ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 (edited) Attended my wife's Uncle Gus’ funeral this weekend. At one point during the weekend we were looking through some of his old pictures. We found the following picture from Auburn’s Tiger Theater. The following picture looks like it was taken between 1945 and 1950. Back then, the studios sent out their actors to promote films….sometimes they ended up at the 715 seat Tiger theater. Her granddad is in the middle….it is possible….that the people on the left and right might be actors. So the question is….can anybody identify either person? I feel I disappointed the family when I could not identify the lady by the microphone…any help would be greatly appreciated…..if only to redeem myself in my family’s eyes. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/2018/07/july-23rd-need-classic-movie-help-in-possibly-identifying-an-actress/ Edited July 23, 2018 by ClassicMovieRankings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NipkowDisc Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 van Johnson & van Heflin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 Not quite....but thanks for the guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 I'll start by saying it looks a bit like Mary Martin but my trivia brain is not in gear yet for the day. It also kind of looks like Ann Savage, but do you know if this person was there just to introduce a film or to possibly sing? Could be a big band singer and I'll bet it is from the early 1940's to mid-1940's due to the hair-do on the lady. Things were different by around 1950 in hair styles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAndNora34 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 I'd like to second the fact she looks very much like a big band singer from the 40s. Thought it might be Helen Forrest, as they look similar, but I don't think it is. I'll keep racking my brains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 8 minutes ago, NickAndNora34 said: I'd like to second the fact she looks very much like a big band singer from the 40s. Thought it might be Helen Forrest, as they look similar, but I don't think it is. I'll keep racking my brains. Yep, could be Helen, could be someone like Marion Hutton, Betty's sister. So many of those ladies wore their hair in that marcelled pompadour effect in the 1940's. I shall keep on rubbing my thinking cap, and hope NickAndNora do too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 Thank you CaveGirl and NickandNora34. Sadly everybody that could answer if it was singer or actress is long gone. My wife's grandfather passed away in 1959....he had a massive heart attack while working at the theater....so Auburn's Tiger theater is literally where he died. Marion Hutton and Helen Forrest seem like better guesses than Mary Martin....if only because Martin might have been too big of a star to be sent to Auburn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 The lady in this photo is also a mystery. The previous photo was on the stage in front of the screen....this one looks like it might have been outside the theater. Sadly the back of the photo has absolutely nothing on it. No date, no names no nothing....you would have thought they would have left a note so 70 years later we would know...lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 Finally figured out how to add the photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 23 minutes ago, ClassicMovieRankings said: The lady in this photo is also a mystery. The previous photo was on the stage in front of the screen....this one looks like it might have been outside the theater. Sadly the back of the photo has absolutely nothing on it. No date, no names no nothing....you would have thought they would have left a note so 70 years later we would know...lol. I'm going nuts now trying to figure out what the sign behind them says. It looks like a carny sign and obviously is about a "39 FOOT REPLICA" of...something, but what? I think the next line might be saying "THE ORIGINAL" but I'm still working on the rest. Could it be a python? Could it be a "GREEN-EYED MONSTER"??? By the way, don't know who any of the three people to the left are, but that is definitely William Randolph Hearst on the right. Just kidding, but it really is someone who resembles the old codger. Contact the Marion Davies Society for further confirmation...haha! By the way, the reason I think the first picture is possibly of a big band singer is, that hairdos that high, are too big even for the movie screen and usually the top was not higher than a Little Richard pompadour, as the movie screen couldn't contain them. But on stage at big band events, the higher the better, which is why many of those female singers were adopting that trademark look. Not saying it can't be an actress, but she is clutching that mike like she's used to maybe singing into one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 She resembles Bette Midler (but I know that was before her time. LOL) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAndNora34 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 6 hours ago, ClassicMovieRankings said: https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/2018/07/july-23rd-need-classic-movie-help-in-possibly-identifying-an-actress/ She looks like the love child of Tallulah Bankhead and Ann Savage. This is driving me crazy haha I feel like I should be able to find out who she is. So far, I've ruled out Marion Hutton, Mary Martin, Bea Swain, and Martha Tilton. She bears some sort of resemblance to a singer named Lucy Ann Polk, but who knows. Don't think this is it, but maybe it'll jog someone else's memory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Is isn't Jeanette MacDonald? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det Jim McLeod Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Hedda Hopper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movie Collector OH Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 39 foot replica of the Green Dolphin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 7 hours ago, CaveGirl said: Yep, could be Helen, could be someone like Marion Hutton, Betty's sister. So many of those ladies wore their hair in that marcelled pompadour effect in the 1940's. I shall keep on rubbing my thinking cap, and hope NickAndNora do too! The "marcelled pompadour effect." Is that what that hairstyle was called? I think it's early-mid '40s, WWII-era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 All of the guesses and suggestions are greatly appreciated. My father-in-law, who is still around....but was between 10 and 20 at the time of the photos has no idea at all.....they presented the question to me...."the family's movie expert".....and I had a big ZERO. So all of these comments are very helpful. This picture has no mystery....just love all the bikes in front of the theater. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NipkowDisc Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Claire trevor or maybe ann Sheridan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Hey Wayne…..well….“marcelled pompadour effect.” is an awesome bit of trivia. My father-in-law went down the same path …only he went with style of the suits to come up with the range of 1946 to 1952. Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Hey MovieCollectorOH that is a great guess…..Green Dolphin Street came out in 1947…and that is the range we are thinking that the movie came out. Now I can look at the IMDb cast for that movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 21 hours ago, ClassicMovieRankings said: Attended my wife's Uncle Gus’ funeral this weekend. At one point during the weekend we were looking through some of his old pictures. We found the following picture from Auburn’s Tiger Theater. The following picture looks like it was taken between 1945 and 1950. Back then, the studios sent out their actors to promote films….sometimes they ended up at the 715 seat Tiger theater. Her granddad is in the middle….it is possible….that the people on the left and right might be actors. So the question is….can anybody identify either person? I feel I disappointed the family when I could not identify the lady by the microphone…any help would be greatly appreciated…..if only to redeem myself in my family’s eyes. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/2018/07/july-23rd-need-classic-movie-help-in-possibly-identifying-an-actress/ And too, in a way, looks like JO STAFFORD. And that homemade looking riser she's standing on makes me think it's from some kind of USO show or some other kind of benefit( war bond sales promotion perhaps). And those guys behind her possibly just a couple of local officials of some kind. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicMovieRankings Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Hey Sepiatone.....good thoughts.....the guy in the middle is my wife's grandfather.....he was the manager of the Tiger Theater from 1932 to 1959. So your guess of "And those guys behind her possibly just a couple of local officials of some kind" is 100% correct at least with the guy in the middle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAndNora34 Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 The guy on the right doesn't look ready to be on stage, like the female singer appears to be. You'd think a man who was a performer by trade would look a little more at ease/ready to flash that winning smile. So I'm thinking he's a local or something as well, since he appears to be kind of zoned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movie Collector OH Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 1 hour ago, Sepiatone said: And too, in a way, looks like JO STAFFORD. And that homemade looking riser she's standing on makes me think it's from some kind of USO show or some other kind of benefit( war bond sales promotion perhaps). And those guys behind her possibly just a couple of local officials of some kind. Sepiatone I noticed the unfinished look about the stage too. Not that uncommon back then, outside of Hollywood. That was before the days of technical theater grads and rolls of black scrim on hand to cover unfinished or uneven surfaces for a more professional appearance on temporary staging. One of the things we take for granted these days - I just did a picture search for black scrim and got a bunch of results targeted at wedding DJs. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 MovieCollector is spot on. Here is the same poster promoting the film in Philadelphia: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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