[img]1212|left|||no_popup[/img]Jane Withers, one of the most popular child film stars of the 1930s, will be the fifth recipient of the Backlot Film Festival’s Thomas Ince Award.
Ms. Withers will accept the honor during the festival, on Saturday, Aug. 20, at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica.
Mickey Rooney, Carl Reiner, Budd Schulberg and Daniel Selznick previously won Ince Awards.
Born in Atlanta, Ms. Withers was the star of her own radio show in her hometown by the age of 4.
[img]1213|left|||no_popup[/img]As “Dixie's Dainty Dewdrop,” she sang and gave uncanny imitations of famous celebrities such as Greta Garbo and Maurice Chevalier.
Ms. Withers came to Hollywood in the early ‘30s, working as a bit player in several films. She recently recalled that she was personally cast by W.C. Fields in a small role in his classic comedy, “It's A Gift.” They remained friends until his death in 1946.
Jane Withers' big break came in 1934 when she landed a supporting role in 20th Century Fox's “Bright Eyes,” starring Shirley Temple.
Risking Popularity
Ms. Withers was reluctant to take the role of Joy Smythe, a spoiled and obnoxious brat who torments Shirley. In one scene, she informs Ms. Temple, “There ain't any Santa Claus because my psychoanalyst told me!”
She worried, though, audiences would hate her since America was in love with Shirley Temple. But they didn’t.
Ms. Withers earned rave reviews for her role in “Bright Eyes,” and her reward was a long-term contract at Fox.
Because of her ability to mimic celebrities, she was hired to teach Will Rogers how to imitate Bing Crosby in “Doubting Thomas.” In that film, Rogers' airhead wife, played by Billie Burke, has been bitten by the show business bug but has no talent.
Rogers decides to humble her by imitating a crooner. Slyly, he says that “all the crooners are young fellas; the public never has allowed a crooner to live to a ripe old age. A hundred and twenty million people can't be wrong.”
Although Ms. Withers never appeared in a picture with Rogers, they remained close friends until his death in a 1935 air crash.
For the rest of the decade, Ms. Withers was the youthful star of close to 50 feature films. Usually, she appeared as a scrappy little tomboy, rambunctious, brimming with kinetic energy.
Her lively movies capitalized on her talent for impersonating movie stars. In 1937, she was named one of “Motion Picture” poll's top ten box office favorites, No. 6. Shirley Temple was ranked No. 1.
Now That’s Influence
Her popularity was such that in 1939, she was able to get Republic Pictures to loan Gene Autry to Fox to co-star with her in “Shooting High,” where Autry played Will Carson, whose family is engaged in a decades’ long feud with the dreaded Pritchard clan.
With the onset of World War II in 1941, there was a change in taste in the movies. In July 1942, Twentieth Century Fox boss Darryl Zanuck let both Jane Withers and Shirley Temple go.
Ms. Withers signed a three-picture deal with Republic Pictures, but the results were only lukewarm. She received good reviews for her dramatic role in the Samuel Goldwyn-produced World War II drama “The North Star,” starring Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews.
In 1947, she retired from films, married a wealthy Texas oilman, William Moss, and had three children by him. After six years, they divorced.
In 1955, she married Kenneth Errair, one quarter of the harmonizing group the Four Freshmen.
At the same time, she met producer/director George Stevens while attending a director's workshop at USC. He cast her in a supporting role in “Giant,” starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Other roles followed, including “The Right Approach” (1961) and “Captain Newman, M.D.” starring Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis. (1963).
Later, she was instrumental in getting Bob Newhart his first dramatic role on television. He played her henpecked husband in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour's “How To Get Rid Of Your Wife.”
It was television that would turn Ms. Withers into a wealthy woman as the friendly household pitchwoman, the dressed-down Josephine the Plumber, pushing Comet Cleanser.
From time to time, she made guest appearances in fun, lightweight shows, such as “The Munsters,” “Love Boat,” “Murder She Wrote,” and “Hart To Hart.”
Tragically in June 1968, Kenneth Errair, her husband of 14 years and father to two of her children, was killed in a plane crash.
Ms. Withers lost her son from her first marriage, Walter Randall Moss, in 1986, two days after his 34th birthday.
She maintains that a strong spiritual faith has gotten her through many challenges.
She has three warehouses of movie memorabilia and a huge doll collection, including President Franklin Roosevelt's favorite teddy bear, which he gave her.
Recently, she has done voiceover work for Walt Disney, and she is writing four books. Ms. Withers says she is most inspired in the wee hours of the morning.
