Lillian Roth
Encyclopedia
Lillian Roth was an American
singer and actress.
, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge. In her autobiography, she described being molested by the man who painted her as a statue.
The following year she made her Broadway
debut in The Inner Man. Her motion picture debut came in 1918 in Pershing's Crusaders. Together with her sister Ann she toured as "Lillian Roth and Co." At times the two were billed as "The Roth Kids". One of the most exciting moments for her came when she met U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
. The President took Lillian and her sister for a ride around the block in his chauffeur driven car, after attending a performance of their vaudeville act.
Roth entered the Clark School of Concentration in the early 1920s. She appeared in Artists and Models in 1923 and went on to make Revels with Frank Fay
. During production for the former show, she told management she was nineteen years of age.
production.
Soon the young actress signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures
. Among the films she made with Paramount were The Love Parade
(1929) with Maurice Chevalier
, The Vagabond King
(1930), Paramount on Parade
(1930), Honey (1930; in which she introduced "Sing, You Sinners"), Cecil B. DeMille
's Madam Satan
(1930) with Reginald Denny
and Kay Johnson
, Sea Legs with Jack Oakie
, and the Marx Brothers
second film, Animal Crackers
(1930). She took over Ethel Merman
's stage role in the film version of Take a Chance, singing "Eadie Was a Lady". After leaving Paramount, she had a supporting role in the women's prison film Ladies They Talk About
(Warner Brothers, 1933) with Barbara Stanwyck
.
She headlined the Palace Theatre
in New York City
and performed in the Earl Carroll Vanities in 1928, 1931, and 1932. She continued to make strides as a singer in an era when so much was being set to music.
Unfortunately, her personal life was increasingly overshadowed by her addiction to alcohol. Although her parents were not stereotypical stage parents, as a response to their influence Roth came to rely too much on other people. In her books and interviews, she said she was too trusting of husbands who made key decisions concerning her money and contracts.
Roth was out of the limelight from the late 1930s until 1953, when she appeared on a special episode of the TV series This Is Your Life
with Ralph Edwards
. In response to her honesty in relating her story of alcoholism, she received more than forty thousand letters. Her theme song, which she began singing as a child performer, was "When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)
".
In 1962, she was featured as Elliott Gould
's mother in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale
, in which Barbra Streisand
made her Broadway debut. Despite the acclaim for Streisand, producer David Merrick
realized that Roth's name still sold tickets, and he elevated her to above-title star billing after the show's opening, with Gould, Streisand and Sheree North
listed below. Roth remained with the show for its full run of 301 performances and recorded the cast album for Columbia Records.
She was also featured as Mrs. Brice in the national touring company of Funny Girl in 1964, again getting top billing, though a feud with co-star Marilyn Michaels
led to her being brought up on charges by Actors Equity. She was signed for a non-singing role in Neil Simon
's comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue
, but was replaced prior to the opening.
Publishing Company at an Alcoholics Anonymous
meeting. Roth joined Alcoholics Anonymous
(A.A.) in 1946. The two were married and McGuire managed Roth until September 1963. At this time she received a note from him stating that their marriage was finished. According to Roth, he left her penniless after withdrawing all funds from their joint bank account.
In 1971, however, she made a triumphant return to Broadway in the Kander and Ebb
musical 70, Girls, 70
, which despite its short run was recorded by Columbia and has remained a popular cast album. She also returned to feature films, which she had left in 1934, to play a pathologist in the cult horror classic Alice, Sweet Alice (also known as Communion) in 1976. Her last film was Boardwalk
, with Lee Strasberg
, Ruth Gordon
and Janet Leigh
(1979). A successful concert at Town Hall was released as an album by AEI Records after her death. One of her final appearances was in a well reviewed club act at the legendary N.Y.C. night club, Reno Sweeney.
, I'll Cry Tomorrow, was written with author-collaborator Gerold Frank
in 1954, and a toned-down version of it was made into a hit film
the following year starring Susan Hayward
, who was nominated for an Academy Award. The book became a bestseller worldwide and sold more than seven million copies in twenty languages, and the film renewed the public's interest in Roth. She recorded four songs for the Coral label (the first commercial recordings of her career), which were followed by an LP for Epic and another for Tops. She also headlined a vaudeville revival at the Palace on Broadway. A highlight of her act was an imitation of Susan Hayward
imitating her (Roth) singing "Red, Red Robin".
In 1958, Roth published a second book, Beyond My Worth, which was not as successful as its predecessor, but told the compelling story of what it was like to be placed on a pedestal that she could not always live up to. Roth had managed to re-invent herself as a major concert and nightclub performer. She appeared at venues in Las Vegas
and New York's Copacabana and was a popular attraction in Australia
.
in 1980, at the age of 69. The inscription on her marker in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Westchester County, New York
, reads: "As bad as it was it was good."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and actress.
Early life
Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational PicturesEducational Pictures
Educational Pictures was a film distribution company founded in 1919 by Earle Hammons . Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring Shirley...
, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge. In her autobiography, she described being molested by the man who painted her as a statue.
The following year she made her Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut in The Inner Man. Her motion picture debut came in 1918 in Pershing's Crusaders. Together with her sister Ann she toured as "Lillian Roth and Co." At times the two were billed as "The Roth Kids". One of the most exciting moments for her came when she met U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
. The President took Lillian and her sister for a ride around the block in his chauffeur driven car, after attending a performance of their vaudeville act.
Roth entered the Clark School of Concentration in the early 1920s. She appeared in Artists and Models in 1923 and went on to make Revels with Frank Fay
Frank Fay (American actor)
Frank Fay was an American film and stage actor, emcee, comedian, best known as an actor for having played "Elwood P. Dowd" in the play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase on Broadway...
. During production for the former show, she told management she was nineteen years of age.
Career
In 1927, when Roth was seventeen years old, she made the first of three Earl Carroll Vanities, which was soon followed by Midnight Frolics, a Florenz ZiegfeldFlorenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
production.
Soon the young actress signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Among the films she made with Paramount were The Love Parade
The Love Parade
The Love Parade is a 1929 musical comedy film about the marital difficulties of Queen Louise of Sylvania and her consort, Count Alfred Renard...
(1929) with Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, The Vagabond King
The Vagabond King (1930 film)
The Vagabond King is a 1930 American musical operetta film photographed entirely in two-color Technicolor. The plot of the film was based on the 1925 operetta of the same name, which was based on the 1901 play If I Were King by Justin Huntly McCarthy. The play told the story of a renegade French...
(1930), Paramount on Parade
Paramount on Parade
Paramount on Parade is a all-star revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Victor Heerman, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H...
(1930), Honey (1930; in which she introduced "Sing, You Sinners"), Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
's Madam Satan
Madam Satan
Madam Satan is a dramatic pre-Code musical film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille for MGM, one of the few DeMille made for the Culver City studio...
(1930) with Reginald Denny
Reginald Denny (actor)
Reginald Denny was an English stage, film, and television actor. He was once an amateur boxing champion of Great Britain.-Acting career:...
and Kay Johnson
Kay Johnson
Kay Johnson was an American actress who performed on the stage and in Hollywood films.-Family:Catherine Townsend Johnson was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1904. Her father was architect Thomas R. Johnson who designed several noteworthy buildings in the New York City...
, Sea Legs with Jack Oakie
Jack Oakie
Jack Oakie was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television.-Early life:...
, and the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
second film, Animal Crackers
Animal Crackers (film)
Animal Crackers is a 1930 American comedy film, in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding. The film was both a critical and commercial success upon initial release, and remains one of the Marx...
(1930). She took over Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
's stage role in the film version of Take a Chance, singing "Eadie Was a Lady". After leaving Paramount, she had a supporting role in the women's prison film Ladies They Talk About
Ladies They Talk About
Ladies They Talk About is a 1933 Pre-Code women in prison film about a woman sent to San Quentin. Based on the play Women in Prison by Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles, the film stars Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, and Lillian Roth.-Plot:...
(Warner Brothers, 1933) with Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
.
She headlined the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, New York
The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre was built by Martin Beck a California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario. The project experienced a number of business problems before...
in 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...
and performed in the Earl Carroll Vanities in 1928, 1931, and 1932. She continued to make strides as a singer in an era when so much was being set to music.
Unfortunately, her personal life was increasingly overshadowed by her addiction to alcohol. Although her parents were not stereotypical stage parents, as a response to their influence Roth came to rely too much on other people. In her books and interviews, she said she was too trusting of husbands who made key decisions concerning her money and contracts.
Roth was out of the limelight from the late 1930s until 1953, when she appeared on a special episode of the TV series This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
with Ralph Edwards
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards was an American radio and television host and television producer.-Early career:Born in Merino, Colorado , Edwards worked for KROW-AM in Oakland, California while he was still in high school...
. In response to her honesty in relating her story of alcoholism, she received more than forty thousand letters. Her theme song, which she began singing as a child performer, was "When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)
When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)
"When the Red, Red Robin " was a 1926 popular song written by songwriter Harry M. Woods. The song was an instant hit for singers like "Whispering" Jack Smith, Cliff Edwards and the Ipana Troubadors...
".
In 1962, she was featured as Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...
's mother in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
I Can Get It for You Wholesale is a musical with music and lyrics by Harold Rome and a book by Jerome Weidman based on his 1937 novel of the same title. It marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand, who was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in...
, in which Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
made her Broadway debut. Despite the acclaim for Streisand, producer David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
realized that Roth's name still sold tickets, and he elevated her to above-title star billing after the show's opening, with Gould, Streisand and Sheree North
Sheree North
Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...
listed below. Roth remained with the show for its full run of 301 performances and recorded the cast album for Columbia Records.
She was also featured as Mrs. Brice in the national touring company of Funny Girl in 1964, again getting top billing, though a feud with co-star Marilyn Michaels
Marilyn Michaels
Marilyn Michaels is an American comedic actress, impressionist and singer. She auditioned for and won an RCA recording contract, singing the follow-up song to Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her", entitled, "Tell Tommy I Miss Him". She later won contracts with Warner Bros...
led to her being brought up on charges by Actors Equity. She was signed for a non-singing role in Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Prisoner of Second Avenue is an American black comedy play by Neil Simon, later made into a film released in 1975.The play ran on Broadway from November 1971 until September 1973, with Peter Falk and Lee Grant starring as Mel and Edna Edison, and Vincent Gardenia as Mel's brother Harry. The...
, but was replaced prior to the opening.
Marriages
Roth was married at least five times, to aviator William C. Scott ("Willie Richards"), Judge Benjamin Shalleck, Eugene J. Weiner ("Mark Harris"), Edward Goldman ("Vic"), and Burt McGuire. Prior to her marriages, she was engaged to David Lyons, who died of tuberculosis. She divorced W. C. Scott in May 1932 after 13 months of marriage (Pittsburgh-Post Gazette 5-6-1932). In 1955 she met Thomas Burt McGuire, scion of Funk and WagnallsFunk and Wagnalls
Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including A Standard Dictionary of the English Language , and the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including A Standard Dictionary of the English...
Publishing Company at an Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
meeting. Roth joined Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
(A.A.) in 1946. The two were married and McGuire managed Roth until September 1963. At this time she received a note from him stating that their marriage was finished. According to Roth, he left her penniless after withdrawing all funds from their joint bank account.
Later years
In 1970, Roth was sharing a penthouse on Manhattan's West Fifty-Eighth Street. Her fellow occupants were another woman, three poodles, a police dog, a chihuahua, and three dachsunds. Her last employment included work as a bakery employee, hospital attendant, and package wrapper and she cut pies at the Automat.In 1971, however, she made a triumphant return to Broadway in the Kander and Ebb
Kander and Ebb
Kander and Ebb were a highly successful songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb . Known primarily for their stage musicals, Kander and Ebb also scored several movies including their most famous song, the theme song from Martin Scorsese's New York, New York...
musical 70, Girls, 70
70, Girls, 70
70, Girls, 70 is a musical with a book by Fred Ebb and Norman L. Martin adapted by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Ebb, and music by John Kander.The musical is based on the 1958 play Breath of Spring by Peter Coke...
, which despite its short run was recorded by Columbia and has remained a popular cast album. She also returned to feature films, which she had left in 1934, to play a pathologist in the cult horror classic Alice, Sweet Alice (also known as Communion) in 1976. Her last film was Boardwalk
Boardwalk (film)
Boardwalk is a 1979 American drama film written by Stephen Verona and Leigh Chapman and directed by Verona. It stars Ruth Gordon, Lee Strasberg and Janet Leigh....
, with Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
, Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
and Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
(1979). A successful concert at Town Hall was released as an album by AEI Records after her death. One of her final appearances was in a well reviewed club act at the legendary N.Y.C. night club, Reno Sweeney.
Books
Roth's autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, I'll Cry Tomorrow, was written with author-collaborator Gerold Frank
Gerold Frank
Gerold Frank was an American author and ghostwriter. He wrote a number of celebrity memoirs and was considered a pioneer of the "as told to" form of biography...
in 1954, and a toned-down version of it was made into a hit film
I'll Cry Tomorrow
I'll Cry Tomorrow is a biopic which tells the story of Lillian Roth, a Broadway star who rebels against the pressure of her domineering mother and reacts to the death of her fiancé by becoming an alcoholic...
the following year starring Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
, who was nominated for an Academy Award. The book became a bestseller worldwide and sold more than seven million copies in twenty languages, and the film renewed the public's interest in Roth. She recorded four songs for the Coral label (the first commercial recordings of her career), which were followed by an LP for Epic and another for Tops. She also headlined a vaudeville revival at the Palace on Broadway. A highlight of her act was an imitation of Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
imitating her (Roth) singing "Red, Red Robin".
In 1958, Roth published a second book, Beyond My Worth, which was not as successful as its predecessor, but told the compelling story of what it was like to be placed on a pedestal that she could not always live up to. Roth had managed to re-invent herself as a major concert and nightclub performer. She appeared at venues in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and New York's Copacabana and was a popular attraction in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Death
Roth died from a strokeStroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in 1980, at the age of 69. The inscription on her marker in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Westchester County, New York
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
, reads: "As bad as it was it was good."