Wednesday, 1 July 2020

Joan Davis

For the cricketer, see Joan Davis (cricketer).
Joan Davis
Joan davis.JPG
Davis on I Married Joan (c. 1952/53)
Born
Josephine Davis

June 29, 1907
Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
DiedMay 22, 1961 (aged 53)
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting placeHoly Cross Cemetery, Culver City
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActress, vaudevillian
Years active1935–1955
Spouse(s)
Si Wills
(m. 1931; div. 1948)
ChildrenBeverly Wills

Josephine "Joan" Davis (June 29, 1907 – May 22, 1961) was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy.

Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, she was the only child of LeRoy Davis and Nina Mae (née Sinks) Davis, who were married in St. Paul on November 23, 1910.[1] Davis had been a performer since childhood. She appeared with her husband Si Wills in vaudeville.[2]

Career[edit]

Films[edit]

Davis' first film was a short subject for Educational Pictures called Way Up Thar (1935), featuring a then-unknown Roy Rogers.[3] Educational's distribution company, Twentieth Century-Fox, signed Davis for feature films. Tall and lanky, with a comically flat speaking voice, she became known as one of the few female physical clowns of her time. Perhaps best known for her co-starring turn with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hold That Ghost (1941), she had a reputation for flawless physical comedy.[4]

Her pantomime sequence in Beautiful But Broke[5] (1944) was a slapstick construction-site episode. She also featured in Tail Spin (1939) as a supporting actor, for the women's Bendix Air Race circuit. She co-starred with Eddie Cantor in two features, Show Business[6] (1944) and If You Knew Susie (1948).[7]

Radio[edit]

Swan Soap ad featuring Davis' radio show, 1945

Joan Davis entered radio with an August 28, 1941, appearance on The Rudy Vallee Show and became a regular on that show four months later. Davis then began a series of shows that established her as a top star of radio situation comedy throughout the 1940s. When Vallee left for the Coast Guard in 1943, Davis and Jack Haley became the co-hosts of the show. With a title change to The Sealtest Village Store, Davis was the owner-operator of the store from July 8, 1943, to June 28, 1945, when she left to do Joanie's Tea Room on CBS from September 3, 1945, to June 23, 1947.[8] Sponsored by Lever Brothers on behalf of Swan Soap, the premise had Davis running a tea shop in the little community of Smallville. The supporting cast featured Verna Felton. Harry von Zell was the announcer, and her head writer was Abe Burrows, formerly the head writer (and co-creator) of Duffy's Tavern and eventually a legendary Broadway playwright.

The tea shop setting continued in Joan Davis Time, a CBS Saturday-night series from October 11, 1947, to July 3, 1948. With Lionel Stander as the tea shop manager, the cast also included Hans Conried, Mary Jane Croft, Andy Russell, the Choraliers quintet, and John Rarig and his Orchestra. Leave It to Joan ran from July 4 to August 22, 1949, as a summer replacement for Lux Radio Theater and continued from September 9, 1949, to March 3, 1950. She was also heard on CBS July 3 through August 28, 1950. She was a frequent and popular performer on Tallulah Bankhead's legendary radio variety show, The Big Show (1950–52).[2] Davis was also a regular on Eddie Cantor's Time to Smile program.[9]

Television[edit]

Davis was the star of the unsold pilot Let's Join Joanie, which was recorded in 1950. The proposed series was a television adaptation of Leave It to Joan. When I Love Lucy premiered in October 1951 on CBS Television and became a top-rated TV series, sponsors wanted more of the same.[3] I Married Joan premiered in 1952 on NBC, casting Davis as the manic wife of a mild-mannered community judge (Jim Backus), who got her husband into wacky jams with or without the help of a younger sister, played by her real-life daughter, Beverly Wills. Davis was also one of the show's executive producers. I Married Joan did not achieve the ratings success enjoyed by I Love Lucy, but during its first two years, it received moderately successful ratings, even cracking the top 25 for the 1953–1954 season. However, by the start of its third year, not only were the ratings beginning to slip, but Davis began experiencing heart trouble. As a result, the series was canceled in the spring of 1955.[2] I Married Joan experienced greater success in off-network syndication; it was one of the earliest series to take advantage of that avenue.

After Davis's death in the spring of 1961, I Married Joan was pulled from syndication until litigation over her estate---including her residuals from the show's syndicated reruns---could be settled in court (an issue complicated by the deaths of all of her next of kin in 1963), according to the Los Angeles Times.[3]

In 1956, a year after I Married Joan had ended its primetime run, Davis was approached by ABC to star in The Joan Davis Show. The premise of this proposed series had Davis playing a musical comedy entertainer who had raised a daughter on her own. Davis used her real name as the lead character. Veteran character actress Hope Summers was cast as Joan's housekeeper, and Wills was signed to play Joan's daughter, also named Beverly. Ray Ferrell was cast as Joan's grandson Stevie. In the pilot, Joan was introduced to her five-year-old grandson for the first time and was trying to convince Beverly, despite her hectic show-business schedule and her somewhat zany personality, that she was a loving and responsible grandmother. The pilot did not sell as a series for ABC. It was forgotten among Davis' television work until many years later when the Museum of Television and Radio in New York discovered the program and added it to its collection.[10]

Death[edit]

On May 22, 1961, Davis died of a heart attack at the age of 53 at her home in Palm Springs, California.[11][12] She was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery mausoleum in Culver City, California.[8] On October 24, 1963, Davis' mother, daughter Beverly Wills, and two grandchildren were all killed in a house fire in Palm Springs.[11]

Joan Davis has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for her contribution to the motion picture industry at 1501 Vine Street and one for radio in the 1700 block of Vine.[13]

Filmography[edit]

YearTitleRoleNotesRef(s)
1935Way Up TharJennie KirkMack Sennett Short subject[3]
1935Millions in the AirSinger[14]
1936Bunker BeanMabel, Bunker's SecretaryUncredited[15]
1937The Holy TerrorLili[16]
1937On the AvenueMiss Katz – Dibble's Secretary[17]
1937Time Out for RomanceMidge Dooley[18]
1937The Great Hospital MysteryFlossie DuffAlternative title: Dead Yesterday[19]
1937Angel's HolidayStrivers[20]
1937Sing and Be HappyMyrtle[21]
1937You Can't Have Everything
—
Uncredited[22]
1937Wake Up and LiveSpanish Dancer[23]
1937Thin IceOrchestra LeaderAlternative titles: Lovely to Look at
Der Komet		[24]
1937Life Begins in CollegeInezAlternative titles: Life Begins at College
The Joy Parade		[25]
1937Love and HissesJoan[26]
1938Keep SmilingSelf[27]
1938Sally, Irene and MaryIrene Keene[28]
1938JosetteMay Morris[29]
1938My Lucky StarMary Dwight[30]
1938Hold That Co-edLizzie OlsenAlternative title: Hold That Girl[4]
1938Just Around the CornerKitty[31]
1939Tail SpinBabe Dugan[32]
1939Skinny the MoocherThe MaidUncredited[8]
1939Too Busy to WorkLolly[33]
1939Day-Time WifeJoyce Applegate[34]
1940Free, Blonde and 21Nellie[35]
1940Sailor's LadyMyrtle[36]
1940Manhattan HeartbeatEdna Higgins[37]
1941For Beauty's SakeDottie Nickerson[38]
1941Hold That GhostCamille BrewsterAlternative title: Oh, Charlie[39]
1941Sun Valley SerenadeMiss Carstairs[40]
1941Two Latins from ManhattanJoan Daley[41]
1942Yokel BoyMolly MaloneAlternative title: Hitting the Headlines[42]
1942Sweetheart of the FleetPhoebe Weyms[43]
1943He's My GuyMadge Donovan[44]
1943Two Señoritas from ChicagoDaisy Baker[45]
1943Around the WorldJoan Davis[46]
1944Beautiful But BrokeDottie Duncan[5]
1944Show BusinessJoan Mason[6]
1944Kansas City KittyPolly Jasper[47]
1945She Gets her ManJane "Pilky" Pilkington[48]
1945George White's Scandals of 1945Joan Mason[49]
1946She Wrote the BookJane Featherstone[50]
1948If You Knew SusieSusie Parker[7]
1949Make Mine Laughs[51]
1950The Traveling SaleswomanMabel KingProducer[52]
1950Love That BruteMamie Sage[53]
1950Let's Join JoanieUnaired CBS pilot[8]
1951The Groom Wore SpursAlice Dean[54]
1952Harem GirlSusie Perkins[55]
1952Strip Tease Girl[56]
1952 to 1955I Married JoanJoan Stevens99 episodes
Producer		[3]

Award nominations[edit]

YearAwardCategory
1953Emmy AwardsBest Comedienne

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Joan was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 29, 1907. Joan's birth certificate is interesting in that it was altered some 32 years after it was originally filed. It has been stamped with a notation along the bottom edge reading, “Amended by State Registrar pursuant to affidavit filed on _____,” with the date 2-11-44 written by hand. Asterisks indicate three areas of the document that were amended. The birth date, originally recorded as July 4, 1912, was crossed out by hand and changed to June 29. No middle name had been recorded on the original document; “Donna” was subsequently written between the first and last names, with a caret to indicate its placement. The spelling of Joan's mother's maiden name was also corrected. The original document was filled out by Rose Labon, who delivered baby Josephine at the family's residence at 275 Bates Avenue."
    Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy by David C. Tucker (Biography, pg. 3), McFarland (March 24, 2014),ASIN B00JH2B0ZG, ISBN 978-0786477845/ISBN 0786477849.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507678-8.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. pp. 295–298. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Hold That Co-ed". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to:a b "Beautiful But Broke". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  6. ^ Jump up to:a b "Show Business". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b "If You Knew Susie". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Tucker, David C. (2007). The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms. McFarland. pp. 30, 78–79. ISBN 978-0-7864-8732-5.
  9. ^ Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows, pg. 335. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4.
  10. ^ "Joan Davis Show, The {pilot} (TV)". The Paley Center for Media. Retrieved February 3,2015.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America. Routledge. pp. 297–298. ISBN 0-415-93853-8.
  12. ^ "Television Comedienne Joan Davis Dies At 53". St. Petersburg Times. UPI. May 24, 1961. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  13. ^ "Joan Davis". Los Angeles Times Hollywood Star Walk. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  14. ^ "Millions in the Air". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  15. ^ Tucker, David C. (2014). Joan Davis: America's Queen of Film, Radio and Television Comedy. McFarland. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4766-1502-8.
  16. ^ "The Unholy Terror". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  17. ^ "On The Avenue". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  18. ^ "Time Out for Romance". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  19. ^ "The Great Hospital Mystery". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  20. ^ "Angel's Holiday". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  21. ^ "Sing and Be Happy". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  22. ^ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-55783-551-2.
  23. ^ "Wake Up and Live". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  24. ^ "Thin Ice". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  25. ^ "Life Begins in College". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  26. ^ "Love and Hisses". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  27. ^ "Keep Smiling". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  28. ^ "Sally, Irene and Mary". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  29. ^ "Josette". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  30. ^ "My Lucky Star". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  31. ^ "Just Around the Corner". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  32. ^ "Tail Spin". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  33. ^ "Too Busy to Work". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  34. ^ "Day-Time Wife". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  35. ^ "Free, Blonde and 21". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  36. ^ "Sailor's Lady". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  37. ^ "Manhattan Heartbeat". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  38. ^ "For Beauty's Sake". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  39. ^ "Hold That Ghost". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  40. ^ "Sun Valley Serenade". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  41. ^ "Two Latins from Manhattan". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  42. ^ "Yokel Boy". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  43. ^ "Sweetheart of the Fleet". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  44. ^ "He's My Guy". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  45. ^ "Two Señoritas from Chicago". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  46. ^ "Around the World". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  47. ^ "Kansas City Kitty". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  48. ^ "She Gets her Man". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  49. ^ "George White's Scandals of 1945". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  50. ^ "She Wrote the Book". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  51. ^ "Make Mine Laughs". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  52. ^ "The Traveling Saleswoman". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  53. ^ "Love That Brute". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  54. ^ "The Groom Wore Spurs". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  55. ^ "Harem Girl". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  56. ^ "Strip Tease Girl". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved April 18, 2020.

Further reading[edit]

  • Ohmart, Ben. Hold That Joan – The Life, Laughs & Films of Joan Davis. Albany: BearManor Media, 2007. ISBN 1-59393-046-1
  • Rapp, Philip. The Television Scripts of Philip Rapp. Albany: BearManor Media, 2006. ISBN 1-59393-070-4.
  • Karol, Michael. Sitcom Queens: Divas of the Small Screen. iUniverse, 2006. pp. 22–24. ISBN 0-595-40251-8.

External links[edit]

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