Alice Faye 05 066 Ns - article by Whimsical Wire Articles

Alice Faye was an American singer and actress, famous during the 1930s, and 40s for her radio, theatre and film performances. She is best known for her participation on the radio program ‘The Fleischmann Hour’, her performances on Broadway, and for her roles in the movies ‘George White’s Scandals’, ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’, and ‘In Old Chicago’.

Alice Faye was born Alice Jeane Leppert on May 5th, 1915 in New York City to parents Charley, a police officer, and Alice Leppert. Raised in the famously rough neighborhood on Hell’s Kitchen, her early life was marked by struggle and adversity. Her performance career began on the stage as a chorus girl on Vaudeville, an experience that would eventually win her parts on Broadway productions of ‘George White’s Scandals’ a short time later. During her time on Broadway, she took the stage name Alice Faye.

Faye’s first major success was her role on the radio program ‘The Fleischmann Hour’, which starred then famous entertainer and musician Rudy Vallee. That attention she gained from her radio acting and singing won her a leading role in the movie version of ‘George White’s Scandals’ in 1933 when the original actress, Lillian Harvey, left the set. Faye had already been contracted to perform a musical number with Vallee for the movie, but was offered the leading role when it opened. The movie was a success, but more importantly for Faye her performance caught the attention of producer Darryl Zanuck, who took a liking to Faye’s look.

With Zanuck’s support, Alice Faye would go on to perform in leading roles in several movies and musicals of the later 1930s and 1940s. Faye had something of a tough girl image, a little rough around the edges, and Zanuck focused his efforts on turning her into a more conventional actress. She was often criticized for having a mild speech impediment, but went on to prominence nonetheless. Many people consider her role in the 1938 moive, ‘In Old Chicago’, to be her finest performance.

Her career in Hollywood productions came to a sudden end when she walked off the set of ‘Lost Angel’ in 1944. Apparently, Zanuck had been cutting a number of Faye’s scenes in the movie in favor of his newest actress obsession, Linda Darnell. For breaching her contract, Zanuck ensured that Alice Faye would never work in a Hollywood movie again, and she didn’t.

Alice married Tony Martin in 1937, and divorced him three years later. She remarried to Phil Harris in 1941, and they remained together until Harris died in 1995. Although her movie career was over, Alice starred in a number of radio and television productions throughout the remainder of her life. She died on May 9th, 1998 from stomach cancer.

Although her movie career was relatively short, Alice Faye is one of those movie and entertainment icons from Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’ of productions. She is represented with a sidewalk star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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