Alice Faye

Happy Birthday, Alice Faye 1915-1998...At the peak of her career Faye was the most popular star in Hollywood, introducing twenty-three songs to the hit parade and gaining adoring fans across the globe, especially in England. She is also known as  the star who did the seemingly impossible as she walked away from Hollywood at the height of her popularity to successfully raise a family.

Born in Hell's Kitchen in New York City, she began working in vaudeville as a pre-teen, moving on to Broadway in the 1931 edition of "George White's Scandals" in a featured role at the age of 16. She got her first major film break when Lillian Harvey abandoned the lead role in "George White's 1935 Scandals" and Faye was given the part.

She was an enormous hit with the 1930's audiences and would go on to star in dozens of the cookie-cutter musicals made during the Depression. In 1938 she made "Alexander's Ragtime Band" with her frequent co-stars Don Ameche and Tyrone Power. The film showcased over 20 Irving Berlin songs and and was considered a landmark in movie musicals, changing them from light entertainment to a more respectable genre. In 1943 she sang "You'll Never Know" in the film "Hello, Frisco, Hello". The song won the Academy Award for best song that year but because of her movie contract she was not allowed to record it. The song would go on to be big hits for Dick Haymes, Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney. "Hello, Frisco, Hello" would also be Faye's last big movie.

She married musician and comedian Phil Harris in 1941 and had two daughters, relishing the family life at the same time her career was still burning bright. In order to spend more time with her daughters, Faye signed a new contact with Fox that allowed her to make only one movie a year with an option for a second one. She used this time to lobby for more serious roles and in 1945, was excited by her lead role in "Fallen Angel". Zanuck was promoting his new star Linda Darnell at the time and most of Faye's scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. Faye had considered her performance one of her best and when she saw the finished film she wrote Zanuck a letter of resignation, dropped off her dressing room keys at the studio gate and never went back.

Instead of films, she turned to radio with a successful comedy show, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, based on her home life with her daughters and husband Phil Harris. The show featured both performers in musical interludes within the show's comedy format. The show served to increase Faye's popularity as her legions of fans could tune in once a week to hear her sing.

Faye returned to films later in her life making a popular appearance in "State Fair" and returning to Broadway in a revival of "Good News" in 1974. In her career she made 36 films and introduced almost twice as many hit parade songs as her closest competitors, Judy Garland (13), Betty Grable (12) and Doris Day (12). Irving Berlin was quoted as saying he would choose Faye over any other singer to introduce his songs and George Gershwin and Cole Porter called her, "the best female singer in Hollywood in 1937". Her legacy lives on most strongly in England where Alice Faye movies are still the most requested films for t.v. viewing.