| Los Angeles Times file photo I am always amazed by the Daily Mirror’s “brain trust,” which is my nickname for our readers. I never fail to be impressed by how much people know – or can find out. These mystery guests are a perfect example because I was starting to think I’d stumped everybody and Evelyn Tremble came along Thursday and identified them. Please congratulate her. (She says it was easy, thanks to Google).
In selecting the mystery photos, I always look for a set of five pictures with at least one especially interesting image. In this case, the first photo of these dancers – as children – was the reason. As Arye (Leslie) Michael Bender pointed out in a comment, these is a certain JonBenet Ramsey quality to the way the young girl is made up like an adult. Update: a reader comments: This week's entry is ridiculous. You violate the your concept of Movie Here's your answer: You raise an interesting question. I suppose The mystery photos are actually all This dance team performed under a variety of names. Here’s a video of them. They’re best known as Billy and Beverly Bemis, although they also performed as Edith and Bill Wilshire. This Times item from June 10, 1927, gave their names as Billie Bevans and Vivian Mitchell. I'm not entirely certain they were even brother and sister. The back of the photo gives one address for Billy and another for Beverly, who is listed as Vivian Mitchell, but has the same phone number. Billy decided to give up dancing and get married about 1938 and Beverly tried to build a career on her own, although she evidently didn’t have much success. I can’t find anything further about them in The Times. These were mystery guests who really were mystery guests! |
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Los Angeles Times file photo Update: Dec, 21, 1934: Jack Crosby, assistant dance director to LeRoy Prinz, poses with "Edith and Bill Wilshire," sister and brother dancing team making their debut in Paramount's "College Rhythm."
Here’s another photo of our mystery couple with a ghostly companion! I decided to add two photos today… .
1938: Billy is a student at Southwestern University… The first is of our mystery couple …
Update: After Billy decided to get married, Beverly tried to built a career on her own. … and the second one is of our mystery woman. Update: Beverly is getting a “nasal reduction operation.”
Notice that in the days before Photoshop, the art department retouched her figure while it was taking out the netting in the background. The information on the back of the photo, above, shows it was published, but evidently not in the microfilmed edition.
Update: In 1935, they are the rage of London… Here’s another photo of our mystery couple …
Update: In 1937, Billy and Beverly were performing before showings of “The Barrier.”
… and one of our mystery woman. I’m not sure why they posed her with a paper cup. I guess they needed a prop.
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: A 1937 photo of Beverly….
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: And Kenneth William Bemis in 1947. Jan. 28, 1947: Kenneth W. Bemis is in court in a child custody case.
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ladailymirror.com 
Nelson Eddie and Olivia de Havilland?
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Is it George and Olive Brasno?
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Gene Raymond?
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I’m gonna guess Fred and Adele Astaire.
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Looks like a young Bing Crosby with a young Patricia Neal!
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Buddy Ebsen and his sister, Vilma?
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Jonbenet Ramsey dancing in heaven with the child version of Van Johnson?
(From a parallel universe, you understand).
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The Two Pucks, Harry and Eva.
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I dunno who they are, but I’ll wager that poor little boy got beat up a LOT.
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Brenda Lee?
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Love the photo of Gary Cooper with just half a woman. Better than nuttin’, I guess. Which brings us to the tale (tail?) about the mermaid but I won’t repeat it here.
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DAY-um! As usual, I know who it’s not: Mitzi Mayfair and Hal LeRoy. She’s not June Havoc; they’re not Little Foys . . .
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Hermes Pan?
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Grace & Ray McDonald
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Billy Daniel and Dorothy Dalton.
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The lad looks like Gene Nelson-long before “Oklahoma.”
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Angela Lansbury?
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How about Gower Champion and Jeanne? Pre-dating Marge and Gower.
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Paul and Grace Hartman
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Catherine Sanford and Billy Griffith.
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It’s Velez & Yolanda. Bet my foreclosed house on it!
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Nope, I am not even going to pretend I have a clue this week.
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Guy looks like Billy Tipton.
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Well, in that case, could the girl be Bert Savoy?
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So far, everybody I’ve considered as an answer has been covered by other bright people. Still stumped.
Good stuff!
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I believe the guy may be Jerry Doherty, but I have no idea who the doll is.
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The title of your column is Movie Mystery Photo. Neither one
of these people were ever in a movie. There were plenty of mystery movie actors for you to choose from. Why are you choosing unknown people who are not in movies and are not actors? These two were never “stars” of anything! Shame on you!
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This week’s entry is ridiculous. You violate the your concept of Movie Mystery Photo with these two unknowns and unknowables who have a total movie history of two insignifcant scenes in two irrelevant and unseen movies in 1935. Can’t you play fair with your own game and your readers?
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Your contest is no fun if the mystery folks are too easy to guess and much not fun, either, if they are too hard. But a mix of both is okay, with a few medium-difficult folks sandwiched in beween. One should try to extend oneself now and then. And that’s my humbug opinion.
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Surely there’s some middle ground between “gimmees” like Pier Angeli and Louise Beavers, and what-the-hey? types like this pair and recent other show biz obscurities who appeared in one or two movies without even receiving any billing. Just because some fringe entertainer got their photo in a local newspaper a few times more than sixty years ago doesn’t mean there’s any reason anyone today would know them.
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The addresses on the back of the first photo provide clue to search on ancestry.com, and found their names in the 1920 and 1930 Federal censuses, as well as Social Security information. The children in the first picture are not brother and sister. The girl in that picture is not the woman named “Beverly Bemis” in the later photos.
Kenneth William “Billy” Bemis – b.7 Jun 1918, Hennepin, MN; d. 14 Apr 2006, Naples, FL. Father in 1930: Fruit stand salesman
Vivian Frances Mitchell – b. 2 Apr 1918, Los Angeles, CA; d. 24 Oct 1991, Newport Beach. Father in 1930: Restaurant manager. Married Living Claunch 1939; divorced.
In the census information, Billy Bemis has a sister named Edith B. Bemis, later known as Beverly Bemis (married name Dewindt in 1980).
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There’s more . . .
From zoominfo.com: Beverly Bemis DeWindt is a teacher and practitioner of Christian Science in Arcadia, California. She entered the full-time practice of Christian Science healing in 1959, and she has been a teacher of Christian Science for 34 years. She writes for The Christian Science Publishing Society’s magazines and for spirituality.com.
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For what it’s worth, I found another website if anyone else was interested in these two. Like glenfrank52 mentioned, they appear to have been brother and sister, but heck if I know why she occasionally went by completely different name.
http://www.mar-ken.org/biosaf/bemise.html
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These people WERE stars, if you’ve done research, you will find out that they danced all over the world. Larry does play fair game with his readers, because he covers the spectrum of easy to hard. Many of the photos that many of the readers would consider hard are easy for me because I see many silent and talkie movies on film that aren’t on DVD, as do several of the other players of this game. We love the challenge. And Larry is right about fame. No one knew who Vincent Van Gogh was in the late 1880s, because he sold only ONE painting while he was alive, he became incredibly important and famous LONG AFTER he was dead. No one knows now who the most popular or famous painter was in Van Gogh’s day. What does that tell you about fame?
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