Betty Jaynes (born Betty Jayne Schultz, February 12, 1921 – November 22, 2018) was an American operatic singer and B-movie actress from the late 1930s to mid-1940s.

Early years

The daughter of Louis C. Schultz and Stella Schultz, Jaynes was born in

Greeneville, Tennessee Greeneville is a town in and the county seat of Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 15,479. The town was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, and it is the second oldest town i ...

, but she attended the Starrett School for Girls in

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. She has a brother, Robert, and two sisters, Lorraine and Marion.

Career

Jaynes made her concert debut when she was 15, performing with pianist Janet Gunn at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. At the same age, she made a "sensational debut" with the

Chicago City Opera Company The Chicago City Opera Company was a grand opera company in Chicago, organized from the remaining assets of the bankrupt Chicago Grand Opera Company, that produced four seasons of opera at the Civic Opera House from 1935 to 1939 before it too suc ...

in ''

La boheme LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

''. In a ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine article, she said she would "quit school and consider movies." Her radio debut also occurred when she was 15, as she sang on '' The Ford Sunday Evening Hour'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in January 1937. On December 9, 1936, Probate Judge John F. O'Connell in Chicago approved Jaynes' contracts with MGM and a concert booking company. Her status as a minor required court approval, with her mother as her guardian. The MGM contract guaranteed $250 to $1,300 per week plus additional payment when she made films. The booking contract guaranteed $1,000 per concert. She began working in Hollywood on April 1, 1937. She appeared as Molly Moran in ''

Babes in Arms ''Babes in Arms'' is a 1937 coming-of-age musical comedy with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Rodgers and Hart. It concerns a group of small-town Long Island teenagers who put on a show to avoid being sent to a wor ...

'' in 1939, then in a series of minor parts in seven MGM movies through 1944 including ''

Meet the People ''Meet the People'' (1944) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical comedy film made, and set, during World War II, and starring Lucille Ball and Dick Powell and featuring Virginia O'Brien, Bert Lahr, Rags Ragland and June Allyson. The film takes its ...

'', starring

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

. Her last major acting role was in 1952, in an ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...

'' episode, "The Operetta".

Personal life

Jaynes married actor and budding baritone

Douglas McPhail Douglas McPhail (April 16, 1914 – December 6, 1944) was an American actor and singer, active from the 1930s to 1944, when he committed suicide. He was married to Betty Jaynes.Wagner, Laura. "Douglas McPhail", ''Classic Images ''Classic Image ...

in June 1938. They had a daughter, and were divorced in 1941; McPhail committed suicide in 1944. She married a second time in 1943, to Bill Roberts, who had been a singer for

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

and then twice more in 1950 and 1973. She died in Santa Monica, California in November 2018 at the age of 97.Ancestry: Betty Jane Schultz profile

References

External links

* 1921 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Tennessee American film actresses American musical theatre actresses Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players 21st-century American women {{US-film-actor-1920s-stub