Joan Davis

Infobox actress
bgcolour =
name = Joan Davis


imagesize = 250px
caption =
birthname = Madonna Josephine Davis
birthdate = birth date|1907|06|29
location = Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

deathdate = death date and age|1961|05|22|1907|06|29
deathplace = Palm Springs, California, USA
occupation = Actress, Vaudevillian
spouse = Si Wills (1931–1948) 1 Child

Joan Davis (June 29, 1907 – May 22, 1961) was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio and television. Remembered best for the 1952–55 television comedy, "I Married Joan", Davis also had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress andas a leading star of 1940s radio comedy. Born Madonna Josephine Davis in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Davis was a performer since childhood. She appeared with her husband Si Wills in vaudeville.

Biography

Film career

Her first film was a short subject for Educational Pictures called "Way Up Thar" (1935), featuring a then-unknown Roy Rogers. Educational's parent company, Twentieth Century-Fox, signed Davis for feature films. Tall and lanky, with a comically flat speaking voice, she became known as one of the few female physical clowns of her time. Perhaps best known for her co-starring turn with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in "Hold That Ghost" (1941), she had a reputation for flawless physical comedy. Her pantomime sequence in the starring vehicle "Beautiful but Broke" (1944) is a slapstick construction-site episode, and she times her movements and reactions precisely.

She co-starred with Eddie Cantor in two features, "Show Business" (1944) and "If You Knew Susie" (1948). Cantor and Davis were very close offscreen, as well.

Radio

Joan Davis entered radio with an August 28, 1941 appearance on "The Rudy Vallee Show" and became a regular on that show four months later.

Davis then began a series of shows that established her as a top star of radio situation comedy throughout the 1940s. When Vallee left for the Coast Guard in 1943, Davis became the host of his show. With a title change to "The Sealtest Village Store", Davis was the owner-operator of the store from July 8, 1943 to June 28, 1945 when she left to do "Joanie's Tea Room" on CBS from September 3, 1945 to June 23, 1947. Sponsored by Lever Brothers and Swan Soap, the premise had Davis running a tea shop in the little community of Smallville. The supporting cast featured Verna Felton, and Harry von Zell was the announcer.

The tea shop setting continued in "Joan Davis Time", a CBS Saturday night series from October 11, 1947 to July 3, 1948. With Lionel Stander as the tea shop manager, the cast also included Hans Conried, Mary Jane Croft, the Choraliers quintet and John Rarig and his Orchestra.

"Leave It to Joan" began on July 4 to August 22, 1949 as a summer replacement for "Lux Radio Theater" and continued from September 9, 1949 to March 3, 1950. She was also heard on CBS July 3–August 28, 1950. She was a frequent and popular performer on Tallulah Bankhead's legendary radio variety show, "The Big Show" (1950–52). Dunning, John. "On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio". Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8. ]

Television

When Lucille Ball's "I Love Lucy" premiered in October 1951 on CBS Television and became a top-rated TV series, sponsors wanted more of the same with another actress who wasn't afraid of strenuous physical comedy. "I Married Joan" premiered in 1952 on NBC, casting Davis as the manic wife of a mild-mannered community judge (Jim Backus) who got her husband into wacky jams with or without the help of a younger sister, played by her real-life daughter, Beverly Wills. The series continued until 1955.

Death

On May 22, 1961, Davis died of a heart attack at the age of 53. [cite book|last=Cullen|first=Frank |coauthors=Hackman, Florence |others=McNeilly, Donald |title=Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America|publisher=Routledge|date=2007|pages=297|isbn=0-415-93853-8|accessdate=2008-05-07] She was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery mausoleum in Culver City, California. On October 24, 1963, Davis' mother, daughter Beverly Wills and grandchildren were all killed in a house fire in Palm Springs, California. [cite book|last=Cullen|first=Frank |coauthors=Hackman, Florence |others=McNeilly, Donald |title=Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America|publisher=Routledge|date=2007|pages=297, 298|isbn=0-415-93853-8|accessdate=2008-05-07]

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Joan Davis has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1501 Vine Street.

Legacy

A quarter-century after her signature series left the air, Davis re-entered the American television viewer's consciousness. The original CBN cable television network began showing the old episodes of "I Married Joan" in 1981–82, as part of a late-night hour that also included episodes of "My Little Margie". This resurrection of "I Married Joan" remained on the air almost as long as the show's original run.

Since 2004, various episodes of "I Married Joan" and have become available on budget DVD releases and through Netflix. "I Married Joan" also became available on the Retro Network.

Filmography

Award nominations

ee also

*Golden Age of Television
*"Let's Join Joanie" (Failed pilot Davis appeared in)

Further reading

*Ohmart, Ben. "Hold That Joan — The Life, Laughs & Films of Joan Davis." Albany: BearManor Media, 2007. ISBN 1-59393-046-1.
*Tucker, David C. "The Women Who Made Television Funny" (2007). ISBN 978-0-7864-2900-4.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0204843
*tv.com person|81583|Joan Davis
*Find A Grave|id=2063

Persondata
NAME= Davis, Joan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Davis, Madonna Josephine
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actress, Vaudevillian
DATE OF BIRTH= June 29, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH= Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

DATE OF DEATH= May 22, 1961
PLACE OF DEATH= Palm Springs, California, USA