British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. 1000a. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1000. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
A name to fit a marquee
Jane Withers was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1926. Her parents were Ruth and Walter Withers, who taught Bible classes at the local Presbyterian church. Her mother gave her the name Jane so it would fit on a marquee.
She began her career as a child actress at the age of three in Atlanta as Dixie's Dainty Dewdrop on the radio show 'Aunt Sally's Kiddie Club'. A spot-on mimic, she was simply uncanny when it came to impersonating such superstars of her day as W.C. Fields, Marie Dressler, and Charles Chaplin.
In the early 1930s, Withers and her mother moved to Hollywood, where she worked as a child model and a bit-part player in several films in 1932 and 1933. Jane was enrolled in Lawlor's Professional School.
Her big break came when she landed a supporting role in the Shirley Temple film Bright Eyes (David Butler, 1934). Her character, Joy Smythe, was spoiled and obnoxious, a perfect foil to Temple's sweet personality.
Her first major success came in the form of the title role in Ginger (Lewis Seiler, 1935), in which Jane imitated the balcony scene from 'Romeo and Juliet' and was rewarded by the studio with a contract of $125 weekly for six months.
Through the remainder of the 1930s, Withers starred in several films every year, including Paddy O'Day (Lewis Seiler, 1936) with the young Rita Hayworth, The Farmer Takes a Wife (Victor Fleming, 1935), and Little Miss Nobody (John G. Blystone, 1936).
Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "Where Shirley was cuddly and ultra huggable, brunette-banged Jane was fun, rambunctious and full of kinetic energy--a scrappy little tomboy who could take on any boy at any time. Her lively vehicles took full advantage of her talents for impersonating movie stars, too." Filmgoers flocked to see her films, and Withers became one of the top 10 box-office stars in 1937 and 1938.
British Real Photograph postcard, no. 122. Photo: Fox Films.
British Art Photo postcard, no. 137.
Josephine the plumber pushing comet cleanser
Jane Withers received her first screen kiss at age 13 in Boy Friend (James Tinling, 1939). Her popularity was such that Fox gave her 'name' co-stars: The Ritz Brothers in Pack Up Your Troubles (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1939) and Gene Autry in Shooting High (Alfred E. Green, 1940).
However, Jane's antics simply didn't play as well and the studio began to lose interest. Darryl F. Zanuck let her go in 1942. Jane signed a three-year picture deal with Republic Pictures with lukewarm results.
Her best dramatic role at that time came with The North Star (Lewis Milestone, 1943), starring Anne Baxter. In 1947, the same year as her last picture of the decade, Jane married a wealthy Texas oilman, William Moss, and had three children by him - William, Wendy, and Randy. The marriage was not a happy one and lasted only six years.
She also was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. In 1955, she remarried, this time to Kenneth Errair, one-quarter of the harmonizing group The Four Freshmen. They had two children, Ken and Kendall Jane.
At the same time, she attempted a Hollywood comeback. While studying directing at the USC film school, she met producer/director George Stevens who cast her in an enviable character role in the epic-sized Giant (1956) supporting Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean. Other film roles followed with The Right Approach (David Butler, 1961) and Captain Newman, M.D. (David Miller, 1963).
Gary Brumburgh: "It was TV, however, that would turn Jane into a wealthy woman as a friendly household pitchwoman. Her decades-long job as the dress-downed Josephine the Plumber pushing Comet cleanser made her one popular gal when working in films became a non-issue."
She appeared in TV advertisements for more than a decade beginning in the mid-1960s. From time to time she would make guest appearances on such fun, lightweight shows as The Munsters (1964-1966), The Love Boat (1980), Hart to Hart (1979), and Murder, She Wrote (1984-1993).
She wrote the original story filmed as Small Town Deb (Harold D. Schuster, 1942), using the pseudonym Jerrie Walters. In 1979, she was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its very first Former Child Star 'Lifetime Achievement' Award recognizing her outstanding achievements within the film industry as a child actress.
She took over the role of gargoyle Laverne in Disney's animation film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1996) following the death of Mary Wickes and had to match Wickes' voice and performance so that audiences wouldn't be able to detect the difference. She repeated the role in the sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (Bradley Raymond, 2002).
Jane Withers became a widow in 1968 when her second husband, Ken Errair, perished in a plane crash. She also lost one of her five children, Randy, to cancer when he was only 33. Jane Withers died in Burbank, Califonia, of natural causes, in 2021.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2909/1, 1939-1940. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Jane Withers in a scene from Little Miss Nobody (John G. Blystone, 1936). Source: friendsfamilyaccount (YouTube).
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
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