Jane Frazee

• Name — Jane Frazee • Birth Name — Mary Jane Frehse • Born — 18 July 1915 • Birthplace — Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. • Died — 6 September 1985 • Place of death — Newport Beach, California, U.S. • Occupation — * Actress • singer • dancer • Years Active — 1921–1956 • Spouse — * Whitey Christensen (m. married 1948; div. divorced 19??) • David Hugh Leatherman (m. married 1957; div. divorced 19??) • Children — 1

Jane, age six, and her 12-year-old sister Ruth formed a singing vaudeville act known as The Frazee Sisters. The act broke up in 1940, when Jane landed a leading role in the B film Melody and Moonlight (1940) for Republic Pictures. Shortly after the film's release she was signed by Universal Pictures and was featured in Buck Privates, the high-grossing 1941 comedy/World War II film starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The strong impression she made in that film elevated her to leading-lady roles in Universal's popular "B" musicals, usually appearing opposite Robert Paige. She left Universal in late 1942, when she married actor-director Glenn Tryon, who was 16 years her senior. The actress was still very much in demand and returned to Republic for more musicals. She also appeared frequently in budget features for Columbia Pictures. After World War II, most of the larger Hollywood studios curtailed their lower-budget productions and produced fewer features. This affected scores of actors, who sought refuge at the smaller studios that had been making low-budget features all along. Thus, Jane Frazee found steady if unprestigious work at Monogram Pictures and Lippert Pictures, in addition to her Republic duties. This led to the even lower-budgeted and faster-paced fields of westerns and television (including the early series Adventures of Superman, in a small but memorable part as the outspoken rural woman who picks up a dazed Clark Kent in her car in the popular episode, "Panic in the Sky" (1953)). The actress ended her screen career co-starring in short subjects produced by Warner Brothers. These were the popular Joe McDoakes comedies starring George O'Hanlon. The 10-minute shorts were domestic sketches noted for their wild comic exaggeration, and Frazee (who appeared without billing) earned her laughs with excellent comedy timing. The series lapsed in 1956.

On May 28, 1942, Frazee married associate producer Glenn Tryon in Yuma, Arizona. They were divorced on April 16, 1947, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and had one son, Timothy. On April 24, 1948, Frazee married Whitey Christensen, a screen double for Roy Rogers, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Frazee died of pneumonia at the Flagship Health Center in Newport Beach, California in 1985, aged 70.

• Captain Blue Blood (1935) • Study and Understudy (1936) • Up in Lights (1938) • Rollin' in Rhythm (1939) • Pharmacy Frolics (1939) • Arcade Varieties (1939) • Swing Styles (1939)

Jane Frazee co-starred as Joe's wife Alice, without screen credit: • So You Want to Be Your Own Boss (1954) • So You Want to Go to a Nightclub (1954) • So You're Taking in a Roomer (1954) • So You Want to Know Your Relatives (1954) • So You Don't Trust Your Wife (1955) • So You Want to Be a Gladiator (1955) • So You Want a Model Railroad (1955) • So You Think the Grass is Greener (1956)