Jane Isbell
Encyclopedia
Jane Isbell
was a minor actress, a bit player and extra who appeared in some major films produced during Hollywood's Golden Era in the 1930s-40s.
She was born Clarita Jane Isbell in Meridian, Mississippi, the daughter of Theodore Clark Isbell and Elizabeth (Gully) Isbell. Her father was a Vaudeville performer and her mother a granddaughter of Chief Justice George Washington Stone (1811–1894) of the Alabama Supreme Court. Clark Isbell's great-great-grandfather was a colorful Revolutionary War soldier who once saved the life of Andrew Jackson
when Jackson was a boy.
The Isbells moved to Los Angeles when Jane was an infant. The elder of two sisters, Jane began modeling and appearing as an extra in films when only four years old. In 1932, she made her first Mickey McGuire
comedy starring Mickey Rooney and would eventually make five films in the Mickey McGuire series, similar to the Our Gang
films. She grew up with child stars for playmates and was among those tested for the role of Bonnie Butler in Gone With the Wind
. She and Ann Gillis
were best friends, working in several films together, usually with Gillis a featured player and Isbell an extra and stand-in. She was Gillis' understudy and stand-in for long shots on both Little Orphan Annie
and Adventures of Tom Sawyer, appearing as an extra in some scenes. She wrote her first article at age twelve, a piece published in Screen Book magazine, April 1939, about Mickey Rooney. She worked with him again in 1944 in National Velvet
.
She graduated in 1944 from Franklin High School in Highland Park, Los Angeles, with special dramatic coaching, and studied art and journalism under John Morley. She appeared on several magazine covers, more often from her modeling work than acting, such as the cover of the Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife magazine in 1944. She also appeared in The Robert King Hollywood Hair Design Book (1948).
She married 11-29-1947 (Las Vegas, Nev.) Lt. Jack Marvin Althouse, an investment banker and former Navy lieutenant. (12 Apr 1919 – 12 Sept 2000). As her parents had kept her true age a secret, newspaper articles claimed she was only seventeen years old at the time of her marriage, although she was almost twenty. These press statements ignored a columnist who had previously reported in the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Express, Apr. 30, 1945, that she would turn 18 on Apr. 31, 1945. Various newspaper articles mentioned that she was a cousin of ballplayers Frank Isbell
of the Chicago White Sox
and Cecil Isbell
.
Several internet databases, including the IMDB and Flixster, have confused her with Frank Isbell's niece Jane who was born 12 September 1927 in Sedgwick, Kansas, and also died in Los Angeles.
Jane Isbell's biggest roles were in forgettable B-movies, but as an extra she appeared in some of Hollywood's biggest successes, screen triumphs such as National Velvet
, Sergeant York
, The Women
, Broadway Rhythm
, The Thin Man Goes Home
, Little Orphan Annie
, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
. Frequently seen in the same frame with Hollywood's biggest stars, her face is often found in screen stills from a number of famous movies. In Billy Wilder's The Major and the Minor
, she was one of the wallflower girls doing Veronica Lake
imitations, often called the funniest scene in this classic comedy.
Films include:
Luxury Liner
(1948)
Betty Co-Ed (1946) as Mrs. Leeds
The Thin Man Goes Home
(1945)
Thrill of a Romance
(1945) as Giggling Girl
Mom and Dad
(1945) as Mary Lou Gardner
National Velvet
(1944) as Schoolgirl Jane
Broadway Rhythm
(1944) as Co-ed in Drugstore
Bathing Beauty
(1944) as Western Union Girl
Junior Jive Bombers (1944)
The Youngest Profession
(1943) as Jane
Nobody's Darling (1943)
The Major and the Minor
(1942)
Sergeant York
(1941) as Gracie's sister
Reaching for the Sun (1941) as Amos' Child
I'm Still Alive (1940) as Mrs. Cady's Daughter
The Women
(1939) as Edith Potter's daughter
Woman Doctor (1939)
Little Orphan Annie
(1938) as Annie (stand-in)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) as Becky Thatcher (stand-in)
was a minor actress, a bit player and extra who appeared in some major films produced during Hollywood's Golden Era in the 1930s-40s.
She was born Clarita Jane Isbell in Meridian, Mississippi, the daughter of Theodore Clark Isbell and Elizabeth (Gully) Isbell. Her father was a Vaudeville performer and her mother a granddaughter of Chief Justice George Washington Stone (1811–1894) of the Alabama Supreme Court. Clark Isbell's great-great-grandfather was a colorful Revolutionary War soldier who once saved the life of Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
when Jackson was a boy.
The Isbells moved to Los Angeles when Jane was an infant. The elder of two sisters, Jane began modeling and appearing as an extra in films when only four years old. In 1932, she made her first Mickey McGuire
Mickey McGuire (film series)
Mickey McGuire was an American comedy series of short subjects from 1927 to 1934. The series was notable for essentially launching the careers of Mickey Rooney and Billy Barty. The series was based on Fontaine Fox's popular comic strip series, Toonerville Trolley. The series was very popular in its...
comedy starring Mickey Rooney and would eventually make five films in the Mickey McGuire series, similar to the Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
films. She grew up with child stars for playmates and was among those tested for the role of Bonnie Butler in Gone With the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
. She and Ann Gillis
Ann Gillis
Ann Gillis , sometimes credited as Anne Gillis or Ann Gilles, is a retired actress, starting her career in the early 1930s as a child actress and ending in 1947. She later came back into acting for a small part in 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968...
were best friends, working in several films together, usually with Gillis a featured player and Isbell an extra and stand-in. She was Gillis' understudy and stand-in for long shots on both Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...
and Adventures of Tom Sawyer, appearing as an extra in some scenes. She wrote her first article at age twelve, a piece published in Screen Book magazine, April 1939, about Mickey Rooney. She worked with him again in 1944 in National Velvet
National Velvet
National Velvet is a novel by Enid Bagnold , first published in 1935.-Plot summary:"National Velvet" is the story of a 14-year-old girl named Velvet Brown, who rides her horse to victory in the Grand National steeplechase...
.
She graduated in 1944 from Franklin High School in Highland Park, Los Angeles, with special dramatic coaching, and studied art and journalism under John Morley. She appeared on several magazine covers, more often from her modeling work than acting, such as the cover of the Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife magazine in 1944. She also appeared in The Robert King Hollywood Hair Design Book (1948).
She married 11-29-1947 (Las Vegas, Nev.) Lt. Jack Marvin Althouse, an investment banker and former Navy lieutenant. (12 Apr 1919 – 12 Sept 2000). As her parents had kept her true age a secret, newspaper articles claimed she was only seventeen years old at the time of her marriage, although she was almost twenty. These press statements ignored a columnist who had previously reported in the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Express, Apr. 30, 1945, that she would turn 18 on Apr. 31, 1945. Various newspaper articles mentioned that she was a cousin of ballplayers Frank Isbell
Frank Isbell
William Frank Isbell was a Major League first baseman, second baseman, and outfielder in the 1910s. He played for the Chicago Cubs in 1898 briefly, where he had 37 hits in 159 at bats . With the Cubs, he pitched and played outfield more than anything else. Thirteen of his seventeen games pitched...
of the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
and Cecil Isbell
Cecil Isbell
-Pro:-External links:...
.
Several internet databases, including the IMDB and Flixster, have confused her with Frank Isbell's niece Jane who was born 12 September 1927 in Sedgwick, Kansas, and also died in Los Angeles.
Jane Isbell's biggest roles were in forgettable B-movies, but as an extra she appeared in some of Hollywood's biggest successes, screen triumphs such as National Velvet
National Velvet
National Velvet is a novel by Enid Bagnold , first published in 1935.-Plot summary:"National Velvet" is the story of a 14-year-old girl named Velvet Brown, who rides her horse to victory in the Grand National steeplechase...
, Sergeant York
Sergeant York
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
, The Women
The Women
The Women is a comedy of manners by Clare Boothe Luce.The play is an acidic commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various wealthy Manhattan socialites and up-and-comers and the gossip that propels and damages their relationships...
, Broadway Rhythm
Broadway Rhythm
Broadway Rhythm is an MGM Technicolor musical film. It was produced by Jack Cummings and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film was originally announced as Broadway Melody of 1944 to follow MGM's Broadway Melody films of 1929, 1936, 1938, and 1940. The movie was originally slated to star Eleanor...
, The Thin Man Goes Home
The Thin Man Goes Home
The Thin Man Goes Home is a 1945 motion picture directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora.-Plot:...
, Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...
, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St...
. Frequently seen in the same frame with Hollywood's biggest stars, her face is often found in screen stills from a number of famous movies. In Billy Wilder's The Major and the Minor
The Major and the Minor
The Major and the Minor is a 1942 American comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. It was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder, and launched his "incomparable" directing career...
, she was one of the wallflower girls doing Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
imitations, often called the funniest scene in this classic comedy.
Films include:
Luxury Liner
Luxury liner
Luxury liner may refer to:*Passenger ships with a high standard of accommodation, especially ocean liners*Luxury Liner , a 1977 album by Emmylou Harris*"Luxury Liner" , 1948 motion picture from MGM...
(1948)
Betty Co-Ed (1946) as Mrs. Leeds
The Thin Man Goes Home
The Thin Man Goes Home
The Thin Man Goes Home is a 1945 motion picture directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora.-Plot:...
(1945)
Thrill of a Romance
Thrill of a Romance
Thrill of a Romance was an American romance film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1945, starring Van Johnson, Esther Williams and Carleton G. Young, with musical performances by opera singer Lauritz Melchior...
(1945) as Giggling Girl
Mom and Dad
Mom and Dad
Mom and Dad is a feature-length 1945 film directed by William Beaudine, and largely produced by the exploitation filmmaker and presenter Kroger Babb. Mom and Dad is considered the most successful film within its genre of "sex hygiene" films...
(1945) as Mary Lou Gardner
National Velvet
National Velvet
National Velvet is a novel by Enid Bagnold , first published in 1935.-Plot summary:"National Velvet" is the story of a 14-year-old girl named Velvet Brown, who rides her horse to victory in the Grand National steeplechase...
(1944) as Schoolgirl Jane
Broadway Rhythm
Broadway Rhythm
Broadway Rhythm is an MGM Technicolor musical film. It was produced by Jack Cummings and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film was originally announced as Broadway Melody of 1944 to follow MGM's Broadway Melody films of 1929, 1936, 1938, and 1940. The movie was originally slated to star Eleanor...
(1944) as Co-ed in Drugstore
Bathing Beauty
Bathing Beauty
Bathing Beauty is a 1944 musical starring Red Skelton, Basil Rathbone and Esther Williams and directed by George Sidney.Although this was not William's screen debut, it was her first Technicolor musical. The film was initially to be titled "Mr. Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing...
(1944) as Western Union Girl
Junior Jive Bombers (1944)
The Youngest Profession
The Youngest Profession
The Youngest Profession is a 1943 film, directed by Edward Buzzell, and starring Virginia Weidler, John Carroll, Edward Arnold, Scotty Beckett, and Agnes Moorehead. It contains cameos by Greer Garson, Lana Turner, William Powell, Walter Pidgeon, and Robert Taylor....
(1943) as Jane
Nobody's Darling (1943)
The Major and the Minor
The Major and the Minor
The Major and the Minor is a 1942 American comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. It was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder, and launched his "incomparable" directing career...
(1942)
Sergeant York
Sergeant York
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
(1941) as Gracie's sister
Reaching for the Sun (1941) as Amos' Child
I'm Still Alive (1940) as Mrs. Cady's Daughter
The Women
The Women
The Women is a comedy of manners by Clare Boothe Luce.The play is an acidic commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various wealthy Manhattan socialites and up-and-comers and the gossip that propels and damages their relationships...
(1939) as Edith Potter's daughter
Woman Doctor (1939)
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...
(1938) as Annie (stand-in)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) as Becky Thatcher (stand-in)