Vintage postcard.
Spanish postcard.
British Real Photograph postcard, no. 225.
The Queen of Coney Island
Marie McDonald was born Cora Marie Frye in Burgin, Kentucky, in 1923. She was the daughter of Everett 'Ed' Frye and Marie Taboni née McDonald who performed in the Ziegfeld Follies. After her parents divorced, she eventually moved with her mother and stepfather to Yonkers, New York. At the age of 15, Marie began competing in numerous beauty pageants and was named 'The Queen of Coney Island'. She dropped out of school and began modelling.
In 1939, McDonald was named 'Miss New York State', but subsequently lost at the 'Miss America' pageant. She debuted in 'George White's Scandals of 1939'. The following year, at age 17, she landed a showgirl role in the Broadway production at the Earl Carroll Theatre called 'Earl Carroll's Vanities'.
Shortly thereafter, she moved to Hollywood hoping to develop a film career. She continued modelling and to work for the owner of the Broadway theatre as a showgirl at his Sunset Boulevard nightclub. She was the model used by illustrator Alex Raymond for the Dale Arden and Princess Aura creations for the Flash Gordon comic strip.
After auditioning for Tommy Dorsey in 1940, she joined Dorsey & His Orchestra on his radio show and she later performed with other big bands. Dorsey suggested that she change her last name from 'Frye' to her mother's maiden name 'McDonald' which she used professionally for the rest of her life. In 1942, she was put under contract by Universal for $75 a week and immediately appeared in several minor roles.
Her part in the Abbott and Costello comedy Pardon My Sarong (Earle C. Kenton, 1942) earned her the nickname 'The Body' for her curvaceous physique. She was eventually dropped by Universal and signed with Paramount Pictures, earning $100 a week. While at Paramount, McDonald appeared in Lucky Jordan (Frank Tuttle, 1942) starring Alan Ladd. The following year, she was loaned to Republic Pictures where she co-starred in A Scream in the Dark (George Sherman, 1943), a B detective mystery that met with reasonable success.
Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: N.V. Columbia F.B.O. Marie McDonald in It's a Pleasure (William A. Seiter 1945).
Dutch postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Columbia.
A mostly overlooked gem
During World War II, Marie McDonald became one of Hollywood's most popular pin-up girls and she posed for the United States military magazine, Yank. While she initially did not mind being called 'The Body', McDonald soon grew tired of the nickname and expressed a desire to be known for her acting and singing skills.
McDonald returned to Paramount where she appeared in supporting roles. In 1944, McDonald co-starred in the Film Noir Guest in the House (John Brahm, 1944), in which she received the first positive reviews in her career. Her next starring role came when she worked for independent producer Edward Small as the title character in the screwball comedy Getting Gertie's Garter (Allan Dwan, 1945). Tom De Felice at IMDb: "A mostly overlooked gem. If you are into comedy, it is a must-see."
In 1947, McDonald signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and co-starred with Gene Kelly in the musical Living in a Big Way (Gregory LaCava, 1947). McDonald and Kelly did not get along while shooting and the film was a financial failure. McDonald bought out the rest of her contract at M-G-M and went to Colombia Pictures where she appeared in a supporting role in the romantic comedy Tell It to the Judge (Norman Foster, 1949).
In 1950, McDonald appeared in the Film Noir Once a Thief (W. Lee Wilder, 1950) and Hit Parade of 1951 (John H. Auer, 1951) which would be her final films for the next eight years. For the remainder of the 1950s, McDonald focused on theatre and music. McDonald recorded an LP for RCA Victor in 1957, 'The Body Sings', backed by Hal Borne and His Orchestra, which consisted of twelve standard ballads. She also toured the world in a very successful nightclub act.
She returned to the screen in 1958 when she was cast as actress Lola Livingston opposite Jerry Lewis in the slapstick comedy The Geisha Boy (Frank Tashlin, 1958). In 1963, she made her last film appearance in the sex comedy Promises! Promises! (King Donovan, 1963). She replaced sexpot Mamie Van Doren but had numerous fights on the set with the other bombshell star Jayne Mansfield. She married the film's producer, Donald F. Taylor, who would be her last husband.
Dutch postcard. Caption: Marie McDonald with a friend's daughter.
Dutch postcard by Fotoarchief Film en Toneel, no. AX 172. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Husbands are easier to find than good agents
When her film career dried up, Marie McDonald did some rather desperate publicity stunts. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "At one point, she ripped a page from the repertoire of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, claiming that she'd been kidnapped and bundled off to the desert. Even when her unorthodox behaviour didn't make the headlines, McDonald could count upon her seven marriages to keep her name in print."
McDonald's first marriage was to sportswriter Richard Allord in 1940. The marriage was annulled after three weeks. In January 1943, McDonald married her agent, Victor Orsatti, in Reno, Nevada. They divorced in May 1947. While awaiting her divorce from Orsatti, McDonald had an affair with mobster Bugsy Siegel. Siegel reportedly dumped McDonald because of her chronic tardiness.
McDonald's third and fourth marriages were to millionaire shoe manufacturer Harry Karl. They initially married in September 1947. After McDonald suffered several miscarriages, the couple adopted two children, Denice and Harrison. They separated in August 1954 and were divorced that November. McDonald and Karl remarried in Arizona in June 1955. They separated in March 1956 and, in May, Karl filed for divorce claiming that McDonald had beaten him causing him "grievous mental suffering". At the time of their separation, McDonald was pregnant with the couple's first biological child. Karl dropped the divorce suit in June. In July, McDonald filed for divorce from Karl and was granted an interlocutory divorce decree later that month but their divorce was never finalized. Their daughter, Tina Marie, was born in September 1956. During their separation, McDonald dated Michael Wilding. McDonald and Karl reconciled again in 1957 but separated again in December 1957. They divorced for good in 1958.
In 1959, McDonald married television executive Louis Bass in Las Vegas. She filed for divorce after ten months of charging Bass with "mental cruelty". In 1961, she married banker and attorney Edward Callahan in Las Vegas. On September 17, 1962, Callahan filed suit in Los Angeles asking for a divorce from McDonald for mental cruelty or that the marriage be annulled due to fraud. Callahan claimed that the two had only lived together for two days because McDonald had no intention of making a home with him or having his children. Callahan also charged that McDonald would not convert to Roman Catholicism. McDonald counter sued dismissing Callahan's claim, stating that they had lived together until September 7. She also claimed that Callahan had committed adultery and borrowed $2600 from her to finance their wedding and honeymoon which he did not repay.
McDonald married Donald Taylor for the sixth time in 1963. They met while McDonald appeared in Promises, Promises, the final film Taylor produced. They remained married until McDonald's death. IMDb quotes McDonald: "Husbands are easier to find than good agents." In 1965, Taylor found McDonald's body slumped over her dressing table in their Hidden Hills, California home. The coroner announced that McDonald's death was caused by "active drug intoxication due to multiple drugs" and was determined to be an accident or a suicide. In December 1965, the suicide team classified her death as 'accidental' after determining that McDonald likely did not choose to commit suicide. She was 42. Three months after McDonald's death, her widower, Donald F. Taylor, died of an intentional overdose of Seconal. Harry Karl and his wife, Debbie Reynolds, raised McDonald's three surviving children.
Belgian postcard, no. 751. Photo: M.G.M.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 1000. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Geisha Boy (Frank Tashlin, 1958).
Vintage postcard.
Source: Hal Erickson (AllMovie - page now defunct), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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