Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L., Merksem (Antwerp). Photo: Republic Pictures.
American actress, singer, and songwriter Dale Evans (1912-2001) was nicknamed 'the Queen of the West'. She was the third wife of Roy Rogers. Alongside her husband, she appeared in numerous musical Westerns of the 1940s and in The Roy Rogers Show (1951-1957) on TV.
Dale Evans was born Frances Octavia Smith in 1912 in Uvalde, Texas, to Bettie Sue Wood and T. Hillman Smith. She had a tumultuous early life. She spent a lot of time living with her uncle, Dr. L.D. Massey MD FACP, an internal medicine physician, in Osceola, Arkansas. At age 14, she eloped with and married Thomas F. Fox, with whom she had one son, Thomas F. Fox Jr., when she was 15. A year later, abandoned by her husband, she found herself in Memphis, Tennessee, a single parent pursuing a music career. She landed a job with local radio stations (WMC and WREC), singing and playing the piano. Divorced in 1929, she took the name Dale Evans while working at radio station WHAS in the early 1930s after the station manager suggested it because he believed she could promote her singing career with a short pleasant-sounding name that announcers and disc jockeys could easily pronounce. After beginning her career singing at the radio station where she was employed as a secretary, Evans had a productive career as a jazz, swing, and big band singer that led to a screen test and contract with 20th Century Fox studios in 1942. She gained exposure on radio as the featured singer for a time on the Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy show. Throughout this early period, Evans went through two additional failed marriages, first with August Wayne Johns from 1929 to 1935; then with accompanist and arranger Robert Dale Butts from 1937 to 1946. Neither marriage produced children. During her time at 20th Century Fox, the studio promoted her as the unmarried supporter of her teenage 'brother' Tommy (actually her son Tom Fox, Jr.), a deception that continued through her divorce from Butts in 1946 and her development as a cowgirl co-star to Roy Rogers at Republic Studios.
At 20th Century Fox, Dale Evans did not get good parts. She was barely visible in her film debut Orchestra Wives (Archie Mayo, 1942) She had to settle for leading roles at Republic Studios, a "B" factory. She wasn't keen on westerns, but Westerns were what she got. In 1944, she was cast as leading lady to rising cowboy star Roy Rogers in Cowboy and the Senorita (Joseph Kane, 1944). She and Rogers clicked and she became his steady on-screen companion in such films as The Yellow Rose of Texas (Joseph Kane, 1944), Don't Fence Me In (John English, 1945), and My Pal Trigger (Frank McDonald, 1946). The two would become icons of American pop culture. In 1946, Rogers' wife died and Evans' marriage to Butts ended about the same time. Roy and Dale married on New Year's Eve 1947 at the Flying L Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma, where they had earlier filmed the film Home in Oklahoma (William Witney, 1946). The marriage was Rogers' third and Evans' fourth but was successful; the two were a team on- and off-screen from 1946 until Rogers' death in 1998. Shortly after the wedding, Evans ended the deception regarding her son Tommy. Roy had an adopted daughter, Cheryl, and two biological children, Linda and Roy Jr. (Dusty), from his second marriage. Together they had one child, Robin Elizabeth, who died of complications of Down syndrome shortly before her second birthday. Their marriage was dogged by tragedy, including the loss of three children before adulthood. In 1965, son John David, nicknamed Sandy, died at the age of 18 while in the army and stationed in Germany. Daughter Debbie, originally named In Ai Lee, who was of Korean and Puerto Rican ancestry, died in a bus crash in 1964. Her life inspired Dale Evans to write her bestseller 'Angel Unaware'. Evans was very influential in changing public perceptions of children with developmental disabilities and served as a role model for many parents. After she wrote 'Angel Unaware', a group then known as the “Oklahoma County Council for Mentally Retarded Children” adopted its better-known name Dale Rogers Training Center in her honour. She went on to write a number of religious and inspirational books, and she and Roy appeared many times with Billy Graham in Crusades all over the country, singing gospel songs and giving their testimony. Evans and Rogers adopted four other children: Mimi, Dodie, Sandy, and Debbie.
From 1951-1957, Dale Evans and Roy Rogers starred in the highly-successful television series 'The Roy Rogers Show', in which they continued their cowboy and cowgirl roles, with her riding her trusty buckskin horse, Buttermilk. Alice Van-Springsteen served as a double for both Evans and Gail Davis, the actress who starred in the syndicated series Annie Oakley, often performing such tasks as tipping over wagons and jumping railroad tracks. In addition to her successful TV shows, more than 30 films, and some 200 songs, Evans wrote the well-known song 'Happy Trails'. In later episodes of the program, she was outspoken in her Christianity, telling people that God would assist them with their troubles and imploring adults and children to turn to Him for guidance. In late 1962, the couple co-hosted a comedy-western-variety program, The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show, which aired on ABC. It was canceled after three months, losing in the ratings to the first season of The Jackie Gleason Show. The couple's headquarters became The Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, California near their Apple Valley home which chronicled their lives. In the 1970s, Evans recorded several solo albums of religious music. In 1976, Roy and Dale were inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. During the 1980s, the couple introduced their films weekly on the former The Nashville Network. In the 1990s, Evans hosted her own religious television program, A Date with Dale. Dale Evans died of congestive heart failure in 2001, at the age of 88, in Apple Valley, California. She is interred at Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Apple Valley, next to Rogers. Following Dale's death, the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum moved to Branson, Missouri. Dale Evans was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 6638 Hollywood Boulevard and for Television at 1737 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Jim Beaver (IMDb), Donald Greyfield (Find A Grave), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
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Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L., no. C 21. Photo: Universal. (The picture was probably taken in Hollywood). Deanna Durbin holding a Dutch-language Filmwereld magazine in her hands. We doubt that Deanna ever could read Dutch ... Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
When Deanna Durbin's (1921-2013) Three Smart Girls (Henry Koster, 1936), the first of her 21 starring vehicles, was released in 1936 it was an immediate sensation, and her films for Universal are said to have saved the studio from bankruptcy.
On 30 December, there will be a special post by La Collectionneuse about Deanna Durbin at EFSP (European Film Star Postcards).
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Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L., Merksem Anvers. Esther Williams and Ben Gage with their son Benjamin. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
On Friday 3 September 2021, a special La Collectionneuse post on Esther Williams will be published on European Film Star Postcards!
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Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie, Merksem (Anvers), no C 10. Photo: Paramount.
Handsome American actor Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) was one of Hollywood's first Method actors. He starred in films like the Western Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948), A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951), From Here To Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953) and Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959), in which he co-starred for the third time with Elizabeth Taylor. A near-fatal auto accident in 1957 changed his looks and sent him into a drug and alcohol addiction. Clift died in 1966.
Edward Montgomery Clift was born in 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. 'Monty,' as his family called him, was the son of William Clift, a successful Wall Street broker, and his wife, Ethel. Clift's early life was shaped by privilege. While his father was away on work, which was often, Ethel led her family on jaunts to Europe or Bermuda, where the Clifts had a second home. In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, however, the family's situation greatly changed. The Clifts, which included Monty's twin sister, Roberta, and a brother, Brooks, settled into a new, more modest life in Sarasota, Florida. At the age of 13, Clift started acting with a local theatre company. His mother was impressed by her son's commitment to the stage and encouraged him to pursue his craft. Shortly after the family moved to Massachusetts, the 13-years-old Clift auditioned and won a part in the Broadway play Fly Away Home. When the family moved again, this time to New York City, Clift earned a second Broadway nod as the lead in Dame Nature. The role cemented Clift, just 17 years old, as a Broadway star. Over the next decade, he appeared in several other productions, including There Shall Be No Night, The Skin of Our Teeth, and Our Town. Ed Stephan at IMDb: "His long apprenticeship on stage made him a thoroughly accomplished actor, notable for the intensity with which he researched and approached his roles." For years Clift had resisted calls to jump to the big screen. He was particular about his work and his directors. He finally made the leap with the Western Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948), co-starring John Wayne. His part made him an overnight sensation and instant star. He embodied a new type of man on screen, the beautiful, sensual, and vulnerable man that seemed to appeal to women and men alike. Clift's second film was The Search (Fred Zinnemann, 1948), in which he played an American G.I. in post-war Germany. The film earned him an Academy nomination for Best Actor.
The success of A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951) with Elizabeth Taylor, made Montgomery Clift Hollywood's hottest male star and he was adored by millions. He looked incredible and was a fine actor, a rare combination. Over the next decade Clift starred in several high-profile films, including Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess (1953), the box-office smash From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953), co-starring Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, and Deborah Kerr. In Italy, he filmed Stazione Termini (Vittorio De Sica, 1953). For Hollywood, Clift represented an entirely different kind of leading man. He was sensitive and vulnerable, and fearless in the roles he accepted, even if they cast him as a villain. While the film world celebrated his heartthrob status—gossip columnists constantly linked Clift with Taylor, a close friend—Clift and those around him hid the fact that he was gay. In May 1957 tragedy struck when Clift, driving home from a party at Taylor's California home, veered off the road and struck a telephone pole. The accident devastated Clift, physically and psychologically. He had already been dealing with alcohol and prescription drug problems, and his addictions soared. Over the next decade, Clift continued to work, appearing in seven more films. He received an Academy nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the role of Rudolph Petersen in Judgment at Nuremberg (Stanley Kramer, 1961), which co-starred Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Spencer Tracy, and Burt Lancaster. He had so many health problems on the set of Freud (John Huston, 1962) that Universal sued him for the cost of the film's production delays. During the trial, the film opened and was such a huge hit that Clift's lawyers brought up the point that the film was doing well because of Clift's involvement. Clift won a lucrative settlement. His final role came in the French-German thriller L'espion/The Defector (Raoul Lévy, 1966), in which he played an American physicist working with a CIA agent in Germany to secure the defection of a Russian scientist. Montgomery Clift died of a heart attack at his home in New York City in 1966. He was only 45.
Source: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Biography.com, and IMDb.
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Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S,P.R.L., Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Republic Pictures.
Gene Autry (1907-1998) was an American singer, and actor who gained fame as a singing cowboy in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and between 1950 and 1956 hosted The Gene Autry Show television series.
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry was born near Tioga in Grayson County in north Texas, in 1907. His parents were Delbert Autry and Elnora Ozment. He worked on his father's ranch while at school. After leaving high school in 1925, Autry worked as a telegrapher for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. His talent at singing and playing guitar led to performing at local dances. While working as a telegraph operator in Chelsea, Oklahoma, Autry would sing and accompany himself on the guitar to pass the lonely hours. One night, he was encouraged to sing professionally by a customer, the famous humorist Will Rogers. As soon as he could save money to travel, he went to New York. In the autumn of 1928 he auditioned for Victor Records, but was turned down. He got the advice to sing on radio to gain experience and to come back in a year or two. In 1928, Autry was singing on Tulsa radio station KVOO (now KFAQ) as 'Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy'. Autry signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1929. He worked in Chicago on the WLS-AM radio show National Barn Dance for four years, and with his own show, where he met singer-songwriter Smiley Burnette. Autry and Burnette were discovered by film producer Nat Levine in 1934. Together, Autry and Burnette made their film debut for Mascot Pictures Corp. in In Old Santa Fe (David Howard, Joseph Kane, 1934) starring Key Maynard, as part of a singing cowboy quartet. He was then given the starring role by Levine in the 12-part serial The Phantom Empire (Otto Brower, B. Reeves Eason, 1935) with Frankie Darro. Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the newly formed Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B-Westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse, Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick, and had many opportunities to sing in each film.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Gene Autry personified the straight-shooting hero—honest, brave, and true—and profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans. In the Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars poll, Autry was listed every year from the first poll in 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1954 (he was serving in the AAF 1943–45), holding first place 1937 to 1942, and second place (after Roy Rogers) 1947 to 1954, when the poll ceased. He also appeared in the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll of all films from 1940 to 1942. His films often grossed ten times their average $50,000 production costs. Gene Autry was the first of the singing cowboys in films, but was succeeded as the top star by Roy Rogers while Autry served s a flight officer with the Air Transport Command during World War II. Part of his military service included his broadcast of a radio show for one year; it involved music and true stories. Gene briefly returned to Republic after the war to finish out his contract. The contract had been suspended for the duration of his military service, and he had tried to have it declared void after his discharge. Republic did then publicize him as King of the Singing Cowboys. He appeared in the film Texans Never Cry (Frank McDonald, 1951), with a role for newcomer Mary Castle. After 1951, Autry formed his own production company, Flying A Productions, to make Westerns under his own control, which continued the 1947 distribution agreement with Columbia Pictures. During the 1950s, Flying A produced his TV series The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and Annie Oakley (1954).
Gene Autry was also one of the most important pioneering figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy films were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience. In addition to his signature song, 'Back in the Saddle Again', and his hit 'At Mail Call Today', Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, most especially his biggest hit 'Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer' as well as 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Here Comes Santa Claus', and 'Up on the House Top'. From 1940 to 1956, Autry had a huge hit with a weekly show on CBS Radio, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch. His horse, Champion, also had a CBS-TV and Mutual radio series, The Adventures of Champion. In response to his many young radio listeners aspiring to emulate him, Autry created the Cowboy Code, or Ten Cowboy Commandments. These tenets promoting an ethical, moral, and patriotic lifestyle that appealed to youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts, which developed similar doctrines. Autry retired from show business in 1964, having made almost 100 films up to 1955 and over 600 records. Autry was the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles / California / Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997. At the age of 91, Gene Autry diedin 1998 in Studio City, California, U.S. In 1932, Autry had married Ina May Spivey, the niece of Jimmy Long. After she died in 1980, he married Jacqueline Ellam, who had been his banker, in 1981. He had no children by either marriage. He is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance. The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named in his honor, as was the Gene Autry precinct in Mesa, Arizona.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
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