Movie star mystery photo

Posted on October 10, 2008 by lmharnisch
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Los Angeles Times file photo

Our mystery woman is, as many people guessed, Alice White, star of the 1928 version of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

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Alice White, movie star and Old Gold smoker, Aug. 30, 1930.

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Los Angeles Times file photo		 Steven Bibb has guessed our mystery woman. But just to make it interesting, I’m going to defer revealing her name to give other folks a chance….  Plus, I have lots of great pictures of her and I don’t want them to go to waste.

Here she is in First Nationals’ 1928 film "The Mad Hour."

Update: Dewey Webb and Eve also recognized her. Congrats!

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Los Angeles Times file photo

Charles Delaney and Alice White in "Broadway Babies," 1929.

 Here’s our mystery woman in a 1929 photo. Add Gregory D. Moore to the folks who recognized her.

Gregory, who has a 12-piece, 1930s-style dance band, writes that he’s giving a salute to bandleader Russ Columbo at New York’s Algonquin Hotel Oak Room on Nov. 2, 2008.
He sounds like this, in case you’re wondering.
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Los Angeles Times file photo

Sidney "Sy" Bartlett, Alice White and Jerry Giesler, 1933.

 Add Peter Mintun to the list of people who identified our mystery woman, shown in 1933 with a couple of fellows. You may not recognize the man on the left, but most folks should know  the man on the right –although it’s a fairly early picture of him.

Already recognized by Chris Morales … and Alexa Foreman. Anyone else?

OK, everybody got the man on the right, attorney Jerry Giesler. (Pronounced "Geese-ler," I’m told).

White and Bartlett scandalized America by traveling together before they were married in 1933. (They divorced in 1937). Bartlett was one of the screenwriters on "Twelve O’Clock High."

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Photograph by the Los Angeles Times		 And here’s our mystery woman in 1950. In case you’re wondering, she’s 46 years old in this picture.

Add Dennis C. Aimino to the folks who recognized our mystery guest!

In 1941, she married Columbia writer Jack Roberts, whom she divorced in 1949. This photo was taken when she was suing Roberts for failing to pay alimony.
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Los Angeles Times file photo 		At left, here is White in 1958 when she was hoping to make a comeback. She died in 1983. (Her date of birth is reported as Aug. 26, 1906, in The Times and Aug. 25, 1904, in imdb and California death records).

Alice White "never resorts to strategy or diplomacy," one studio executive said, according to her obituary. "She decides what she wants and fights … wholeheartedly to attain her goal."

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Los Angeles Times file photo

Alice White, 1904 – 1983

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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25 Responses to Movie star mystery photo

  1. Arye Michael Bender's avatar Arye Michael Bender says:
    October 6, 2008 at 9:41 am

    Bee-stung lips, before Angelina Jolie, point to young Trojan Marion Morrison’s favorite party girl, Clara Bow.

    Like

  2. Steven Bibb's avatar Steven Bibb says:
    October 6, 2008 at 9:52 am

    You picked a good scandal plagued actress today…Alice White. She’s the one who tried to have her former boyfriend beaten up or bumped off…actor John Warburton.

    Like

  4. eve's avatar eve says:
    October 6, 2008 at 11:29 am

    It’s Alice White! Briefly a jazz-age star, then later a good character actress.

    Like

  5. Joe's avatar Joe says:
    October 6, 2008 at 11:48 am

    Jane Wyman

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  6. Amy Disch's avatar Amy Disch says:
    October 6, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    I agree with Ayre. I think it’s Clara Bow.

    Like

  7. LilyBee's avatar LilyBee says:
    October 6, 2008 at 7:38 pm

    a youthful mae murray

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  8. Rinky Dink's avatar Rinky Dink says:
    October 6, 2008 at 9:51 pm

    Sylvia Sydney.

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  9. Rinky Dink's avatar Rinky Dink says:
    October 6, 2008 at 10:01 pm

    Oops, or is it spelled Sylvia Sidney?

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  10. Gregory Moore's avatar Gregory Moore says:
    October 7, 2008 at 6:12 am

    Is it Alice White?

    Like

  11. Peter Mintun's avatar Peter Mintun says:
    October 7, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    Jimminy gee, it looks like Alice White,

    Like

  12. Michael A. Shea's avatar Michael A. Shea says:
    October 8, 2008 at 7:39 am

    Marion Davies. Just a hunch.

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  14. Dewey Webb's avatar Dewey Webb says:
    October 8, 2008 at 11:14 am

    Is gent on right Jerry Geisler?

    Like

  15. Gregory Moore's avatar Gregory Moore says:
    October 8, 2008 at 11:42 am

    I’ll go out on a limb and guess the guy on the left is Sy Bartlett, Alice White’s 2nd husband? The guy on the right is Jerry Giesler, right?

    Like

  16. Dewey Webb's avatar Dewey Webb says:
    October 8, 2008 at 1:31 pm

    I goofed. I thought we were supposed to be ID’ing guy on left because it seemed so obvious (to me, at least) guy on right was Jerry Geisler. (Coutroom background sort of cements whole thing.) Hope this doesn’t disqualify me. This photo quiz –and blog– is one of best things on Internet. And, no, I”m not 100 years old! Ever run anything on Marion Parker murder? Kathy Fiscus? If you already have, sorry–I’m new to the scene.

    Like

  17. Nancy's avatar Nancy says:
    October 9, 2008 at 7:53 am

    Lilian Gish

    Like

  18. eileen's avatar eileen says:
    October 9, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Sure looks like Clara Bow to me (especially photo #2)

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  19. karen dapello's avatar karen dapello says:
    October 9, 2008 at 8:48 am

    my money’s on Clara Bow

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  20. David P. Nelson's avatar David P. Nelson says:
    October 9, 2008 at 10:08 am

    Could it be Nancy Carroll?

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  21. Joan Schiendelman's avatar Joan Schiendelman says:
    October 9, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    I think it’s Phyllis Haver.

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  22. DCA's avatar DCA says:
    October 9, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    Looks like Alice White.

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  23. Joan Schiendelman's avatar Joan Schiendelman says:
    October 9, 2008 at 6:36 pm

    Alice White – more likely!

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  24. LC's avatar LC says:
    October 10, 2008 at 12:23 am

    She looks like silent star Alice White.

    Like

  25. Jeff Hanna's avatar Jeff Hanna says:
    February 8, 2009 at 9:51 pm

    Who was the mystery woman at the beginning of the week? The one you removed? Was she by any chance Micheline Cherel, who made B movies in Hollywood in the 40’s?

    Like

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