Bernice Claire (born Bernice Jahnigen; January 27, 1906 – January 17, 2003)Age given as 34 in 1940 census; taken in Assembly District 10, Manhattan, New York City during the first week of April 1940, listed as Bernice Claire, occupation: “Actress” "United States Census, 1940"
index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KQT6-92S: accessed November 10, 2014), Bernice Claire, Assembly District 10, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-884, sheet 61A, family 45, NARA digital publication of T627, roll 2644, NARA digital publication of T627, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.Bernice Claire, aged 25, year of birth given as 1906, on June 29, 1931 ship manifest sailing from Hamilton, Bermuda to New York, New York, "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957"
index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/24N8-W41: accessed November 10, 2014), Bernice Claire, 1931; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 1756726.“Bernice Claire (known as Jahnigen)", aged 29, born Oakland, California (Passport # 203238), date of birth given as ”Jan/27/I906” ship manifest, SS Champlain, sailing from Southampton, England (on July 17, 1935) to New York-U.S.A. (July 24, 1935)
/ref> was an American

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. She appeared in 13 films between

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...

and 1938.

Early years

She was born as Bernice Jahnigen (surname later mistranscribed as Janighen) to Adolph and Clara (née Sternitzky) Jahnigen in 1906 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. She had an elder brother, Earl. Her birth name is also sometimes found as Bernice Jahnigan. An article in the June 18, 1950, issue of the ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'' reported, "It was in 1918 that she first appeared as a juvenile, a pert little one with curled tresses who made an immediate impression on all who saw and heard her perform at Eastbay theaters and at lodges and veterans' gatherings." She attended Oakland High School, where she studied dramatics and was active in musical comedy productions.

Career

With a clear coloratura, Claire took to the stage performing light opera and had no difficulty singing demanding roles. In 1927, she appeared in her first vaudeville production. She met then-leading singer Alexander Gray; they appeared in three

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

films together in 1930 for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Gray and Claire became film's first operetta team, predating

Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', '' Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow'' and '' On ...

and

Nelson Eddy Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclub ...

. Her first screen appearance was in the original film version of ''

No, No, Nanette ''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''. The farcical story involves t ...

'' in the title role. (A post-Code version was made in 1940.) The other two films she made with Gray were ''Spring is Here'' and ''

Song of the Flame ''Song of the Flame'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was produced and distributed by First National Pictures. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence, using a process called ...

''. Operettas began losing popularity with audiences so Warners tried Claire in dramatic parts without much success. Claire made several more musical shorts up through the late thirties (some again with Gray), later becoming a radio and orchestra singer. In 1934, she appeared on Broadway in a short-lived musical, ''

The Chocolate Soldier ''The Chocolate Soldier'' (German: ''Der tapfere Soldat''

he courageous soldier He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

or ''Der Praliné-Soldat'') is an operetta composed in 1908 by Oscar Straus (composer), Oscar Straus based on George Bernard Shaw's 1894 play, ''Arms and the Man' ...

''.

Later life

Claire was married to Dr. Douglas P. Morris.

Death

On January 17, 2003, ten days before her 97th birthday, Bernice Claire died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in her adopted hometown of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, where she had lived for many years.

Filmography

* ''

'' (1930) * ''

Spring Is Here "Spring is Here" is a 1938 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical ''I Married an Angel'' (1938), where it was introduced by Dennis King and Vivienne Segal. Rodgers and Hart had previously written a so ...

'' (1930) * ''

The Song of the Flame ''Song of the Flame'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was produced and distributed by First National Pictures. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence, using a process called ...

'' (1930) * ''

Numbered Men ''Numbered Men'' is a 1930 American pre-Code prison drama film (originally with songs) produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The movie stars Bernice Claire, Conrad Nagel, ...

'' (1930) * '' Top Speed'' (1930) * '' Kiss Me Again'' (1931) * ''

The Red Shadow ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1932) * '' Moonlight and Pretzels'' (1933) * ''

The Flame Song ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1934) * ''

Meet the Professor Meet may refer to: People with the name * Janek Meet (born 1974), Estonian footballer * Meet Mukhi (born 2005), Indian child actor Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Meet'' (TV series), an early Australian television series which aired on ABC d ...

'' (1935) * '' The Love Department'' (1935) * ''

Two Hearts in Harmony ''Two Hearts in Harmony'' is a 1935 British comedy drama film directed by William Beaudine and starring Bernice Claire, George Curzon and Enid Stamp-Taylor. Plot A singer becomes the governess to the son of a widowed aristocrat. Cast * Bern ...

'' (1935) * '' Between the Lines'' (1936) * '' The Pretty Pretender'' (1937) * '' Forget-Me-Knots'' (1938)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Claire, Bernice 1906 births 2003 deaths American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American sopranos Deaths from pneumonia in Oregon Musicians from Oakland, California Actresses from Oakland, California Actresses from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women