She began her movie career as something of a Jean Harlow copy, then switched to emphasizing the kind of slightly plump and wholesome qualities that made her prefect for the wholesome and plump 20th Century Fox musicals of the mid Thirties and early Forties.
But there was no mistaking Alice Faye as a big star, Fox’s blond doyenne before Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe arrived on the scene.
She became, after her movie career wound down in the mid Forties, a familiar radio personality paired with her bandleader husband Phil Harris (there they are above.) And Faye is still not fully recognized as the excellent singer she was.
How much did you know about this underrated singer-actress? Let’s get to the answers to our Monday Quiz to find out. Here we go:
1) Question: Faye was considered at her peak Twentieth Century Fox’s resident blonde and its biggest musical star. Which of the following followed in her footsteps? a) Lana Turner; b) Betty Grable; c) Gene Tierney; or d) Marilyn Monroe.
Answer: Faye was first in line as Fox’s reigning blonde star, followed by b) Betty Grable and d) Marilyn Monroe.
2) Question: When she broke in at Fox, Faye was considered a carbon copy of: a) Jean Harlow; b) Myrna Loy; c) Carole Lombard; or d) Joan Crawford.
Answer: As mentioned in our intro, a) Jean Harlow.
3) Question: As mentioned, Faye was rated among the creme de la creme of of Fox stars in the late Thirties. Which of the following were included in this elite group? a) Tyrone Power; b) Maureen O’Hara; c) John Payne; or d) Linda Darnell.
Answer: Fox’s elite group of stars included a) Tyrone Power, b) Maureen O’Hara and d) Linda Darnell. John Payne was considered a studio stalwart but had not quite reached the elevated status of the aforementioned three.
4) Question: Which one of the following classic American composers regarded Faye as the “best singer in Hollywood.” a) Irving Berlin; b) Cole Porter; c) George Gershwin; or d) Alec Wilder.
Answer: b) Cole Porter, who believed Faye was Hollywood’s best singer of the late 1930’s.
5) Question: Faye was married twice to famous musical personalities. Which of the following were at various times her husband? a) Tony Martin; b) Rudy Vallee; c) Ted Fio Rito; or d) Phil Harris.
Answer: Fay was married to crooner-actor Tony Martin from 1937 until 1941. (For a photo of the happy newlyweds, see below.) Her second husband was, as mentioned, Phil Harris. They married in 1941. The union lasted until his death in 1995. Faye died three years later at age 83.
6) Question: Faye made some of her most popular movies playing opposite Tyrone Power, but later confessed she personally couldn’t stand the handsome actor. a) True; or b) False?
Answer: b) False. Faye is quoted as saying of Power: “He was the best looking thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Kissing him was like dying and going to heaven.”
7) Question: As mentioned, Faye had essentially a career-ending run-in with Fox mogul Zanuck. What was it all about? a) A standard contract dispute; b) Faye refused flat out to make another picture with Tyrone Power; c) Faye was angry because Zanuck had cut many of her scenes in 1945’s Fallen Angel to build up costar Linda Darnell; or d) She wanted to spend more time with her family.
Answer: Fay and Fox mogul Darryl Zanuck parted company because of c). Zanuck edited Faye severely in 1945’s Fallen Angels, supposedly to build up costar Darnell. And, in addition, Faye really did want to send more time with her family.
8) Question: Faye had her share of international fans, but she was particularly popular in which one of the following overseas markets? a) Japan; b) France; c) Great Britain; or d) Iceland.
Answer: c) Great Britain, where Faye had and still does have many fans.
9) Question: Faye was considered a much bigger star than Fox contemporary Sonja Henie. a) True; or b) False?
Answer: b) False. Faye and ice skating queen Sonja Henie were considered about equal in marquee power. Both were very big stars.
10) Question: Faye was especially keen on working with child actors, particularly Shirley Temple. a) True; or b) False?
Answer: b) False. Faye had nothing special against child actors, and she worked with the most famous of them. Faye found Temple to be precocious and perhaps a tad too bright but highly professional.
Anyone else bother to take the quiz?
FALLEN ANGEL from 1945, the movie that literally drove ALICE FAYE to leave 20th Century-Fox when she saw a rough cut of the film and realized that tyrannical director Otto Preminger’s editing had diminished the impact of her performance in favor of newcomer Linda Darnell…
She got up from the screening, drove off the studio lot, threw her dressing room key to the security guard, and vowed never to work for the studio again.
Having been a big box-office earner for Fox for almost twelve years, suddenly thirty year-old Faye was not such an attractive asset anymore to studio head Darryl F. Zanuck. Instead, he preferred the ‘assets’ of twenty two year-old Linda Darnell.
Zanuck was one of the many movie moguls who callously took advantage of hundreds of young girls with stars in their eyes. Every day from 4pm to 4.30pm his office was declared off limits to everyone, as he indulged himself by seducing starlets and chorus girls (mostly) in his private room. The official word was that he was ‘in conference’. Some of the girls, like Carole Landis and Linda Darnell for instance, were ‘regulars,’ but usually it was the latest ‘6-month option’ who spent a half-hour or so on her back or on her knees, doing her best to ingratiate herself with the man who had the power to make or break her career-wise. His method was both crude and arrogant. He would lead the girl into his private sanctum and then open his robe to expose his erection! Most young, ambitious ‘wannabes’ accommodated him, although he did not always succeed with the more established stars…
Betty Grable, for example, was less than impressed when he tried it on her. She gave his member an indifferent glance. ‘That’s beautiful’, she said dryly. ‘You can put it away now.’ Then she walked out. Betty had been around the block a few times.
So it was the over-sexed Zanuck who was the main reason Alice Faye’s performance was cut-down, after-all Linda Darnell was exciting him more!
Still under contract, Faye walked away from the studio and her career. Even while she worked there Faye referred to the studio as ‘Penitentiary Fox,’ although she admitted in a 1982 interview that she loved her time there. ‘We were kids’, she said. ‘I didn’t have a favorite leading man. I loved them all!’
Eventually, she would return to work at the studio once, playing the mother role in a bland filming of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s STATE FAIR (1962). Originally, Faye had turned down the band-singer part in the more satisfying 1945 version, that ironically was playing in theaters whilst FALLEN ANGEL was being shot.
Keep those COMMENTS coming!
Taking Graham’s comments as true and accurate, the parallels between Zanuck and Weinstein are simply dazzling, down to the bathrobe. Certainly proof that power is the most important factor in scoring with the naifs of any gender in the entertainment business. Without the power, these two pug-ugly mokes wouldn’t have made it to first base with anyone.
Good for Alice Faye for getting out.
DAN…
Having been the studio historian for 20th Century-Fox for a long time 1988-2015, I can tell you the stories about Darryl F. Zanuck’s sexcapades are true and well documented… I’ve seen his old office and the private side door in the old Executive building… It was just part of his daily routine.
And the “casting couch” was never, ever only reserved for HOLLYWOOD, it has been and continues to be widely used in Washington and every other business big and small way before the controlled opposition ‘MeToo’ agenda came along.
The real power is always with the BIG MONEY people, not the Zanucks, Weinsteins or any other business or political leaders… And as the BIG MONEY people prefer to stay in the shadows, they can always sacrifice those that displease them. None of these events happen by accident…
Thanks, Graham. Didn’t in any way doubt you.
You are certainly right about the ubiquity of the casting couch in virtually every field. Perhaps we can dare to hope that that sorry institution is beginning to sag under the weight of scrutiny.
And you are certainly right about the “New York office” and wealthy investors really pulling the strings for almost all of the studios.
Glad to know what you have been up to for many years.
I am dreading the furling of the 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare, certainly the greatest corporate ID in history. I hope the opening will be maintained, at least on a smattering of films. But maybe that’s what YouTube is really all about. At least once a month I cue up the opening of “Leave Her to Heaven.” Awesome.
Come June, 20th Century-Fox will become just another asset of Disney, thousands of employees will be let go… And you’ll be seeing THE SIMPSONS thrill rides in their parks.
I’m pretty sure in at least one of The Simpsons 636+ episodes, a future completely subsumed by the Dizney Co. was predicted. Now they won’t have to even jokingly change the spelling of the name.
I am curious though, how Universal Studios Hollywood has a Simpsons ride. Presumably, as in another Simpsons episode, the entire town of Springfield will be uprooted and moved to the next county over.