Gloria
Jean was a very popular child actress of the 30s, 40s
and 50s. In her career, she was fortunate enough to work with the
actors and actresses that we have long since idolized. Some of her
co-stars were Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, Carmen Miranda,
Jerry Lewis and more! She began her road into the entertainment
business as a young singer, earning herself the nickname "Baby
Skylark" for her pure and melodic tone. She has vivid
memories of her time in Hollywood and of the roles she has played,
many of them focusing on music. She now has her own official website,
www.gloriajeanchildstar.com
that she runs with the help of her sister Bonnie. Gloria recently
agreed to talk with us regarding her work, her famous co-stars,
the recent book that was written about her and what she's been up
to lately. She was extemely pleasant and enjoyable to talk with.
You can click play on the player below to hear the audio stream
from the interview, as well as read the transcription. Here is Ms.
Gloria Jean!
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MP: I'm talking with Gloria Jean,
who is a very popular child actress of the 30s, 40s and 50s. She's
worked with some incredible personalities. Gloria, thank you so
much for speaking with me today.
Gloria: You're
welcome.
MP: You
started out as singer. Your nickname was “Baby Skylark”.
How did you go from being a singer to actually doing films?
Gloria:
Actually, I sang for many years before I was discovered in films.
They were grooming me for an opera in New York, the first child
star to ever sing in an opera. Joe Pasternak, producer, was written
up in the paper that he was auditioning girls to star in their first
picture called "The Under Pup". Now, Joe Pasternak was
Deanna Durbin's producer. So, my music teacher took me from Staten
Island over to where they were auditioning to sing for Joe Pasternak.
When I went in, I looked around and all the little girls were dressed
and quite beautiful; they all looked like Shirley Temple, I wasn't.
Well, they were ready for the audition and I said "just a moment,
the piano is out of tune". Well, my music teacher could have
strangled me. Joe Pasternak was impressed, he said "you know,
this kid has spunk, bring her back tomorrow and we'll tune the piano."
So, I did go back and I sang, and they were all quite impressed
and he said "we'll let you know in a couple of weeks what we
decide." When you hear that you might as well think "oh
well" you know. But sure enough in two weeks, they called me
and I came out to Hollywood to star in my first movie called "The
Under Pup". You can imagine what a thrill that was!
MP: Was
it difficult for you to balance a Hollywood career and going to
school?
Gloria: Not
at all because they had that all worked out. We had four hours of
school along with our shooting, and the school house was right on
the set. So, it was a little hard because you'd get involved
in a subject and they'd call you, they were ready to shoot the film,
back and forth. But, it was fun and we had proper schooling, very
good educational teachers too.
MP: One of your classmates
was Elizabeth Taylor.
Gloria: That's
true. They had a regular school house at Universal, and Elizabeth
attended with Donald O'Connor and Sabu and a lot of the young stars.
Elizabeth was very shy and the teacher was worried, she said "I
hope she gets over that". Well, I think she did! But she was
beautiful and a lovely little girl.
MP: You worked with
a lot of heavyweights at a young age. After your first film, which
you said was “The Under-Pup” in 1939, you went directly
into your next film “If I Had My Way” with Bing Crosby.
Describe if you could, your recollections of Bing.
Gloria: Bing
was wonderful, and also terrific to his little boys. One of the
best things he did for me was he'd take me aside and teach me little
tricks in acting. Also, he said "don't let Hollywood ruin you,
you stay very close to your family, it's the most precious thing you'll
ever have", and I remembered that. I really enjoyed working
with Bing.
MP: Didn't Bing also
give you a dog?
Gloria: Oh
yes! This goes back, but the "Thin Man" series, there
was a little dog called "Asta". Bing gave me Asta's niece
and I called her "Patsy". You talk about adorable! She
was a regular motion picture dog. I had a lot of pictures taken
with her and she'd pose and she was just incredible. It was a wonderful
gift.
MP:
In 1941, you starred with W.C. Fields in “Never Give A Sucker
An Even Break”. You played his niece. To my knowledge, this
was the last film that Fields made where he was in the lead role.
There’s a great line in the film where you say to him “We're
falling 2,000 feet!” and he replied “It's all right,
dear. Don't start worrying 'til we get down 1,999. The last foot
is dangerous!” Was his on-set attitude similar to that, to
where he sort of took you under his wing?
Gloria: Yes
and the funny part of it is, he was really funnier in person because
he'd mumble things and of course everybody just rolled with laughter.
But, he was supposed to hate children, he was very nice to me. I
was 14 at the time. He really fell in love with my mother, because
mother had to be with me on the set until I was 18 years old. So,
she was outspoken and he was impressed with mother. Mother never
thought he was funny. There was something about him, whenever he
was really sad or depressed, he'd say "get Gloria's momma,
I want to talk to her", and everybody was amazed. They'd send
mother into the dressing room with W.C. and that's where she was
for a long time, he just loved her.
MP: In 1943, you starred
in “Mister Big” with Donald O’Connor, many people
may know from “Singin’ In The Rain”, 1952. You
played Patricia, a student who wanted to be a singer. The entire
pace of the film is extremely upbeat. How was that film for you,
in terms of working with Donald and also working as someone who
wanted to be a singer when you actually were a singer?
Gloria: Well,
whatever role you were given, you played that role. Donald was such
a joy to work with. I always thought that they never gave him credit
for his voice, I loved Donald's voice! Dancing came later on, you
know, in the earlier pictures I did with him. He didn't dance. Can
you imagine? He was so talented to begin with, of course I fell
in love with him. You couldn't help it, you know I was a teenager
and going to school with him and I thought he was wonderful. It
was great fun working with him and we made six movies together.
MP: Did you feel while you were
working in the middle of all these films, that you had any real,
direct competition from actors and actresses in your same age group?
Gloria: No,
it was too much fun. I loved what I was doing, it never seemed like
work to me. Even though one year I did an awful lot of movies and
they were B-pictures, you know. It was tiring work, that's the only
thing. I found that I was quite tired and hoped for some time to
relax. But that was impossible, when you're under contract to a
studio, they have things for you to do all the time. As a matter
of fact I'm retired now and this is what I'm doing, I'm enjoying
my life, peace and quiet. But I miss the good old work that I used
to do. Such great memories and great, great things that I did.
MP: In your teen years,
you made a lot of films in which your scenes would ultimately be
cut. But in 1947, you played with Groucho Marx and Carmen Miranda
in “Copacabana”. I remember reading that Groucho sort
of lobbied for you to have that part.
Gloria:
Yes, that's what I understand and he also took me under his
wing like most people did in those days. Groucho was a little worried
because I worked with Copacabana girls and Steve Cochran who was
a ladies man, and he said "listen, you just keep low key and
don't let anybody sway you". He seemed to be so worried about
me. One of the nicest men I've ever worked with! Carmen Miranda
was a sweetheart and she was so concerned about what I ate, she
was a "health nut" as they say. She was always "now
you eat properly and I wish you didn't like ice cream because that's
not good for you", and just funny, you know, but a lovely person.
MP: Did you have a favorite
co-star among everybody you worked with?
Gloria: That's
very hard to say. I think Donald was one of my favorites but each
movie that I made, I found something special in everybody. That's
the way I was.
MP: You were supposed
to star in a show with Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer, and Barbara
Stanwyck, but it never came about. What happened in that particular
case?
Gloria: Well,
I highly admired him (Robinson). There was a movie called "Flesh
and Fantasy", one of my sequences was in that movie and I was
a blind girl. Edward G. was so impressed, I think that was the reason
that he wanted to do a movie with me. Unfortunately, it was cut
out of "Flesh and Fantasy", made into a full-length feature
called "Destiny" but it didn't have the impact. It broke
my heart that they cut it out because it was a real dream to be
in that movie. It was the first straight, dramatic role I had and
I'll never forget how excited I was when Charles Boyer, who was
the producer, said "guess what, you got the part!" I remember
I was 17 at the time. You can imagine how excited I was.
MP: In the 1960s, I
understand Elvis Presley also wanted to work with you.
Gloria: That's
true. I was doing a movie with Jerry Lewis called "Ladies Man"
and I was in the commissary one day and looked up, and there was
Elvis. All the girls were sitting with me and they dropped thier
spoons, because he was dynamic to look at. He said "Gloria
Jean, I loved your voice, I can't wait to sing with you, we've got
to do a movie together and sing together!" Well Gary, I was
so excited. So, I told my agent about it, I said "oh I hope
we can do something!", and he never did anything. I think that
was a real big tragedy that nothing had come of us, you know.
MP: Why do you think
it never happened?
Gloria: I
really wish I knew. I think you have to pursue, when somebody suggests
things, you've got to really push it through. But the agent had
so many stars and he was working for them, not for me, and it was
sad but it never happened.
MP:
There was a book written about you called “Gloria Jean: A
Little Bit of Heaven”, which is a full length biography and
includes many of your personal memories. Were you eager to participate
in the book and are you happy with how it turned out?
Gloria: Very,
very happy that the book is out, a little sad that they didn't
write more about my son and his family that live in Hawaii. I'm
very proud of them and the children, I have four grandchildren.
They never wrote about that, but I didn't write the book really.
I mean, I gave them my story and they told the truth about everything
and all the pictures. I am happy that that's one book that is out,
and hopefully one day somebody will approach me to do another one,
and I can go into greater detail in that book.
MP: Have you ever thought
about writing one yourself?
Gloria: Yes,
but to be perfectly honest I'm a little tired. I have a website
that's really very wonderful in keeping me busy, and I'm so busy
with little projects that writing my own book would take a little
time. But, it's a thought Gary and I might just do that!
MP: Many of your films
are very hard to find. Some of them never went to video, nor are
they even shown on television anymore. Do you know if there is any
talk of having some of these movies put out on DVD, like “A
Little Bit of Heaven”, “Destiny” or “I'll
Remember April”?
Gloria: Well,
I'll tell you what, I just found out that Turner Classic Movies,
they're going to have the one I did with Bing Crosby, "If I
Had My Way". So this is a great, great sign, possibly they'll
release more of those films. As you know, they don't do Deanna Durbin's
films, you don't see many of those either. She was, before I even
went into movies, Deanna was my idol and I always thought she had
a beautiful voice.
MP: Many child stars,
especially nowadays, develop problems after they’re out of
the limelight. But you didn’t. What did you do to handle that
transition?
Gloria: Well,
my advice to a lot of people that wonder what they're going to do,
is to make sure that you're equipped to do other things, because
you can't count on just being an actor or whatever. So when I tried
to get back into the movies, when Pasternak left the studio and
I went on tour I lost contact with a lot of people. Then I tried
to contact them and it was a whole different ball game. A lot of
them turned me down and turned the other cheek. I was very depressed
but what did I do? I went to the Department of Unemployment and
I said I need a job, and what can I do? The girl said "you
have a wonderful speaking voice and I've got the job for you".
She said "receptionist" at a company called "Redken
Laboratories". Well I went there and they hired me in an instant.
I worked there for 30 years. So, I consider that I made a success
in my life, in two different fields. Redken was like the entertainment
because I was spokeswoman and I greeted people and talked on the
phone and loved my job. I just sort of carried through my family
and they were behind me 100%, so it can be done instead of going
by the wayside like so many that you read about. Just don't be depressed
and know that you can do other things. That's what happened to me!
MP: If you could do
it all over again, would you do anything differently?
Gloria: No,
no I never would've dreamed that this would've happened to me. It
was like a fairytale really, the way I was discovered. I'd never
do anything over again.
MP:
You mentioned that you do have your official website, which is www.gloriajeanchildstar.com.
Your sister Bonnie helps you with that.
Gloria: She
does and Bonnie is just a marvel! She does the typing and I do the
dictating. We have the best time in our retirement, and Bonnie is
the only living relative, outside of my son and my grandchildren.
So we have a regular business going and it's so exciting to me that
people remember those years. I think they were the very best, I
really do!
MP: In addition to your
site, do you still get to meet and talk with some of your fans?
Gloria: Oh
yes! I'm living in Oxnard (California), and they just had an Oxnard
Film Festival. Well, if that wasn't a thrill! They showed the movie
with W.C. Fields and I got on stage and answered questions from
the audience. It was just terrific! People loved the fact that I
live here and I'm right on the ocean. So my life now is perfect.
MP: Is there anything
else you’d like to add or you'd like to say?
Gloria: Well,
only that I want people to realize that I'm happy, that I look back
in the years that I was in films as the greatest in my life. Not
many people can experience that.
MP: Once again, I'm
speaking with Gloria Jean, who was a tremendous and very famous
child actress of the 30s, 40s and 50s and as you've heard, she's
worked with some incredible names and has the best experiences from
her time working in what we consider the Golden Age of Hollywood.
So Gloria, again, thank you so much for talking with me today.
Gloria: Gary,
it was a pleasure!
*** I would like to
extend my sincere appreciation to Gloria Jean for taking time out
to speak with me. I'd also like to remind everyone to visit her
official website, www.gloriajeanchildstar.com
***
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