Barbara Jo Allen

Barbara Jo Allen (September 2, 1906, New York City, New York- September 14, 1974, Santa Barbara, California) was an actress also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. She based the character on a woman she had seen delivering a PTA literature lecture in a confused manner. As Vague, she was noted for popularizing the catch phrase "You dear boy!" [http://thrillingdaysofyesteryear.blogspot.com/2008/02/en-vague.html Shreve Jr., Ivan G. Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, February 3, 2008.] ] [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0020289/bio IMDb: Barbara Jo Allen] ]

Allen's acting ability first surfaced in school plays. Following her high school graduation, she went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. Concentrating on language, she became proficient in French, Spanish, German and Italian. After the death of her parents, she moved to Los Angeles where she lived with her uncle.

Radio, films and TV

In 1937, she debuted on network radio drama as Beth Holly on NBC's "One Man's Family", followed by roles on "Death Valley Days", "I Love a Mystery" and other radio series. According to Allen, her Vera Vague character was “sort of a frustrated female, dumb, always ambitious and overzealous… a spouting Bureau of Misinformation.” After Vera was introduced in 1939 on "NBC Matinee", she became a regular with Bob Hope beginning in 1941.

Allen appeared in at least 60 movies and TV series between 1938 and 1963, often credited as Vera Vague rather than her own name. The character she created was so popular that she eventually adopted the character name as her professional name. From 1943 to 1952, as Vera, she made more than a dozen comedy two-reel short subjects for Columbia Pictures.

In 1948, she did less acting and instead opened her own commercial orchid business, while also serving as the Honorary Mayor of Woodland Hills, California. In 1953, as Vera, she hosted her own television series, "Follow the Leader", a CBS audience participation show.

Animation

She also did voices for animation, notably as the fairy Fauna in "Sleeping Beauty" (1959) and the Scullery Maid in "The Sword in the Stone" (1963).

Her first marriage was to actor Barton Yarborough, and they had one child. In 1946 the couple co-starred in the two-reel comedy short, "Hiss and Yell", nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Subject. In 1931-32 she was married to Charles H. Crosby, and in 1943 she married Hope's producer, Norman Morrell. Allen and Morrell had one child, and they stayed together for three decades until her 1974 death in Santa Barbara, California.

Filmography

Features:
*"The Women" (1939)
*"Village Barn Dance" (1940)
*"Broadway Melody of 1940" (1940)
*"Sing, Dance, Plenty Hot" (1940)
*"Melody and Moonlight" (1940)
*"Melody Ranch" (1940)
*"The Mad Doctor" (1941)
*"Kiss the Boys Goodbye" (1941)
*"Ice Capades" (1941)
*"Buy Me That Town" (1941)
*"Design for Scandal" (1941)
*"Larceny, Inc." (1942)
*"Priorities on Parade" (1942)
*"Hi, Neighbor" (1942)
*"Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" (1942)
*"Ice Capades Revue" (1942)
*"Swing Your Partner" (1943)
*"Get Going" (1943)
*"Cowboy Canteen" (1944)
*"Moon Over Las Vegas" (1944)
*"Rosie the Riveter" (1944)
*"Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid" (1944)
*"Girl Rush" (1944)
*"Lake Placid Serenade" (1944)
*"Snafu" (1945)
*"Earl Carroll Sketchbook" (1946)
*"Square Dance Katy" (1950)
*"Mohawk" (1956)
*"The Opposite Sex" (1956)
*"Sleeping Beauty" (1959) (voice)
*"Born to Be Loved" (1959)
*"The Sword in the Stone" (1963) (voice)Short Subjects:
*"Major Difficulties" (1938)
*"Moving Vanities" (1939)
*"Ring Madness" (1939)
*"Kennedy the Great" (1939)
*"Meet the Stars #1: Chinese Garden Festival" (1940)
*"You Dear Boy" (1943)
*"Screen Snapshots Series 24, No. 3" (1944)
*"Doctor, Feel My Pulse" (1944)
*"Strife of the Party" (1944)
*"She Snoops to Conquer" (1944)
*"The Jury Goes Round 'n' Round" (1945)
*"Screen Snapshots: Radio Shows" (1945)
*"Calling All Fibbers" (1945)
*"Hiss and Yell" (1946)
*"Headin' for a Weddin" (1946)
*"Reno-Vated" (1946)
*"Cupid Goes Nuts" (1947)
*"Screen Snapshots: Off the Air" (1947)
*"Sitka Sue" (1948)
*"Screen Snapshots: Smiles and Styles" (1948)
*"A Lass in Alaska" (1948)
*"A Miss in a Mess" (1949)
*"Clunked in the Clink" (1949)
*"Wha' Happen?" (1949)
*"Nursie Behave" (1950)
*"She Took a Powder" (1951)
*"Happy Go Wacky" (1952)
*"Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Life" (1954)

References