Winnie Lightner
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| Winnie Lighter | |
|---|---|
| Born | Winifred J. Reeves September 17, 1899 Greenport, New York, United States |
| Died | March 5, 1971 (aged 71) Sherman Oaks, California, United States |
Winnie Lightner (September 17, 1899 – March 5, 1971) was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929). Lightner was often typecast as a wise-cracking gold-digger and was known for her talents as a comedienne and singer.
Winnie Lightner was born Winifred Reeves in Greenport, New York, but was raised in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen by her aunt and uncle Margaret and Andrew Hansen. She has a successful career in vaudeville and finally made it to Broadway. Winnie Lightner was the first movie performer in history ever to be censored for what she said or sang on screen rather than for anything she did visually. In 1928, she made a Vitaphone short in which she sang "We Love It," "God Help a Sailor on a Night Like This," "That Brand New Model of Mine," and "We've Got a Lot to Learn." A censorship board in Pennsylvania held the release of the film because of the content of Lightner's songs. According to film historian Alexander Walker, "Warners asked the censors to merely pass judgment on the visuals - the censors refused."
Warner Bros. quickly signed her up for a number of musical comedies. The first of these was Hold Everything, a lavish all-Technicolor feature based on a Broadway hit. Unfortunately, by the end of 1930, audiences had grown tired of musicals, and the picture was not very successful. Lightner was in the process of shooting three more musicals: Sit Tight (1931), Gold Dust Gertie (1931) and Manhattan Parade (1932). They were all released with most of the music cut. This was especially noticeable on Sit Tight and Manhattan Parade, on which even the background music was completely removed. In response to the change in public taste, Warner Bros. decided to try another dramatic role for Lightner; the result was a picture called Side Show (1931), which proved to be unsuccessful. She starred in two more comedies in which she co-starred with Loretta Young (without songs), before she left Warner Bros. In the first of these, Play Girl (1932), she was billed as the star with her name above the title, but in the second, She Had To Say Yes (1933), Loretta Young received this privilege. Winnie Lightner left Warner Bros. after this to go freelance. She would play as a supporting actor in two more features, for MGM and Columbia Pictures respectively, before retiring in 1934.
