A young and pretty Virginia debutante, Helaine Moler crashed Hollywood and actually had a better run than many starlets that only make appearances in two, three movies. Alas, after a few years, she gave up Hollywood for other venues. Let’s learn more about her!
EARLY LIFE
Mary Helen Moler was born on April 18, 1914, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Abraham Lincoln Moler and Margaret Reed Lewis. She was the youngest of five children, her older siblings being: Ida Mae Moler, Lincoln Hull Moler, Benjamin Franklin Moler, and Frank B. Moler. Helaine came from a illustrious family – via her father she a descendant of the first settlers at Harpers Ferry, and was a cousin of Cordell Hull, future Secretary of State.
Her mother was a distant relative of the Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame, and a niece of Former Governor John Hall of Deleware, Md. The family lived in Richmond, where Helaine grew up. She studied in Richmond at Miss Benson’s School for Girls and at John Marshall High School to which she admits she transferred for the honor of sponsoring the cadet corps.
In 1933 her father was appointed Western representative for General Petroleum, which required the family to relocate to Los Angeles. This move would prove pivotal in launching Helaine’s unexpected career in Hollywood. Helaine went to St. Catherine’s finishing school. There, never appeared in a theatrical performance, but she concentrated on art and dress designing, and wanted to work in fashion. It seemed like Helaine had no interest for movies nor acting, but her fate gently nudged her into another direction.
Helaine’s debut in pictures was accidental. She was named America’s model sports girl at the San Diego exposition and was given a contact for a talent scout. She called him, he in turn introduced Helaine to a casting director over the telephone because he was known to like Southern accents. He immediately invited her to do a bit in a scene. However, she nearly lost her first chance at being a movie actress due to her Southern accent. For one line, “You’ll find her in the garden,” she had practiced for hours to eliminate her Southern drawl. But when the scene was finally filmed, she was horrified to hear her voice declare distinctly: “You-all will find her in the garden.” However, she was so charming while doing it, that she was signed by Monogram, and off the went!
CAREER
NOTE: it seems that Helaine appeared in some movies not listed on her IMDB page. By reading some newspaper articles written in the day, it seems she appeared, before 1936, in several films including:
“Palm Springs” (with Frances Langford)
“Collegiate” (with Joe Penner and Jack Oakie)
“Mississippi” (with Bing Crosby)
So I can’t say that the list is complete, not by a long shot. However, Helaine never was credited, and she appeared in very very minor roles. On her IMDB page, many movies are listed, Too many movies to analyze them all, I will name but a few more notable ones for Helaine.
Big Brown Eyes (1936) A crime-comedy thriller starring Cary Grant and Joan Bennett. The story follows a sharp-witted manicurist who teams up with a detective to uncover a jewel-theft ring and solve a murder.
Daughter of Shanghai (1937) An action-crime film centered on a young woman searching for her missing father in Shanghai, becoming entangled with smugglers and international intrigue.
You and Me (1938) Directed by Fritz Lang, this crime drama follows two former convicts trying to live honest lives while struggling with love, temptation, and society’s distrust.
Zaza (1938) A romantic drama set in the world of theater and cabaret, starring Claudette Colbert. The film explores love, jealousy, and sacrifice within a glamorous yet crazy theater world.
The Big Broadcast of 1938 A musical variety film typical of late-1930s Hollywood, featuring multiple performers and musical numbers. We already mentioned several Big broadcast movies on this blog.
King of Chinatown (1939) A crime drama set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, with the alluring Anna May Wong in the led. She and her father fight racketeers.
That was it from Helaine!
PRIVATE LIFE
Helaine, at her prime, was five two and weighed 100 pounds. Helaine kept up with her exercise regime to keep trim, and was often photographed doing some unusual sports, like sand dune tennis, and loop tennis! An article on this:
Filmdom’s favorites are always ready for anything new in sports, and here is Helaine Moler, screen starlet, learning the art of loop tennis from Coach Bill Spaulding, of t C. I A.’s grid team. Using two sticks and a light ring, the idea is to snap the ring from the sticks by a deft flip of the wrists. Spaulding shows Helaine how to hold the apparatus for best results OOPS! Not so easy, that. Helaine misses a return cast by an opponent, but no one can say she is not trying. After all, it is hard to spear that flying circlet traveling at high speed.
Helaine tried working on her art as soon as she landed in Hollywood, doing chorus routines, studied daily with Oliver Hinsdell, Paramount studio dramatic coach. She made all of her own clothes from scratch – she designed them and did the sewing herself. She was also adept in culinary art, was very good in horseback riding and used to “break” her own ponies when a child.
Helaine remained deeply attached to her Virginia roots. She was one California resident who actually wanted to return to her native state to live, though her then career and her parents’ presence in the west kept her there. To sate her need, she often visited Richmond as the guest of her sister, Mrs. F. H. Craig, where she attended various social functions, and was almost always the most popular figure on the ballroom floor. After she left for Hollywood, her reddish curls were turned honey blonde, she looked like a typical Hollywood star but maintained the charm and manners of a Richmond sub-deb. However, it seems she was destined to remain in California!
In 1940 Helaine married Daniel Bartholomew Scully. Scully was born in 1898, making him a bit older than Helaine. Son of Daniel B Scully and Josephine Viola (Hogan) Scully, he was one of five sibling (of Alfred Joseph Scully and Francis Earl Scully. In 1921 he married Virginia (Eastman) Thorsen, and they had two children, a son David Bartholomew, and a daughter. Thy divorced in the late 1920s, and Daniel married Husband of Margery Nash (Ludlow) Scully — married 28 Apr 1931 in Santa Ana, Orange, California. He and Margaery divorced in the 1930s.
It seems Scully and Helaine divorced at some point, and in about 1950 Helaine married a Mr. Pratt and had a daughter in 1953, names Shannon Michelle. Tbe last think I could find about Helaine was this article from 1958:
Mrs. Pratt, who was known in motion pictures as Helaine Moler, appeared with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in the famous series of “Road” movies. Now, away from the glamour (and the hard work) of her former life, Mrs. Pratt spends her time as a member of the Community Chest Board, the Salvation Army and attends to her duties as vice president of the Republican Women’s Club. She and her husband, who is an engineer, have a five-year-old daughter, Shannon Michelle, who is this year’s “Little Miss Red Cross.” Mrs. Pratt’s hobbies are decorating and designing, in addition to her activities in the Knowland campaign and her community projects.
Helaine falls of the radar then, and I have no idea when she died. As always, I hope she had a good and happy life!
A bit too early, ALL THE BEST IN 2026!! Make it the best year ever!!!
Pretty and talented actress who tried her hand at movies, but had much more success in the TV arena, playing in a wide variety of series and shows. She then married a member of the New York intelligentsia, and her life was focused on her family from them on. Let’s learn more about her.
EARLY LIFE
Judith Braun was born on February 16, 1930, in New York City, New York, to Louis and Rose Braun. Her father was a successful lawyer, born in Romania. Her mother was born in Russia. She had an older brother, Theo, born in 1928.
Judith grew up in Brooklyn, and attended Erasmus Hall High School. Her father wanted her to become a lawyer like himself, but Judith had other ideas. After graduating, Judith attended New York University, studying acting. To make some money, she started baby sitting. Unknown to her then, she had found a new road to Hollywood. While working as a baby sitter, she kept the youngsters quiet by acting out fairy tales, which impressed almost everyone. Parents of some of the children, told a talent scout how she dramatized fairy tales while working Drama coach Sophie Rosenstein, of Universal-International, heard of her unusual methods and arranged an interview and screen test.
A contract with the studio followed. And Judith was on her way!
CAREER
Judith made her movie debut in Flame of Araby, a colorful 1950s escapism galore movie. An Arabian-nights princess and a Bedouin chief contend over possession of a stallion, but unite to oppose the Corsair Lords. The actors were Maureen O’Hara and Jeff Chandler, plus Lon Chaney Jr., Max Baer, Susan Cabot and so on. While nothing outstanding, these movies are compulsively watchable and fun.
Up next – Judith’s most famous and prominent role – came in Red Ball Express. It’s an solid, mid budget WWII movie about the men who risked their lives to supply Patton’s tanks with fuel as he barreled across Europe. He have some great actors – Sidney Poitier, Jack Kelly, Robert Davis, and the usual U-I staples, Jeff Chandler and so on.
Judith’s last movie was Horizons West, an okay western. This one has a bit more solid story for the genre, with two brothers feuding after fighting for opposing sides in the civil war. Great actors (Robert Ryan and Raymond Burr, plus the Universal International staples, Rock Hudson and Julie Adams. Judith plays the second female lead.
Judith worked on TV after that, and retired for good after 1962.
PRIVATE LIFE
Judith Braun, Noreen Michaels and Cindy Garner were a trio of newcomers signed together. Of the three, Judith perhaps had the best career, but that is sadly not saying much. A funny think happened to Judith and fellow starlet Cindy Garner when they were traveling by train to Chicago to ballyhoo Flame of Araby. On the train was Francis X. Bushman, noted silent film player who had fallen into obscurity since the dawn of talking movies (he played Messala in the silent version of Ben Hur – and boy, did he look good in the roman grab!), and Betty Blythe, also a popular actress back then. When the foursome descended in Chicago, they were mobbed – but not by handsome young men wanting to see Cindy and Judith, but by grannies who went wild when seeing Bushman, the idol of their youth! Boy, I wish I was there to see it… Pretty funny…
Here are some newspaper bits about Judith:
An actress to keep an eye on is red-haired Judith Braun, a 25-year-old Brooklyn girl with a speaking voice that sounds more like London than Brooklyn and a faith in herself that won’t quit. In her spare time, she reads, cooks, writes poetry and plays an excellent game of chess. She can’t stand idleness. “I get fidgety when a week goes by without any work,” she says. That’s when the cookbook starts flying. Remember the name. Judith Braun. She’s way above the average.
Allegedly, she has the lowest pitched voice of any actress at that time. Newspaper excerpt:
Judith Braun, reports Universal-International, is the actress with the lowest-pitched voice since Garbo. The former New York stage actress hit the 1500 mark on the sound man’s cycle meter during filming of “The Texas Man.” U-I sound-men said Garbo seldom hit that low.
And another one:
Joyce Holden sees a young composer often but she says she hasn’t the slightest notion of getting engaged: Beverly Tyler hasn’t even a remote notion of getting tied down yet.” She says she plays no favorites when dating. Judith Braun, a New York beauty, feels the same way.
While Judith did not want to marry them, she sure wanted to date them, and there were some pretty handsome guys vying for her attention. She was pretty serious about comic Roger Price and they were seen frequently around town in swank places.
Less serious were her liaisons with Scott Brady, who dated what seemed like every second girl in Hollywood. Also, she was a rival to Yvonne De Carlo for the affections of Carlos Anthony, a wealthy Canadian lumber king. Neither ended up with him in the end.
After Price, Judith almost married playwright and director Bob Joseph. There were plans that Joseph would direct movies, and Judith would act in them. However, something happened, there was a court case, Joseph lost, and after that Judith called it all off after he flew out to appeal for a new trial. I do n ot know the details, but they were
Judith, it seemed, was a tongue in cheek, witty girl who always had a repartee or two hidden in her sleeve. Two examples from the newspaper of the day:
Judith Braun, the actress, was asked by a movie producer if she wanted a movie role or a Renoir. “I’ll take the movie role,” she said, “because with a role l can always “buy a Renoir ”
T. S. Eliot dined at Voisin’s recently: Judith Braun, the actress, sat nearby and urged a friend to speak to the Nobel prize poet. “You do have something in common,” she said. “Tell him you like ‘Hiawatha’.
After her brief Hollywood career was over, Judith went her own way in the acting world – meaning summer stock, off-Broadway and TV soap operas, before breaking into such bigtime shows as “Studio One,” ‘Kraft” and “Robert Montgomery Presents.” She’s also done five “Matinee Theaters” and commuted back and forth between Hollywood and New York. But, pretty soon, something cemented Judith to New York way stronger than just business. Love!
In 1960, Judith married Walter Bernstein. He was a colorful, intriguing man. A screenwriter and film producer who was blacklisted during the 1950s McCarthy era. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1940 and serving as a WWII correspondent for the Army newspaper Yank, he began his Hollywood career in 1947. When his name appeared in Red Channels in 1950, Bernstein was blacklisted but continued writing for television throughout the decade using pseudonyms and “fronts.” His screenwriting career reemerged with That Kind of Woman (1959), followed by films like Paris Blues (1961) and Fail-Safe (1964).
His most notable work came with The Front (1976), a semi-autobiographical film about the blacklist starring Woody Allen, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Bernstein also directed one feature film, Little Miss Marker (1980), and published his memoir Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist in 1996. He received multiple honors from the Writers Guild of America for his contributions to the profession.
Judith and Walter lived the life of intellectuals in New York, being close friends of Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia. The couple had three children: Nicholas Bernstein, Andrew Bernstein, and Jake Bernstein. Judith gave up on her acting career to devote herself to raising her children.
Judith and Bernstein divorced in 1984. Bernstein remarried to Gloria Loomis in 1988. Judith did no remarry, and lived in New York.
Judith Bernstein died on June 21, 2021, in New York City, New York.
Becky Brown was a pretty, talented lady who got her big chance in the theater world during WW2, and was snatched by Hollywood to make movies not long after. The Tinsel Town life seemed like a good start for Becky, who even had her very own dressing room on the studio lot! However, her wish for a peaceful family life won in the end and after the birth of her first child, she gave up movies. Let’s learn more about her.
EARLY LIFE
Rebecca Swan Brown was born December 26, 1921, in Henrico, Virginia, to Stanley Porter Brown and Stella Lawson Swann. Her younger brother Stanley Jr. was born on November 16, 1923. Her father was a bookkeeper who worked in retail, and was a veteran of WW1.
The family moved a bit during Rebecca’s childhood, living in Richmond, Virginia (where her brother was born) then finally settling in Knoxville, Tennessee. Becky graduated from high school there, and then enrolled into University of Tennessee.
Becky’s theatrical talents first emerged during that time, when she won acclaim performing in the local Playhouse productions. A member of Chi Omega sorority, she was also active in the university’s musical band, and was selected as one of the 24 U-T beauties featured in the college yearbook. Recognizing she wanted to be an actress, she switched alma maters, and moved to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduating in spring 1943, Becky immediately landed a leading role in the road company production of “The Doughgirls.” Her performance was outstanding, particularly impressing audiences when the show came to her hometown of Knoxville in November 1943. With much high praise, it was no wonder Hollywood took notice, and she was signed to a contract not long after.
CAREER
Becky signed a seven year contract with Warner Bros in 1944, but none of the movies she allegedly made them are on her IMDB page. She appeared, at least according to the newspaper stories of the time, in Shadow of a Doubt and Pride of the Marines, but as there is no info in what roles and how, I can’t be quite certain.
Her only credited role was in the minor movie, Shadow of a woman, made in 1947. The movie is in it’s core interesting with an intriguing premise, but it seems that the execution leaves much to be desired, typical for a low budget proto-film-noir. The interesting plot point is that it is a veiled critique on the situation many women faced after WW2 – while the men were of fighting, the women held the economy together and proved themselves quite resilient. But then, poof, the war is over, you can go back to being a fragile, hysterical maidens. A re-domestication of women happened for sure in the 50s, but alas it all blew over in the 70s with the women’s lib, as you can undo what was done during the war. But this movie doesn’t go that far (who knew what would happen in the 70s back then), but shows the leading lady, Andrea King, marrying a quack doctor who wants to kill his son to get his inheritance. Helmut Dantine, who always played shady characters, plays the spooky doctor.
He tries to paint his wife as crazy and unstable, as was often the norm then (if the woman behaved in any way different from what the social standards of the day were) so he was get away with the murder. Plus, he is very much obsessed with food, and constantly talks about nutrition, which is more or less normal today, but was completely of sync back in the post war days, when you ate literary anything you had (in the US the situation wasn’t nearly as bad as in Europe, where most of the people starved one way or another after the way, waiting for the ruined economies to get back on track). With this subtext, the movie gets a better rap, although it’s too short, everything is very dense (as most 80 minute movies are), and there isn’t enough characterization to actually sympathize with the characters. Also, as the author on the superb Andrea King official site wrote, there is little suspense in the movie, as the doctor is so obviously evil from frame one, there is no “did he or didn’t he” moment. Plus subpar dialogue writing. But still, it’s a watchable early noir.
That was it from Becky!
PRIVATE LIFE
When Becky landed in Hollywood, she told the papers this is how it looked like:
“I get up at 5:30 or 6 a’ m and arrive at the studio at seven to spend at least two hours in the make-up department. After the make-up man and hairdresser have completed their painstaking jobs, we are treated like china dolls for fear a hair strays out of place before they begin shooting.” “Most amazing fact to me, concerning the entire shooting of a picture,” she continued “is the enormous crew it requires from the production angle alone— from the director and electricians on down. My first day on the set found me scared to death at facing the prospect of performing with so many people standing around so close.” It is not unusual to make 15 shots of one scene in a single day according to Miss Brown. One of her most humorous and embarrassing moments came the actress remembered when she was going through the studio sets with an old friend Lt Jimmy Watson of Knoxville. Ann Sheridan and a number of other stars were there. “We were visiting the stage on which Erroll Flynn was making a scene for “San Antonio Rose” — the one in which a woman throws pieces of china at Flynn who is sticking his head out of a small window. The rehearsal was perfect – each time a vase or pitcher was thrown at him he successfully ducked into the room. But during the actual shooting the last huge pitcher landed right on his head!” – “Thinking he was clowning for the benefit of his audience I burst into noisy peals of laughter not knowing that it was all real. Flynn’s next line was ‘Give that lady a cigar!’”
Becky’s dressing room was notably next to Faye Emerson (then married to President Roosevelt’s son, Elliott), but it seems Becky decided to leave all of this. Why? For a family life. Namely, Becky married Charles M. Taylor of the U.S. Army Medical Corps between shows in Kansas City on October 23, 1943. She had originally planned to marry when the production reached Knoxville, but wartime circumstances changed those plans. Charles was the son of Lady Katherine Taylor of Dublin, Ireland, and the late Sir William Taylor.
After World War II, Becky’s husband was discharged from the Army and entered private practice. Their son Michael O’Brien was born in June 16, 1946. However, the couple immediately faced the postwar housing shortage that plagued most of Los Angeles. After a Christmas 1945 visit to Becky’s parents Knoxville, Dr. Taylor returned to Los Angeles to search for both a house and an office while Becky remained in Knoxville, waiting. Eventually, the Taylors settled into a little house on Doheny Drive with a small garden and fruit trees in back. By this time, her priorities had shifted dramatically. Their daughter (sorry could not find a name) was born not long after, cementing Becky’s role as a devoted wife and mother. Becky and her family continued living in Los Angeles.
Becky and Charles divorced at some point in the 1950s. Becky married for the second time, to Randolph Weatherby Hyde, on August 12, 1961, in Los Angeles. Hyde was born on July 22, 1906, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Roy and Ella May Hyde. He lived in Allegheny, Washington DC and New York, and worked as a stills treasurer. He was married once before, to Elizabeth Robertson, in 1940. They had a daughter, but sadly Elizabeth died in 1948.
When he married Becky, Hyde was a United States Steel Corp. executive (vice president and treasurer to be exact). The couple moved to Pauma Valley in the 1970s, after Hyde retired, and lived there in a lovely home.
Randolph died 1986 at the couple’s home in Pauma Valley, after a long illness. Rebecca Hyde continued living Pauma Valley, and I could not find any information on her date of death. As always, I hope she had a good life!
Viola Essen was a truly stunning, beautiful and very graceful ballet dancer who had a brief Hollywood hurrah in the 1940s, when a string of other stunning ballerinas also entered the fold (Vera Zorina, Irina Baronova, Tamara Toumanova, just to name a few). Unlike them, Viola was US born and bred, and this distinction made her a national treasure. However, behind the scenes, Viola had quite a turbulent private life, with huge ups and downs. Let’s learn more about her!
EARLY LIFE
Viola Elena Colchagoff was born on August 11, 1924, in St. Louis, Missouri, daughter of Asen Hristov Colchagoff and Maria “Masha” Vasileva Colchagoff. Both of her parents were born in Bulgaria and immigrated to the US in the 1910s. Her father worked as a furrier, and used the surname Essen as his Americanized surname. The family moved to New York when Viola was only a few months old.
Viola’s mother was a typical stage mother who wanted her daughter to succeed and did everything to make it so. When Viola was just two and a half years old, she took her to Los Angeles, California for a children’s dramatic contest. Viola beat 1700 other children by reciting a text her mom wrote, and this was just the beginning! The mother-daughter duo relocated to Los Angeles, where the toddler Viola worked in radio, doing dramatic sketches. They returned to New York in 1930, where Viola’s mother helped her secure a scholarship for the Mikhail Mordkin Studio for ballet.
In parallel, Viola took up piano hard core, studied with Russian great Vladimir Drozdoff, and was even offered a piano scholarship at the New York Master Institute of United Arts. Due to her merits, she got a scholarship and attended the Birch Walthen School for superior excellence.
As you can see, Viola really was something else. Buoyed by her mother, hailed as a child genius, she went from strength to strength – she made her official dancing debut in 1934 at the Waldorf Astoria. She played the role of the fairy goldfish in a ballet, which was based on a poem by Alexander Pushkin and set to music by the Russian composer, Tcherepnine.
Now, let’s just get a brief overview of Viola’s ballet career (which was primary occupation for her). She was a soloist in the Mordkin Ballet founded in 1937, and three years later appeared in the first season mounted by Ballet Theatre, the predecessor of today’s American Ballet Theatre (ABT). In 1940 she appeared in the first American performance of Anthony Tudor’s “‘The Judgement of Paris” with a cast including Tudor himself, Hugh Laing, Agnes De Mille and Lucia Chase. She also was engaged as a principal in the short-lived Ballet International, formed in 1944 by the Marquis George De Cuevas, who later established the Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo. Viola also danced in the Monte Carlo Ballet, and shared principal status with Marie-Jeanne, Andre Eglevsky and William Dollar.
Later, it was claimed that the movie “Never let me go”, made in 1953 with Clark Gable and Gene Tierney, was presumably inspired by the story of the Viola, who was smuggled out of Soviet Russia by Anton Dolin, fellow ballet dancer and her British husband. I laughed at this, as Viola was American as they come and Dolin wasn’t even her husband, but as the two danced at the Grand Ballet at the same time, so somehow this apocryphal story was born. We know this is false for sure.
Here is a article about Viola from her early days, and a big deals is made about how she was American born, and not Russian. Obviously this meant a great deal back then:
When those dancing flowers from the Mississippi prima ballerinas, are picked and not the Volga, the news is that the ballet has gone American. St. Louis-born and New York transplanted Viola Essen who is 20, tall, dark, beautiful and has eyelashes down to here is the first Yankee dancer in ballet history to stick a star on her door. She was the choice of the Rockefeller-backed Ballet International, which is opening its season here. Viola’s power to enchant an audience with her ankles clicking in mid-air like castanets and her body spinning like a whirling top spell-binding.
But she can divest herself of this glamor girl getting ready for a shower when she’s not behind the footlights. The reason, as Viola’s selfexplained routine indicates, is that the ballet is gruelling work which exacts from four to nine hours’ practice a day, demands unremitting discipline a lesson a day from the best coach, which in her case, costs $5.75 an hour- which and would taps physical energy make a prize fighter hesitate to swap his ring for the stage. This explains why Viola lives in a modestly furnished suite which her mother housekeeps in a hotel only two blocks away from the theater where she practices tirelessly with towels kept handy for mopping up sweat. Interviewed sitting in the living room strewn with ballet slippers and piles of pink ribbon for lacing them up, Viola toe caps for a new pair while she talked. darnees If a large cheddar or Swiss cheese has been purchased for use in the home, it should be kept under refrigeration below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
(Darned to every new pair of ballet slippers, it must be explained, toe caps prevent slip and give doomed satin a couple of days’ reprieve.) Asked how she felt about being the first Yankee-born ballet dancer to stick a star on her door, she said, weaving her pink-threaded needle in and out of her shoe, that she felt deeply honored. “And to disprove the critics’ contention,” she said, waving her shoe, “that American girls are only good at technique that they’re too cold to put the fire into ballet that Russian girls can. Out to refute the critics may be a Yankee Doodle boast but it stems from confidence implanted by a great Russian ballet master the late Michael Mordkin who started coaching Viola at six and launched her at 13 as the ballerina of the Mordkin Ballet. As good as her dancing record (she has been in one movie, “Rhapsody in Blue” and in a couple of musical comedies) is the record of her high I.Q. While her talents paid for ballet lessons, her wits won her a scholarship-free diploma from New York’s select Birch Wathen school.
Here is a bit more about Viola:
As American as apple pie, Viola likes to go jitterbugging, hang onto a piano when jive gets hot, listen raptly with chin on hand to the singing Hildegarde, and rhumba with young men who shake a mean hip. There has never been any complaint, either, says Viola, that she can’t follow a dancing partner. She says she can tuck in a meal which three other girls might stagger under, and stows away such whopping steaks a pound at one sitting and so rare that it bleeds that she has to get them oftener in restaurants than at home to bridge the gap in ration points.
It was just a matter of time before Hollywood noticed Viola, and there is was!
CAREER
Viola’s Hollywood career was brief. She appeared in only one movie, Specter of the rose, in 1944. As far as I read the reviews, it’s a weird, off the beaten path movie, written with a pretentious, flowery prose, and with a highly improbable story. Ivan Kirov plays a ballet dancer who may or may not have killed his first wife, and now it seems he may kill his second wife, played by Viola. Will he, won’t he? Why does he want to murder his wives? Does the music have anything to do with it? I won’t spoil more, but you get the gist. Judith Anderson, one of the best actresses to grace classic Hollywood, comes out the only seasoned thespian here, which she was. The highlight is definitely the movie’s moody, dark, somber and slightly haunting atmosphere that works against all odds!
Viola appeared in some minor TV work, and that was it from her!
PRIVATE LIFE
Viola sure had a colorful private life! The first thing we know, Viola was married to actor Richard Deane in about 1943, when she was only 18 years old. Born as Richard Reid in 1918, he was a 6 years older than Viola, and was a B movie actor for a time in the late 1930s in Hollywood before focusing on a much more successful theater career. The marriage was a sham from the start, and ended up badly only a year later – it was rumored that instructed his attorney to sue for divorce, and the word was hear the suit would be a sizzler. Unfortunately I never learned anything more about the details, and Deane and Viola were divorced by the time the year was out.
In late 1945, Viola married German born violinist Werner Gebauer. Gebauer, born in 1918 into a family of prominent diplomats and physicians, was a direct descendant to Felix Mendelssohn on his mother’s side. He was made by his mother to take violin lessons that he disliked, but, to the surprise of everybody, 3 years after his first lesson, Gebauer gave a wildly acclaimed recital at Berlin’s Beethoven Hall, and within 2 years, his performances had spanned three Continents.
Gebauer arrived at Ellis Island with $7 in his pocket and not a soul he could call a friend; pretty staggering odds! He auditioned and was accepted for a fellowship into Juilliard Graduate School, assigned to the class of Albert Spalding, the great American violinist. After 3 years of intensive studies he made his debut at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Otto Klemperer, which opened doors to world tours with the famous Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, followed by concertmaster-ships with the National Symphony in Washington D.C. and the Dallas Symphony.
Viola and Werner met at the ballet Ruses, and the rest was history as they say. The couple settled in Los Angeles, and for a time it seemed their marriage was pretty solid. On August 21, 1947 their son Robin Stephan Gebaurer was born in Los Angeles. However, the strain of new motherhood, combined with busy careers on both side, slowly eroded their marriage. Werner left for New York when their son was just months old, and Viola was in doubt as to stay or to go. Love won, or at least it seemed so, as Viola headed to New York early in 1948 to join Werner (with their son of course). They did reconcile, but it lasted a paltry two months before Viola instructed her attorneys to file for divorce. Viola remained in New York after that, never to return to Hollywood again.
Viola wasted no time in looking for new beaus. She married her second husband, Peter Cadby, in New York in 1949. She was 23, he was 34. Peter Cadby was born in 1918 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Charles and Geraldine Wright Cadby. He worked as a freelance write in New York for a few years before marrying Viola. Their son, known as Bozo in the future, was born in 1950. However, this marriage was also short lived, and they divorced in 1952. Around this time, her son Robin, going under the name of Robin Essen, played the important role of Henry Fonda’s son in “The Wrong Man.”
Viola marched on and married not long after her divorce – the time is January 1953, the guy is Herbert Crane. Crane was better known as Dean Craine, a leading clown artist of the time. He worked on TV, appearing in the TV series “Big Top”. The marriage was also short lived, with Craine on the road a great deal, and Viola mostly New York based. They divorced in mid 1955.
As expected from Viola, she was on her next romantic conquest right away. Viola dated Marlon Brando!! By this time, she had her own ballet school in Carnegie Hall and Brando thrilled the pupils by dropping up to play the bongo drums for one of the classes. Alas, Brando dated a string of other women too, and he and Viola bust up pretty soon.
The new man of the moment – Gabe Dell, the actor, was just freshly divorced from his wife, model Jan Leonard. Viola and he hooked up in early 1956, and things went on very quickly from there. They got married in August 1956. Gabriel DelVecchio was born on October 8, 1919, in New York, to Marie DelVecchio and her husband, both italian immigrants. His father was a doctor. After getting some prominense by singing in a church choir and then on a children’s radio show. He made his stage debut in the play “Dead End” and, with the other juvenile members of the cast, was called to Hollywood for the film version. He became one of the famous East Side Kids/Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys and made more than 20 movies with them. He served in WW2, and he played in a few more of the Bowery Boys series but made his final film with them in 1950 and struck out on his own. He took roles in Broadway plays, formed a nightclub act with former East Side Kid Huntz Hall and studied for three years at the Actors Studio. He worked steadily in television and only rarely on TV.
Their son Beau DelVecchio was born in early 1957. The marriage was tempestuous, with big ups and downs from he very start. Viola separated from Gabriel in April 1957, and took the children with her. They were on and off for the better part of the year, until in December the finally got together again and started living as a family once more. Gabe and Viola went to their third honeymoon to cement the newfound happiness. Here is a sweet anecdote about Viola’s son, Bozo, whom Gabriel adopted.
An agent called actor Gabe Dell to suggest that he try out for a part in a new play. Dell is married to ballerina Viola Essen and their son, Bozo, answered the phone. The agent started to make small talk. “Bozo,” he said, “if you ever get a chance to act will you obey the director?” The six-year-old turned to his approaching mother. “It’s for me, Mom,”
The 1950s came and went, as they say, and Gabe and Viola entered the 60s with mixed success. Viola had to close her dancing school and declare bankruptcy just as the decade was closing, and tried her hand at a variety of activities, including making appearances in TV commercials. Both of their careers fading, under immense pressure, the Dells separated again in 1962, and were apart for a few years before reconciling in early 1965, but were finally divorced before the year ended. Dell went on to marry Allison Daniell, daughter of actor Henry Daniell, and had another son, Gabriel Jr., in 1967. He continued acting, and developed an interest in Zen in the 70s. Dell died from leukemia on July 15, 1988.
For Viola, 60s were a mix of everything it seems. By 1966 she was owner of a florist shop on Broadway in the 70s. However, shop life turned up to be quite dramatic, as Viola was burgled at gunpoint and a few nights later driven to the shivery streets by a fire. That’s New York life for you! Unfortunately, Viola was nowhere to be seen in the papers, so any info on her becomes very scarce.
Viola Essen allegedly died from a pill overdose on January 16, 1970.
Tanya Widrin was an intriguing woman. A beautiful girl who landed in Hollywood after a modeling career, she never made a movie, but dated up a storm, met a large number of stars, but decided to try other thing life has to offer. After being very active in the war effort. She did some anthropological work before marrying, but that did not stop her from pursuing several other career opportunities. Let’s learn more about her!
EARLY LIFE
Tatiana Laura Widrin was born on September 18, 1920, in San Francisco, California, daughter of Mark “Marcus” Widrin and Ella Foote. Tanya was the oldest of three children – she had a younger sister, Florence Geraldine, born on December 1, 1921, and a younger brother, Gerald, born on March 27, 1923. Her father, born in Russia, was a broker.
Tanya grew up in San Francisco, and was considered a very beautiful child. Her mother was a native of Fresno, and Tanya spent several summer vacations in Fresno with her grandmother. One year, when she she and her mother attended the Fresno District Fair, and there Tanya cemented her secret desire for a movie and stage career. In June 1938, she graduated from the Polytechnic High School. Her modeling career started just days after when she posed with her mother’s prize Pomeranians at a dog show in San Francisco. She attracted additional attention as “the only woman barker” at the San Francisco Exposition, where she gave the spiel for the “Gloria”.
In the late 1930s, Tanya attended the University of Southern California, where she was affiliated with Pi Beta Phi, but on the side was a very successful print model, appearing in all kinds of events and crowned with a variety of titles. She ultimately never graduates from USC, and went into modeling full time. While appearing as Miss Monte Carlo at the Golden Gate International Exposition, Tanya was selected as the most beautiful girl on Treasure Island.
This is how she was noted by Hollywood brass (rumors has it it was Raoul Walsh who discovered her at the fair, but take that with a grain of salt), and she was taken for a screen test almost immediately. MGM nabbed her first – despite her initial refusal to take the test, she was finally persuaded and she was hired and given a contract.
CAREER
Sadly, Tanya appeared in no movies except the short movie advertisement for the Baby Stars. The reason cited was that she was told her voice was too high-pitched and would restrict her to roles in B-movies. Opting not to become a western heroine, she gave up movies and did some minor theater work before leaving acting for good.
PRIVATE LIFE:
When Tanya just came to Hollywood, she got a ton of publicity due to the baby Stars franchise. This is just a bit from the papers of the time:
The 20-year-old San Francisco girl, who is known locally as a graduate of Polytechnic High School. an ex-barker at the Exposition and a model, is now the verge of a motion picture career as one of 13 recently chosen “Baby Stars of 1940.” In San Francisco today for a short visit, Miss Widrin says her new work is thrilling, is looking forward to prospective personal appearance tours with other “Baby Stars” and auditions at Paramount and Twentieth Century Studios. If a contract results from one of the auditions, she will undergo six months’ dramatic coaching to prepare her for substantial roles. She is meeting the great and near -great in Hollywood, has learned to tell porters, “You really mustn’t use this, but and considers Hollywood “not a bad place.” “Young people are warned to stay away from Hollywood because it’s overcrowded now. But I feel I can do something in pictures and think if you have talent you can always make the grade there.” The local girl, it would seem, is making good.
Of course, we know that nothing came out of it, and six months later, Tanya ruled out her movie career for good. However, four of the Baby Stars, Ella Bryan, Tanya Widrin, Gay Parkes and Jan Holm were working as dance instructresses for Arthur Murray, and Tanya and Vicki Lester (who we already profiled here) were featured in spots in the Broadway musical, “It’s High Time.”
On a side note, it seems that Tanya was a gutsy, strong willed woman, as evidenced by this article: Tanya Widrin, model and “baby star of 1940,” today disclosed that she had dropped her $20.000 suit against the Bekins Storage and Walter Shanks, the model’s agent. Miss Widrin charged that her picture had been used without her signed release in connection with an advertisement. The comely brunette’s court decision was conveyed to her attorney, Bingham Gray, according to friends.
So, no kidding around for Tanya! They used her picture without her consent, she went all in and sued them. I guess they settled out of out somehow, but good for her! But now for the most interesting part of Tanya’s exposé to Hollywood… Her beaus!
Tanya impressed me with how many talented, interesting men she dated! What a list! Obviously Tanya was an animated, smart and elegant young woman, and much sough after in the Hollywood circles back in the early 40s. Her first “serious” (more like officially noted) Hollywood beau was Lydell Peck, an attorney, ex-husband of Janet Gaynor, somewhere in early 1940. He and Janet had been divorced for 7 years by then, but it did not lead to a more permanent engagement. Next on the menu in 1940 – Tanya dated Bill Marshall, who married some of the most charming Hollywood actresses – Ginger Rogers, Michele Morgan, Micheline Presle! But it seems Marshall was a well known ladies men, and Tayna was just one in a long line of beauties he dated, preceded by the pretty Helen Gilbert. Of course, it did not last long at all.
By the end of the year, Tanya was quite serious with famous cartoonist Peter Arno, but it was a tempestuous relationship and it seems Arno was violent with Tanya on more than one occasion. Here is a newspaper bit about it:
Peter Arno, the cartoonist, and pretty dark haired Tanya Widrin, model, starred in a new “cafe bout,” according to a story going the rounds in Hollywood today. Miss Widrin was quoted as relating the blow by blow running account. AT 4 A.M.
She had accompanied Arno to night spots several times lately. And then, along about 4 in the morning on tr this occasion she opined it would be good to go home and 1 rest up for a modeling assignment. There seemed to be an argument that climaxed when she tossed a glass of water in Arno’s face. Thereupon, according to Miss Widrin, Arno, who had figured in cafe clashes before, opened his palm and applied it smartly, if lightly, to her cheek. NOT A WORD.
The unusual denouement however, was that after it was over, Arno drove Miss Widrin home, and, as she related it, no word was spoken during the trip. Tanya Widrin, 20, was one of the most photographed models in San Francisco until she headed for Hollywood.
While she and Arno tiffed, Tanya was also seen around town with well known playboys Bruce Cabot and Jimmy McHugh. However, interesting to note, even while dating Arno, Tanya insisted her “best boy friend” is Count Di Castagnola, whose family is in Italy. It seems that many men had come and gone, but di Castagnola stayed for a longer period, obviously as an constant auxiliary boyfriend she could always count on.
In 1941, Tanya was seen on the arm of Al Schwabacher, Jr., usually when she was back home in San Francisco. That year, she also dated Franchot Tone, the actor who seemingly dated all the pretty girls, and got involved with Rudy Vallee. Vallee was a bit more stable than the rest of her swains, and he even went to San Francisco to meet her parents at some point. Tanya also played hostess to several parties at Vallee’s residence. But alas there were more beaus on the side. With Johnny Olson, sonny boy of Governor Olson, Tanya was gulping bowls of chow mein, and with Jack Clark, Tanya was always seen at the trendy IT Caffe. She was seen several times with Seymour Chotiner and Lawrence Tibbett Jr, the son of the actor.
However, in the sea of various beaus, it seems Tanya was a bit more serious with two more: Blake Garner and Harry Cocker. They were acquaintances who knew each other from before, but that did not stop Blake from taking Tanya under Harry’s nose! But, in vein with Tanya’s non chalant reply to a wannabe suitor, : “I’m going steady with four other fellows.” So it’s no surprise all this drama happened! And the ever loyal Count A. G. di Castagnola was always there in the sidelines.
On a lighter note, for her birthday in 1941 Tanya was especially virile, as you can read here: “Tanya celebrated her birthday the other day by keeping consecutive dates with six man from noon till midnight. They were Harry Crocker, Bob de Mailly, Bob Rickard, Dirk Potter, Fred Kohler Jr. and Christopher Hofer, whoever -the -hell they are.
New year brought new swains to the list. In 1942, Tanya was seen with Billy Bakewell, dated a lot of Nilis T. Granlund, and when she came back home to San Francisco, her cigarettes were lighted by Dick Koshland, of the local Big Family. They were followed by Los Angeles Sheriff Biscailuz‘ son, Warren, and finally Tanya got herself a real life Captain, James Black. But, wait there is more! Tanya dated Jack Warner (older Warner’s son), and was seen around town with the lothario agent Vic Orsatti. Tanya also dated her former boyfriend Larry Tibbett’s younger brother! Imagine that dramatic family scene!
By now WW2 was in high gear, and Tanya went into action swiftly. She was an active member of Women’s Air Raid Defense (WARDS) and traveled a great deal with the organization, often risking her life. Tanya used her former romantic liaisons to help her, as this bit can attest (using Rudy Vallee):
Miss Tanya Widrin was hostess to a party of actresses and Army men at Sunday’s Danzon at the Beverly Hills Athletic Club. After refreshments, Rudy Vallee turned over his house to them for an informal party. and a showing of the motion picture. Sandwiches and more refreshments were served at a late hour and George Givot entertained the group. Miss Widrin gave the party as a member of the American Women’s Voluntary Services.
In 1943, during the war, Tanya married Leonard S. Lyon, on October 8, in Yuma Arizona. By January, the couple were on a brink of divorce. They separates in December, and finally divorced in January. So much for a very brief and kiss less marriage!
After her divorc in January 1944, Tanya wasted no time in getting back on the singles market. She dated producer Bob Ritchie, who was involved with Jeannette MacDonald at one point, then switched to Tom Sullivan and finally became a bit more cozy with her old flame, by then Lieut. Dick Tibbett – both were married in the interim. Tanya also traveled for Florida with roommate Nan Macy and Count A. D. di Castagnola, who was obviously still in the picture.
After the war was over, Tanya had a tour through Europe in a convertible coupe. Then, Tanya worked as an anthropological explorer (but I could not find much information on that online, but it seems she traveled around the world exploring various civilizations, including Lacandone Indians in Mexico), and then… In 1947, in Paris, Tanya met her future husband. They got together and married rather suddenly. The groom was Edmund Sheedy of Palm Beach, and New York. Edmund was the son of Mrs. Bryan DeForest Sheedy of New York and the late Dr. Sheedy, studied at Crawford Foreign Service School, Washington. After a honeymoon trip to St. Moritz the newlyweds settled into the high life in Palm Beach. However, it seems that Ed did leave a trail of broken hearts after himself. Read this:
Happiest trader on the gilded street we think is Ed Sheedy. Ed one of society’s most elusive bachelors, swapped his freedom for glamorous Tanya Widrin in Paris in one of the fastest marital moves ever witnessed in Mayfair. Only the other day Ed was following Agnes Pyne McLean Hudson from Hot Springs pillars to Texas posts, with insiders wagering they’d marry as soon as Agnes was legally free. Tanya cables she is very very happy and we find ourselves wondering if Ed’s much publicized pursuit of the wealthy heiress to Pyne millions didn’t help make up Tanya’s mind.
As society’s youngest lady explorer, she had dedicated her life to counting head-hunters and sharing primitive itchy with people. When Tanya said no to Ed for the seventh time last July, she told him she planned to journey into the New Guinea bush to meet 1,000,000 newly discovered headhunters. Now that she is married, the pint-size and pretty explorer will have to be satisfied with meeting Ed friends in Palm Beach. They’ll go there after a wedding trip to St. Moritz and a brief visit here.
You think this is all? Well, heck no! Another very interesting article about Ed’s former swains:
We’re not too sure what Ponce de Leon said as he first set foot on the sandy soil of Florida, but we are in a position to pass on to posterity, the first words of beautiful Babs (Eleanor) Livingston Briggs as she placed a dainty foot on the soil of the local airport.
“Where’s Ed?” Babs was heard to say in a surprised tone of voice. When informed that Ed, who also answers to the name of Mr. Sheedy, not only was absent, but married to young lady-explorer named Tanya, Widrin, looking Babs automobile departed and in a mist. of Sheedy, tears. it develops, had made a date Beaches the young lady in Palm In fact, the unpredictable socialite-rover had been an ardent suitor.
Thickening the plot is the news that Ed telephoned the fair Babs two days before Christmas and made the Palm Beach date. We read the cable from Paris announcing Ed’s surprise wedding to Tanya on Christmas day. This is the second time Babs received annoying news. The comely cousin of society’s Timmie Lansing was married to L. Cabot Briggs of the Boston branch, when Cabot cabled from Algiers that he might stay on for a couple more years.
She politely cabled him to stay (or at some other tropical clime) indefinitely. Not too many in society know that Babs shed Cabot via the courts a short time ago.
While Edmund seems like a very good catch on paper (young, handsome, rich, from a WASPy family), anyone can smell the subtle but present stench of a man who likes to date women by bucketloads and plays with them like they are just dolls. Even two children, two daughters (Lurelle, born on August 29, 1948 in Southampton and Tatiana, born in 1949, who sadly died as a baby), could not change that fact. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Ed and Tanya divorced in 1951. Ed never remarried, and died in 1982 in Palm Beach.
But Tanya was a curious woman who wanted to do things, and for a time in the early 1950s moved to Honolulu to install the first island unit of Stars and Bars, national nonprofit college and career girls service organization. There, she got close with another socialite she knew from before, Walter Brooks III. They married in 1953 in Mexico. Walter was the grandson of Mrs. E. T. Stotesbury, social leader of Philadelphia and Palm Beach, and a nephew of former Ambassador James Cromwell. He went into business upon graduation. On the return from Honolulu the couple left on a belated honeymoon to France. There, Tanya and Walter’s son, Walter Booth Brooks IV, was born (in Paris) in 1954.
However, Tanya’s marriage was fraught with tension from the very beginning. In 1955, when their son was barely one year old, Tanya and Walter separated at least a few times, the last one which happened with an interesting “clause” attached. Walter has allegedly signed an agreement turning over his prospective inheritance to Tanya if he isn’t completely reformed. Only Tanya was aware of the terms. They separated a couple of more times, and almost divorced in 1958, but against all odds, remained married. I do n’t know how they did it. I really don’t.
Marital woes aside, as Mrs. Brooks, Tanya was extremely prolific in both work and civic duties. Here is a list, taken from her obituary: “In Palm Beach, Tanya originated an early television talk show. Tanya’s bylines were seen in the Chicago American and the Palm Beach Shiny Sheet. Tanya was the editor of Palm Beach Illustrated. She started a photography business and chaired the 1979 Palm Beach Heart Auction. Tanya developed art galleries in Palm Beach, Los Angeles and Tokyo.”
Walter died in 1981. Tanya continued living and working in Palm Beach, and developed a beautiful companionship with Mr. Grenville Walker.
What a cool character Gay Parkes was! A southern debutante from Nashville, Gay lived the high life of a socialite, traveling around and meeting people all around the world, but harboring a strong penchant for the performing arts. Almost in parallel, she was an active participant in both the social world and the theater world, and by the time she landed in Hollywood in 1939, already 30 years old, LaUna was a veteran of many stages and shows! While her Hollywood career never petered out, it seemed to me it was just a milestone on her way, one which she checked out, and then returned to her first love – both Nashville and theater! Let’s learn more about her.
EARLY LIFE
LaUna Gay Parkes was born on February 20, 1909, in Nashville, Tennessee, to George Smith Parkes and Launa Black. Later in the paper there were claims her father was connected to the Duponts, but I can’t either deny or confirm this (so perhaps Launa was a Dupont heiress!). She was their only child.
Anyway, the Parkes were high society people, and Launa grew up as a happy debutante in Nashville, enjoying the southern lifestyle and traveling extensively from the time she was a child. Here is a typical article displaying Gay’s busy social life:
Miss Gay Parkes, debutante of Nashville, Tenn., was hostess to a group of friends recently in the Sunset Plaza, where she is stopping, in honor’ of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Lamont. Cocktails and luncheon beside the pool pre. ceded an afternoon of bridge and sports.
Sadly, Launa’s father died in 1918, and as a result she became very close to her mother, as the two became best friends and confidantes. Launa displayed a penchant for dramatics early, doing school plays and showing off her sparkling, bubbly nature (she played Spirit of Spring at one play, so you get the picture).
In 1922, Launa and her mom spent the whole year abroad, with her going to schools in Luasanne and then Paris. They saw a great chunk of Europe in that one go, including UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece. I really like the old school jet set life Launa had at that period. She seemed like a down to earth person who valued traveling and out a great deal of emphasis on her dancing, singing and acting prowess. Ater having spent a year abroad, LaUna was enrolled into the Spence school in New York.
After attending Spence school, Una attended the prestigious Finch college in Manhattan. After graduating, Gay wanted to become an actress, and plunged head first into the enchanting life of summer stock and traveling theater groups. She found work New England little theaters and among other, appeared In the Assistance League production of ‘Dinner at Eight” In the role that ‘ Jean Harlow played in the film version.
La Una worked hard at her craft (dancing and acting), and in the early 1930s, who was selected from a group of 250 girls by dancing giant Michel Fokine himself to appear in the famous Fokine Russian ballet, composed of only twenty-two girls. She made her debut in the open air Randall Island Stadium near New York. It seems her stage work was varied and she proved her mantle as a triple threat.
LaUna finally landed in Hollywood when she was called the WAMPAS Baby Star of 1940. here is the list of the girl who made the cut:
Joan Leslie of Detroit and Sheila Ryan of Topeka, Kan. Miss Leslie is 16, with auburn locks, weighs 116 and is five feet, four inches tall. Miss Ryan is 19, brown-haired, weighs 107 and is five feet two. Striking an average, the composite starlet of 1940 has a 34-inch bust, 36-inch hips and 24 K -inch waist. She’s almost 20, weighs 115, stands five feet, four and one-half inches . . . And is very easy to look at. The other choices: Ella Bryan, 22, Zurich, Switzerland, light brown hair, five feet three, 110. Jayne Hazard, 18, Tampa, Fla-blonde, five feet five. 118. Marilyn Merrick, ‘ 17, Fort Worth, Tex., blonde, five feet four, 119. Lois Ranson. 18, Hollywood, light brown, five feet three, 110. Lorraine Elliott, 19, Detroit, black, five feet two, 110. Peggy Diggins, 18, New Rochelle, N. Y., black, five feet seven, 118. Tanya Wirdin, 20, San Francisco, brown, five feet four, 117. Kay Leslie, 21, Fresno, Cal., auburn, five feet six, 124. Gay Parkes, 22, Nashville, Tenn., auburn, five feet three, 108. Patricia Van Cleve, 19, New York City, blonde, five feet six, 115. Lucia Carroll, 24, Wausau, Wis., brown, five feet five, 118
Some of the girls have already been profiled on this blog, and I hope to profile a few more. This was a late day revival of the original WAMPAS Baby Stars, that went from the 1920s until 1934. I have no idea how Gay came to becomes a WAMPAS baby star, but this was her springboard into stardom!
CAREER
Very slim picking here, only one movie role to her name on IMDB: Behind city lights, a forgotten, B class comedy with Lynne Roberts in the leading role. It’s an adaptation of a Vicki Baum novel about a naive farm girl who gets entangled with a city boy, unaware he is a diamond thief. LaUna plays a dancer, so she only appears in a few scenes.
I won’t go much into her theater career, but this is where LaUna made her strongest impact. Small snippet about her work:
Experienced Gay Parkes, , who plays the role of Geraldine, the maid, in “Dr. Lincoln’s Attic,” at the Playtime Theater, has plenty of experience in comedy roles of this type.
That’s it from LaUna!
PRIVATE LIFE
It seems that LaUna was a very popular, sought after debutante in the late 1920s. She possessed both beauty and charm, and for such a young person, she has spent much time abroad and for eighteen months was a student at an exclusive school for girls in Paris. For three years she and her mother have spent the winters in New York where she attended the Finch and Spence schools, so she was a visible social fixture both on the East coast and on the South. During her stay In the East she was greatly admired and was A favorite In college and social circles there as well as in Nashville.
Thus, it was no wonder Gay had a coterie of wanna-be beaus. And Launa allegedly married twice in 1928! I could hardly believe it myself, but there is a marriage certificate for Launa Parkes and George Beard in April 1928. Then, the papers mention Launa getting married for the second time in late August, to fellow socialite Gari Gaston! Anyway, for both marriages she was only 19 years old and barely out of high school. While I could not find much on Mr. Beard, Mr. Gaston, born in 1903, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. G. B. Gaston, attended Vanderbilt University where he was a popular member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. While a student at Peabody he made an enviable record an an athlete. What I found a bit iffy was that LaUna and Gari went to live with Gari’s mother at her residence on Kensington place. For a young, headstrong girl to live with her mother in law sounds like a bad idea, and I think it didn’t pan out well at all. By next year, there was no mention of Gaston when LaUna was mentioned in the papers! Like they were over and done by then!
It seems that LaUna dated extensively after that, and on a global scale, counting Russell Berman of Middlesex and Andrea Bodrutt, from St. Morits Switzerland, Barney Weadock of New York, Tommy Bagley or Nashville among her swains. LaUna was for a time heavily involved wit actor Richard French, and here is a small snippet about them:
Gay Parkes and her guest, Richard French, have a great deal to tell about their recent trip from Los Angeles, Calif. They left the coast city the middle of last week in the midst of a blackout. Gay says that she was not allowed to pull up the shades on the train until the day following her departure. Gay has recently taken part in “Glamor Preferred” at the Beaux Arts Theater in Los Angeles, when Richard took the male lead.
Richard originally hailed from Manchester, N. and has been on the New York stage. He had the musical lead in “New Faces” and took part in “The Night of January Sixteenth.” For the past two years he has been in California where he has played roles in the movies. He did character parts in the movies, “Dance Hall” and “International Lady.”
But marriage was not in the cards for LaUna just yet. She preferred traveling around (she really did see the world, going to Russia in 1935, Mexico, and seeing a great chunk of Europe). In all her travels, her most devoted companion was her mother, and the duet was never too long apart, as we have already noted in the early life snippet.
When she came to Hollywood in 1939, Gay got some weird publicity about her path in life so far, and often things like this were written about her:
She started by getting a job in a furniture store, taking lessons in line reading, appeared in all the little theater roles she could get, won recognition as one of the “baby stars” of 1910 and now is getting all her friends back in Tennessee to pull for her to be given a part in the Alvin York picture.
It seems they wanted to make gay a bit more of a Cinderella than she really was – coming from money in Tennessee, she hardly needed to work in a furniture store, but old Hollywood tabloids only rarely ever told the whole truth, so there is goes! Also another funny Hollywood story about LaUna: she spent three months constantly studying diction to lose her southern accent, but had to get it back in a hurry when her first screen test turned out to be the part of a belle from the deep south. Another thing the papers noted: LaUna also enjoyed skiing a great deal, having honed her skills in Switzerland, but preferring Utah for domestic skiing sojourns.
When LaUna was in Tinsel town, the folks back home in Nashville would breathlessly await for any news of their princess, and she did not disappoint – here is a newspaper snippet about what Gay was doing there, who she met and how. It seems she really did have a rowdy, nice time!
If when Clark Gable comes to town almost all women practically turn hand springs, how envious they would be of Una Gay Parkes who has just recently (returned home from months and months in Los Angeles right in the thick of it all.
Gay is a member of the theater group in Los Angeles named the “Palm Room Players” and has taken the lead in “Brother Rat,” played in “Yes, My Darling Daughter,” and has done skits by Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward. Just before she left California she went to a party given by Ina Claire in San Francisco and a week or two before that she went to party given by Stanton Griffith, who is the head of one of the bigger screen organizations. She has talked to Errol Flynn, and met Mickey Rooney, who was on his way to New York equipped with his fifteen “tearing suits.” He explained to Gay that people literally tore his suits for souvenirs. Gay told us of seeing Greta Garbo in store in Los Angeles one day. “She was most oddly dressed in slacks and a man’s coat and a large panama hat but even then she was stunning for her eyes are so beautiful,” said Gay.
On a recent visit to a movie studio Gay met Marlene Dietrich, when she was making the film, “Destry Rides Again.” She also met Deanna Durbin there, and by the way Gay went to Dramatic School with Robert Stack the boy who was Deanna Durbin’s leading man in her last picture, “First Love.” Gay went to a “Sunday Nighters” party recently with Jeffrey Lynn. He is to be remembered in “Four Daughters.”
Gay was allegedly involved with actor Tom Neal at some point, but was never married to him despite some newspaper reporting her as his first wife. Gay married Joseph Peter Meersman in 1943. She was 34, the groom was 42. Meersman was born in the Netherlands on January 3, 1901, to Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Meersman and moved with his parents to the US. They lived in New Hampshire, then Joseph lived in Los Angeles, and worked as an actor. He was married once before, to Muriel Gretchen Barr, and their only child was sadly stillborn in 1932.
The newlywed couple couple acted together in theater shows, working in the same company, and moved to Tennessee, Gay’s home state, sometime after the war. Thus, her Hollywood career was truly done and over by then, but she simply continued working in other mediums. Their only child, a son, Joseph Peter Jr, was born in 1953 in Nashville. As far as I can tell, they also opened a clothes boutique, and continued acting on the side.
Meersman died on August 24, 1972. Gay continued living in Nashville. In the1980s, she remarried to Einer Nielsen, a Nebraska native born on February 19,1902, a widower himself (his wife died in 1979). Einer and Gay lived in happy retirement in Tennessee.
Gay Meersman Nieles died in April 26, 1994, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Remembered today as James Cagney’s leading lady, Evelyn Daw had a very, very short career as an actress, but managed a much longer and productive career as a singer, before retiring and raising a family. Let’s learn more about her!
EARLY LIFE
Evelyn Pearl Shuck was born on November 16, 1912, in Geddes, South Dakota, to Walter Shuck and Edith Miller. She had two older brother, Edgar, born on April 1, 1906, Maynard was born on July 26, 1909, and a younger brother, Winston, born on July 24, 1919. Her father was a real estate agent her mother a housewife.
Later in life, Evelyn would remember the sleigh rides, snow men and ice skating on the Missouri as some of the highlight of her childhood. Evelyn was only two years old when she made her debut as a public entertainer. Already famous locally for her flaming auburn hair, she sang a little song all alone in an amateur minstrel show at the Temple theatre in Geddes.
From that time on she was a star attraction in every entertainment that her church and successive schools staged. In grammar school, at the age of ten, she was given the lead in an operetta staged by the children of her grade. Later on, in high school, she was featured in almost every dramatic or musical production put on at the school, and also entered music and declamatory contests. What’s more, her merit well recognized, and the Geddes high school trophy case contains a number of silver cups for which Evelyn’s talents are wholly or in part responsible. She was also active in various church shows.
Evelyn’s education at her small town was not sufficient to develop her voice to its capabilities. So after graduating high school, she entered Dakota Wesleyan — University at Mitchell. S. D., but after two years decided to forego further academic study and concentrate on becoming a singer. She came to Southern California and studied voice at the Fresno State College in California, getting a few professional jobs singing with Peruses and occasionally a minor role in a musical production.
Some time later, she sang small parts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Opera and sang as a soloist at St. James Episcopal Church and the Los Angeles Methodist Church. She studied with singing coach Phoebe White before being discovered by and becoming a protege of Victor Schertzinger who then directed her signed her for the 1937 Cagney film “Something to Sing About”.
CAREER
Evelyn appeared in only two movies, Something to sing about and Panamint’s bad mad.
Something to sing about, the highlight of Evelyn’s career, is a musical comedy directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring the legendary James Cagney. In the film, Daw played Sheila, a sweet-natured singer and the love interest of Cagney’s character, a bandleader-turned-Hollywood actor. Although the film itself was not a major commercial success, it has since gained a cult following for Cagney’s performance and its behind-the-scenes satire of the movie industry. Evelyn’s presence added grace to the film, and her operatic voice stood out, providing a musical counterbalance to Cagney’s dynamic energy.
Sadly, the studio went bankrupt after the movie, and this effectively derailed Evelyn’s career. She tried to sign to a new studio, but made only one more movie, the solid but sadly forgotten western musical, Panamint’s bad mad, with Smith Ballew. That was it from Evelyn!
PRIVATE LIFE
Evelyn had auburn hair and a lyric soprano voice. When Evelyn came to Hollywood, they tried to sell her as a Cinderella who got her golden chance almost by accident, hence articles like this:
Cinderella’s “fairy godmother” is director Victor Schertzinger who discovered Miss Daw singing in a Los Angeles operetta. He gave her audition and then offered her the engagement as a feminine lead in “Something to Sing About.” Schertzinger said he ought to know what he wanted as he wrote the original story, wrote the music and is directing the picture. The author-director-composer says he believes Miss Daw is the next great star of the screen.
Very similar to this:
In the second place, she has remained unaffected.- extremely gracious and completely charming in spite of overwhelming attentions from directors all the way down to hair dressers, in spite of laudatory press notices whipped out by Hollywood’s professional drum beaters, and in spite of a contract which calls for a salary roughly equivalent to the total annual “take” from South Dakota’s cigarette tax. In other words, Evelyn is the kind of a young lady that South Dakotans would have chosen to represent them in the film capitol if the matter had been submitted to a popular vote. These impressions were gained over a glass of buttermilk consumed in Miss Daw’s company at the restaurant in the studio where she has just completed work on her first picture.
There were high hopes for Evelyn that did not pan out sadly. But Evelyn’s heart was not in the movies, but at the stage. She ditched her chance at cinematic stardom to play in a variety of operettas and plays, and moved to New York in 1939 for more singing opportunities. From about 1942, she toured with the J.J. Shubert Opera Co. for 11 years (her No, no Nanette performance was famous and well received) before moving first to Covina, California, where she was a voice teacher, then to San Diego, where she became active in the Old Globe Theatre.
In the meantime, Evelyn got married! Sometime in the 1940s, Evelyn married military doctor, Stewart H. Smith. They had four children, two sons (I could only find one son, Gregory Daw, born on April 7, 1952) and two daughters.
Evelyn Daw Smith died on November , 1970, in San Diego, California.
Hazel Hayes was a budding songstress that landed in Hollywood almost by mistake, and stayed for a few glorious months, just to bite a bit of fame, before setting her career as a well revered opera singer. Let’s learn more about her!
EARLY LIFE
Hazel Grace Hayes was born on December 24, 1910 in LaCrosse, Kansas to William Arthur Hayes and Grace Elizabeth Scranton. She was the oldest of four children – her siblings were Gladys (born in 1908), William Arthur Jr. (who was born and died in 1915), and Clifford (born in 1917). Her father was the president of the Farmers and Merchants State bank of LaCrosse, and for two years was president of the Kansas state bankers’ association.
She came from wealthy family that made her upbringing a joyful adventure, and they supported all of her desires. Despite being raised in an environment of privilege that perhaps had some other ideas of what a lady should do in life, Hazel felt a deep connection to the performing arts, both singing and acting, from an early age. After attending elementary and high school in Lacrosse, she attended the University of Kansas, where she earned a degree in science. Opting not to become a social matron, feeling like it was time to devote to showbiz, she moved to Denver to study music at the conservatory. An exemplary student, she was awarded a scholarship and relocated to Vermont where she completed her music degree.
Hazel initially planned to continue her studies in Europe but decided to take a two-week vacation in Hollywood before her departure. What was meant to be a brief interlude turned into a three-year stay. That is how her acting career began.
CAREER
Hazel only appeared in four movies. All four were pretty low impact movies, but here goes! Her first movie was “Flying down to Rio” originally a musical with Dolores del Rio and Gene Raymond in the leading roles, but today known as the very first pairing of Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers, today it is considered a minor classic. Then came a crime drama, “Journal of a Crime“. This one even sounds a bit better than your average fare, with the superb Ruth Chatterton playing a woman who kills her husband’s mistress, manages to evade capture and see another person wrongfully accused of the crime, and then slowly starts to rot from the inside from the feelings of guilt and stress. Chatterton is great in the role, and the movie is worth watching just for her.
“Kiss and make up” was the type of light comedy that Cary Grant excelled in (and quelle surprise, he plays the lading role!). It’s completely unrealistic, but funny and breezy and a great stress free watch! Young and beautiful was a movie mostly made to showcase the WAMPAS baby stars (Hazel was one of them). Thus no great story or characterizations, just loads of singing dancing and pretty ladies!
That was it from Hazel!
PRIVATE LIFE
Hazel was 5 feet, 7 inches tall, with curly black hair and hazel eyes. She had a delightful Irish sense of humor, and was a very headstrong woman who knew what she wanted and went after it. She was very close to her sister Gladys, who lived with her when she was in Hollywood.
In 1934, Hazel was selected as a member of the Western Associated Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) Baby Star Class—the final year the honor was awarded—alongside starlets such as Dorothy Drake, Gigi Parrish, and Helen Cohan. Hazel got tons of publicity for her WAMPAS status.
Even while she was riding the WAMPAS popularity wave, music was her first love and the glamorous lite of a movie queen failed to charm her. “It was in Hollywood that I really began to take the idea of a musical career seriously.” she later said to a reporter. “Before that I just studied music because I Liked it but out there I sat down one day and decided that I wanted a career”. She studied with William Thorner, the former vocal coach of Rosa Ponselle, and took private lessons in Italian, German, and French from three other tutors to master operatic arias. She used to to several language classes daily, and it was a very trying time for her, but Hazel had a will of steel and was ready to do anything to become an opera singer.
The hard work paid off. Hazel made her operatic debut as Aida at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. She subsequently performed in symphonic concerts and toured with two lyric companies. Establishing her independence, she embarked on concert tours across Canada and South America.
In 1938, she performed in Boston as Sieglinde in Wagner’s opera Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), sharing the stage with Margaret Halstead. The following year, in 1939, Hazel debuted at the Municipal Opera of Forest Park in the role of Prima Donna in the comedy High Queen. She simultaneously performed in multiple productions, including Waltz Dream as Franzi Steingruber, The Firefly as Geraldine Van Dare, and Mary as Mary [specific production unclear].
By 1943, Hazel had sung in many of the great operas with prestigious national lyric companies. She was always more concerned with her career than with love, but it seems that changed sometime in the early 1940s. So, she married Lt. Col. Allan Antony Putt. Putt was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was married twice before, first to Adele Barbara Duhissen in 1925 and then to Louise Lotz in 1929. Both marriages ending in divorce. Hazel continued to perform, often singing in churches and participating in events to support the military during World War II. She and Putt divorced at some point in the 1950s. Putt remarried to Eleanor Louise Stone and died in 1971. Hazel moved to Bellefonte in the late 1960s, and enjoyed her retirement there.
Hazel Hayes Putt passed away on November 1, 1974, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, at the age of 63.
Sigrid Gurie, almost forgotten today, was the focus of a major scandal back in the mid 1930s. Hailed as the next Garbo, and endorsed lavishly by Samuel Goldwyn, perhaps the most famous producer of the Golden age of Hollywood, she was supposed to become the next big thing, a beautiful Norwegian maiden meant for great stardom. However, a turbulent marriage and the fact that she was born in Flatbush killed her PR campaign, and Goldwyn dropped her like a hot potato. She tried to make a career in low budget movies, but that also did not results in the major stardom predicted for Sigrid. Let’s learn more about her!
EARLY LIFE
Sigrid Guri Haukelid was born on May 16, 1911, in New York City, New York, to Bjørgulv Knutsøn Haukelid and Sigrid Johanne Christophersen. She had a twin brother, Knut. Her father was an civil engineer who worked New York City Subway from 1902 to 1912. Both Sigrid and Knut had dual Norwegian-American citizenship. However, Sigrid spent only a short time in the US, as in 1914, when WW1 started, the family returned to Norway. Sigrid and her brother grew up in Oslo and attended elementary and high school there.
Sigrid wanted to be an paintress and trained as an artist in Brussels in the 1920s and later in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the south of France. She returned to the United States in 1931, to try and find an perfect art school to continue her education. She visited art schools at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles and Stanford University, and the Art Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Sigrid worked as a painter, and had no plans to become an actress. However, life had some surprises in store for her. In about 1936, she was spotted by an talent scout working for Samuel Goldwyn at an art show. The agent liked her a lot, and netted her an screen test. So, Sigrid went to Hollywood. Goldwyn was thrilled by the new discovery, and set out to make her a Norwegian Garbo.
CAREER
Goldwyn hwanted to make Sigrid a star right away, so for her first tole, he gave her the coveted role of Chinese Princess Kukachin his $2 million Marco Polo epic, with Gary Cooper playing the explorer. The film was not a success, and Gurie’s inexperience was sometimes blamed for the bad reviews. (The fact is that the movie was an embarrassment regardless of who filled the leading-lady slot.)
Her second film was Algiers, released in 1938, in which she had a leading role with Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr. This remains her most famous role and probably the best movie she appeared in. After securing a release from MGM, Sigrid went for low budget studios, as it often happens to actresses that ‘fell from grace’. Her first movie was The Forgotten woman, a completely forgotten film noir with William Lundigan. Sigrid plays a beautiful woman is forced to help gangsters in a robbery, and is arrested as an accessory. It did little for her career, sadly.
Sigrid inherited the role made for Danielle Derrioux in Rio. Rio is at it’s core a dark romance, just sprinkled with typical Hollywood details. Basil Rathbone is the convict who escapes prison to kill his wife’s new lover. Sigrid is the wife, who has to return to torch singing now that her hubby us behind bars. It’s a pretty solid movie, made by the legendary John Brahms, and more than a bit somber, which is a refreshing change!
Sigrid made two more low budget movies, a actually decent John Wayne movie, Three faces west. This one has a multilayered story and some realistic characters for a change. While it’s nominally a western, in fact it’s a touching story about people taking chances and having second chances in life. Sigrid plays a young Austrian woman who escaped the Nazis, and is torn between her new love (Wayne), and her old love. In contrast, Dark Streets of Cairo is a fun, fast paces, snappy and running just over an hour, one of the many, many crime movies made in the same old. But, being set in Egypt, it’s a bit out of the box and perhaps a bit better than one would expect!
Sigrid then gave up movies to devote herself to the war effort, and only return in 1944. She made just two movies in this period, both with a very very strong anti-Nazi slant: A voice in the wind, a melancholic drama about a pianist who slowly regains his fractures memory after he lost it after Nazis tortured him. Francis Lederer is the tortured pianist, and Sigrid plays his long lost love he does not remember anymore. It’s an unusual movie with a strong vibe of sadness, something not seen in Hollywood on a daily basis, but sadly the movie is little known today. Too bad, it seems like a very personal, emotional one! Enemy of woman is more of an anti Nazi propaganda than a full pledged movie, this time aiming for Josef Goebbels. Considering it was made in 1944, I completely understand this.
Sigrid then took another hiatus from movies, studied with a renown acting coach, and decided to try her luck yet again in 1948. The first one was a low budget adventure movie, Sword of the avenger. Set in the 18th century Phillipines, we have a handsome, rugged but likable renegade played by Ramon Del Gado. The story is as it follows: Ramon is a thief who finds a hidden treasure and returns to Manila a rich man. He generously distributes and shares his wealth among the natives who have been oppressed for so long under the Spanish rule. His past is eventually discovered by the authorities, but he exposes their thieving ways to the government, and settles down for a happy life with Maria Louise (played by Sigrid).
Sigrid last movie was Sofia, in 1948. A cold war thriller with atomic scientists and spies, this one boasts an solid cast, with Gene Raymond, Patricia Morison, Mischa Auer, John Wengraf… But it’s low budget effort and pretty predictable, although there are some intriguing moments (Morison’s character, a sexy and sneaky nightclub waitress, if the best thing about the movie allegedly).
That was it from Patricia!
PRIVATE LIFE
It’s, very very hard to reconstruct what exactly happened to Sigrid Gurie, but I’ll try my best to patch it all up. Fact mixes with fiction so effortlessly here, and since “Sigrid Gurie” she was a true brain child of Samuel Goldwyn, the master of illusion, I often wondered what was true and what was fabricated in the stories Goldwyn sold to the papers. Well, lets go and untangle the complicated story…
Sgrid came to the US cca 1933 or 1934, when she was in her early 20s. Sigrid married her first husband, British born businessman Thomas W. Stuart, on October 4, 1935, in Cucamonga, California. He worked in the luggage business. Thomas later claimed that he paid extravagant sums of money for his wife’s alterations – dental work and similar – so she can have a better chance of becoming a “actress”. Stewart also paid about 1000$ for Sigrid’s dramatic lessons – she had to lose her foreign accent and fast. The marriage was obviously not a success, as it functioned more as a business contract than as a union of two loved-up people. Anyway, fact forward one year later, and Sigrid was living in Los Angeles as Goldwyn’s protegee in November 1936. Goldwyn and his agent allegedly had no idea she was married – thus it’s easy to assume she and Stewart had to pretend they did not live together. They did rent a house of a Mrs. Campbell in Los Angeles.
Sigrid’s publicity from this time is, in retrospect, almost silly. I laughed at his cheap tries to imitate Garbo – showing Sigrid as a lone wolf who doesn’t go to parties, doesn’t mix with people, and despite being from Norway, where skiing is a national past-time, she didn’t know how to ski, but liked riding, something that her countrymen never did (as Garbo was also anything but a typical Swede). Goldwyn tried to make her as removed from her heritage as she was embedded with it – a strange combo for sure. She was quintessentially a Scandinavian maiden, but so far removed from a typical Norwegian she could hardy be called one of their own.
As for her marriage, it was a mess. Sigrid accused Stewart of spanking her once, abusing her and never taking her anywhere outside the house unless he took along a “relative”. Either this guy was a very, very old fashioned guy or a total wacko. Stuart, on the other hand, claimed she was ungrateful and that she was under the influence of false friends. I can only imagine how passionately Sigrid disliked her husband to put herself at risk of discovery at the very cusp of major stardom – just so she can divorce him. Or maybe there was another man in the picture…
Turbulent times had just started for Sigrid. When it was announced she was to go to London with Goldwyn to try her hand at British movies, she was chased by deputy marshals in a train bound from Los Angeles to the Mojave desert, and had to be served her subpoena and was unable to leave the State. Soon after, she was sued by her Los Angeles landlady for unpaid rent.
Goldwyn tried to do some minimal control damage, claiming he was totally okay with what Sigrid did, calling her a great showman, and Sigrid herself went with it, telling the papers how she wants to find the house she was born in Brooklyn. Her divorce dragged on into 1938 – insults went from one side to the other. Sigrid claimed that her sister in law, Olivia Stewart, was a constant nuisance during the two years of her married life. Thomas bit back by saying that she became cold and indifferent after winning her screen test. She threw the ball back by saying that he was more interested in her financial assets than her as a person… Thomas asserted here was another man in the picture. She called him a spoiled child. He refused to give her a divorce unless she gave him at least 25 000$…. He threatened to humiliate her by getting a job in a gas station… And so it goes. My own view on the situation is this: Stewart promoted his wife, but something went awry, they parted and he, unable to face the fact that he was left with nothing, tried to squeeze whatever he could out of Sigrid, ruining her career in the process. And ruin it he did. If only had they been more placid and cool headed about this whole business, it could have ended much more pleasantly for both Thomas and Sigrid’s career. Maybe if they waited a few years until Sigrid was an more established star, this could have gone without a hitch. But no, when passions are ignited, all rationality goes out of the window…
The divorce was made final in July 1938, and Stewart wisely waived all alimony. Their only shared property was a coupe that Sigrid got. She really did try to mend all the damage done by the endless barrage of lawsuits, but sadly, it was over for good. Goldwyn, notoriously difficult and unpredictable, simply lost interest in her. What was once the successor to Garbo and a great exotic import to Hollywood, now turned into a run of the mill Brooklinite actress that commanded nobody’s attention.
Let’s go back to Sigrid’s love life. In August 1938, it was reported she was dating her physician, Dr. Lawrence Spangard. Did they by chance start dating earlier? Was he the reason she decided to divorce Stewart so abruptly? Anyway, her divorce was to be final only in August 1939 – they would have to wait. The good doctor even gifted Sigrid with a pet ocelot, named Lancelot, but the little fellow was so hard to tame that Sigrid broke a tooth trying to do it. However, they soon grew to love each other, and he slept at the foot of her bed. The only one left miffed by this was Dr. Spangard himself, as it was very soon established that Lancelot loved everybody BUT the good doctor – and he couldn’t even get close to him. How’s that for a romantic ha ha.
The most ironic moment of 1938, after all the ups and downs, came when Sigrid was denied her passport to go to London to appear in British movies because she was not a US citizen. Under a 76 year old treaty, children born in US to Norwegian parents who later returned to Norway were not considered US citizens by law. After all the hoobaloos about Sigrid being a fair flower of Brooklyn, this? Sigrid was now officially without a citizenship, and had to go to Mexico to re-enter the US under a quota.
By this time, Goldwyn’s disinterest in her became more and more obvious. After Algiers, she was slated to appear in at least two prestigious pictures (one was the debut of Yascha Heifiz, the other a exotic adventure named South of Pago Pago, with Jon Hall. By the end of the year, she was dropped from her contract, and signed with Universal, a definite level down from Goldwyn.
Despite her failing career, her private life was on the rise. She and Spangard went from strength to strength – she redecorated his Beverly Hills abode while waiting for her divorce to get through so she could marry the good doctor. They finally wed on August 6, in Los Angeles. Sigrid was in the middle of making Rio, and they had to wait until shooting wrapper up so they could take their Hawaiian honeymoon.
Lawrence Christian Spangard was born on January 16, 1897, in California. He became a eminent MD for the stars, quite wealthy and successful in his job. Spangard was a true animal lover – at one point he owned 28 great danes, but Sigrid thought it too extravagant and persuaded him to give up 24 of them, leaving only 4. The Spangards lived in a lavish home in. They were also partners in business, and held joint stock in several business outings, including ownership of a women’s clothing boutique.
In her later years, Sigrid claimed that the pressure of living and working in Hollywood ruined her marriages – I assume that she meant her marriage to Stewart and to Spangard. She was pretty much finished as a star in 1947, the same year she separated from Spangard. She went to Reno in 1948 and got a divorce there. Dr. Spangard, died on January 25, 1952. Despite their divorce, Sigrid inherited most of his estate.
Sigrid was very active in local Norwegian community. When the crown prince of Norway visited in 1942, she was there to greet him, and she often served as a helper for Santa Claus for Christmas festivities, or took part in children’s performances and plays connected to the society.
When WW2 started in 1939, Sigrid devoted herself to war work incessantly. Throughout the turbulent years of World War II she zipped everywhere where help was needed, going to both the Pacific and European theater locations. After the war, she was decorated by both the American and Norwegian governments. 1946 was an important year for Sigrid on a personal note too – returning to Norway at the cessation of hostilities to visit her twin brother, Sigrid learned that he was one of the most important leaders of the Norwegian underground.
After her marriage ended, Sigrid returned to painting, attending the “Kann Art Institute” of the abstract artist Frederick I. Kann, making landscape and portrait painting her main occupation after retirement from the films.The painter Ferencz Erdélyi, whose pupil she was in 1948, is considered to have influenced her the most. She spent much of the 1950s traveling and painting.
From 1961 he went to live in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, where he continued to paint, and even headed an artistic colony and taught painting. She worked as a jewelry designer for the “Royal Copenhagen” company. She married again, to a Lynn Abbott, but that marriage was also over by the mid 1960s. She remained in good relations with her step daughter, Lynn’s daughter, and even painter several portraits of her.
Sigrid Gurie died from pulmonary embolism on August 18, 1969, in San Miguel Allende, Mexico.
Marjorie Cooley was one of many girls who came to Hollywood hoping to become the ultimate movie heroine, Scarlett O’Hara. She had all the works in her favor, being young, pretty and Southern, but the competition was fierce and sadly Marjorie was out of the race almost as soon as she landed. She decided to stay in Tinsel town and make her luck in it, and she did have some minor success before an early retirement. Let’s hear more about her!
EARLY LIFE
Marjorie Coley was born around 1922 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father was an accountant. There is much confusion about Marjorie on the net. Namely, IMDB lists Marjorie as born on May 9, 1921 and dying on 2005: However, after some research; I can say with a high degree of certainty that this is not the Marjorie in question,but another Marjorie who was born Marjorie Stewart and married a Hugh Cooley.
Our Marjorie grew up in New Orleans, and became a talented amateur thespian who started to appear in theater shows when she was in her teens. She was seen by talent scouts who were looking for Scarlett O’Hara. Marjorie was Southern, beautiful and young, and had some acting experience, so she was propelled towards Tinsel town for an audition. Once there, she was ultimately rejected as Scarlett, but as soon as that disappointment was behind her, she decided to stay and make her fortune in movies. She went for talent contests, that were a real fad back in the late 1930s. Here is the article about the contest Marjorie attended:
Marjorie Cooley and Charles Ruppert were the winners in the semi-finals of the “Gateway to Hollywood” contest last evening ( W ABC-6-30). Both of them, with the four other competitors, turned in swell performances in a three part sketch ‘Autobiography.”
And this is how Marjorie landed in Hollywood!
CAREER
As I have noted, Marjorie unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Scarlett O’Hara before reaching the finals of a talent contest which led to her being cast in a leading role in The Great Commandment (1939). It’s a typical preachy christian movie, but hey, for the people it’s aimed at, it’s not that bad. The wooden John Beal, (meh, never liked him), plays a young Zealot slowly learns about the way of Christ and has a struggle with his fiery younger brother. The story isn’t half bad, and it has a intimate, low-key feeling unlike many of the more epic christian movies (Ben-Hur anyone)? Marjorie plays the leading female role, so it was a good start for her, but it just didn’t pan out.
Marjorie was then uncredited in Manhattan Heartbeat, a completely forgotten movie with Virginia Gilmore, first wife of Yul Brynner. That woman intrigues me and I would love to see movie of hers! Unfortunately this one is obscure as heck! Her next movie with a more substantial role was Girls of the Road, a truly wacky if misguided movie. The core idea is stunning: Show the girls living on the road with no family, no jobs and no money during the depression (and there were lots of such girls). Ann Dvorak in the lead is a rich girl, but socially conscious and becomes one of the lost girls, becomes friends with a hardened “road girl” named Mickey (Helen Mack). As most old Hollywood movie,s it’s not too concerned with the truth (and shows a very whitewashed version of their lives).
Marjorie then appeared in three western movies, and we all know that those movies I will not write about. These are: West of Abilene and Golden Hoofs. While I never think it’s a good idea to act in low budget westerns, a brand of actresses actually achieved some degree of success this way, so, if there is no other choices, why not? But sadly Marjorie didn’t get that impulse, and her career was on the down slope.
She appeared in only four more movies. The first one was For beauty’s sake, a charming, cute comedy with Marjorie Weaver. The second was The Traitor Within, a low budget crime drama, completely forgotten today, with Red Don Barry and Jean Parker. Then came Happy Land, a warm, nice, but pretty serious drama about the effect of WW2 on normal people back home. Don Ameche plays a small town druggist whose only son dies in the war, and the movie is focused on how he gets over the loss and continues living. His late grandma, played by Harry Carey, visits him, in ghost form, and helps him continue on. This was one a solid movie. Marjorie’s last IMDB credit is The Song of Bernardette, a classic with Jennifer Jones in the leading role.
That was it from Marjorie!
PRIVATE LIFE
NOTE: I profiled several girls who came to Hollywood to try and win the role Scarlett O’Hara, and this topic interests me quite a bit. Scarlett as a movie character was a singular Hollywood phenomena that was never quite repeated again. And it’s so intriguing to follow those girls about and see what they did after Vivien Leigh got the role! Sadly the info on Marjorie was thin, but I’ll write what I found.
As I said, slim pickings here. Marjorie met and married her husband, a Mr. Goodman, sometime in the late 1930s, not long after she landed in Hollywood. Their only child, a daughter, Marcia Elaine, was born on April 22, 1941. Marjorie acted until 1943, then took up being a stand-in full time. Here is a short bit about her:
Geraldine Fitzgerald’s stand-in for “Wilson”, Is one of the prettiest girls in Hollywood, blonde Marjorie Cooley, who played the lead in “The Great Commandment”, a Biblical picture made on a short budget which played to a big audience four years ago. Nothing happened, but Marjorie hasn’t yet given up hopes of a film career. “I’m going to give it just 10 more years,” she said.
But that was about it! Nothing further could be found about Marjorie in the papers, and she faded into a low-key life, away from the spotlight. She did not have any more children with Goodman, but it’s possible they divorced and Marjorie remarried. If anyone has more information about Marjorie, please mail or ping me with it.
Marjorie was alive in 2007, and I have no idea where is she today. As always, i hope she had a good life!
Those obscure objects of desire 
