Helen Lynd (actress)
Helen Lynd, also known as Helene Lynch, (January 18, 1902 – April 1, 1992) was an American actress and comedienne active on stage and in film.
Life and career[edit]
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey on January 18, 1902,[1] Helen Lynd began her career in 1919 as a chorus girl in Ned Wayburn's Demi Tasse Revue at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway.[2] In her early career she performed under the name Helene Lynch, and it was this name that she used in tryout performances of a new musical, Phil Charig's Yes, Yes, Yvette, in Boston in May 1927.[2] By the time Yes, Yes, Yvette reached Broadway's Sam H. Harris Theatre on October 3, 1927, she was billed as Helen Lynd in the role of Mabel Terry; her first significant part on the stage for which The New York Times reviewer praised her execution of "low comedy".[3]
In 1928 Lynd returned to Broadway as Frankie Shultz in the Jack Yellen and Milton Ager musical Rain or Shine at George M. Cohan's Theatre which was written as a starring vehicle for comedian Joe Cook.[4] She left that production later in the year to star as Penny in Oscar Hammerstein II and Vincent Youmans's short lived musical Rainbow at the Gallo Opera House.[5] After this she starred in the music revues The Little Show (1929-1930) and The Earl Carroll Vanities (1931-1932).[1] Her other Broadway credits included Ladies' Money (1934, as Margie), Battleship Gertie (1935, as Gertie), The Hook-up (1935, as Virginia Bryce), and The Illustrators' Show (1936, multiple roles).[1]
After the mid-1930s, Lynd was primarily active as a film actress in California into the late 1940s. She began her film career in 1930 starring in the short films Purely an Accident[6] andWedding Bells.[7]
Helen Lynd died in Beverly Hills, California on April 1, 1992.[1] She was married to the talent agent Al Melick.[8]
Filmography[edit]
- Purely an Accident (1930)[6]
- Wedding Bells (1930)[7]
- Success (1931, as Molly)[9]
- Maybe I'm Wrong (1932)[10]
- Tee for Two (1932, as Blonde vocalist)[11]
- The Build Up (1933, the Beach Boy's Sweetheart)[12]
- Hats Off (1936, as Ginger Connolly)[13]
- Swingtime in the Movies (1938, as Lorna)[14]
- Of Mice and Men (1939, as Susie)[15]
- When Tomorrow Comes (1939, as the waitress)[16]
- Flight at Midnight (1939, as Josephine)[17]
- The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939, as Marie Templeton)[18]
- Lucky Partners (1940, as Ethel)[19]
- Murder in the Air (1940, as Dolly)[20]
- Power Dive (1941, as Giggly Blonde)[21]
- The Strawberry Blonde (1941, as Josephine)[22]
- Here Comes Happiness (1941, as Flo)[23]
- You're Telling Me (1942, as Miss Ames)[23]
- The Great Man's Lady (1942, as Bettina Sempler)[24]
- Moonlight in Havana (1942, as Daisy)[25]
- So Proudly We Hail! (1943, as Lt. Elsie Bollenbacher)[26]
- When the Wife's Away (1946, as Dolly)[27]
- Any Number Can Play (1949, as Ellen)[23]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Benjamin and Rosenblatt, p. 476
- ^ a b Maggie McCormick (2022). Jeanette MacDonald On the Air, Volume 1: Radio. BearManor Media.
- ^ "YES, YES, YVETTE' IS CHEERY, REFRESHING; Jack Whiting and Jeanette MacDonald Aid in Keeping Musical Comedy at Lively Pace". The New York Times. October 4, 1927. p. 32.
- ^ Dietz, pp. 447-448
- ^ Dietz, p. 493
- ^ a b Bradley, p.427
- ^ a b Liebman, p. 61
- ^ Martin Grams Jr. (2014). Duffy's Tavern: A History of Ed Gardner's Radio Program. BearManor Media.
- ^ Liebman, p. 74
- ^ Leonard Maltin (1972). "Maybe I'm Wrong". The Great Movie Shorts. Crown Publishers. ISBN 9780517504550.
- ^ Webb, p. 552
- ^ Webb, p. 87
- ^ Burton, p. 84
- ^ Bubbeo, p. 140
- ^ Tucker, p. 91
- ^ McGee, p. 268
- ^ Martin, p. 59
- ^ Mavis, p. 181
- ^ Faris, p. 106
- ^ Mavis, p. 213
- ^ Munden, p. 1877
- ^ Munden, p. 2360
- ^ a b c Munden, p. 443
- ^ T. S. (April 30, 1942). "At the Paramount". The New York Times.
- ^ Munden, p. 1605
- ^ Munden, p. 2237
- ^ Webb, p. 614
Bibliography[edit]
- American Film Institute (1971). Kenneth White Munden (ed.). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. University of California Press.
- Ruth Benjamin, Arthur Rosenblatt (2006). "Helen Lynd". Who Sang what on Broadway, 1866-1996, Volume 1. McFarland & Company.
- Bordman, Gerald (2001). American Musical Theater: A Chronicle. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195130744.
- Edwin M. Bradley (2015). The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476606842.
- Daniel Bubbeo (2010). The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786462360.
- Jack Burton (1953). The Blue Book of Hollywood Musicals: Songs from the Sound Tracks and the Stars who Sang Them Since the Birth of the Talkies a Quarter-century Ago. Century House. ISBN 9780872820135.
- Dan Dietz (2019). The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781538112823.
- Jocelyn Faris (1994). Ginger Rogers: A Bio-Bibliography. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780313291777.
- Thomas S. Hischak (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199887323.
- Roy Liebman (2003). "Lynd, Helen". Vitaphone Films: A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476609362.
- Len D. Martin (1998). The Republic Pictures Checklist: Features, Serials, Cartoons, Short Subjects and Training Films of Republic Pictures Corporation, 1935-1959. McFarland & Company.
- Paul Mavis (2015). The Espionage Filmography: United States Releases, 1898 Through 1999. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476604275.
- Marty McGee (2015). Encyclopedia of Motion Picture Sound. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476609706.
- David C. Tucker (2021). S. Sylvan Simon, Moviemaker: Adventures with Lucy, Red Skelton and Harry Cohn in the Golden Age of Hollywood. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476682198.
- Graham Webb (2020). Encyclopedia of American Short Films, 1926-1959. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476639260.
External links[edit]
- Helen Lynd at IMDb
- Helen Lynd at the Internet Broadway Database