| Jane Isbell | |
|---|---|
| Born | Clarita Jane Isbell May 1, 1927 Meridian, Mississippi, USA |
| Died | October 19, 1981 Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouse | Jack M. Althouse (1919 - 2000) |
Jane Isbell (May 1, 1927 - October 19, 1981)[1] was a minor actress, a bit player and extra who appeared in some major films produced during Hollywood's Golden Era in the 1930s-40s.
She was born Clarita Jane Isbell in Meridian, Mississippi,[2] the daughter of Theodore Clark Isbell and Elizabeth (Gully) Isbell.[3] Her father was a Vaudeville performer and her mother a granddaughter of Chief Justice George Washington Stone (1811–1894) of the Alabama Supreme Court.[4] Clark Isbell's great-great-grandfather was a colorful Revolutionary War soldier who once saved the life of Andrew Jackson when Jackson was a boy.[5]
The Isbells moved to Los Angeles when Jane was an infant. The elder of two sisters, Jane began modeling and appearing as an extra in films when only four years old. In 1932, she made her first Mickey McGuire comedy starring Mickey Rooney and would eventually make five films in the Mickey McGuire series, similar to the Our Gang films.[6] She grew up with child stars for playmates and was among those tested for the role of Bonnie Butler in Gone With the Wind. She and Ann Gillis were best friends, working in several films together, usually with Gillis a featured player and Isbell an extra and stand-in. She was Gillis' understudy and stand-in for long shots on both Little Orphan Annie and Adventures of Tom Sawyer, appearing as an extra in some scenes.[7] She wrote her first article at age twelve, a piece published in Screen Book magazine, April 1939, about Mickey Rooney.[8] She worked with him again in 1944 in National Velvet.
She graduated in 1944 from Franklin High School in Highland Park, Los Angeles, with special dramatic coaching, and studied art and journalism under John Morley. She appeared on several magazine covers, more often from her modeling work than acting, such as the cover of the Farm Journal and Farmer’s Wife magazine in 1944. She also appeared in The Robert King Hollywood Hair Design Book (1948).[9]
She married 11-29-1947 (Las Vegas, Nev.) Lt. Jack Marvin Althouse, an investment banker and former Navy lieutenant.[10] (12 Apr 1919 – 12 Sept 2000).[11] As her parents had kept her true age a secret, newspaper articles claimed she was only seventeen years old at the time of her marriage, although she was almost twenty. These press statements ignored a columnist who had previously reported in the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Express, Apr. 30, 1945, that she would turn 18 on Apr. 31, 1945.[12] Various newspaper articles mentioned that she was a cousin of ballplayers Frank Isbell of the Chicago White Sox [13] and Cecil Isbell.[14]
Several internet databases, including the IMDB and Flixster, have confused her with Frank Isbell's niece Jane who was born 12 September 1927 in Sedgwick, Kansas, and also died in Los Angeles.[15]
Jane Isbell's biggest roles were in forgettable B-movies, but as an extra she appeared in some of Hollywood's biggest successes, screen triumphs such as National Velvet, Sergeant York, The Women, Broadway Rhythm, The Thin Man Goes Home, Little Orphan Annie, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Frequently seen in the same frame with Hollywood's biggest stars, her face is often found in screen stills from a number of famous movies. In Billy Wilder's The Major and the Minor, she was one of the wallflower girls doing Veronica Lake imitations, often called the funniest scene in this classic comedy.
Films include:
Luxury Liner (1948)
Betty Co-Ed (1946) as Mrs. Leeds
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Thrill of a Romance (1945) as Giggling Girl
Mom and Dad (1945) as Mary Lou Gardner
National Velvet (1944) as Schoolgirl Jane
Broadway Rhythm (1944) as Co-ed in Drugstore
Bathing Beauty (1944) as Western Union Girl
Junior Jive Bombers (1944)
The Youngest Profession (1943) as Jane
Nobody's Darling (1943)
The Major and the Minor (1942)
Sergeant York (1941) as Gracie's sister
Reaching for the Sun (1941) as Amos' Child
I'm Still Alive (1940) as Mrs. Cady's Daughter
The Women (1939) as Edith Potter's daughter
Woman Doctor (1939)
Little Orphan Annie (1938) as Annie (stand-in)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) as Becky Thatcher (stand-in)
. . .