June Mary MacCloy (June 2, 1909 – May 5, 2005) was an American actress and singer in the 1930s and 1940s.

Early years

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis V. MacCloy, she was born in

Sturgis, Michigan Sturgis is a city in St. Joseph County, Michigan, St. Joseph County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 11,082 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located at the northeast corner of Sturgis Township, Michigan ...

, on June 2, 1909, and grew up in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

Theater

In 1928 she joined ''Vanities'', produced by

Earl Carroll Earl Carroll (September 16, 1893 – June 17, 1948) was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, songwriter and composer. Early life Carroll was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1893. He lived as an infant in the Nunnery Hill ( Fin ...

, but her mother forced her to quit due to her skimpy costume. When she was a teenager, MacCloy impersonated Broadway star

Harry Richman Harry Richman (born Henry Reichman Jr.; August 10, 1895 – November 3, 1972) was an American singer, actor, dancer, comedian, pianist, songwriter, bandleader, and nightclub performer, at his most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In his peak yea ...

, singing in ''

George White's Scandals ''George White's Scandals'' were a long-running string of Broadway revues produced by George White that ran from 1919–1939, modeled after the ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The "Scandals" launched the careers of many entertainers, including W. C. ...

'' (1928). Just prior to making her first movie MacCloy was working in New York City clubs such as the Abbey and Chateau Madrid. She also toured with a Parkington Vaudeville Unit, which used the designing talents of a young

Vincente Minnelli Vincente Minnelli (; born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American Theatre director, stage director and film director. From a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovat ...

. After her film début she appeared on Broadway in ''Hot-Cha'' (1932).

Movies

Signed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

in 1930, she was loaned out to

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

for her first feature, '' Reaching for the Moon'' (1931). She plays 'Kitty,' Bebe Daniels' flirtatious best friend. The director,

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwic ...

, was casting another Fairbanks film when he heard about MacCloy and wired her to come and test. Her first Paramount film was ''

June Moon ''June Moon'' is a play by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner. Based on the Lardner short story "Some Like Them Cold," about a love affair that loses steam before it ever gets started, it includes songs with words and music by Lardner but is n ...

'' (1931), based on the play by George S. Kaufman and

Ring Lardner Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries—Ernest Hemingway, Virginia W ...

. Subsequently, MacCloy appeared in a variety of

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ar ...

and some features with stars such as

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (1940) ...

Frances Dee Frances Marion Dee (November 26, 1909 – March 6, 2004) was an American actress. Her first film was the musical ''Playboy of Paris'' (1930). She starred in the film ''An American Tragedy (film), An American Tragedy'' (1931). She is also known ...

and

ZaSu Pitts ZaSu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who, in a career spanning nearly five decades, starred in many silent film drama film, dramas, such as Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic ''Greed (1924 film), Greed'', along wi ...

. With co-stars

Gertrude Short Carmen Gertrude Short (April 6, 1902 – July 31, 1968) was an American film actress of the silent and early sound era. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1912 and 1945. Biography Gertrude Short was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the da ...

and

Marion Shilling Marion Helen Schilling (December 3, 1910 – November 6, 2004) was an American stage and film actress. She was one of the most famous " B" leading ladies of the 1930s. Biography Marion Helen Schilling was born in Denver, Colorado in 1910. H ...

, she made a series of shorts for RKO-Pathé called ''The Gay Girls''. One of her directors was the then disgraced Fatty Arbuckle. She co-starred with

Leon Errol Leon Errol (born Leonce Errol Sims, July 3, 1881 – October 12, 1951) was an Australian-American comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film ...

in the second full

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

film '' Good Morning, Eve!'' (1934), released just after another Leon Errol short ''

Service With a Smile ''Service with a Smile'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 15 October 1961 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 17 August 1962 by Herbert Jenkins, London.McIlvaine (1990), pp. ...

'' (1934). MacCloy is probably best remembered today for her last major film role as Lulubelle, the saloon girl in '' Go West'' (1940), starring the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...

Singer

MacCloy subsequently sang with dance orchestras, including Johnny Hamp, Henry King, Jimmie Grier and

Ben Pollack Benjamin "Ben" Pollack (June 22, 1903 – June 7, 1971) was an American drummer and bandleader from the mid-1920s through the swing music, swing era. His eye for talent led him to employ musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Mil ...

. In San Francisco she was featured with the Williams-Walsh Orchestra (Griff Williams and Jimmy Walsh) at the Hotel Mark Hopkins. Her band work took her to Chicago and many other cities.

Personal life and death

In March 1931, MacCloy was sued for divorce in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

by Wilbur Guthlein. MacCloy married Schuyler Schenck in 1931 and divorced him in 1933. In December 1941, she married architect and fellow

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

enthusiast Neal Wendell Butler, with whom she raised two children. They remained married until his death in 1985. MacCloy died May 5, 2005, of natural causes in a nursing home in Sonoma, California.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1931) * '' Glamour for Sale'' (1940) * '' Go West'' (1940) as Lulubelle

References

*''Lincoln Star'', '"Likes Movies", January 2, 1931, Page 9. *''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', "College Days Linger In Memories of Stars", December 14, 1930, Page B28. *''Los Angeles Times'', "Tuning In Along The Air Lines", April 29, 1935, Page A14. *''Syracuse Herald'', "June MacCloy", Wednesday Evening, February 18, 1931, Page 10.

External links

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Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maccloy, June American film actresses Actresses from Toledo, Ohio American vaudeville performers 1909 births 2005 deaths Actresses from Michigan People from Sturgis, Michigan 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American actresses