The Ones That Got Away...Actresses You Never Heard Of
UNKNOWN ACTRESSES OF OLD HOLLYWOOD
DAUN KENNEDY
Yank Girls Continued… More sexy and alluring than beautiful, Daun Kennedy tried pretty hard to build a solid filmography during her brief sojourn in Hollywood. Unfortunately, like most non-trained actresses who came to Tinsel Town via either the chorus or modeling jobs, she was not a natural-born actress and thus didn’t have much to recommend her except her curvy figure and pleasing face. Predictably, she was out of Hollywood after a thin career in a few years.
EARLY LIFE
Carmen S. Kennedy was born on November 13, 1922, in Seattle, Washington, to Robert F. Kennedy and Shirley Heuston. Her mother worked as a seamstress. Her parents divorced in the 1930s, and Daun went to live with her mom in Los Angeles. However, the papers have a slightly different version of her pre-Hollywood years:
Daun started her working life as a canary with the Seattle Opera company. Laryngitis put a temporary stop to her warbling, and she took a job with the Boeing Aircraft corporation. Then Cupid nudged her in the ribs and called attention to a fellow worker, Fred MacDowell. Came a time when MacDowell thought he could better himself elsewhere, so he headed south for Lockheed. Daun promptly took after him, and likewise signed up to punch rivets into Lockheed P-38’s. Then Fred MacDowell left Lockheed, went to work for RKO as a film cutter. “He can’t do this to vie,†murmured Daun Kennedy, as she hustled right over to the same picture factory and got a job as a messenger girl. Two hours after she went to work, the new messenger was sent on an errand to the set where Kay Kyser was emoting in “Around the World.†Producer-Director Allan Dwan got an eyeful: Said Dwan to Daun: “C’mon.†Wherewith, he took the bewildered blonde to the office of Ben Piazza, head of the studio’s new talent department. And that evening Daun Kennedy’s signature was on an acting contract.
Daun Kennedy, they mean Daun Kennedy, who flew from the Lockheed Aircraft plant to become a messenger girl at RKO, circled the studio once and made a happy landing as an actress. Brown-eyed, shapely, with hair like combed corn silk, she’s currently delivering a message of personal beauty in the Eddie Cantor production, “Show Business.â€The next day, also, her engagement to Fred MacDowell was announced but since then the same engagement has been broken ! Daun made her movie debut in “Around the World†and followed that performance with parts in “Government Girl,†“Gildersleeve on Broadway,†and “Show Business.â€
This is somehow misleading since, based on this story, Daun was in Seattle in the early 1940s. But let’s roll with the newspaper version, and see what happened with her career!
CAREER
Daun made her debut in Gildersleeve on Broadway. The third in RKO’s series of four movies based on radio show The Great Gildersleeve. This one has Gildersleeve traveling to New York to help out his friend Peavy. In order to help Peavy out, he has to cozy up to widowed drug company president Billie Burke. He also attracts the attention of a gold digger. The situation gets even trickier when Gildersleeve’s girlfriend shows up unexpectedly. It’s a fun comedy, a treat for all lovers of screwball. Government Girl is a lame wartime comedy with Olivia de Havilland in the lead. The Falcon and the Co-eds is one of the Falcon series of movies, with Tom Conway as the Saint. It’s a solidly made thriller, with a decent cast, but formulaic enough not to fall into a higher category.
Around the World is a wartime propaganda musical, cute fluffy and upbeat. Fans of Kay Kysler should definitely watch it. Higher and Higher is the typical movie that can’t be considered high art, but is an enjoyable, light-hearted piece. Special plus is a very young Frank Sinatra in the lead. The Falcon Out West is another of the Falcon series, more of the same old same old. Seven Days Ashore is another fluffy musical. Show Business surely fits into the “Nothing major, but it’s a lot of fun†movie. The story of a vaudeville team (Eddie Cantor in the lead), their ups and downs, it’s interesting today if nothing than a memory lane piece about times long gone.
Marine Raiders is a WW2 movie, typical example of the genre and the time. War movies made during the war often used live footage of battles, and they all boiled down to “rally round the flag, boysâ€! The leads are played by two fine actors, Pat O’Brien and Robert Ryan. Of course, there is a love story, with the charmingRuth Hussey (I love intelligent, everyday, non-extremely-beautiful actresses like Ruth!) in the middle. Bride by Mistake is a mid tier romance movie – but an absolute highlight is the stunning Laraine Day in the lead. I love Laraine, she was such a gentle, beautiful actress! Unfortunately, Daun followed some decent movies with Youth Runs Wild, a movie about juvenile delinquency that fares like most movies about the topic – pretty badly. This ain’t no Rebel without a cause. Then came Heavenly Days, a Fibber and Molly McGee movie. Like most series, it’s a rec is you like that kind of humor – if not, stay away. Daun went back to musicals with, Girl Rush a standard Western gold rush comedy with all of the cliches and not enough good things to recommend it. Daun finally hit it big with Murder, My Sweet, a superb example of the mid 1940 film noir. Based on Raymond Chandler’s book, Dick Powell plays an excellent Phillip Marlowe. While Bogart may be the ultimate Marlowe, several other actors made a very good job of playing him, and Powell, IMHO; is a close second. He is just the right mix of soft and hard, of success and failure, of idealism and disillusionment to be Marlowe (whom I consider to be one of the best written fictional detective). Powell aside, the story is solid and with enough twists to keep anyone occupied, the supporting cast is wonderful and the atmosphere is spot on. Almost nothing to subtract from its brilliance. Next was Mademoiselle Fifi, a movie that has divided its critics. Based on a Guy De Maupassant short story and dealing with some very relevant issues (as back then as today), it’s hampered in a major way by the production code and censorship. Yes, this is the gaping wound of so many -could-have-been-wonderful movies from the decade. Yet, some praise it’s actors (Simone Simon!) and the story that ultimately inspired the western classic Stagecoach.
Duan was one of the much revered Salome Girls in the notorious camp classic, Salome Where She Danced. The long and arduous process of finding Salome girls was well documented in the press, and thanks to this movie, Daun got tons of publicity. It was this boost that got her a leading role! Yaay finally! On the flip side (there is always a flip side!) the movie is The Royal Mounted Rides Again and it’s a (guess!) … LOW BUDGET WESTERN. Oh yes, you know what I think of those… Anyway, it got her absolutely nowhere. She returned to the uncredited tier in This Love of Ours, a Merle Oberon tearjerker (too bad she appeared in such a large number of those she was a gifted comedienne!). It was followed by another Merle Oberon movie, Night in Paradise, a wacky and unusual movie for sure, but deeply flawed. A Scandal in Paris is a George Sanders vehicle, and the great man plays the same character he always plays – himself. This time his name is FrançoisEugène Vidocq (famous french criminal) and the place is (duh!) Paris. But more of the same old, same old. Next she appeared in the Bowery boys movie, Bowery Bombshell, and then was the female lead in the forgotten serial, Son of the Guardsman. Too bad that this didn’t pan out – maybe Daun could have caught at least a bit of fame that way. Meanwhile, the serial was actually decent enough, with a solid story and decent production values – one wonders what went wrong?
Daun appeared in only two more movies, both featuring the characters Jiggs and Maggie (played by Joe Yule, Mickey Rooney’s pop, and British actress Reine Riano), Bringing Up Father and Jiggs and Maggie in Society. It was clear that Daun used all of her showbiz lives and it was time to retire. And retire she did.
PRIVATE LIFE
The Kennedy lass lives in a Hollywood apartment with another young actress, took music lessons, liked an occasional game of tennis, Bowled a great deal, and had never kept a budget, never had been in debt. She admitted she was a bum cook. Daun was a very popular pin-up during the war, being named Miss Iceberg Warmer and Miss Optometrists. In 1946, contemporary publicity shamelessly pegged her as the descendant of Mary Queen of Scots.
Duan was engaged to her first boyfriend, Fred L. McDowell, when she came to Hollywood in 1944. She engagement was terminated due to unknown reasons. In 1945, Daun first dated Rod Cameron, then almost married to agent John Lindsay.
In the end, she married her first fiancée, Fred L. McDowell. He was born on September 5, 1916, in Derby Line, Vermont. Somehow he ended up in the Boeing Aircraft corporation, and met Duan (the story is in the Early life section). He was in Hollywood from the early 1940s, but only in 1954 did he get his first credit as an editor.
Their daughter Linda Carol was born on October 28, 1955. Their second daughter, Tamara L., was born on November 17, 1959. Sadly, McDowell died on June 4, 1960, when their younger daughter was but a baby.
I have no idea what happened to Daun afterwards, or if she is indeed alive today. As always, I hope she had a good life.
And we continue with the charming Yank Pin Up girls…
May Moniz
There is almost nothing about May Moniz on the web. Yet, she was the only Yank Cover girl to come out of Hawaii, where WW2 started for the US.
This is almost the only article I could find about May:
There are some outstanding reasons why May Moniz, who is only 17 years old, has already become one of the most photographed lovelies on Oahu – as any fool can plainly see. Her talents include dancing in various USO shows which have toured the island, as well as sitting around swimming pools occupying black silk bathing suits like this. BRIEF hereby endorses any world planner who will include May – or a reasonable facsimile – as one plank in a Postwar Plan for the Returning Soldier. The photo is by our incredible Cpl Harold Klee, who spent two long years out here photographing Oahu beauties as a hobby. He is now Down Under, where his opportunities are slightly more curtailed.
Who was May? It’s just a uneasy coincidence that there were 2 May Monizes in Hawaii, both born in 1928 in Honolulu. Which one is our May I have no idea. One lived with her widowed mother, younger sister and lodgers, the other with her aunt and uncle and younger sister.
What I do know is that May was supposed to graduate from Roosevelt High School in Honolulu and then relocate to New York to become a model. During the war, she danced along with her fellow Hawaiian girls in The Flanderettes, a USO troupe directed by Josephine Flanders. Unfortunately, all mentions of May afterwards are nonexistent.
May L. Moniz died in 1984 in Hawaii, and it’s very much open to discussion if this is our May.
Sylvia Opert
Sylvia Opert was born in 1924, in Johannesburg, South African Republic, daughter of Maurice and Fannie Opert, Lithuanian immigrants. The family moved to California several years after her birth (and lived there at least from 1929). Maurice and Fannie divorced in the mid 1930s, and Sylvia stayed with her mother. The two lived in Beverly Hills, with Sylvia working as a dancer since high school. She danced ballet originally, and by 1940 was a part of the Ada Broadbent Ballet troupe.
Various newspaper articles claimed she studied music and composition in Franceand Switzerland. While this could be true, it means that she lived in the US and commuted to France and Switzerland during the 1930s. Sylvia spoke flawless French, and this later helped her land movie roles. She also specializes in exotic and native dances, as he filmography can readily show.
She made her movie debut in 1942, inRoad to Morocco. hHer next movie was Happy Go Lucky, a breezy, simple and very endearing Dick Powell musical. His co-star is Mary martin, who worked better in theater than she ever did on film, but she was truly no slouch! The plot is typical for the genre – Martin plays a gold digger who wants to nag a rich husband. Powell plays a beach boy who sees right throught her, but decided to help her to spite his long time enemy (rich yacht boy, played by Rudee Vallee). but true highlight of the movie is the pairing of Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton. Boy, those were some dynamos! Then came Background to Danger, tightly plotted, well made spy thriller. Yep, it’s a Casablanca rip of, but like most rip offs, it never gets hit the high ground. Perhaps part of the reason lies in George raft, a menacing actor who could do wonders on the screen but not a particularly good one (imagine him in Shakespearean plays! Exactly!). The supporting cast is top notch and worth of better actors like Humphrey Bogart – Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Brenda Marshall. It never was and never will be a top-tier movie, but it’s a decent example of the genre and keeps you on the edge of the seat.
And of course, like many others in Hollywood, Sylvia appeared in Thank Your Lucky Stars. She then had a small but memorable role in The Desert Song. She took some time of to get married, but as soon as she divorced, she was back in the saddle with two short features – Princess Papaya and Dance Comique. Sylvia’s last movie was Devotion, about the lives of the Bronte sisters. It’s a typical over the top drama, Hollywood style, but nobody can say that Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino are not good actresses – their warm and engaging performances give the movie a shining quality it otherwise wouldn’t deserve. The supporting cast is pretty good also – Sydney Greenstreet, Nancy Coleman, Arthur Kennedy, Dame May Whitty.
In 1944, there were stories that LeRoy Prinz discovered her while eating lunch in the studio commissary. Again, I assume this is just a publicity plot, as Sylvia was a seasoned dancer who did her bit, not a wide eyes starlet who just came to Hollywood hoping for a lucky break. That beak sadly never came, and her movie career ended in 1946. She continued dancing in revenues and nightclubs, but most probably gave up her career upon her second marriage in 1946.
Now something about her private life. Sylvia married Newell O. Roberts on April 30, 1943. Roberts was born on August 7, 1916, in Texas. A medical doctor, he enlisted into the army in 1940, and later became a Captain, serving in the 94th Fighter Squadron with 5 victories. I guess this was a typical wartime marriage between two people who hardy knew each other. Accordingly, the marriage lasted only a short time and they divorced in 1945. Roberts returned to his native Texas after the war, and went on to marry Carolyn Ann Roberts in 1956, divorce her and then marry Patricia A. Winkler in 1969, and later divorce her in 1979. He died on June 6, 2010, in Comal, Texas.
Sylvia moved fast onto her next husband. On January 15, 1946 she married Jack H. Spiro. Spiro was born on November 24, 1906 (making him almost 20 years older than Sylvia) in Pennsylvania, to Louis and Sadie Spiro. They moved to New York, where he worked as a jewelry salesman. The couple settled in Los Angeles. They had two sons, Lee Mark, born on December 14, 1949, andRichard Martin, born on August 20, 1954. They divorced sometime after 1954. Spiro died on January 3, 1976.
In December 1967, Sylvia married Harvey Bernstein. They divorced in April 1969. On May 1, 1974, she married a Mr. Strauss or a Nathan Boxer in Dade, Florida.
Unfortunately, I could not find any additional information about Sylvia, so I have no idea if she is alive or dead. As always, I hope she had a good life.
Helen Talbot
Helen Darling was born on April 7, 1924, in Concordia, Kansas, to Edward andArby Darling. She had an older sister, Dorothy, born in 1909, and an older brother, Daniel. Her parents were already in middle age when she was born – her mother was 45, her father 54. She grew up in Concord. Both of her parents died by 1937, and she was adopted by the Smith family. She lived with them until 1941, when she relocated to Los Angeles to live with her brother Dan and his wife. She graduated from high school in Los Angeles and started to work as a model by 1942.
Helen was allegedly discovered by fashion designer Don Loper in 1943, and this catapulted her to Hollywood. She then worked with Don Red Barry on his show, and started a movie career not long after. Her filmography is full of low-budget westerns (Canyon City, Pistol Packin’ Mama, California Joe, Outlaws of Santa Fe, Song of Nevada, San Fernando Valley, Corpus Christi Bandits, Lone Texas Ranger, Bells of Rosarita, Trail of Kit Carson, Song of Mexico, Don’t Fence Me In ) which I will not even try to review as you very well-known my dislike for the subgenre.
Her other movies were a mixed bag at best. She appeared in Up in Arms (after all this time, this movie pops up again and again) and Rosie the Riveter, both light fare but fun movies. And then came a horror, The Lady and the Monster, baes on Curt Siomdak’snovel, Donovan’s Brain. The plot: In a rural castle two medical men and a woman assistant are experimenting with brain chemistry and energy. After an airplane crash, they take a human brain of one of the victims to continue their work. The brain is of a criminal mind that gradually takes over the medical assistant’s mind periodically to do more evil. The movie is polarizing in so many ways – it has decent direction and very good set design. Cinematography is also on the level. However, the actors are a mixed bag here. Erich Von Stronheim is as menacing as always, but Richard Arlen is a tad stiff and Vera Ralston is, as always, absolutely terrible. It’s not a particularly god movie, but a watchable one. The 1953 remake with Lew Ayres is superior in every way.
Helen appeared in two Jane Withers vehicles, first Faces in the Fog, a long forgotten but actually not-the-worst movie about two youngsters who fall in love and everybody and everything stands in the way of their happiness, and then inAffairs of Geraldine, a similar convoluted love story. Swingin’ on a Rainbow was another Jane Frazee musical, low-budget but pleasing enough.
She also did appear in two serials, which are her only claim to fame today: . The info is taken from the superb Files of Jerry Blake site:
Sooner or later, most of Republic’s contract players found themselves cast in a serial, and Helen was no exception. The first of her two chapter plays was 1945’s Federal Operator 99, which starred Marten Lamont as Jerry Blake, a FBI agent out to capture the suave master criminal Jim Belmont (George J. Lewis), and co-starred Talbot as Joyce Kingston, Blake’s trusty secretary and assistant. The serial’s plot consisted of a series of duels between Belmont–who concocted various impressive heists only to be thwarted by the federal agent–and Blake–who kept checkmating Belmont but failing to capture him. This cat-and-mouse game was augmented by a clever script, some excellent action scenes and some innovative cliffhanger sequences, several of which centered around Helen’s character. The indefatigable Joyce was almost perpetually endangered throughout the serial, but managed to survive a cremation chamber, avoid being shredded by an airplane propeller, and escape rolling off a cliff in a laundry basket. While Talbot’s youthful and ingenuous appearance kept her from seeming entirely convincing as an FBI operative, it also made her character instantly appealing; the audience found it easy to be concerned about this sweet-looking girl’s perils.
Her second serial was King of the Forest Rangers. Another quote:
Talbot’s second and final serial was King of the Forest Rangers(Republic, 1946). One of the last Republic serials filmed largely on location (in the picturesque pine woods of California’s Big Bear Lake), this cliffhanger dealt with the attempts of the villainous Professor Carver (Stuart Hamblen) to get his hands on valuable minerals concealed in some ancient Indian towers. Forest ranger Steve King (Larry Thompson) investigated the crimes spawned by Carver’s schemes, with the help of local trading post proprietor Marion Brennan (Helen Talbot). A good serial that could have been better,King of the Forest Rangers featured two rather lackluster leading performances; hero Thompson was low-key to the point of dullness, while villain Hamblen was too unthreatening in voice and appearance to make his character suitably sinister. However, both actors received an assist from their energetic aides–Hamblen from nasty henchman Anthony Warde and Thompson
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Nancy Porter
She was heralded as a girl with the perfect body and everyone expected her to follow in Dorothy Lamour’s footsteps and become the sarong siren. Nancy Porter was born in about 1922 (I have no idea where). She began appearing on Broadway in the early 1940s, and replaces Betty Garrett in Something for the boys in late 1943. She was Ethel Merman’s understudy on Broadway when she was noticed by Paramount scouts who bought her to Hollywood in 1944. She enjoyed a brief flash of fame and appeared in tow movies, Isle of Tabu, a short and completely forgotten tropical adventure, and then in Out of This World, a witty and biting musical satire on the many tiffs between TV and radio. It’s a great movie for Eddie Bracken fans, and Diana Lynn, a sweet actress I like, is also there! But that was it as far as Nancy was . She was a popular pin up during WW2 and was active in the war relief work.
Nancy was married once before she came to Hollywood and divorced by 1944. She married writer Milton Holmes on November 15, 1944, in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were wed by Judge George Marchall and went to a short honeymoon afterwards. Holmes was born in 1907, in Syracuse, New York. He started as an actor in 1927, and slowly graduated to screenwriting. He became a producer by the time he married Nancy. However, information about their shared life after 1944 is scarce at best.
What we know is that in 1946, Holmes told the newspapers that he will move to New York to give Nancy a chance to appear again in Broadway. This never happened. In 1947, the Holmeses adopted a French war orphan. In November 1949, their daughter was born. In 1952, her husband sued Columbia pictures for not promoting his movie, Boots Malone, so it can be nominated for an Oscar (hah! Do they did it back in the old days too!). What happened afterwards is a mystery but I can sum up the pieces – Holmes was blacklisted by Hollywood for suing a major studio. He never produced or directed another movie. Some of his books were later made into movies, he served as a screenwriter for a TV series in the 1950s, but his career in Hollywood was kaput. Holmes died in 1987 in Los Angeles. I have no idea what happened to Nancy.
DOROTHY DAY AKA VICKI LESTER
Yank Girls continued! Dorothy Day/Vicki Lester had a more substantial career than most starlets of the time. She played both leads and supports in a variety of B movies. She was most certainly beautiful and wasn’t a talent less hack. So, again I ask, what went wrong? The more I think about it, the more I understand it’s not a question of what went wrong, but what went right with the ones that actually made it. Hollywood is such a fickle, unstable town, and there is no given formula of success.
EARLY LIFE
Dorothy Gertrude Day was born on April 17, 1915, in Manhattan, New York City, to Alfred Day and Gertrude Van Der Raalte. Her great great aunt was the great actress Charlotte Cushman.
Dorothy attended grade and Julian Richman High School in the borough. After graduation, she started doing modeling work, and pretty soon was one of the 12 most photographer models in Gotham. For instance, if you picked up just one issue of a magazine in 1936, she was bound to be in at least 3 commercials, and her record was 10!
Like many New York models, Dorothy was signed by Walter Wanger for Vouges of 1938, and this catapulted her to Hollywood.
CAREER
Dorothy appeared in movies as Dorothy Day and Vicki Lester. She came to Hollywood in 1937, a seasoned model, to appear in Vogues of 1938. The name alone reveals much about th emovie – it’s all about the fashions, the pretty colors and beautiful girls. Story? Characters? Zero sum! While they actually have decent actors at work here (Warner Baxter, Joan Bennett), it’s a paper thin affair.
Dorothy’s name was changed to Vicki Lester, and she would remain Lester until 1943. She made her first appearance in Warner Bros’s The Patient in Room 18, a typical, run of the mill comedy-detective-potboiler. Warners churned out hundreds of movies just like this on a yearly basis – what to say? Chances they are any good are slim pickings at best, but often the movies were mediocre and decent enough. At least we have the charmingAnn Sheridan in the female lead here. Maid’s Night Out continued in the same vein, a silly and charming little romance movie with future superstar Joan Fontaine in the lead. The story is same old, same old – a rich guy pretends to be poor to win a bet, and fall in love. Moving on! Fools for Scandal is a Carole Lombard vehicle with a uninspired story – American actress (Carole Lombard) visiting Paris meets a penniless Frenchman (Fernand Gravet). He becomes smitten with her and pursues her for the rest of the movie. This doesn’t sit well with her dull American beau (Ralph Bellamy). Again, what to say? Carole sure was a charismatic, charming actress, Gravet is a Gallic Don Juan and Ralph Bellamy plays the scorned, boring lover to perfection. Cute, nice and nothing more than that.
This Marriage Business is another B romantic comedy, starring Victor Moore as a small town justice, none of whose weddings have ended in divorce. Mix it up with a mischievous reporter and Vicki in the leading female role, and you know the drill. Like most of the films mentioned beforehand, it’s charming and breezy, but no high art. Go Chase Yourself squarely fits into the silly but nice crime movie category. Look out for an early role for Lucille Ball! Having Wonderful Time was originally a Broadway play about a Catskill Mountains resort and the assortment of Jewish people who visit it. It was a biting satire on the types and stereotypes of the New York’s Jewish population, written by Arthur Kober (to me, better known as the husband of Lillian Hellman). Hollywood, in its typical fashion, took a nicely done show, watered it down (the characters are not Jewish anymore!) and gave us only a mildly interesting final product. The roster of talent here is impressive – Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Lee Bowman, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, Lucille Ball and Michael (Red) Skelton, but all are underused. Sky Giant is an insipid, lukewarm aviation drama whose main claim to fame is Richard Dix’s profile. Go figure!
Vicki was finally cast in at least marginally better movies with The Mad Miss Manton, another piece of fluff, but well made and acted fluff. When you pairBarbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, you are bound to have at least a semi decent movie, and this has a script to match. This was Dorothy/Vicki’s last movie for a brief time, and she returned in 1940, with The Great Plane Robbery, a forgotten movie about a (gasp!) plane robbery. You’re Out of Luck is another in the series of films that paired Frankie Darro and Montan Moreland as best friends fighting crime. we have already mentioned it in this blog, as Kay Sutton plays the femme fatale. Decent but nothing special. Tall, Dark and Handsome is a parody of early 1930s movies, with Cesar Romero in the lead and a pretty good supporting cast – Sheldon Leonard, Virginai Gilmore, Milton Berle, Charlotte Greenwood. It’s quite funny at times and ultimately, a satisfying watch for this genre. Tom Dick and Harry proved to be the best known movie on Vicki’s filmography. This is a screwball comedy done right – simple but effective story, witty dialogue, great actors! While I understand that a number of people will never like movies like these, it is hard to deny that there are qualities (I lack a better word for that) about these movies that are impossible to reconstruct today. Classic! And Vicki has a pretty good role in this one, as one of the girls. Next came The Miracle Kid, a so-so boxing drama with Tom Neal in the lead.
And thus Dorothy came to the dreaded moment of an actresses life – the moment she starts to appear in low budget westerns. The movie in question was The Lone Rider and the Bandit.No comment. Her next one, Sleepytime Gal, is a Judy Canova comedy, movies that are sure to polarize the public. You either love or hate it. You’re Telling Me is another forgotten comedy. Her last movie under the moniker of Vicki Lester was I Live on Danger, actually a pretty decent crime movie with a sterling B class cast – Chester Morris, Dick Purcell and Jean Parker. Morris is a likable actor, and Parker could have catapulted to A class easily if she only had the right breaks.
After this, Dorothy reverted to her old name, moved back to the East Coast, and did a wartime propaganda short movie, Women at War. She then took time off to get involved in the war effort, and returned to movies in 1945, with Diamond Horseshoe. Now, this is a kind of musical I like better than some MGM extravaganzas. While it’s lush and lavish like a musical should be, it actually has a pretty good story, and the stars are simply magnetic! Who can not like Betty Grable? She such a vivacious, lively presence! Same goes for Dick Haymes. And here comes the last one… Kiss Them for Me. Now, this is one weird movie. The plot is actually above average, and the character Grant plays, if you get over the posh Mid Atlantic accent, is well written. However, there are some parts of the movie that just baffle me. Why did they have make them? Plus, Suzy Parker, for all her beauty, is a terrible actress. So sad…
That was it from both Dorothy Day and Vicki Lester.
PRIVATE LIFE
How did Dorothy get her moniker? Well, after making Vogues of 1938, she returned back to New York City for a brief visit, and when she came back, she learned from the studio brass she was renamed, without consulting her, to Vicki Lester, the heroine of A Star is Born, played by Janet Gaynor.
Dorothy played the piano, danced and sang. She was a clothes horse, and her ideal was “heaven of clothesâ€. She hated throwing away old shoes. Her favorite foods were caviar, steak, truffles and creppes suzettes (she sure had expensive taste!). Her favorite color was blue, and her favorite flower was the gardenia. She liked to watch football and ice hockey. She mostly read epics (Gone with the Wind, Anthony Adverse, Good Earth). She was superstitious, collected handkerchiefs and carried her lucky matrix ring with her at all times. For keeping her figure trim, she swam and ice skated.
There is a article that claims that Dorothy was married in the mid 1930s, and had a son from that marriage, who was born in about 1935. I could not find any such document, but this is possible, as her life in New York is obscure at best.
When she landed in Hollywood in 1937, she was a constant duet with Willard Parker, handsome B actor who would end up marrying Virginia Field in 1951 (I love Virginia!). By the end of the year, she was hooked up with another handsome B actor, Jon Hall. However, there were persistent rumors she would wed Parker, and they even had good odds in the Hollywood marriage betting pool (oh yes, they even had that back in the 1930s. Crazy decade!). She also managed to squeezeMilton Berle in between. However, by early 1938, she was seen with neither Hal or Parker, but with a new swain, Paul Draper.
In 1938, it was reported that Dorothy and Allan Lane, western star, were not an item but quite the opposite – they absolutely disliked each other off camera. The most ironic part of this story is the fact that Dorothy and Allan knew each other from way back, when she was just starting as a model in New York City and he owned a modeling agency.
By March 1938, Dorothy was steady dating Dick Purcell. The relationship turned serious pretty soon, and they were to be wed in July 1938. We gifted her with a sapphire engagement ring. They set the wedding to October. In July, he was on location for filming Valley of the Giants, and they wrote passionate love letters to each other daily. And upon his return, Dick took rumba lessons to please Dorothy. They planed to fly all over the States for their honeymoon. Ah, love! At the same time, Dorothy fell into a feud with Frances Mercer over the title of Best Dressed Woman in Hollywood.
The couple had a spat in September, got over it, and when Dorothy landed in hospital in October 1938, Dick was with her every single day. Then, all of a sudden, the papers started mentioning that the man Dorothy really loved was not Dick, but rather some Billy Reed? And truly, by November 1938, they were kaput! After that, in typical “can’t live with you, can’t live without you†fashion, they were on and of for a few additional months. Purcell dated Jane Wyman, then tried to hush it up and claimed that Dorothy was his one and only and that he will wed her… typical hammy behavior. By the time Dorothy got really sick in October 1939, they were over. Her mother came from the East to take care of her. Now, this is my theory of what happened – During her convalescence, she met a Dr. Sterling Bowen, who became her fiancee by the end of the year. That barely lasted until early 1940 – she took up with John Rose, a Disney executive, afterwards. She then dated Dick Behans and Alex D’Arcy. She got together again with Dr. Sterling Brown by June 1940. Sometime in the 1940s, Dorothy also had a few dates with Mickey Rooney.
By 1939, Dorothy was dating Bennett Cerf, the wealthy publisher/bon vivant, former husband of Sylvia Sidney. This too did not last, and by mid 1940, she was seen with director Al Hall. Then came Bob Oliver. Later that year, she started to date Eddie Cherkose, famed songwriter. What started as a nice, lovely dovely romance ended a bitter feud by June 1941. That year she was also romanced, long distance, by Stuart Schweit (all the way from Chicago!). In August 1941, she was laid up in the hospital bed once again, this time ptomaine poisoning. By early 1942, she was dating Matty Fox. He was swiftly replaced by Cesar Romero in March 1942. By April, it was Terry Hunt, the bodybuilder. By November 1942, there was talk she would elope with Richard Deer (or Derr). This was a serious relationship, but it didn’t lead to the altar. Perc Westmore took over by early 1943. In April 1943, she was dated by Brazilian playboy George Guinle. However, by June 1943, she was serious with George Brent. Boy, did she move fast! She then went to a USO tour of Europe with Jack McCoy, and allegedly even met the Pope in Rome.
In early 1945, she met Steven Stanford, and married him on December 2, 1945, in Los Angeles. Stanford was born on November 6, 1909, to Charles Stanford and Rhoda Jamnik in Norway. He was a Norwegian ski champion who decided to turn to clothes designing. He spent some time in Paris and New York before settling in Hollywood.
She gave up movies and bought a dress shop. She started designing clothes, and was quite successful at it. However, the marriage was very short lived – they separated in July 1946. Stanford remarried in 1960 to Betty Skelly and died on July 25, 1979.
Betty wasted no time in waiting, and started dating director Jack Bernhard. They were married on November 13, 1947. Jack was born on to, Joseph Bernhard andTillie Schmalzback. He grew up in the States, and started working as a writer then as a assistant producer, finally graduating to producer. During the war, he served in the UK, where he met Jean Gillie, and actress who would become his wife. They married in about 1944 and divorced in 1947. Jean died in 1949 (what a sad waste! She was a superb actress).
Both Jack and Dorothy retired from movie by the early 1950s. I have no idea what they did afterwards, nor if they had any children.
Jack Bernhard died on March 30, 1997, in Beverly Hills, California.
Dorothy Day Bernhard died on May 7, 2001, in Beverly Hills, California.
DOROTHY VAN NUYS
Dorothy Van Nuys was a magnificent Amazon-line beauty, standing six feet tall, with a voluptuous figure and a pleasing face. Yet, as we have learned countless times before, this means so little in Hollywood, place where beautiful women pour in large doses. And Dorothy became one of the many nameless faces in musicals that never propelled their career on to the next stage.
EARLY LIFE
Dorothy Jane Van Nuys was born on November 24, 1922, in Payette, Idaho, toEdward G. Van Nuys and Roma Van Nuys. She was their only child. Her mother and father worked in a tandem as salespeople. The family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, when she was 4 years old, in 1926. She grew up on the island.
Dorothy was tutored by private tutors in Honolulu and attended high school there. She was active in the sports department – she danced, swam, played tennis and took up diving. However, her major passion was deep-sea fishing – she was as good as any guy and undertook multi day excursions around Hawaii to catch big fish. Unfortunately, the adventure came to an end when she got stuck on a coral reef for two days with little to no food and water. She gave up fishing after that, and took up dancing more seriously. This propelled her to try to become a professional dancer.
Dorothy graduated from high school and returned to the mainland in 1940. She worked as a model and Ziegfeld girl, and got her Hollywood shot in 1944.
CAREER
Dorothy appeared in only two movies in her whole Hollywood career. The first one was Ziegfeld Follies. I have written about this movie before, as a large number of starlets appeared in it. But what is there to say? I myself don’t like this kind of musical. Yes, this is MGM at its absolute best, when the had the best sound stages, best songwriters, best music writers, best dancers and singer. The movie was easily attest to that – just look at the line-up: Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lucille Bremer, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball, Fanny Brice, Lena Horne, Red Skelton, William Powell and so on… The dancing is magical. The sets are superb, and the music is pretty good. Yet, this is a movie with no substance behind the (wonderful) illusion. Mind you, it never tries to be much more than that, but as I said, I prefer my movies with a little more plot and depth. I understand that musicals are not quite the genre for deep philosophical discussion, but countless other musicals had better stories and conveyed stronger (no matter how simple) messages. But well, if you like it this way, enjoy!
Dorothy’s second and last movie role was in The Harvey Girls, another musical. IMHO, this one is a total step up from Ziegfeld Follies. It was made in the same studio – MGM, warranting great production values and wonderful stars, yet it has a coherent story and a message! Yaay! As one IMDB reviewer wrote: the film tells the story, in words and music, of a group of waitresses brought west in the late 1800’s to open another link in the Fred Harvey chain of restaurants. In the process, they encounter all kinds of romantic and dramatic conflicts. Judy Garland plays the lead, and John Hodiak, a decent actor but not material for a musical lead (IMHO), plays her love interest. It’s got everything you could want from this type of movie – humor, a bit of a soapy melodrama, god music, great vocalists and a passable story. And all in lush Technicolor! Dorothy is one of the background dancers (the Harvey girls of the title!).
PRIVATE LIFE
In 1941, Dorothy graces the newspaper cover all around the States as the official Camel girl. This was a huge boost for her career, as she truly was one of the most visible models of the year thanks to this. Then she falls of the newspaper radar for three years.
In 1944, Dorothy was living with her mother in Los Angeles. One day she phoned home and a fireman answered – the house burned down! Her whole wardrobe, except the thing she had on when she went out that day, was lost. Luckily, her mother escaped the fire in time.
From the early 1940s, Dorothy was steady dating her business manager, Barry Mirkin. Mirkin was born in 1918, and was a fixture in the Los Angeles entertainment world for decades. They broke up in early 1944. Mirkin later married Joan Burnham. He died in 2007 in Los Angeles.
In May 1944, she was “The oddest twosome in town†with George Stone, five-feet-five. And yes, Dorothy was six foot tall! Imagine how cute they looked!
In late 1944, Dorothy dated Paramount director Marty Lewis.
By 1945, Dorothy was back to being a full-time model, and by 1950, she was living and working in San Francisco, part of an acting company. After that stint, she moved to San Raphael and with a few fellow models, gave lectures on how to look like a model. They were very popular, and had plenty of clients. She even had her own charm school at some point in the 1960s, and was a member of the local Models Association. But what about her love life?
Dorothy married Zachary Armand Charles in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 3, 1957. Her movie career far over by that time, the marriage produced no ripples in the journalistic sea.
Zachary Armand Charleswas born on November 7, 1918, in New York City,where he grew up. He was good friends with Marlon Brandoand Carlo Fiore in the late 1940s, when all three were young and struggling actors. He made his movie debut in 1950, and worked in TV from 1954. On September 11, 1949, he married Donna Beamount in California. They divorced in the early 1950s.
Their daughter Cynthia was born on July 28, 1958, in Marin, California. Their son Jason C. was born on June 14, 1962, in Marin.
Dorothy and Zachary divorced in February 1969 in Marin. He returned to New York and so