Actress Alice White was once one of Hollywood's more popular movie actresses, receiving up to 30,000 letters of fan mail every month. Her personality reminded moviegoers of a blonde Clara Bow. Film book author Robert Klepper wrote, "Ms. White had her own type of charm, and was a delightful actress in her own, unique way. Whereas Clara Bow played the quintessential, flaming redheaded flapper, Alice White was more of a bubbly, vivacious blonde."
The peak of White's film career was playing Dixie Dugan in April 1930's "Showgirl in Hollywood." She was the star attraction of a film that mimics the ups and downs of those in the movie business. Based on J. P. McEvoy's 1929 play 'Hollywood Girl,' "Showgirl in Hollywood" is a follow-up to White's 1928 appearance in the silent film (with a musical soundtrack) 'Show Girl.' In this 1930 version, she's persuaded by a film director to go to Hollywood after seeing her perform in a New York City nightclub. She does. After several bumps along the way, White is selected for the lead in a musical movie.
"Showgirl in Hollywood" offers a rare look at the making of talkies just when they were taking off. The first sound system to introduce talkies to the public, Vitaphone and its disc recording was beginning to lose its luster. The film captures a glimpse of the Warner Brothers' equipment in the movie. Also, cameras by the middle of 1930 had been liberated from its sound-proof boxes they required to dampen the noise of their internal motors. A new innovation called 'blimps,' bulky sound-proof housings encased around the cameras, allowed them to move around the movie set with ease. Also, before Paul Whiteman's idea of playing pre-recorded music in 1930's "King of Jazz," the custom of having musicians play live accompaniment to the dancers and singers while being filmed is caught within frame.
Silent movie actress Blanche Sweet personifies the "washed up" veterans of the screen in "Showgirl in Hollywood." Sweet, 32, relates to the young Ann White that "in this business, when you're over 32 you're older than those hills up there." Blanche, in movies since 1909, was the lead in a number of D. W Griffith films, including 1911's "The Lonedale Operator" and 1913's "Judith of Bethulia." After "Showgirl in Hollywood," Sweet appeared in her final movie, 'The Silver Horde,' later in the year before retiring from the screen. She moved on to perform in radio and in secondary roles on Broadway. But as those opportunities diminished, she worked in a Los Angeles department store.
"Showgirl of Hollywood" was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, his fifth talkie. LeRoy, one of cinema's more successful directors, began his movie career with a letter of introduction from his cousin, studio producer and future Paramount Pictures part-owner Jesse L. Lasky. The young vaudeville performer LeRoy started at the bottom of his cousin's studio, first in the Wardrobe Unit folding clothes, then as a lab techician. Later, director Cecil B. DeMille noticed LeRoy's energetic personality, hiring him as an extra in 1923's "The Ten Commandments," which inspired the young man to become a director. After a gag writer gig for comedienne Colleen Moore at First National Pictures, LeRoy was offered to direct his first picture, 1927's comedy 'No Place To Go.' LeRoy went on to direct such classics as 1930 "Little Caesar," 1955 "Mister Roberts" (replacing John Ford), and 1958 "No Time For Sergeants," with his last movie in 1965's "Moment to Moment." As for Alice White, she began as a secretary and script girl for directors Josef von Sternberg and Charlie Chaplin, who encouraged her to go into acting. From the 1927's 'The Sea Tiger,' her career immediately blossomed. She left movies in 1931, only to resume her film roles in 1933. But a love triangle between her, British actor John Warburton, and producer Sidney Bartlett became a major scandal that year. White claims Warburton broke her nose in a fight, requiring plastic surgery. After the incident, Warburton told reporters he was beaten up by two men who he knew White and Bartlett hired to teach him a lesson. A grand jury failed to indict White and Bartlett. The actress and the producer married soon after the trial in December 1933, but all the bad publicity doomed her career. She was offered only small roles, and in 1938, returning as a secretary, divorced Bartlett. The unlucky White later fell off a ladder and face planted on a pair of scissor, blinding her for several months. "Knocks make you stronger," she said, "My chin ought to be scarred. But it's tough, it can take 'em. I like beans so if I had to eat a tin-can diet, it wouldn't kill me." Alice White, one of Hollywood's most beloved actresses for a brief time, died from complications of a stroke in February, 1983, at the age of 78.
The peak of White's film career was playing Dixie Dugan in April 1930's "Showgirl in Hollywood." She was the star attraction of a film that mimics the ups and downs of those in the movie business. Based on J. P. McEvoy's 1929 play 'Hollywood Girl,' "Showgirl in Hollywood" is a follow-up to White's 1928 appearance in the silent film (with a musical soundtrack) 'Show Girl.' In this 1930 version, she's persuaded by a film director to go to Hollywood after seeing her perform in a New York City nightclub. She does. After several bumps along the way, White is selected for the lead in a musical movie.
"Showgirl in Hollywood" offers a rare look at the making of talkies just when they were taking off. The first sound system to introduce talkies to the public, Vitaphone and its disc recording was beginning to lose its luster. The film captures a glimpse of the Warner Brothers' equipment in the movie. Also, cameras by the middle of 1930 had been liberated from its sound-proof boxes they required to dampen the noise of their internal motors. A new innovation called 'blimps,' bulky sound-proof housings encased around the cameras, allowed them to move around the movie set with ease. Also, before Paul Whiteman's idea of playing pre-recorded music in 1930's "King of Jazz," the custom of having musicians play live accompaniment to the dancers and singers while being filmed is caught within frame.
Silent movie actress Blanche Sweet personifies the "washed up" veterans of the screen in "Showgirl in Hollywood." Sweet, 32, relates to the young Ann White that "in this business, when you're over 32 you're older than those hills up there." Blanche, in movies since 1909, was the lead in a number of D. W Griffith films, including 1911's "The Lonedale Operator" and 1913's "Judith of Bethulia." After "Showgirl in Hollywood," Sweet appeared in her final movie, 'The Silver Horde,' later in the year before retiring from the screen. She moved on to perform in radio and in secondary roles on Broadway. But as those opportunities diminished, she worked in a Los Angeles department store.
"Showgirl of Hollywood" was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, his fifth talkie. LeRoy, one of cinema's more successful directors, began his movie career with a letter of introduction from his cousin, studio producer and future Paramount Pictures part-owner Jesse L. Lasky. The young vaudeville performer LeRoy started at the bottom of his cousin's studio, first in the Wardrobe Unit folding clothes, then as a lab techician. Later, director Cecil B. DeMille noticed LeRoy's energetic personality, hiring him as an extra in 1923's "The Ten Commandments," which inspired the young man to become a director. After a gag writer gig for comedienne Colleen Moore at First National Pictures, LeRoy was offered to direct his first picture, 1927's comedy 'No Place To Go.' LeRoy went on to direct such classics as 1930 "Little Caesar," 1955 "Mister Roberts" (replacing John Ford), and 1958 "No Time For Sergeants," with his last movie in 1965's "Moment to Moment." As for Alice White, she began as a secretary and script girl for directors Josef von Sternberg and Charlie Chaplin, who encouraged her to go into acting. From the 1927's 'The Sea Tiger,' her career immediately blossomed. She left movies in 1931, only to resume her film roles in 1933. But a love triangle between her, British actor John Warburton, and producer Sidney Bartlett became a major scandal that year. White claims Warburton broke her nose in a fight, requiring plastic surgery. After the incident, Warburton told reporters he was beaten up by two men who he knew White and Bartlett hired to teach him a lesson. A grand jury failed to indict White and Bartlett. The actress and the producer married soon after the trial in December 1933, but all the bad publicity doomed her career. She was offered only small roles, and in 1938, returning as a secretary, divorced Bartlett. The unlucky White later fell off a ladder and face planted on a pair of scissor, blinding her for several months. "Knocks make you stronger," she said, "My chin ought to be scarred. But it's tough, it can take 'em. I like beans so if I had to eat a tin-can diet, it wouldn't kill me." Alice White, one of Hollywood's most beloved actresses for a brief time, died from complications of a stroke in February, 1983, at the age of 78.