’s leading showgirl. She was an understudy of the legendary dancer, Gypsy Rose Lee.

Adele hit it big when she was named “Miss World’s Fairest” at the 1939 World Fair. Not long after, she was to become a famous war time pin up. This catapulted her into Hollywood.

CAREER:

There are several well written accounts of Adele’s career, much better than any I could write about, so I decided to put a link to this fabulous pdf on Alan K. Rode’s site. Check it out by all means! Adele was one of the legendary femme fatales during the golden age of film noir and she acted opposite quite a number of hefty actors! She even played Marilyn Monroe’s mother in a movie! Another great article about Adele is on the Films of the golden age site. Go and read it now 🙂

PRIVATE LIFE:

In an interesting twist of fate, Adele was often compared to Virginia Mayo in terms of looks – both were round faced, soft looking blondes – and in real life, the two were good friend, dating from their shared New York chorus girls days. Despite being physically similar, they were diametrically opposite when personality was concerned – Adele was a boisterous, simple, gregarious girl who liked to have fun and dated guys by the bucket load from her earliest years – Virginia was a quiet, unassuming girl who rarely went out, was very devoted to her family and did not have any serious beaus.

Adele first hit the papers in March 1937, when she was dating George Hale. Hale had a fine eye for ladies, and specialized in finding diamonds in the rough. He allegedly took Adele from a Brooklyn high school play and launched her into a full fledged chorus girl. Adele was liked by the boys and dated constantly during the late 1930s.

In 1939, while making a picture for Columbia, she was allegedly infatuated with a Brazilian businessman. In 1940, she added Franchot Tone and Burgess Meredith to her line of erstwhile admirers. On an ironic note, George Hale, who had been dating Adele for two years by then, but was too busy to commit, introduced her to Tone, claiming he was a perfect gentleman, just the kind of a man to make a woman feel nice and to take her out. Then Franchot and Adele hit it off and dated every night! George was left dangling…
By August 1940, Adele was fed up with Franchot, and was one of many girls that Victor Mature dated (along with Betty Grable and Phyllis Brooks). Drop in a few dates with lothario Bruce Cabot in the mix.

In 1941, Adele first dated Al Jolson (funny, considering that her former boyfriend Hale was suing him!), and then Orrin Lehmann fell for her like a ton of bricks. No luck for Orrin – Adele liked Al better and dated him for several months. Jolson lived the prestige California-Florida-New York relation, and this gave Adele the perfect opportunity to date other swains while he was in another town – and often a different man every night! Plus, she also went on tour with him, just to keep close. Oh Al!

They had a brief tiff in May, got together again, and Jolson asked Adele to marry him in June. Yes, it was that serious for Al. But was it for Adele? While she said yes to his proposal, no wedding date was set, and Adele enjoyed a sojourn in South America in August. On board with her were other pretty showgirls, like Nancy Hill and Peggy Healy, and the famous Brazilian money bags, Joege Guinle. Imagine the fun! She came back to Al, naturally, but it did not yell. They broke up in September.

In October, Adele caught Tony Martin’s fancy. They were a charming couple, dancing together in Los Angeles nightclubs. In Early 1942, she was seen with Horacee Schmidlapp, a decidedly non handsome, but rich and charming fellow, future husband of Carole Landis. He gave her a fur coat (how can any woman resist a fur coat!). But, her real heartthrob remained a mystery – a columnist even teased that his real identity would cause quite a splash. This man gifted her with a mink coat and a bracelet (she obviously had several mink coats).

In April 1942, Dorothy Killgallen wrote a long piece on Adele, the proof of her then popularity. We learned that she is the most dated chorus girl, and that many of her admirers were rich and famous (duh!), and that many of them want to marry her after the first few dates. Obviously Adele was not swayed by money that easily, and turned them down quite a few (something I admire her infinitely for… GO ADELE!). Once an admirer asked her to pinch him so he could he sure he was not dreaming, and she pinched him so hard, it proved to be their last date 🙂 She was a big eater, enjoyed fine food, and her mother served her breakfast in bed every day at 11:30. She lived in Upper Manhattan, her father worked in a real estate office. Her nick name was Addie.

She preferred men in their thirties, and they have to be good conversationalists. She does not care if they are good dancers or not. She impressed Franchot Tone by her eating habits – he called her “Beauty and the feast”. Adele is a fine singer, does not like cocktail parties and prefers golf, horseback riding and loved to travel. She goes to work in IRS, but goes back mostly in her admirer’s limousines. She drinks tow bottles of beer a day, never drinks more than two cocktails, can drink a lot of champagne and smokes in moderation. Her favorite drink is a Black and White and Soda.

Her favorite people are Roosevelt, Buddy De Silva and Eddie Cantor. Her favorite movie is Gone with The Wind, and she loves to read, especially Marcel Proust, but never has time to read any more (was this really true remains to be seen). One day she wants to be married, and her future husband has to first and foremost be a nice guy, his wealth comes way second.

During that time, Adele was madly in love with a saxophone player from the Freddy Martin band. Feted by playboys and millionaires, and she loved a hard working boy, so cute! The relationship lasted until the end of summer.

Now, we come into a very sketchy and muddled part of Adele’s life, and understandably so. Somehow, she met a Washington DC bigwig. A married bigwig. The two started an affair in early autumn 1942. While they were low key, word was soon to spread that somebody high up in Washington was dating Adele. The news broke in January 1943, but he could not be named. By April 1943, Adele told friends that he would divorced his wife and marry her. No such luck, the unknown man chickened out and they broke up. Adele was heartbroken, but marched on.

By June, she was involved with an East Coast meat packing millionaire. In January 1944, Adele cut short her Hollywood career to go back to New York, to be close to a certain bandleader. By September he was ancient history, and RAF ace Willy Bidell took his place. By October, Adele was back in Hollywood, and in a weird twist of fate, the bandleader she originally pursued now pursued her and moved to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the housing in Los Angeles was so scarce that Adele and her mom, who was chaperoning her, had to sleep in a wardrobe room on the lot!

Ray Sinatra, Frankie’s cousin, was the next stop in Adele’s amorous adventures. The press claimed the two would get married in January 1945, but she debunked them by saying that Ray was already married to his wife. What a bummer! She continued with Jerry Marks, but left him after a few short dates – sadly, Marks carried a torch for Adele for some time afterwards!

Adele liked her new life in Hollywood. She noted that, while living on New York, she never got up before noon, even if there was  matinee performance that day. In direct contrast, now she had to get up at 6 so she could be at the studio at 7, and work until 6 pm. She had to go through make up, hairdressing and costume fitting, and the filming was pretty strenuous. After work, she would only have time for dinner and maybe an early show, but she was firmly in bed before midnight. Her studio wanted to build her to become a rival to Maria Montez – considered the most mesmerizing, seductive girl in Hollywood of that time. Predictably, the papers also build a rivalry between her and Yvonne de Carlo. Petty, but it’s a story we’ve seen a hundred time in Hollywood and will probably see  hundred times more. She was also revealed to be a serious ice cream lover.

In April 1945, Adele was seen with producer Ross Hunter, the former date of Jane Withers.  Yet, Ray Sinatra was always dangling in the background. He had been separated for many years from his wife, but could not get a divorce. The papers were abuzz with the news tat he wanted to marry Adele, but had to wait for his divorce to come through.

In 1946, Adele dated Jack Dennison, Bill White, producer Raymond Hakim and Ray Rossbach (related to baseball great Hank Greenburg by marriage). She was also visited by her old flame, Orrin Lehmann, in August. She went back briefly to New York after this. October was reserved for Morton Downey. On a funny note, Adele had to dash before midnight to catch a tram that would take her to her brother’s Long Island home. She left to Chicago first, for four days of fun, before returning to Los Angeles.

In March 1947, she was going steady with Tom Cassara. The affair lasted until July 1947, and it was from the looks of it, a serious one. Phillip Reed was her escort in August. Ross Hunter briefly came back to her life about that time. Some hand holding in the public, but not much more. Soon, she was at hand to console Milton Pickman – Pickman was sacked by his fiancee, Nan Wynn. In November she resumed her romance with director Jackson Halliday, whom she sort of started to date in June.

In early 1948, she dated actor Robert “Bob” Scott, and then took up with actor Ron Randell. Soon, Don McGuire was added to the roster. Scott ended up the most serious of her beaus, and friends were pretty sure the two would end up betrothed. Just when you thought, that’s it, Adele is finally going to get married, puff, another man enters the scene – Judd Downey, the legal eagle of Los Angeles. He took over the marriage sweepstakes from poor Bob, and now he was allegedly to become Adele’s husband. In April, the papers were pretty sure the two would wed. Yet, by June she was dating architect George Hyam and there was no additional mention of Downey. As they say, easy come, easy go. Also worth noting is that Hyam designed several dresses for Adele. Not long after, Adele changed her hair color from blonde to brunette.

Milton Berle briefly took over from Hyam in late July, but by August she was already seen another man, Clinton Bagwell. Scott Brady also entered the scene about that time. Adele was sent everywhere in Hollywood by her studio for publicity – for instance, she was there for a drug store opening, and won a specially made lotion!

In 1949, Adele continued her man enchanting ways. She and Johnny Gibbs were often seen at the nightclubs, and especially loved to hear Liberace playing the piano. She was still seeing George Hyam on the sly. Adele was also a tennis fan and often attended tennis events at the Wiltshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. In 1949, something nasty happened to Adele – she wanted to enter an eleator, and stopped herself at the last moment – the elevator shaft was empty! Despite the shock, she attended a charity function at Ciros later and modeled clothes to raise money. Ron Randell then entered her life again. Like her, he was a former Columbia contractee who went on to free lace. In August, Adele developed a crush on a Brazilian businessman, but nothing came out of it. In September, she was robbed and the thieves made way with several of her mink coats and jewelry. Later that month Adele ended a short romance with a wealthy San Francisco man and returned his diamonds (in a bucket :-P)

Also in 1949, Adele was involved with Ronald Reagan – and the same old stories happened again – Ronald was crazy for Adele and wanted to marry her, but she was not to keen on the idea. It seems that the right man, her prince on the white horse, had not yet come.

1950 started on a working note. Adele worked so hard she fainted on the set of one of her movies. The doctor ordered rest and relaxation afterwards.  She was even in “negotiations” with the handsome, wealthy Robert Goelet Jr. about appearing in one of his movies filmed in Rome. She also volunteer in a cancer clinic without much fanfare and danced with the Fashionettes, a troupe that donated all it’s earnign to charitable cuases.

By mid 1950, her romance with her one time co star, Glenn Langan, was out. The girl who was a constant bachelorette for years and whom no man could tame had finally found her match. Langan, who was neither rich nor especially popular, caught her heart. In this regard, Adele was truly one of the few actresses who claimed they were not after wealthy man, and they really were not  – and this proves it.

The romances blossomed nicely for the second part of 1950 and early 1951. One reported even wrote that Adele has two shadows now – her own and Glen’s. After a small tiff in May (the papers were cryptic about their separation, like even the gossip columnists did not believe the two were over for good). In July, Adele was even seen with another man, Mickey Stokey, a TV personality. My own guess was that she tried the oldest trick – making Glen jealous, as they were not over with each other.

Adele attended the marriage of actress Sally Forrest and Milo Frank and cached the bride`s bouquet. It was a dead give away. She married Langan on October 6, 1951.

Their only son, Tracy T. Langan, was born on September 11, 1952. Adele took it slowly after this, semi retiring with her family in Encino.

She and Langan had a happy marriage that lasted until his death on January 19, 1991. She never remarried.

Her son Tracy was an active, much beloved member of the Hollywood community along with his wife Cynthia. As a Mr. Roy Wagner posted on Tracy’s imdb page:

One of the greatest and most legendary figures in the history of camera support. Tracy was instrumental in the success of so many directors of photography, including myself. No matter what the cost he would make sure that your project had what was necessary to do a good job. I would not have the success that I have had without his extraordinary assistance. He was the backbone of Panavision.
Roy H. Wagner ASC
director of photography

Adele’s health started to fail in the late 1990s. In 2001, Tracy died. It was a huge blow for her, one from which she never recovered.

Adele Langan died on November 22, 2002, just weeks before her 85th birthday.

Eleanor Bayley

Perpetually cast in the lightweight musicals of the late 1930s and early 1940s, Eleanor Bayley was the eternal dancer, always seen in the background and never truly noticed by the viewer. After a steady although unspectacular career, she retired to raise a family.

EARLY LIFE:

Eleanor Bayley was born on January 4, 1916, in Atchison, Kansas, to Hammond Bayley and Grace R. Bayley. Her sister was Gwendolyn Bayley, and her younger brother Hale was born in 1924. Her family was a staple of the city, being there for many generations.

Growing up and attending high school in Atchison, she dreamed of becoming a dancer and actress. She even made a notebook detailing those dreams for an English project. Sadly, her father died on July 1, 1927, when she was just 11 years old. The family moved to the West coast afterwards.

Eleanor finished her high school days in Hollywood, danced in all the schools’ production and took dancing classes from Moscow brothers, who were also dance teachers to Ted Shaw and Ruth St. Denis. She got her first taste of the real dancers life when she got a job as a member of a dancing troupe that gave 5 shows a day at the Paramount theater (between movies). Soon she moved to Grauman’s Chinese theater, and became a part of a vaudeville troupe (Gold Diggers) that traveled all around the US and Canada. She returned to Hollywood full time in 1933, and got a contract with Warner Bros, becoming one of the Busby Berkeley girls.

CAREER:

Eleanor made several very good movies at the very start of her career. The golden string started with Footlight Parade, a snappy, sharp musical with James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. Fashions of 1934 is one of those sophisticated comedies they don’t make anymore today. A special plus is seeing Bette Davis in posh frocks with long blonde hair (have to see it to believe it!). Dames  gives us the best of Warner Bros 1930s musicals – plenty of witty comedy, great ensemble cast and f course, lavish dancing numbers choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It rarely gets better than this as far as the genre goes. And then, in her next movie, it did get better – Gold Diggers of 1935 are, as one reviewer summed it nicely, Good music, lots of beautiful girls and an inane plot, humorously acted out by a talented cast.

Sadly, the golden string was finished here, and some mediocre movies followed. Shipmates Forever is a Navy musical, a special sub genre of its own, but it’s not a typical example of the genre, giving us a more nuances, realistic portrayal of military life, but herein lies it’s problem – is it a carefree musical of a serious study about Navy men? The movie tries both and it fails. While not a complete waste, it’s below the usual Powell-Keeler musical of the time.

Both Colleen and Gold Diggers of 1937 show us just how the golden years of Warner Bros musicals was waning. Again, while not complete wastes of time, it’s a movie you see once and forget after two days. Over the Wall  is a pretty weird musical – a man lands into jail, lives his days full of rage and anger, only to discover he has a fine singing voice and becomes a singer. Yeah folks, they made a movie out of this silly story. Dick Foran, the singing cowboy, plays the bitter, twister fellow with a voice of an angel. Ha ha!

Girl from Avenue A is a forgotten Jane Withers movie. Joan of Ozark is an idiotic romp where Judy Canova playing her usual character, works as an anti Nazi agent. When she did it all, including hunting down Nazi criminals. What to say? if you like Bob Burns/Judy Canova comedies, maybe worth a look, otherwise avoid.

Footlight Serenade was a better movie, one of the first breakthrough roles for Betty Grable. It’s a nice piece of lightweight entertainment, with an interesting cast – the vivacious Betty, sharp Jane Wyman, charming, handsome John Payne and gruff, crass Victor Mature (who always played the same character over and over again – but at least he knew he was a limited talent and never denied this). Springtime in the Rockies is one of those movies that has neither the script nor the top direction, but the music and the actors make it an enchanting experience.

Du Barry Was a Lady, while not a master piece by along shot, is one of the most lush, beautiful looking musicals ever made. The gentle pastel colors create such a dreamlike, blurry feeling  so the viewer is transported into a heavenly place while watching it. I Dood It is a simple, pleasing Red Skelton/Eleanor Powell movie with some great supporting cast (Gloria DeHaven, Lena Horne!!).   Broadway Rhythm, on the other hand, is a below average musical. The reasons are plentiful: average music and leads with zero chemistry and charm. George Murphy was a great second banana, but never good enough for a leading man – the same goes for Ginny Simms.

Ziegfeld Follies needs no introduction today. The Harvey Girls is everything a light entertainment movie should be – good music, good actors, a solid script.

Eleanor gave up movies afterwards to raise a family.

PRIVATE LIFE:

Eleanor’s favorite actor was James Cagney, she considered Judy Garland a great person and highly strung, said that Marjorie Main was a germ fanatic, and noted many years later that she enjoyed jitterbugging with George Murphy. Among her most treasured memories from Tinsel town was the time she was invited to San Simenon, Heart’s huge castle above Los Angeles. Eleanor was appearing in a movie Heart was producing for his mistress, Marion Davies. Eleanor noted how Hearst spared no expenses when Marion was concerned, building lavish sets and buying whole department stores for her dressing room. Marion herself was extremely generous, giving the girls who visited her dressing room anything they liked from the racks.

A beautiful blonde with porcelain skin, Eleanor was a popular girl in Hollywood. She started dating Eddie Foy Jr. in 1933, when she was barely 17 years old. The two wed in April 1935. Eddie Foy, born on February 4, 1905 in New Rochelle, New York, was the son of Eddie Foy Sr.  and one of the “Seven Little Foys”.  Throughout the 1930s and ’40s he appeared in dozens of B movies. He closely resembled his father, and portrayed him in four feature films.

The marriage did not last and couple divorced in October 1937. Eleanor continued to date, hoping to find the special man who would become her husband number two.

She married Philip Duboski, then a professional football player, on January 1940 in Yuma, Arizona. Their romance started when he was playing guard and halfback at the USC football team.  Duboski went on to serve in the US Air Force during WW2.

Duboski was born on November 19, 1916, in Beloit, Wisconsin, to Mr. and Mrs. John Dubosky. Highly athletic, he played both football and basketball before graduating from high school in California and enrolling into USC. He planned to go into the oil industry after the war, but fate had other plans in store for him.

Eleanor’s second marriage proved to be a happy one. The couple had four children. Dolynn Duboski was born on July 22, 1946 in Los Angeles County, Phyllis Anastasia Duboski was born on March 8, 1948, John Bayley Duboski (their only son), was born on May 17, 1949 in Los Angeles County, and Deborah C. Duboski was born on October 10, 1957 in Los Angeles County.

Her husband worked in the Los Angeles Police Department for a few years, and in 1963  he moved his family to Strathmore, where he had bough some land in 1957. Phillip became a full time farmer, in addition to going back to school and getting his teaching credentials – he ended up teaching in the Porterville Citrus High School.

Eleanor was active in the civic community, serving on boards of several schools and teaching children how to dance. She also kept in touch with other Busby Berkeley girls, and they often had meetings in California to reminiscence about the old days. The Duboskis moved to Porterville in 1974.

Eleanor Dubovski died on June 29, 1976. Her former husband, Eddie Foy Jr. died on July 15, 1983.

Her widower Phil Duboski remarried to Patsy Lou Gill in 1980. He died on April 16, 2003, in Tulare, California.

PS: Happy New Year!!!!