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Dorothy Page (actress)
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Page, dubbed "The Singing Cowgirl", born Dorothy Lillian Stofflett in Northampton, Pennsylvania
(March 4, 1904 – March 26, 1961), was a B-movie
actress during the 1930s.
During the 1920s Page had attended Cedar Crest College
, majoring in music. During that time she was chosen by the Curtis Publishing Company as a model for a Saturday Evening Post cover. Her portrait
, painted by artist
Neysa McMein
, dubbed her "One of America's Ten Most Beautiful Women".
, a doctor
whom she had met in college. The couple would have two daughters by 1929. Page tried out for the "Youth of America", in a singing contest hosted by Paul Whiteman
, and won. With that, her radio
career as a singer began, and her stage name was created. However, with her being away from home often with her new career, which often took her to New York City
, she and Shipton divorced in 1932. By 1935 she was a regular on the Paducah Plantation, written and hosted by Irvin S. Cobb
.
signed her to a contract. Her first film was Manhattan Blue, starring opposite Ricardo Cortez
, which saw moderate success and placed a spotlight on her talent as a singer and an actress. She then starred in King Soloman of Broadway opposite Edmund Lowe
and Pinky Tomlin
. That film was only moderately successful, and it wasn't until 1938 that she starred in another film, this time alongside Mary Boland
and Ernest Truex
in Mama Runs Wild. That movie also was not successful, and Page was not given any singing parts in the film.
In late 1938, Grand National Pictures announced its intention to do a series of cowboy based films utilizing a "Singing Cowgirl". The first of these was Water Rustlers
in 1939, starring Page and Dave O'Brien
. Unfortunately the movie-going public did not accept a woman in the lead role of a western. Ride em Cowgirl was released next, that same year, and fared even worse than the first. Later that same year, The Singing Cowgirl
was released, in which Page again starred with O'Brien. It would be the last film by Grand National Pictures, and shortly thereafter they went out of business.
attorney
Frederick D. Leuschner, and they resided at his ranch
in Tarzana, California. He died on December 6, 1941, at the age of 36 from heart failure. Page began working in realty, buying old Hollywood houses, remodeling them and selling them at a profit. This second career was very successful financially.
She then married Henry Clark McCormick of Fresno, California
, and the two lived at his ranch in Fresno. Page purchased a 1700 acres (6.9 km²) cotton
ranch near Pecos, Texas
. During the 1950s she was diagnosed with cancer
, and began a long and painful battle against it. She and McCormick divorced during her illness. Page moved to LaBelle, Florida
to be closer to Fort Myers
, where she was receiving cancer treatment. She died there from cancer on March 26, 1961, at the age of 57.
Northampton, Pennsylvania
Northampton is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The borough is located in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania...
(March 4, 1904 – March 26, 1961), was a B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
actress during the 1930s.
During the 1920s Page had attended Cedar Crest College
Cedar Crest College
Cedar Crest College is a private liberal arts women's college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. During the 2006-2007 academic year, the college had 1,000 full-time and 800 part-time undergraduates and 85 graduate students...
, majoring in music. During that time she was chosen by the Curtis Publishing Company as a model for a Saturday Evening Post cover. Her portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
, painted by artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
Neysa McMein
Neysa McMein
-Life:Born Marjorie Moran in Quincy, Illinois, she attended the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1913 went to New York City. After a brief stint as an actress, she turned to commercial art...
, dubbed her "One of America's Ten Most Beautiful Women".
Singing career
On July 3, 1925 at age , she married Waldo Shipton of Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
whom she had met in college. The couple would have two daughters by 1929. Page tried out for the "Youth of America", in a singing contest hosted by Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
, and won. With that, her radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
career as a singer began, and her stage name was created. However, with her being away from home often with her new career, which often took her to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, she and Shipton divorced in 1932. By 1935 she was a regular on the Paducah Plantation, written and hosted by Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin S. Cobb
Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and authored more than 60 books and 300 short stories.-Biography:...
.
Acting career
That same year, Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
signed her to a contract. Her first film was Manhattan Blue, starring opposite Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez
Jacob Krantz , known by his stage name Ricardo Cortez, was an American film actor who began his career during the silent era.-Life and career:...
, which saw moderate success and placed a spotlight on her talent as a singer and an actress. She then starred in King Soloman of Broadway opposite Edmund Lowe
Edmund Lowe
Edmund Dantes Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. He was born in San Jose, California.-Film career:...
and Pinky Tomlin
Pinky Tomlin
Pinky Tomlin was a singer, songwriter, and bandleader of the 1930s and 1940s. He also acted in occasional motion pictures. During his lifetime, he wrote and published 22 songs, several of which were in the top ten on the "Hit Parade." In 1938, a song he had written, titled "In Ole Oklahoma," was...
. That film was only moderately successful, and it wasn't until 1938 that she starred in another film, this time alongside Mary Boland
Mary Boland
-Career:Born Marie Anne Boland in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of William Boland, an actor, and his wife Mary Cecilia Hatton. She had an older sister named Sara....
and Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex was an American actor of stage and film.-Career:...
in Mama Runs Wild. That movie also was not successful, and Page was not given any singing parts in the film.
In late 1938, Grand National Pictures announced its intention to do a series of cowboy based films utilizing a "Singing Cowgirl". The first of these was Water Rustlers
Water Rustlers
- Cast :*Dorothy Page as Shirley Martin*Dave O'Brien as Bob Lawson*Vince Barnett as Mike, the cook*Stanley Price as Robert Weylan*Ethan Allen as Tim Martin*Leonard Trainor as Andy Jurgens, rancher*Warner Richmond as Wiley, crooked foreman...
in 1939, starring Page and Dave O'Brien
Dave O'Brien (actor)
Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures....
. Unfortunately the movie-going public did not accept a woman in the lead role of a western. Ride em Cowgirl was released next, that same year, and fared even worse than the first. Later that same year, The Singing Cowgirl
The Singing Cowgirl
-Cast:*Dorothy Page as Dorothy Hendricks*Dave O'Brien as Dick Williams*Vince Barnett as Kewpie*Warner Richmond as 'Gunhand' Garrick*Dorothy Short as Nora Pryde*Edward Peil Sr. as Tom Harkins*Dix Davis as Billy Harkins*Stanley Price as John Tolen...
was released, in which Page again starred with O'Brien. It would be the last film by Grand National Pictures, and shortly thereafter they went out of business.
Retirement
Following the failure of the three "singing cowgirl" films, and the end of Grand National Pictures, Page retired from acting. She married Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
Frederick D. Leuschner, and they resided at his ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
in Tarzana, California. He died on December 6, 1941, at the age of 36 from heart failure. Page began working in realty, buying old Hollywood houses, remodeling them and selling them at a profit. This second career was very successful financially.
She then married Henry Clark McCormick of Fresno, California
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, and the two lived at his ranch in Fresno. Page purchased a 1700 acres (6.9 km²) cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
ranch near Pecos, Texas
Pecos, Texas
Pecos is the largest city in and the county seat of Reeves County, Texas, United States. It is situated in the river valley on the west bank of the Pecos River at the eastern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert and the Trans-Pecos region of west Texas and near the southern border of New Mexico...
. During the 1950s she was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, and began a long and painful battle against it. She and McCormick divorced during her illness. Page moved to LaBelle, Florida
LaBelle, Florida
LaBelle is a city in and the county seat of Hendry County, Florida, United States. The population was 4,210 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 4,480 . It was named for Laura and Belle Hendry, daughters of pioneer cattleman Francis A...
to be closer to Fort Myers
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
, where she was receiving cancer treatment. She died there from cancer on March 26, 1961, at the age of 57.
External links
- Dorothy Page at b-westerns.com