Suzanne Kaaren
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| Suzanne Kaaren | |
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| Born | March 12, 1912 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 27, 2004 (aged 92) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Stage, film actress |
Suzanne Kaaren (March 12, 1912 – August 27, 2004) was an American B-movie actress who starred in stock film genres of the 1930s and 1940s: horror, western and romances. She was born in Brooklyn, New York.
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[edit] Education and athletics
Kaaren attended Erasmus Hall High School and Hunter College before being signed by 20th Century Fox in September 1933. In 1931 she won a high-jumping contest in a New York City school contest. Her parents refused to let her compete in the Olympic Games. She collected butterflies as a hobby and had several books filled with the insects.
[edit] Early career
She acted with stock companies and posed as a model for commercial painters and cigarette advertising. Kaaren appeared in dramatic parts in New York theaters and trained at the Hedgerow Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was the same venue that produced actress Ann Harding.
She was one of the original Rockettes. Kaaren performed on stage on December 27, 1932, the night Radio City Music Hall opened.
[edit] Movie actress
She left for Hollywood in October 1933. Her starting salary was $150 per week. She was cast opposite Tim McCoy in Ridin' Gents (1934), a Monogram Pictures production. She was signed by Republic Pictures to play a character in From Rags To Riches. Ridin' Gents (1934) was filmed without either McCoy or Kaaren. From Rags To Riches was filmed as Rags To Riches in 1941. Kaaren was not a part of the production.
She joined a troupe assembled by producer Walter Wanger, which also included Gloria Youngblood. The theatrical company was known as Trade Winds. The episodic comedy When's Your Birthday? (1937) showcased the zany Joe E. Brown. Kaaren was among the supporting players in an RKO Radio Pictures movie about an astrologer.
In October 1941, Kaaren was added to the cast of I Married an Angel (1942). She portrayed a maid named Simone, and was uncredited. In October 1943, Pete Smith assigned Kaaren and Harry Barris the leading roles in an MGM motion picture which was to be called Practical Joker. The film was never made.
Kaaren figured prominently in several Three Stooges comedy short films. They are Disorder in the Court (1936), Yes, We Have No Bonanza (1939), and What's the Matador? (1942). In the latter she depicts Dolores Sanchez, and has the fourth lead after Curly Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe Howard.
I Married an Angel (1942) was based on the novel Death From A Tophat by Clayton Rawson. Kaaren plays a woman who is separated into halves and then joined together again suspensefully. The murder mystery has Robert Young and Florence Rice in prominent roles.
She starred opposite Bela Lugosi in The Devil Bat (1940). The cult film of the horror film genre is a Poverty Row production released by Producers Releasing Corporation. In the movie Lugosi breeds giant bats to attack people.
Her final appearance on film is uncredited role as The Duchess of Park Avenue (Manhattan) in 1984's The Cotton Club, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
[edit] Marriage
She married stage and screen actor, Sidney Blackmer, on June 13, 1943, in a civil ceremony in Santa Ana, California. Raquel Torres was a witness at the wedding. Blackmer was married previously to Lenore Ulric.
By this time, Kaaren was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The marriage was a turbulent one from the outset. The couple separated in September 1943 and Blackmer instructed his attorney to file for divorce in October.
[edit] Theater
Kaaren stepped into the character usually played by Ann Thomas in a Broadway presentation of Chicken Every Sunday. Staged in September 1944, Thomas left the production to go to Hollywood. In July 1946 Kaaren's son, Brester, was in the play with her as an eight-month-old. She was also joined by her husband on stage at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania. In April 1953 Blackmer and Kaaren teamed as stars of Glad Tidings in Atlantic City, New Jersey. By May, the show moved to the Quarterback Theatre, also in Atlantic City.
In 1959, Kaaren appeared in The Royal Family at the Hinsdale Summer Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Linda Darnell starred and Karyn Kupcinet and Stuart Brent were in the cast. The theme was a famous family of the American stage.
[edit] Death
Sidney Blackmer died in October 1973. Kaaren survived him and resided at 100 Central Park South. She and Blackmer had a second son, John. Kaaren died from pneumonia in Englewood, New Jersey, in 2004.
[edit] References
- Bismarck Tribune, New Browning Mystery Stars Suzanne Kaaren, September 9, 1939, Page 8.
- Fitchburg Sentinel, News and Comment Of Stage and Screen, October 2, 1937, Page 5.
- Long Beach Independent, Sidney Blackmer To Sue For Divorce, October 26, 1943, Page 2.
- New York Times, Screen Notes, September 27, 1933, Page 24.
- New York Times, Girl Athlete Gets Movie Job, November 11, 1933, Page 11.
- New York Times, News Of The Screen, March 22, 1938, Page 18.
- New York Times, Screen News Here And In Hollywood, August 29, 1938, Page 10.
- New York Times, Screen News Here And In Hollywood, June 26, 1941, Page 27.
- New York Times, Screen News Here And In Hollywood, October 24, 1941, Page 27.
- New York Times, Sidney Blackmer Marries, August 9, 1943, Page 10.
- New York Times, Three Plays Delay Broadway Debuts, September 15, 1944, Page 17.
- New York Times, Vera Allen Named By Theatre Wing, July 4, 1946, Page 23.
- New York Times, Atlantic City Bills Listed, April 17, 1953, Page 30.
- New York Times, Early-Season Attractions In Jersey, May 3, 1953, Page X17.
- Ogden Standard-Examiner, Photo Collector, February 4, 1934, Page 11.
- Olean Times-Evening Herald, All Ready? Then Get Your Eyes Ready For A New Screen Beauty!, November 11, 1933, Page 3.
- Suburbanite Economist, Linda Darnell Plays Hinsdale, August 5, 1959, Page 16.
- Syracuse Herald Journal. In Step With:The Rockettes, December 27, 1992, Page 182.
- Washington Post, Astrology, Boxing Bouts Mix In Latest Joe E. Brown Picture, March 4, 1937, Page 12.
- Washington Post, Sidney Blackmer, Noted Actor, Dies, October 7, 1973, Page B6.
