Joy Hodges (born Frances Eloise Hodges; January 29, 1915January 19, 2003) was an American singer and actress
who performed on radio, on film, on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, and with
big band
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 an ...
s.
Early years
Frances Eloise Hodges
was born in
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
, on January 29, 1915,
the daughter of postal worker Verne Hodges and his wife. She was educated at Wallace Elementary, Amos Hiatt Junior High, and
East High schools. By the time she was 11 years old, she and friend Ardis Olson had formed the Bluebird Twins singing duo, performing on radio station
WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...
and in local venues. In high school, Betty Illen joined them to form the Crooning Coeds trio.
[
]
Career
Winning a contest at a theater took Hodges to Chicago, where her national career began. From there, she traversed the United States, singing on the radio, in night clubs, with orchestras,[ and in ]Chautauqua
Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...
programs. She performed at the Empire Room[ and the Hotel Sherman, both in Chicago. One of her early jobs was being the lead singer with Carol Loftner and his orchestra.] She also sang with Ted Fio Rito
Theodore Salvatore Fiorito (December 20, 1900 – July 22, 1971),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 95. known professionally a ...
, Ben Bernie
Benjamin Anzelwitz, known professionally as Ben Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 23, 1943),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. ...
, Jimmy Grier, Ozzie Nelson
Oswald George Nelson (March 20, 1906 – June 3, 1975) was an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, musician, composer, conductor and bandleader. He originated and starred in ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', a radio and tel ...
, and Abe Lyman
Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including ''Your Hit Parade''.
His name at birth was Abra ...
and their orchestras, among others.
Hodges' Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
credits include ''Nellie Bly'' (1945), ''The Odds on Mrs. Oakley'' (1944), ''Dream with Music'' (1943), and ''I'd Rather Be Right
''I'd Rather Be Right'' is a 1937 musical with a book by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and music by Richard Rodgers. The story is a Depression-era political satire set in New York City about Washington politics and p ...
'' (1937). In 1972, she replaced Ruby Keeler
Ethel Ruby Keeler (August 25, 1909 – February 28, 1993) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who was paired on-screen with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Bros., particularly ''42nd Street (film), 42nd Str ...
in the revival 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 th ...
'' on Broadway.[ Perhaps the most memorable of Hodges' Broadway performances was singing "Have You Met Miss Jones?" in ''I'd Rather Be Right''. She later said, "I became the toast of Broadway and sang the most recognizable song in America at that time — everyone adored Miss Jones."][
Her screen debut came in a short, ''A Night at the Biltmore Bowl'', for ]RKO Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
, and her first film, after signing with RKO for five years, was ''Old Man Rhythm
''Old Man Rhythm'' is a 1935 American musical film directed by Edward Ludwig from a screenplay by Sig Herzig and Ernest Pagano, based on a story by Herzig, Lewis Gensler, and Don Hartman. The musical director was Roy Webb, with music composed by ...
'' (1935).[ She also made ]soundies
Soundies are three-minute American musical films, and each short displays a performance. The shorts were produced between 1940 and 1946 and have been referred to as "precursors to music videos" by UCLA. Soundies exhibited a variety of musical gen ...
(musical short films) in addition to regular films.
During World War II, Hodges sang with Harry James
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...
and his orchestra as they entertained military personnel on USO tours in Europe.[
On ]old-time radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...
, Hodges was the female singer on '' The Joe Penner Show'' 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 Entertainmen ...
beginning in October 1936. She left that program to make her stage debut in ''I'd Rather Be Right'' in November 1937. In 1944, she filled in for Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American actress, radio and television talk show host, and game show panelist. She is known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game s ...
as host of the radio version of ''Blind Date'' when it was broadcast from Detroit. She also sang and was co-host, with Durward Kirby
Homer Durward Kirby (August 24, 1911 – March 15, 2000), sometimes misspelled Durwood Kirby, was an American television host and announcer. He is best remembered for ''The Garry Moore Show'' in the 1950s and '' Candid Camera'', which he ...
, on ''Honeymoon in New York'' on NBC in 1946.
Personal life
Reagan friendship
Hodges and Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
had a friendship that lasted six decades, beginning when both of them worked at radio station WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...
in Des Moines, Iowa, where she sang and he was an announcer and sportscaster. In 1937, Hodges helped Reagan obtain an interview with an agent, which led to Reagan's receiving a contract from 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. Di ...
film studio.[ Hodges and Reagan also appeared with others in vaudeville shows in the late 1930s. Hodges' obituary in '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' noted, "Mr. Reagan kept in touch with Miss Hodges for 60 years, and invited her to the White House when he was president."
Marriage
In 1935, while Hodges had a contract with Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
, she was insured by Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...
with a policy that guaranteed her at least $125,000 per year for three years as long as she did not marry during that period. Although she did not wed during that span, she collected nothing because she earned more than the guaranteed amount.
Hodges married Gilbert H. Doorly, a newspaper editor, in Des Moines, Iowa, on September 2, 1939. They had no children and divorced in 1941. On April 24, 1942, she married Paul Dudley Helmund, a radio producer and writer, and that marriage ended in divorce in 1952. Her third marriage, in 1955, was to Eugene Scheiss. He died in 1990.[
]
Death
On January 19, 2003, Hodges died at age 88 in Palm Desert, California
Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has bee ...
, of complications following a stroke. She was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Des Moines.[
]
Partial filmography
Films
*''Old Man Rhythm
''Old Man Rhythm'' is a 1935 American musical film directed by Edward Ludwig from a screenplay by Sig Herzig and Ernest Pagano, based on a story by Herzig, Lewis Gensler, and Don Hartman. The musical director was Roy Webb, with music composed by ...
'' (1935)[
*'']To Beat the Band
''To Beat the Band'' is a 1935 American romantic comedy directed by Benjamin Stoloff using a screenplay by Rian James based on a story by George Marion, Jr. The film stars Hugh Herbert, Helen Broderick, Roger Pryor, and Fred Keating, and featur ...
'' (1935)[
*'']Follow the Fleet
''Follow the Fleet'' is a 1936 American RKO musical comedy film with a nautical theme starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, fifth collaboration as dance partners. It also features Randolph Scott, Harriet ...
'' (1936)[
*'' Special Agent K-7'' (1937)][
*'']Service de Luxe
''Service de Luxe'' is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Constance Bennett, Vincent Price (in his film debut) and Charles Ruggles.Kellow p.211
Plot
Helen Murphy, alias Dorothy Madison number 1 (Constance Bennet ...
'' (1938)[
*'' The Family Next Door''
*'']Unexpected Father
''Unexpected Father'' is a 1939 American comedy drama film directed by Charles Lamont and starring Baby Sandy, Shirley Ross and Dennis O'Keefe.Rowan p.199
Plot
When a former dancing partner is killed, an entertainer looks after his baby son with ...
'' (1939)[
*'' Laughing at Danger'' (1940)
]
Soundies
*"Exactly Like You" (Soundies Distributing Corporation of America, Inc. Program 1047)
*"Love Me a Little Little" (SDCA Program 1243)
*"Row, Row, Row" (SDCA Program 1119)
*"There I Go"(SDCA Program V-899)
*"We Could Make Such Beautiful Music Together".
*"Why Don't We Do This More Often?" (SDCA Program 1095)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodges, Joy
1915 births
2003 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
Actresses from Des Moines, Iowa
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
California Republicans
Iowa Republicans
21st-century American women
American radio personalities