German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 5621/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5784/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C. 102.
French postcard by Europe, no. 967. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5925/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4964/2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dorothy Jordan and Ramon Novarro in In Gay Madrid (Robert Z. Leonard, 1930).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7247/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Ramon Novarro's sultry leading lady
Dorothy Hendricks Jordan was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1906. Jordan studied at what is now Rhodes College and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Trained as a ballerina, she first graced the stage as a chorus girl in Broadway musicals, like 'Funny Face' (1927), with Fred Astaire, 'Treasure Girl' (1928) with Gertrude Lawrence and Clifton Webb, and 'Garrick Gaieties'.
This led to what turned out to be a fairly short film career, beginning with a run-of-the-mill thriller, Black Magic (George B. Seitz, 1929). She played Mary Pickford's sister in the comedy The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Taylor, 1929). It was the first sound film adaptation of the famous William Shakespeare play.
Jordan was the sultry leading lady of Ramon Novarro in the musical Devil-May-Care (Sidney Franklin, 1929) with a Technicolor sequence of the Albertina Rasch Dancers. It was Novarro's talkie debut. Next, the two stars appeared together in the musicals Call of the Flesh (Charles Brabin, 1930) and In Gay Madrid (Robert Z. Leonard, 1930), but then American audiences grew tired of musicals.
Jordan worked with several well-known actors in the next years, including Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Huston, and Jimmy Durante. Contemporary critics were frequently unimpressed with Dorothy's acting, whether speaking her lines too quickly in Hell Bound (Walter Lang, 1931) or delivering them as a 'memory citation' in Beloved Bachelor (Lloyd Corrigan, 1931).
Dutch postcard, no. 197. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 475b. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Dutch-Belgian collector card by N.V. London Caramel Works, Breda / Esschen, no. 62. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Dutch-Belgian collector card by N.V. London Caramel Works, Breda / Esschen, no. 81. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Belgian postcard by S.A. Cacao et Chocolat Kivou, Vilvo[o]rde, Belgium.
Dutch postcard. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 475a. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1932.
French postcard by Europe, no. 741. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ramon Novarro and Dorothy Jordan in Devil-May-Care (Sidney Franklin, 1929).
Dutch postcard by JosPe, Arnhem, no. 23. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ramon Novarro and Dorothy Jordan in In Gay Madrid (Robert Z. Leonard, 1930).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 516. Ramon Novarro and Dorothy Jordan in Call of the Flesh (Charles Brabin, 1930).
Out of retirement for John Ford
Until 1933, Dorothy Jordan worked for various studios and played the female lead in multiple films. She had important parts as Marie Dressler's daughter in the comedy-drama Min and Bill (George W. Hill, 1930) with Wallace Beery, and as simple-minded Southern girl Betty Wright in the drama The Cabin in the Cotton (Michael Curtiz, 1932) with Richard Barthelmess and Bette Davis.
One of her better roles was as an unwed mother in Bondage (Alfred Santrell, 1933). In 1933 Jordan left the film industry to marry film producer and director Merian C. Cooper. The couple moved to Coronado, San Diego County, and they had three children.
In 1937, Jordan emerged from retirement, unsuccessfully screen-testing for the role of Melanie in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood, 1939). Merian C. Cooper was a good friend of and frequent collaborator with Western director John Ford. In 1947, they formed Argosy Productions.
For Argosy's The Sun Shines Bright (John Ford, 1953), Jordan again came out of retirement for a small role. She had another small role as the sister-in-law of Ethan Edwards in the epic Argosy film The Searchers (John Ford, 1956) starring John Wayne. Jordan also played a small role in The Wings of Eagles (John Ford, 1957), then retired permanently.
I.S. Mowis writes on IMDb that she became somewhat reticent about discussing her career as a movie actress in her later years. Jordan continued to live in Coronado, California until Cooper died in 1973. Fifteen years later, Dorothy Jordan died of congestive heart failure in 1988 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 82. Her body was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles, California, and her ashes scattered at sea.
Italian postcard by Cinema-Illustrazione, Milano, series 1, no. 12. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Dutch postcard, no. 168. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Dutch postcard, no. 20. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dorothy Jordan and Ramon Novarro in In Gay Madrid (Robert Z. Leonard, 1930). The editor is unknown (the back of the card is blank), but as we have another Dutch card of the same film with the same typography and the number, edited by JosPe, Arnhem, this must be a JosPe card too.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4964/2. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dorothy Jordan and Ramon Novarro in In Gay Madrid (Robert Z. Leonard, 1930).
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5100/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ramon Novarro and Dorothy Jordan in Devil-May-Care (Sidney Franklin, 1929).
French postcard by Europe, no. 763. Photo: United Artists. Ramon Novarro and Dorothy Jordan in Devil-May-Care (Sidney Franklin, 1929). The French title was Bataille de Dames. The United Artists logo on this card is puzzling, as the film was an MGM production.
French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, Paris, no. 613. Dorothy Jordan in Devil-May-Care (Sidney Franklin, 1929), starring Ramon Novarro. The French title was Bataille de Dames.
British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London.
British postcard in the Cameo Series, London, no. K.17.
Sources: I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
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