In the late 1950s, George Haimsohn andJim Wise, two young writers from theMidwest met British writer Robin Miller,who was working on a project about theRuby Keeler/Dick Powell movie era. Thetrio teamed up to create a 45-minutecabaret show called GOLDDIGGERSAFLOAT, which parodied the movie mu-sicals of the 1930s.The show was expanded to two acts andwas produced by Cafe Cino, a small ex-perimental, 40-seat theater and coffeehouse in Greenwich Village in 1962. Itwas revived Off-Broadway in 1968. Afterthe original actress cast as "Ruby" with-drew during rehearsals, choreographerDon Price recommended newcomerBernadette Peters for the role. Already atheater veteran at 17, Peter’s career gota jump-start with this production. Since its initial production, DAMES ATSEA has sailed on to become a peren-nial hit at regional, dinner and Commu-nity theatres all over the world. It is oneof the few musicals to get its start Off-Broadway that continues to be regularlyrevived. A New York Times critic wrote,“It has remained as fresh as it was in1968 when it began its journey into pop-ular musical mythology.'' Lyricists George Haimsohn and RobinMiller and composer Jim Wise created adeliberately outrageous and outra-geously funny musical. Their real joke isthat DAMES AT SEA is a sendup of thebig Busby Berkeley style musicals of the1930s and 1940s in a very un-Berkeley-like production. On a small stage, with asmall-sized cast, the musical spoofs thegrandeur of large, lavish musicals withsass and style. The original productionwon Drama Desk Awards for Best Direc-tion, Neal Kenyon; Outstanding Lyrics,George Haimsohn and Robin Miller; Out-standing Performance, Bernadette Pe-ters and the Outer Critics Circle Awardfor Best Off Broadway Musical.There is not much known about the writ-ing team. Haimsohn became a profes-sional photographer, working under thepseudonym Plato. He also designed mo-biles and collages and wrote stories andlimericks under the pen name Alexander.He wrote two other musicals, NOW,ZING! and JOHNNY AMERICAN, whichremain unpublished.

Book writer Robin Miller has three othermusicals to his credit, though PEG andVANITY FAIR, based on the WilliamThackary novel, remain unpublished. Hisadaptation of RADIO TIMES, with musicby Noel Gay, (composer of ME AND MYGIRL) and an original book by Abi Grant,is set in London's Criterion Theatre inthe Spring of 1941. It traces the strug-gles of the cast of Variety Bandwagon, aBBC light entertainment show, broad-casting for the first time live to America. Composer Jim Wise brought a brassy,sunny pastiche sound to his collabora-tion with Haimsohn. He was a favoritewriter of specialty material for manystage and TV stars including then-popu-lar performers Dodi Goodman, GloriaDeHaven, Pat Carroll and Jane Connell.He wrote YANKEE INGENUITY, a musi-cal based on Anna Cora Mowatt's FASHION and also a collection of songs,GATHER YE ROSEBUDS, which is amusical setting of three centuries of Eng-lish poetry. For over thirty years, until his retirementin 1989, he taught English and Drama atNew Jersey Institute of Technology inNewark. In 1994 he endowed a scholar-ship awarded annually to theatre stu-dents with outstanding academicrecords. The theater complex on campusbears his name.

Audience Guide2010-2011

Issue 1, September/October 2010IN THIS ISSUE

AUDIENCE GUIDEResearch/Writing by Justine Leonard

for ENLIGHTEN,Skylight Opera Theatre’s Education ProgramEdited by Ray Jivoff414-299-4965

rayj@skylightopera.comwww.skylightopera.com

DAMES AT SEA Sails On

Music by

Jim WiseBook and Lyrics

by George Haimsohn & Robin Miller

On “Black Thursday,” Octo-ber 24, 1929, the stockmarket crashed and the USand most of the world wasplunged into the Great De-pression. Businesses hadturned out more productthan they could sell to apopulation that was over itshead in debt, in a countrywhose economy had beenbased on an inequitabledistribution of wealth. Millions were out of work,with unemployment peakingat 25% in 1933. Businessesand families failed on arecord number of loans andmore than 5,000 banksfailed. In response, Presi-dent Herbert Hoover andhis administration startednumerous programs, all ofwhich failed to reverse thedownturn. His administra-tion was blamed for the Depression andHoover’s name became an adjective forall the manifestations of the blight. Hun-dreds of thousands of Americans acrossthe country found themselves homeless,congregating in the many “Hoovervilles,”squalid villages in vacant lots with shel-ters made of packing boxes and scrapmetal. There were “Hoover blankets,”old newspapers used for warmth bypark-bench tenants.Families changed in dramatic ways.Many couples delayed marriage, the di-vorce rate dropped sharply (it was tooexpensive to pay the legal fees and sup-port two households) and birth ratesdropped significantly. Men finding them-selves out of work had to rely on theirwives and children to help make endsmeet. Some stopped looking for work,paralyzed by their bleak chances andlack of self-respect. Others became so

frustrated that they simply deserted theirfamilies. A 1940 survey revealed that 1.5million married women had been aban-doned by their husbands. FDR and the New DealIn 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,promising a New Deal, was elected the32nd President. The country was scaredand in his famous first inaugural ad-dress, he proclaimed, “We have nothingto fear but fear itself.” In his administration’s “first 100 days,”economic stimulus was attemptedthrough an alphabet soup of agencies.The National Recovery Administration(NRA) was createdto regulate wages,working hours andprices. The PublicWorks Administra-tion (PWA) and theCivilian Conserva-tion Corps (CCC)gave hundreds ofthousands of gov-ernment jobs to theunemployed whobuilt schools, high-ways, bridges, airports, post officesand parks. TheWorks Progress Ad-ministration (WPA)hired thousands of

artists to compose, per-form, paint and seek outand record authentic folkmusic. The Federal The-atre entertained 30 millionpeople with shows. Oppo-nents of the administrationcalled it “creeping social-ism,” but by 1939 thegross national product hadincreased more than 60per cent over 1933.The Dust BowlAnother major problem atthis time was known asthe Dust Bowl, caused bysevere drought, coupledwith decades of extensivefarming without crop rota-tion and other techniquesto prevent erosion. Duringthe drought of the 1930s,with no natural anchors tokeep the soil in place, itdried, turned to dust, and

blew away in large dark clouds. Millionsof acres of farmland became useless,and hundreds of thousands of peoplewere forced to leave their homes. AuthorJohn Steinbeck later wrote THEGRAPES OF WRATH, which won thePulitzer Prize, and OF MICE AND MENabout this situation. Mrs. RooseveltFDR’s wife, Eleanor, had observed thelimited role of the First Lady during thepresidency of her uncle, Theodore Roo-sevelt (1901–1909), and set out on a differ-ent course. With her husband's strong

dames at seaAudience GuideThe Great Depression

support, she continued with the activebusiness and speaking agenda she hadbegun before becoming First Lady, in anera when few women had careers. Shewas the first to hold weekly press confer-ences and started writing "My Day," awidely syndicated newspaper column.Mrs. Roosevelt maintained a heavytravel schedule over her 12 years in theWhite House, frequently making per-sonal appearances at labor meetings toassure Depression-era workers that theWhite House was concerned about theirsituation. Eleanor became an important connec-tion for Franklin's administration to theAfrican-American population. DuringFDR's four terms as President, despitehis need to placate southern sentiment,Eleanor was vocal in her support of theAfrican-American civil rights movement.She was outspoken in her support ofMarian Anderson in 1939 when the blacksinger was denied the use of Washing-ton's Constitution Hall and was instru-mental in the subsequent concert heldon the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.The first lady played a role in racial af-fairs when she appointed Mary McLeodBethune as head of the Division ofNegro Affairs.One social highlight of the Rooseveltyears was the 1939 visit of King GeorgeVI and Queen Elizabeth, the first Britishmonarchs to set foot on US soil. TheRoosevelts were criticized in some quar-ters for serving hot dogs to the royalcouple during a picnic at Hyde Park.

RadioRadio was one of themost important forms ofcommunication in the‘30s. Families gatheredaround the set to listen totheir favorite programs,the latest news and songhits of the day. One ofRoosevelt’s morale boost-ing strategies were his“Fireside Chats,” a seriesof radio talks to the nationin which FDR shared hishopes and plans for thenation and invited theAmerican people to "tellme your troubles." The Movies to the Rescue"During the Depression, when the spiritof the people is lower than at any othertime, it is a splendid thing that for just 15cents an American can go to a movieand look at the smiling face of a babyand forget his troubles."

President Franklin Roosevelt.Throughout the Depression, Americanswent almost compulsively to the movies,perhaps as an inexpensive way to vaca-tion from reality. The film industry recog-nized this consumer power and carefullyevaluated the most popular types offilms. Hollywood understood the shameof standing in breadlines and the help-lessness of losing a job, and musicalssuch as 42ND STREET, GOLD DIG-GERS OF 1933 and FOOTLIGHT PA-RADE directly addressed theDepression and these musicals werethe highest grossing films of the decade.

Other newsThe Star Spangled Banner became ournational anthem in 1931, the same yearof the first clinical use of Penicillin andthe opening of the Empire State Build-ing, then the world’s tallest building. In1937, insulin was introduced to controldiabetes and the DuPont Company de-veloped nylon, the first fully man-madefiber. It was the first of dozens of wonderproducts that would someday be avail-able to millions of Americans, includinglightweight metal alloys, plastic, televi-sion and frozen foods. In 1939, Ger-many, led by Adolph Hitler, invadedPoland; England and France declaredwar on Germany and before the decadeended, the US would be drawn intoWorld War II. As America rallied its peo-ple and resources to face this new chal-lenge, the Great Depression, which hadlasted from the late 1920s through the1930s was about to end.

dames at seaAudience Guide

The Automat, a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drink wereserved by coin-operated vending machines.

"In an era of breadlines, depression andwars, I tried to help people get awayfrom all the misery. I wanted to makepeople happy, if only for an hour.”

Busby Berkeley Although he never seriously studied cho-reography and never had a dance les-son, movie director and choreographerBusby Berkeley brought exciting newperspectives to the budding art of motionpicture production. Berkeley ingeniouslychoreographed and filmed elaboratedance productions and created outra-geous kaleidoscopic effects through theuse of dynamic camera angles. His natu-ral bent for conceiving visual effects

often involved complex geometric pat-terns, turning those ideas into realitythrough inventive costumes, sets andfilming techniques. Berkeley was the first director to take advantage of the motion picture cam-era's ability to move around the set. Bydoing so, he brought previously unseenvisual perspectives beyond the conven-tional "front row" theater views employedby early motion picture directors. Berke-ley routinely engineered and rigged hisown equipment in order to obtain innova-tive camera angles for filming lavishdance productions.After enlisting in the army during WorldWar I, Berkeley served as a lieutenant inthe artillery, conducting and directing parades. He staged camp shows, con-ducting parade drills for as many as1200 men and training as an aerial ob-server-two experiences that clearlyshaped his approach to dance on film.After the war, Berkeley worked in thetheater, acting in and choreographingnumbers for touring musicals. His repu-tation grew steadily, and in 1928 he cho-reographed five Broadway shows. His success on Broadway led to the op-portunity to work in Hollywood on the

newest movie genre, the film musical,then in its first flush of popularity afterthe recent arrival of sound. ProducerSamuel Goldwyn hired him to direct themusical sequences of WHOOPEE!(1930), starring Eddie Cantor. In one se-quence, Berkeley filmed the GoldwynGirls in symmetrical fashion, from over-head-a technique that would become

dames at seaAudience GuideBusby Berkeley: He Kept America’s Toes Tapping

Busby Berkeley (1895-1976)

Scene from the My Forgotten Man number in GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933)

his trademark. One of the first chanceshe took was using only one camera inhis films. He also showed close-ups ofthe chorus girls. Asked about this he ex-plained, "Well, we've got all these beauti-ful girls in the picture, why not let thepublic see them?"Berkeley's popularity with an entertain-ment-hungry Great Depression audiencewas secured when he choreographedseveral musicals back-to-back forWarner Brothers: 42ND STREET, FOOT-LIGHT PARADE and GOLD DIGGERSOF 1933. His innovative and often sexu-ally-charged dance numbers have beenanalyzed at length by cinema scholars.In particular, the numbers have been cri-tiqued for their display (and some sayexploitation) of the female form and fortheir depiction of collectivism (as op-posed to traditionally American individu-alism) in the spirit of Roosevelt's NewDeal. Berkeley always denied any deepsignificance to his work, arguing that hismain professional goals were to con-stantly top himself and to never repeathis past accomplishments.According to Turner Classic Movies,Berkeley's choreography is notable forits humorous and voyeuristic eroticism.GOLDDIGGERS OF 1933 opens withchorines, led by a young Ginger Rogers,singing We're in the Money clad in noth-ing but large coins-a striking image ofwomen as objects of exchange. The Pet-tin' in the Park number from the samemovie features Dick Powell using a canopener to gain access to Ruby Keeler'smetal-clad body. The famous Lady in the

Tutti-Frutti Hat sequence from THEGANG'S ALL HERE (1943), featuring Car-men Miranda and a line of chorus girlswaving giant bananas, may be the quin-tessential Berkeley sequence, combininghis surreal visual style with an overblownFreudian symbolism. There is an almostcubist element to Berkeley's penchantfor breaking up the physical world intoaesthetically pleasing, abstract visualpatterns, as in the giant jigsaw puzzle ofRuby Keeler's face carried by thechorines in the I Only Have Eyes for Younumber in DAMES. Berkeley's greatestachievement was that he attempted tofree the camera from the mere recordingof surface reality.As the outsized musicals in which Berke-ley specialized became passé, he turnedto straight directing. Theresult was 1939's THEYMADE ME A CRIMINAL,one of John Garfield'sbest films. Berkeley hadseveral well-publicizedrun-ins with MGM starssuch as Judy Garland. In1943, he was removedas director of GIRLCRAZY because of dis-agreements with Gar-land, although the lavishmusical number I GotRhythm, which he di-rected, remained in thepicture. At MGM in the late1940s, one of his manyaccomplishments was

conceiving the Technicolor finales for thestudio's Esther Williams films. Berkeley'sfinal film as choreographer was MGM'sBILLY ROSE'S JUMBO (1962).In the late 1960s, the nostalgia crazebrought the Berkeley musicals back tothe forefront. He toured the college andlecture circuit, and even directed a1930s-style cold medication commercial,complete with a top shot of a dancingclock. At 74, Berkeley returned to Broad-way to direct a successful revival of NO,NO, NANETTE starring his old WarnerBrothers colleague and 42ND STREETstar, Ruby Keeler.Berkeley’s personal life was as colorfulas his films. He married six times andwas also involved in an alienation of af-fections lawsuit in 1938 involving filmstar Carole Landis. In 1935, Berkeleywas the driver responsible for an auto-mobile accident in which two peoplewere killed, five seriously injured; Berke-ley himself was badly cut and bruised.Brought to court on a stretcher, he heardtestimony that Time magazine saidmade him wince. Witnesses stated thatBerkeley whizzed down the highway, cutout of line, crashed headlong into onecar, and sideswiped another. Some saidthey smelled liquor on his breath. Triedfor murder, Berkeley, represented bycelebrity attorney Jerry Giesler, was ac-quitted in a third trial after the previoustwo ended in hung juries.Busby Berkeley died in 1976 at the ageof 80.

dames at seaAudience Guide

Scene from GOLDDIGGERS OF 1933

Scene from 42nd STREET (1933)

It’s the 1930s and the height ofthe Great Depression. A younghoofer arrives in New York City withdreams of starring on the Great WhiteWay. When a temperamental Broadwaydiva becomes indisposed, the newcomeris the only girl able to take the star’splace at a moment’s notice. Recognizethe plot? It’s 42ND STREET, right?Wrong! It’s DAMES AT SEA, a delightfulspoof of the iconic movie.The outrageous fun begins when Ruby,fresh off the bus from Utah with “nothingbut tap shoes in her suitcase and aprayer in her heart.” Not having eaten

in three days, “not even a gra-ham cracker,” she faints into thearms of Dick, a sailor, would-besongwriter, and (believe it or not) a

fellow Utah native. In a clinch like this,what’s a couple to do but sing It’s You?(“It isn’t Jean Harlow, it isn’t GretaGarbo. It’s you. It’s you. It’s you!). Glamorous Broadway star Mona Kent,wanting to get her hands on Dick forboth his music and his looks, starts flirt-ing with him. Dick all too eagerly givesher one of his songs to sing, Mr. Man OfMine, “Once he was a big shot, swim-ming in cash, champagne and roses allaround....Thencame the crash.” Dick's buddy,Lucky, arrivesand he turns outto be a formerboyfriend ofwise-crackingchorus girl,Joan. Findingtheir earlier loverekindled, theyimagine theirhoneymoon(Choo-ChooHoneymoon). Before you knowit, Ruby’s givena spot in the

chorus and Hennessey, the show’s di-rector, asks, “Do you know the number?Can you do it?” With dreams of stardomin her eyes, Ruby replies “I’ll try!” Shedoesn’t have much time to learn herdance steps because it’s opening night.Well, it would be opening night if not fora slight hitch. Hennesey drops a bomb-shell that a demolition crew is parked infront of the theater getting ready to tear itdown and either they find another venueor the show will not go on. Ruby admitsher feelings for Dick (The Sailor of MyDreams). At the top of Act Two, Dick and Luckypersuade the Captain to volunteer theuse of their ship (Dames at Sea). Monarecognizes the Captain as a formerboyfriend (The Beguine). When Monakisses Dick to persuade him to give herone of his songs, Ruby sees it and is de-spondent (Raining In My Heart). Dick ex-plains the misunderstanding and thecouple make up (There's SomethingAbout You). In 42ND STREET, Dorothy breaks a leg;for Mona in DAMES AT SEA, it’s a caseof seasickness (The Echo Waltz). Rubysteps in and becomes a star (Star Tar)just hours after her arrival at the bus sta-tion. But after all, her Uncle Gus alwaystold her, “Those tapping toes of yoursare gonna take you a long way.” WhichDick confirms, “And so they have. You’reon Broadway”. Cue the happy ending asthe three couples agree to marry (Let'sHave A Simple Wedding).

dames at seaAudience GuideThe Plot … as if you didn’t already know it …

Costume designs by Gregory Slawko Set design by Rick Rasmussen

In a kind of a spoof within a spoof,DAMES AT SEA writers George Haim-sohn and Robin Miller named their leadcharacters after Dick Powell and RubyKeeler, stars of the movie 42NDSTREET. The musical duo were big, bigstars in their day.Ruby Keeler was the innocent-faced tap-dancing sweetheart of nine WarnerBrothers movies, teaming with Powell inseven, including 42ND STREET, FOOT-LIGHT PARADE and GOLD DIGGERSOF 1933. The two became one of themost popular screen couples of the early1930s. Among the songs Keeler intro-duced were Shuffle Off to Buffalo, 42ndStreet and Too Marvelous for Words. A kid fresh from Nova Scotia, she wasonly 14 when she got her start as adancer in a New York speakeasy. Shemoved from there to Broadway, whereher shows included Florenz Ziegfeld'sWHOOPEE! in 1928, the same year shemarried legendary singer Al Jolson. In1933, she was cast in 42ND STREET, ahuge success partly due to BusbyBerkeley's lavish, innovative choreogra-phy. It earned her a long-term contractand a string of hits. In 1940, her marriage to Jolson endedand the next year she retired from showbusiness and married John Lowe, a Cali-fornia real estate broker. In 1971, shortlyafter her husband's death, she returnedto Broadway in a revival of the 1925 mu-sical NO, NO, NANETTE. She had beenrecommended by none other than BusbyBerkeley, the show's production supervi-sor, who was then 74. The show, whichran for 871 performances, was amongthe season's surprise hits and won warmcritical notices for its star, whose returnto show business at the age of 60 washailed as one of the most remarkableshow business comebacks in years. Shestayed with the show for its full two-yearrun and then toured with it for two moreyears. Ruby Keeler died in 1993.

Dick Powell never made a comeback,because he never retired, he just keptre-inventing himself. In his early career,Powell brought his ringing tenor andboyish looks to the wildly popular BusbyBerkeley musical extravaganzas withRuby Keeler and Joan Blondell, wholater became his second wife. He later moved into light comedies suchas Preston Sturges' CHRISTMAS INJULY (1940). Powell desperately wantedto expand his range and eventuallymade the break in the mid-1940s ap-pearing in movies such as JOHNNY O'-CLOCK and CRY DANGER, becoming akey interpreter of tough-guy film noirroles. Powell's definitive "hard-boiled" role wasas Raymond Chandler's private eyePhilip Marlowe, in MURDER, MYSWEET (1944). His voice a bit rougherand his callow juvenile charm intriguinglyhardened, Powell proved he was morethan a lightweight talent in such bleakfilm noirs as CORNERED (1945) and PIT-FALL (1948) and THE BAD AND THEBEAUTIFUL (1952).He later directed and produced severalunexceptional films in the 1950s andventured into TV, founding Four Star Tel-evision with Charles Boyer, David Nivenand Ida Lupino. He was married to histhird wife, MGM star June Allyson, untilhis death in 1963.

From Dame to Diva Bernadette Peters and DAMES AT SEAorbited to fame together to becomeshow business legends. DAMES was farfrom Peters' first role. She began per-forming on the stage as a child and thenas a teenage actor. Over the course of acareer that has spanned five decades,she has starred in musical theater, filmsand television, as well as performing insolo concerts and recordings. Peters is particularly noted for her star-ring roles in stage musicals includingSONG AND DANCE, SUNDAY IN THEPARK WITH GEORGE, ANNIE GETYOUR GUN and GYPSY, becomingclosely associated with composerStephen Sondheim. She created the roleof the Witch in Sondheim’s INTO THEWOODS (1987). Sondheim has said ofPeters, "Like very few others, she singsand acts at the same time.” Peters is one of the most critically-ac-claimed Broadway performers, receivingseven nominations for Tony Awards, win-ning two, and eight Drama Desk Awards,winning three. After an absence from theBroadway stage of six years, she is cur-rently starring in the Broadway revival ofSondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, asDesiree Armfeldt replacing CatherineZeta-Jones in the role.

dames at seaAudience GuideDick And Ruby Who?

Keeler as a giant jigsaw puzzle in DAMES (1934)Peters and David Christmas in the original

DAMES AT SEA (1968)

Bert Wheeler (1895 –1968) was part of a fa-mous American filmcomedy team of the1930s with RobertWoolsey. They re-cre-ated their Broadwayroles in the 1929movie RIO RITA andwent on to make very

popular comedies through 1937 for RKORadio Pictures. Among the team's betterfeatures were HIPS HIPS HOORAY,COCKEYED CAVALIERS, CAUGHTPLASTERED, THE CUCKOOS andPEACH O'RENO. Woolsey died of kid-ney disease in 1938. Wheeler continuedto work until his death in 1968. Richard Arlen (1899-1976) served as a pilotin the Royal CanadianAir Force during WorldWar I, worked in theoilfields of Texas andOklahoma and then asa tool boy, a messen-ger and sporting editorof a newspaper beforegoing to Los Angeles.He got his start inmovies as an extra in silent films. Arlenis best known for his role as a pilot in theAcademy Award-winning WINGS (1927)with Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers,and his future first wife Jobyna Ralston.

George "Spanky"McFarland (1928–1993) was famousfor his appear-ances in the OURGANG series ofshort-subjectcomedies of the1930s and 1940s.He was born inDallas, Texas and

joined the OUR GANG cast at the age ofthree. McFarland "retired" from OURGANG at age thirteen.In 1952, at age 24, McFarland joined theAir Force. Upon his return, he worked ata soft drink plant, a hamburger standand a popsicle factory. In the late 1950s,he hosted a children's show, SPANKY'SCLUBHOUSE in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hisfinal television performance was in a1993 episode of CHEERS.

Charles Farrell(1901-1990) began hiscareer in Hollywoodtaking bit parts in theearly 1920s. His sec-ond film was in theenormously popular1923 adaptation ofthe Victor Hugonovel THE HUNCH-BACK OF NOTRE DAME starring LonChaney. Farrell is best remembered forhis onscreen romances with actressJanet Gaynor in more than a dozenfilms, including SEVENTH HEAVEN,STREET ANGEL and LUCKY STAR.

Aimee SempleMcPherson (1890 –1944) was an evan-gelist and mediacelebrity in the1920s and 1930s.McPherson was apioneer in the useof modern media,especially radio. In1936, McPhersoncreated soupkitchens, free clin-ics and other char-

itable activities as the Great Depressionwore on. With the outbreak of World WarII, she was involved in war bond rallies.She committed suicide in 1944.

Nancy Carroll(1903-1965) was amovie star whoappeared in lightcomedies, tearfulmelodramas andmusicals and re-ceived the mostfan mail of anystar in the early1930s. She wasnominated for

the Academy Award for Best Actress forTHE DEVIL'S HOLIDAY in 1930. Amongher films are HOT SATURDAY (1932) withCary Grant and Randolph Scott andBROKEN LULLABY (1932) directed byErnst Lubitsch.Carroll earned a reputation as an unco-operative actress and was released byher studio and retired from films in 1938.She returned to the stage, and starred inthe early television series THE ALDRICHFAMILY in 1950.

Marion Talley (1906-1983) was a childprodigy whose rise was meteoric, butwhose career was short lived. She madeher Metropolitan Opera debut at age 19in RIGOLETTO, the youngest primadonna to appear on the Met stage andwas an immediate sensation. She ap-peared in the first Vitaphone talking pic-ture at the Warner Brothers Theater in1926. She moved to Hollywood in 1929,and though she lived there for the rest ofher life, she made only one other film, FOLLOW YOUR HEART in 1936.

Elsa Maxwell (1883 – 1963) was an Ameri-can gossip columnist and author, song-writer and professional hostess knownfor her parties for royalty and high soci-ety figures of her day. Maxwell is cred-ited with the introduction of thescavenger hunt as a party game. Of hercelebrity-studded life, she said that itwas "not bad, for a short, fat, homelypiano player from Keokuk, Iowa, with nomoney or background, [who] decided tobecome a legend and did just that."

dames at seaAudience GuideNames from DAMES