Happy Anniversary Ruby Keeler (25 August 1910 - 28 February 1993)
You Gotta Know How to Dance (Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Paul Draper in "Colleen", 1936)
Ruby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, (August 25, 1910 – February 28, 1993) was an actress, dancer and singer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers, particularly 42nd Street (1933). "I could do a few dance routines but I didn't have a voice," she said in 1973. "I always dreaded the part when I had to sing back to Dick [Powell]."
From 1928 to 1940, she was married to singer Al Jolson. The two met in Los Angeles (not at Texas Guinan's as he would claim), where Nils Granlund had sent her to assist in Loew's marketing campaign for The Jazz Singer. Jolson was smitten and immediately proposed. Keeler reportedly initially declined, but later relented. The couple married September 21, 1928 in Port Chester, New York. The marriage (during which they adopted a son) was reportedly a rocky one. They moved to California, which took her away from the limelight. In 1929, at the urging of Ziegfeld, Jolson agreed to Keeler's returning to Broadway to star in Show Girl.
In 1933, producer Darryl F. Zanuck cast Keeler in the Warner Bros. musical 42nd Street opposite Dick Powell and Bebe Daniels. The film was a huge success due to Busby Berkeley's lavish innovative choreography. Following 42nd Street, Jack Warner gave Keeler a long-term contract and cast her in Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames, and Colleen. Keeler and Jolson starred together in Go Into Your Dance. Jolson and Keeler appeared on Broadway one last time together for the unsuccessful show Hold On To Your Hats in 1940. Ruby withdrew totally from the limelight. She married real estate broker John Lowe Jr. in October 1941 and went into semiretirement.
Then, spurred by producer Rigby, she returned to Broadway in "Nanette!" in 1971 and celebrated her biggest success ever, playing a Bible publisher's wife with a penchant for tap dancing. Personal Quotes: "Al Jolson was my first husband. He always used to boast that he was spoiling me for any man who might come after him. I think Al sensed that it wasn't easy for me being married to an American institution... Was he right about spoiling me? I'm sorry. I couldn't possibly say. I couldn't be that indiscreet," [on her stardom in the 1930s Warner Bros. musicals]: "It's really amazing. I couldn't act. I had that terrible singing voice, and now I can see I wasn't the greatest tap dancer in the world, either."
Happy Anniversary Ruby Keeler (25 August 1910 - 28 February 1993)
You Gotta Know How to Dance (Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Paul Draper in "Colleen", 1936)
Ruby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, (August 25, 1910 – February 28, 1993) was an actress, dancer and singer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers, particularly 42nd Street (1933). "I could do a few dance routines but I didn't have a voice," she said in 1973. "I always dreaded the part when I had to sing back to Dick [Powell]."
From 1928 to 1940, she was married to singer Al Jolson. The two met in Los Angeles (not at Texas Guinan's as he would claim), where Nils Granlund had sent her to assist in Loew's marketing campaign for The Jazz Singer. Jolson was smitten and immediately proposed. Keeler reportedly initially declined, but later relented. The couple married September 21, 1928 in Port Chester, New York. The marriage (during which they adopted a son) was reportedly a rocky one. They moved to California, which took her away from the limelight. In 1929, at the urging of Ziegfeld, Jolson agreed to Keeler's returning to Broadway to star in Show Girl.
In 1933, producer Darryl F. Zanuck cast Keeler in the Warner Bros. musical 42nd Street opposite Dick Powell and Bebe Daniels. The film was a huge success due to Busby Berkeley's lavish innovative choreography. Following 42nd Street, Jack Warner gave Keeler a long-term contract and cast her in Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames, and Colleen. Keeler and Jolson starred together in Go Into Your Dance. Jolson and Keeler appeared on Broadway one last time together for the unsuccessful show Hold On To Your Hats in 1940. Ruby withdrew totally from the limelight. She married real estate broker John Lowe Jr. in October 1941 and went into semiretirement.
Then, spurred by producer Rigby, she returned to Broadway in "Nanette!" in 1971 and celebrated her biggest success ever, playing a Bible publisher's wife with a penchant for tap dancing. Personal Quotes: "Al Jolson was my first husband. He always used to boast that he was spoiling me for any man who might come after him. I think Al sensed that it wasn't easy for me being married to an American institution... Was he right about spoiling me? I'm sorry. I couldn't possibly say. I couldn't be that indiscreet," [on her stardom in the 1930s Warner Bros. musicals]: "It's really amazing. I couldn't act. I had that terrible singing voice, and now I can see I wasn't the greatest tap dancer in the world, either."
A fitting tribute. Ruby's assessment of her talents may be a bit harsh, but overall truthful. What i think she brought to her early films - 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933 and Footlight Parade - was a very unique freshness and energy and beauty atypical of most contemporary film musical players . The pre-code plots and Berekley's choreography were an immense help. My favorite Keeler film, however, is Go Into Your Dance, with husband Al Jolson (she certainly outshines him), and I think her best dancing was in Ready, Willing and Able partnered with Lee Dixon. Thanks for the lovely photos and for Keeler's own words.
ReplyDeletethanks a lot for your kind words, Jerry!
ReplyDeleteI think Ruby was a much better actress than she gave herself credit for. She learned, she adapted, etc. And there was the fact that she became a star in films virtually overnight (as did Dick Powell), which no doubt didn't sit well with Al Jolson. From what I've read and heard, he couldn't stand the fact that she was more successful in films than he was and he was extremely jealous of Dick Powell for being "the other man" in Ruby's life. Jolson even hired private detectives to follow her and blamed her for their inability to conceive a child, even though he was likely sterile. I don't know how she put up with him for as long as she did. If she and Dick Powell "made up for lost time" as mentioned in June Allyson's autobiography, good for them. If circumstances had been different, maybe they would have gotten married. It sounds like one of those "the timing was never right" stories. Thank goodness that her second marriage was happy and her children brought her so much joy.
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that Ruby was a Broadway dancer in the 1920s, and that particular style of tap-dancing - known as Buck and Wing style, is very different from the tap-dancing that was featured in the films in the mid-1930s on.
welcome, and thanks a lot for your detailed insight into Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. I agree with you it must have been a possible low-key romance between them. I love your page
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