Durelle Alexander (March 30, 1918 - May 21, 1994) was a child performer who appeared in "Hollywood Junior Follies" and several silent "

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

" comedies throughout the 1920s. As an adult, she had a singing career with several big bands on radio and on tour.

Early life

Alexander was born Frances Durelle Alexander in

Greenville, Texas Greenville is a city in Hunt County, Texas, United States, about northeast of Dallas. It is the county seat and largest city of Hunt County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 25,557, and in 2019, its estimated population was 28,827. ...

. In 1924 at the age of 6, she went with her mother to

Hollywood, CA Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

, and made appearances in several silent 'Our Gang'

comedies Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

and "Hollywood Junior Follies". She made her stage debut at age 3. A few years later, when she was 12, she moved with her mother to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and began singing with orchestras. By the age of 14, she signed a contract with

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...

.Don Rayno's book, ''Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music, 1930-1967'' says that Whiteman hired Alexander in 1935, which would have made her 16 or 17, depending on the time of year when she was hired. Alexander attended

North Dallas High School North Dallas High School is a public secondary school located in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas, Texas, United States. It enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District. As of 2017, the principal adminis ...

Career

By 1935, Alexander was appearing as a featured

vocalist 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 without ...

on Whiteman's radio show ''Paul Whiteman's Musical Varieties'' and ''

Kraft Music Hall ''The Kraft Music Hall'' was a popular old-time radio variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949. Radio ''The Kraft Program'' debuted June 26, 1933, as a musical-variety progra ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. Throughout this period, she would appear in several ''

Radio Guide Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

'' magazine articles. By September 1936, she made the cover. She later toured with the prominent

big bands A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

Eddy Duchin Edwin Frank Duchin (April 1, 1909 – February 9, 1951), commonly known as Eddy Duchin or alternatively Eddie Duchin, was an American jazz pianist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s. Early career Duchin was born on April 1, 1909 in Cambri ...

Smith Ballew Sykes "Smith" Ballew (January 21, 1902 – May 2, 1984) was an American actor, sophisticated singer, orchestra leader, and a western singing star. He also was billed as Buddy Blue, Charles Roberts, and Billy Smith. Early years The son of Wil ...

, and

Archie Bleyer Archibald Martin Bleyer (June 12, 1909 – March 20, 1989) was an American song arranger, bandleader, and record company executive. Early life Bleyer was born in the Corona section of the New York City borough of Queens. His father was a well-kn ...

. The first known recording with Alexander singing was "Animal Crackers In My Soup" with

and his

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, recorded in July 1935. In 1936, she toured with Paul Whiteman in Billy Roses' Annual Texas Centennial.

Marriage

While appearing with Whiteman in "Billy Rose's Casa Manana", a centennial celebration of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, she met Edmund Van Zandt, grandson of the city's founders. Alexander and Van Zandt were married in 1939, and during their 33 years of marriage, (until his death in 1972), they reared three children and lived in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

. Alexander continued to perform and moderate public affairs

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

programs. In 1975, she married a widowed family friend, Col. Harry Taylor Eidson, and they moved to Austin to be near their children and grandchildren. After she began traveling with her husband on overseas trips, Alexander became interested in painting. Her works in oil and watercolors were displayed at an exhibit in Dallas, Texas, in 1965, and in 1966 she had a one-woman show in Fort Worth, Texas.

Death

In May 1994, Alexander died. Memorial services were held on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

Known recordings

* "Animal Crackers In My Soup" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1935 * "When I Grow Up" from the film "Curly Top", Rex 8715 - B * "Sugar Plum" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1935. * "No Strings" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1935 * "I've Got A Feelin' You're Foolin'" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1935 * "On A Sunday Afternoon" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1935 * "And Then Some" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1935 * "Wah-Hoo!" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1936 * "There's A Small Hotel" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1936 * "Comes Love" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1939 * "I Must Have One More Kiss,Kiss,Kiss" w/

and his Orch. Recorded 1939

Notes

References

External links

*http://durellealexander.yolasite.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Durelle 1918 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers American child actresses