French postcard, no. 727.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 51592, 1930-1931. Photo: Radio Pictures (RKO). Bebe Daniels and John Boles in Rio Rita (Luther Reed, 1929).
Vintage photo. John Boles, Edward Van Sloan, Colin Clive and Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931).
Audiences were enthralled by his beautiful voice
John Boles was born in Greenville, Texas, to a middle-class family. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1917. Boles served in the intelligence service of the U.S. Army during World War I. He returned to Greenville, where he was selected by an out-of-town producer to act in an opera at the King Opera House. This experience convinced John that he preferred music and the stage to the preference of his parents, who wanted him to pursue a medical degree.
While en route to a career as an actor and singer, Boles earned a living by teaching French and singing in a high school in New York State and working as a business manager and interpreter for a one-year tour of Europe by a student group. The latter venture led to his studying under tenor Jean de Reszke. Boles married Marcelite Dobbs in 1917, and they remained married until his death.
After the First World War, Boles moved to New York to study music. He quickly became well-known for his talents and was selected to replace the leading man in the 1923 Broadway musical 'Little Jesse James'. He became an established star on Broadway. Boles' other Broadway credits include 'Mercenary Mary' (1924), and 'Kitty's Kisses' (1925). It attracted the attention of Hollywood producers.
He was hired by MGM to appear in the silent film The Sixth Commandment (Christy Cabanne, 1924). He starred in two more films for that studio before returning to New York and the stage. In 1927, he returned to Hollywood to star in The Love of Sunya (Albert Parker, 1927) opposite Gloria Swanson, which was a big success for him. Unfortunately, because the movies were still silent he was unable to show off his singing ability.
In 1929, Warner Brothers hired him to star in their lavish musical operetta The Desert Song (Roy Del Ruth, 1929). This film featured sequences in Technicolor and was a box-office success. Soon after, Radio Pictures (later known as RKO) selected him to play the leading man in their extravagant production Rio Rita (Luther Reed, 1929), opposite Bebe Daniels. The last portion of the film was photographed in Technicolor. Audiences were enthralled by his beautiful voice, and John Boles suddenly found himself in huge demand. RCA Victor even hired him to make phonograph records of songs that he had sung in his films.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4812/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Radio Pictures (RKO). Bebe Daniels and John Boles in Rio Rita (Luther Reed, 1929).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5159/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Radio (R.K.O.) John Boles and Bebe Daniels in Rio Rita (John G. Blystone, 1929).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 191/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Fox. Lilian Harvey and John Boles in My Lips Betray (John G. Blystone, 1933).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7993/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Fox. Lilian Harvey and John Boles in My Lips Betray (John G. Blystone, 1933).
British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 142. John Boles and Gloria Stuart in Beloved (Victor Schertzinger, 1934).
An even more extravagant musical
As soon as Rio Rita was completed, John Boles went back to Warner Brothers as the leading man in an even more extravagant musical entitled Song of the West (Ray Enright, 1930) that was filmed entirely in Technicolor. Shortly after this film, Universal Pictures offered John Boles a contract, which he accepted. He starred in a number of pictures for them, most notably the all-Technicolor musical revue entitled The King of Jazz (John Murray Anderson, 1930) and a historical operetta entitled Captain of the Guard (John S. Robertson, Pál Fejös, 1930) opposite Laura La Plante.
In 1931, he starred with Evelyn Laye in One Heavenly Night (George Fitzmaurice, 1931), which would prove to be his last major musical. Boles portrayed Victor Moritz in Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931). He starred with Irene Dunne in a film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel 'The Age of Innocence' (Philip Moeller, 1934) for RKO Radio Pictures.
He had another leading part opposite Gloria Swanson, this time as her bickering beau in Music in the Air (Joe May, 1934) and he took the role of Edward Morgan in Curly Top (Irving Cummings, 1935), starring Shirley Temple. Freelancing after his Fox contract ended in 1936, Boles experienced a dip in popularity. Then Boles played a strong part alongside Barbara Stanwyck in the classic Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937).
In 1943, Boles played the role of a colonel in the star-studded Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943). By this point, his film career had declined and he returned to the stage. On Broadway, he co-starred with Mary Martin and Kenny Baker in 'One Touch of Venus' (1943), a musical with music written by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash, and a book by S. J. Perelman and Nash. Boles retired from the screen and stage in 1952, after one more film, the low-budget farce Babes in Baghdad (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1952), wherein, according to AllMovie, he was "trapped with fellow faded luminaries Paulette Goddard and Gypsy Rose Lee".
John Boles later went into the oil business and lived the last 13 years of his life in San Angelo, Texas. For his contributions to the film industry, Boles was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 with a motion pictures star located at 6530 Hollywood Boulevard. Boles died of a heart attack in 1969, in San Angelo, Texas, at age 73. He and his wife Marcelite are interred at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. The couple had two daughters: Frances and Janet.
British postcard.
British postcard. Photo: Fox Films.
British postcard, no. FS 17. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Shirley Temple and John Boles in The Littlest Rebel (David Butler, 1935).
British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C.20.
Dutch postcard, no. 459. Photo: Fox Film.
Sources: AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb.
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