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Marie Dressler

Leila Marie Koerber (November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934), known by her stage name Marie Dressler, was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star.

After leaving home at the age of 14, Dressler built a career on stage in traveling theatre troupes, where she learned to appreciate her talent in making people laugh. In 1892, she started a career on Broadway that lasted into the 1920s, performing comedic roles that allowed her to improvise to get laughs. She soon transitioned into screen acting and made several shorts, but mostly worked in New York City on stage. During World War I, along with other celebrities, she helped sell Liberty bonds.

In 1914, she played the title role in the first full-length screen comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), opposite Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. In 1919, she helped organize the first union for stage chorus players. Her career declined in the 1920s, and Dressler was reduced to living on her savings while sharing an apartment with a friend.

In 1927, she returned to films at the age of 59 and experienced a remarkable string of successes. For her performance in the comedy film Min and Bill (1930), Dressler won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She died of cancer in 1934.

Early life
Dressler was born Leila Marie Koerber on November 9, 1868, in Cobourg, Ontario. She was one of the two daughters of Anna (née Henderson), a musician, and Alexander Rudolph Koerber (1826–1914), a German-born former officer in the Crimean War. Leila's elder sister, Bonita Louise Koerber (1864–1939), later married playwright Richard Ganthony.

Her father was a music teacher in Cobourg and the organist at St. Peter's Anglican Church, where as a child Marie would sing and assist in operating the organ. According to Dressler, the family regularly moved from community to community during her childhood. It has been suggested by Cobourg historian Andrew Hewson that Dressler attended a private school, but this is doubtful if Dressler's recollections of the family's genteel poverty are accurate.

The Koerber family eventually moved to the United States, where Alexander Koerber is known to have worked as a piano teacher in the late 1870s and early 1880s in Bay City and Saginaw (both in Michigan) as well as Findlay, Ohio. Her first known acting appearance, when she was five, was as Cupid in a church theatrical performance in Lindsay, Ontario. Residents of the towns where the Koerbers lived recalled Dressler acting in many amateur productions, and Leila often irritated her parents with those performances.

Stage career
Dressler left home at the age of 14 to begin her acting career with the Nevada Stock Company, telling the company she was actually 18. The pay was either $6 or $8 per week, and Dressler sent half to her mother. At this time, Dressler adopted the name of an aunt as her stage name. According to Dressler, her father objected to her using the name of Koerber. The identity of the aunt was never confirmed, although Dressler denied that she adopted the name from a store awning. Dressler's sister Bonita, five years older, left home at about the same time. Bonita also worked in the opera company. The Nevada Stock Company was a travelling company that played mostly in the American Midwest. Dressler described the troupe as a "wonderful school in many ways. Often a bill was changed on an hour's notice or less. Every member of the cast had to be a quick study". Dressler made her professional debut as a chorus girl named Cigarette in the play Under Two Flags, a dramatization of life in the Foreign Legion.

She remained with the troupe for three years, while her sister left to marry playwright Richard Ganthony. The company eventually ended up in a small Michigan town without money or a booking. Dressler joined the Robert Grau Opera Company, which toured the Midwest, and she received an improvement in pay to $8 per week, although she claimed she never received any wages.

Dressler ended up in Philadelphia, where she joined the Starr Opera Company as a member of the chorus. A highlight with the Starr company was portraying Katisha in The Mikado when the regular actress was unable to go on, due to a sprained ankle, according to Dressler. She was also known to have played the role of Princess Flametta in an 1887 production in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She left the Starr company to return home to her parents in Saginaw. According to her, when the Bennett and Moulton Opera Company came to town, she was chosen from the church choir by the company's manager and asked to join the company. Dressler remained with the company for three years, again on the road, playing roles of light opera.

She later particularly recalled specially the role of Barbara in The Black Hussars, which she especially liked, in which she would hit a baseball into the stands. Dressler remained with the company until 1891, gradually increasing in popularity. She moved to Chicago and was cast in productions of Little Robinson Crusoe and The Tar and the Tartar. After the touring production of The Tar and the Tartar came to a close, she moved to New York City.

In 1892, Dressler made her debut on Broadway at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in Waldemar, the Robber of the Rhine, which only lasted five weeks. She had hoped to become an operatic diva or tragedienne, but the writer of Waldemar, Maurice Barrymore, convinced her to accept that her best success was in comedy roles. Years later, she appeared in motion pictures with his sons, Lionel and John, and became good friends with his daughter, actress Ethel Barrymore. In 1893, she was cast as the Duchess in Princess Nicotine, where she met and befriended Lillian Russell.

Dressler now made $50 per week, with which she supported her parents. She moved on into roles in 1492 Up to Date, Girofle-Girofla, and A Stag Party, or A Hero in Spite of Himself After A Stag Party flopped, she joined the touring Camille D'Arville Company on a tour of the Midwest in Madeleine, or The Magic Kiss, as Mary Doodle, a role giving her a chance to clown. In 1896, Dressler landed her first starring role as Flo in George Lederer's production of The Lady Slavey at the Casino Theatre on Broadway, co-starring British dancer Dan Daly. It was a great success, playing for two years at the Casino. Dressler became known for her hilarious facial expressions, seriocomic reactions, and double takes. With her large, strong body, she could improvise routines in which she would carry Daly, to the delight of the audience.

Dressler's success enabled her to purchase a home for her parents on Long Island. The Lady Slavey success turned sour when she quit the production while it toured in Colorado. The Erlanger syndicate blocked her from appearing on Broadway, and she chose to work with the Rich and Harris touring company. Dressler returned to Broadway in Hotel Topsy Turvy and The Man in the Moon.

She formed her own theatre troupe in 1900, which performed George V. Hobart's Miss Prinnt in cities of the northeastern U.S. The production was a failure, and Dressler was forced to declare bankruptcy. In 1901 she starred as Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain in the Broadway musical comedy The King's Carnival.

In 1904, she signed a three-year, $50,000 contract with the Weber and Fields Music Hall management, performing lead roles in Higgledy-Piggledy and Twiddle Twaddle. After her contract expired she performed vaudeville in New York, Boston, and other cities. Dressler was known for her full-figured body, and buxom contemporaries included her friends Lillian Russell, Fay Templeton, May Irwin and Trixie Friganza. Dressler herself was 5 ft tall and weighed 200 lbs.

In 1907, she met James Henry "Jim" Dalton. The two moved to London, where Dressler performed at the Palace Theatre of Varieties for $1500 per week. After that, she planned to mount a show herself in the West End. In 1909, with members of the Weber organization, she staged a modified production of Higgeldy Piggeldy at the Aldwych Theatre, renaming the production Philopoena after her own role. It was a failure, closing after one week. She lost $40,000 on the production, a debt she eventually repaid in 1930. She and Dalton returned to New York. Dressler declared bankruptcy for a second time.

She returned to the Broadway stage in a show called The Boy and the Girl, but it lasted only a few weeks. She moved on to perform vaudeville at Young's Pier in Atlantic City for the summer. In addition to her stage work, Dressler recorded for Edison Records in 1909 and 1910. In the fall of 1909, she entered rehearsals for a new play, Tillie's Nightmare. The play toured in Albany, Chicago, Kansas City, and Philadelphia, and was a flop. Dressler helped to revise the show, without the authors' permission, and in order to keep the changes she had to threaten to quit before the play opened on Broadway. Her revisions helped make it a big success there. Biographer Betty Lee considers the play the high point of her stage career.

Dressler continued to work in the theater during the 1910s, and toured the United States during World War I, selling Liberty bonds and entertaining the American Expeditionary Forces. American infantrymen in France named both a street and a cow after Dressler. The cow was killed, leading to "Marie Dressler: Killed in Line of Duty" headlines, about which Dressler (paraphrasing Mark Twain) quipped, "I had a hard time convincing people that the report of my death had been greatly exaggerated."

After the war, Dressler returned to vaudeville in New York, and toured in Cleveland and Buffalo. She owned the rights to the play Tillie's Nightmare, the play upon which her 1914 movie Tillie's Punctured Romance was based. Her husband Jim Dalton and she made plans to self-finance a revival of the play. The play fizzled in the summer of 1920, and the production was disbanded. In 1919, during the Actors' Equity strike in New York City, the Chorus Equity Association was formed and voted Dressler its first president.

Dressler accepted a role in Cinderella on Broadway in October 1920, but the play failed after only a few weeks. She signed on for a role in The Passing Show of 1921, but left the cast after only a few weeks. She returned to the vaudeville stage with the Schubert Organization, traveling through the Midwest. Dalton traveled with her, although he was very ill from kidney failure. He stayed in Chicago while she traveled on to St. Louis and Milwaukee. He died while Marie was in St.Louis, and Marie then left the tour. His body was claimed by his ex-wife, and he was buried in the Dalton plot.

After failing to sell a film script, Dressler took an extended trip to Europe in the fall of 1922. On her return she found it difficult to find work, considering America to be "youth-mad" and "flapper-crazy". She busied herself with visits to veteran hospitals. To save money she moved into the Ritz Hotel, arranging for a small room at a discount. In 1923, Dressler received a small part in a revue at the Winter Garden Theatre, titled The Dancing Girl, but was not offered any work after the show closed. In 1925, she was able to perform as part of the cast of a vaudeville show which went on a five-week tour, but still could not find any work back in New York City. The following year, she made a final appearance on Broadway as part of an Old Timers' bill at the Palace Theatre.

Early in 1930, Dressler joined Edward Everett Horton's theater troupe in Los Angeles to play a princess in Ferenc Molnár's The Swan, but after one week, she quit the troupe. Later that year she played the princess-mother of Lillian Gish's character in the 1930 film adaptation of Molnar's play, titled One Romantic Night.

Film career
Dressler had appeared in two shorts as herself, but her first role in a feature film came in 1914 at the age of 44. In 1902, she had met fellow Canadian Mack Sennett and helped him get a job in the theater. After Sennett became the owner of his namesake motion picture studio, he convinced Dressler to star in his 1914 silent film Tillie's Punctured Romance. The film was to be the first full-length, six-reel motion picture comedy. According to Sennett, a prospective budget of $200,000 meant that he needed "a star whose name and face meant something to every possible theatre-goer in the United States and the British Empire."

The movie was based on Dressler's hit Tillie's Nightmare. She claimed to have cast Charlie Chaplin in the movie as her leading man, and was "proud to have had a part in giving him his first big chance." Instead of his recently invented Tramp character, Chaplin played a villainous rogue. Silent film comedian Mabel Normand also starred in the movie. Tillie's Punctured Romance was a hit with audiences, and Dressler appeared in two Tillie sequels and other comedies until 1918, when she returned to vaudeville.

In 1922, after her husband's death, Dressler and writers Helena Dayton and Louise Barrett tried to sell a script to the Hollywood studios, but were turned down. The one studio to hold a meeting with the group rejected the script, saying all the audiences wanted is "young love". The proposed co-star of Lionel Barrymore or George Arliss were rejected as "old fossils". In 1925, Dressler filmed a pair of two-reel short movies in Europe for producer Harry Reichenbach. The movies, titled the Travelaffs, were not released and were considered a failure by both Dressler and Reichenbach. Dressler announced her retirement from show business.

In early 1927, Dressler received a lifeline from director Allan Dwan. Although versions differ as to how Dressler and Dwan met, including that Dressler was contemplating suicide, Dwan offered her a part in a film he was planning to make in Florida. The film, The Joy Girl, an early color production, only provided a small part as her scenes were finished in two days, but Dressler returned to New York upbeat after her experience with the production.

Later that year, Frances Marion, a screenwriter for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio, came to Dressler's rescue. Marion had seen Dressler in the 1925 vaudeville tour and witnessed Dressler at her professional low-point. Dressler had shown great kindness to Marion during the filming of Tillie Wakes Up in 1917, and in return, Marion used her influence with MGM's production chief Irving Thalberg to return Dressler to the screen. Her first MGM feature was The Callahans and the Murphys (1927), a rowdy silent comedy co-starring Dressler (as Ma Callahan) with another former Mack Sennett comedian, Polly Moran, written by Marion.

The film was initially a success, but the portrayal of Irish characters caused a protest in the Irish World newspaper, protests by the American Irish Vigilance Committee, and pickets outside the film's New York theatre. The film was first cut by MGM in an attempt to appease the Irish community, then eventually pulled from release after Cardinal Dougherty of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia called MGM president Nicholas Schenck. It was not shown again, and the negative and prints may have been destroyed. While the film brought Dressler to Hollywood, it did not re-establish her career. Her next appearance was a minor part in the First National film Breakfast at Sunrise. She appeared again with Moran in Bringing Up Father, another film written by Marion. Dressler returned to MGM in 1928's The Patsy as the mother of the characters played by stars Marion Davies and Jane Winton.

Hollywood was converting from silent films, but "talkies" presented no problems for Dressler, whose rumbling voice could handle both sympathetic scenes and snappy comebacks (the wisecracking stage actress in Chasing Rainbows and the dubious matron in Rudy Vallée's Vagabond Lover). Frances Marion persuaded Thalberg to give Dressler the role of Marthy in the 1930 film Anna Christie. Garbo and the critics were impressed by Dressler's acting ability, and so was MGM, which quickly signed her to a $500-per-week contract. Dressler went on to act in comedic films which were popular with movie-goers and a lucrative investment for MGM. She became Hollywood's number-one box-office attraction, and stayed on top until her death in 1934.

She also took on serious roles. For Min and Bill, with Wallace Beery, she won the 1930–31 Academy Award for Best Actress (the eligibility years were staggered at that time). She was nominated again for Best Actress for her 1932 starring role in Emma, but lost to Helen Hayes. Dressler followed these successes with more hits in 1933, including the comedy Dinner at Eight, in which she played an aging but vivacious former stage actress. Dressler had a memorable bit with Jean Harlow in the film: Harlow: I was reading a book the other day.

Dressler: Reading a book?

Harlow: Yes, it's all about civilization or something. A nutty kind of a book. Do you know that the guy said that machinery is going to take the place of every profession?

Dressler: Oh my dear, that's something you need never worry about. Following the release of Tugboat Annie Dressler appeared on the cover of Time in its issue dated August 7, 1933. Despite glamour actresses such as Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, or Norma Shearer MGM's most prominent female star at the time was Dressler. The aging star consistently packed movie theaters with hits like Min and Bill, Emma, and Tugboat Annie. An exhibitors poll inside the January 1933 issue of Motion Picture Herald had Dressler as the number one box office star in Hollywood.

Coming to movie stardom late, Dressler had no pretensions and a delightful sense of humor. Once, when visiting William Randolph Hearst's California palace San Simeon, a monkey pelted her with some of his excrement. Dressler responded, "Oh, a critic!".

Dressler was very grateful for her career's late resurgence. While working on two films with Wallace Beery, Tugboat Annie and Min and Bill, she refused to take nonsense from the notorious "son of a bitch". In response to one of Beery's insults, she said, "look you silly shit, you pull one more thing like that on me and I'll have your head. On a platter. And not an expensive platter. A little, cheap, lousy, wooden platter. Like John the Baptist. With a personal note to L.B. Mayer."

Dressler's newly regenerated career came to an abrupt end when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the early 1930s. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer learned of Dressler's illness from her doctor (who didn't even tell Dressler of her condition). The studio chief took it upon himself to take charge of Dressler's health. To keep her home, he ordered her not to travel, forcing her to miss a charity event in New York. Although furious, Dressler complied. She only learned about her condition six months later. After some experimental cancer therapy, Dressler returned to work under limitations enforced by Mayer. For the rest of her career, the actress only worked three hours a day and had mandatory stand-ins wherever possible. Before she died in July 1934, Dressler starred in three more features, including Dinner at Eight.

She appeared in more than 40 films, and achieved her greatest successes in talking pictures made during the last years of her life. The first of her two autobiographies, The Life Story of an Ugly Duckling, was published in 1924. A second book, My Own Story, "as told to Mildred Harrington", appeared a few months after her death.

Personal life
Dressler's first marriage was to an American, George Francis Hoeppert (1862 – September 7, 1929), a theatrical manager. His surname is sometimes given as Hopper. The couple married on May 6, 1894, in Grace Church Rectory, Greenville, New Jersey, as biographer Matthew Kennedy wrote, under her birth name, Leila Marie Koerber. Some sources indicate Dressler had a daughter who died as a small child, but this has not been confirmed. In 1904, Dressler adopted an incubator baby girl and named her Marie Dressler. Her marriage to Hoeppert gave Dressler U.S. citizenship, which was useful later in life, when immigration rules meant permits were needed to work in the United States, and Dressler had to appear before an immigration hearing. Ever since her start in the theatre, Dressler had sent a portion of her salary to her parents. Her success on Broadway meant she could afford to buy a home and later a farm on Long Island, which she shared with her parents. Dressler made several attempts to set up theatre companies or theatre productions of her own using her Broadway proceeds, but these failed and she had to declare bankruptcy several times.

In 1907, Dressler met a Maine businessman, James Henry "Jim" Dalton, who became her companion until his death on November 29, 1921, at the Congress Hotel in Chicago from diabetes. According to Dalton, the two were married in Europe in 1908. However, according to Dressler's U.S. passport application, the couple married in May 1904 in Italy.

Dressler reportedly later learned that the "minister" who had married them in Monte Carlo was actually a local man paid by Dalton to stage a fake wedding. Dalton's first wife, Lizzie Augusta Britt Dalton, claimed he had not consented to a divorce or been served divorce papers, although Dalton claimed to have divorced her in 1905. By 1921, Dalton had become an invalid due to diabetes mellitus, and watched her from the wings in his wheelchair. After his death that year, Dressler was planning for Dalton to be buried as her husband, but Lizzie Dalton had Dalton's body returned to be buried in the Dalton family plot.

After Dalton's death, which coincided with a decline in her stage career, Dressler moved into a servant's room in the Ritz Hotel to save money. Eventually, she moved in with friend Nella Webb to save on expenses. After finding work in film again in 1927, she rented a home in Hollywood on Hillside Avenue. Although Dressler was working from 1927 on, she was still reportedly living hand to mouth. In November 1928, wealthy friends Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Neurmberg gave her $10,000, explaining they planned to give her a legacy someday, but they thought she needed the money immediately. In 1929, she moved to Los Angeles to 6718 Milner Road in Whitley Heights, then to 623 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, both rentals. She moved to her final home at 801 North Alpine in Beverly Hills in 1932, a home which she bought from the estate of King C. Gillette. During her seven years in Hollywood, Dressler lived with her maid Mamie Cox and later Mamie's husband Jerry.

Miscellanea
Although atypical in size for a Hollywood star, Dressler was reported in 1931 to use the services of a "body sculptor to the stars", Sylvia of Hollywood, to keep herself at a steady weight.

Biographers Betty Lee and Matthew Kennedy document Dressler's long-standing friendship with actress Claire Du Brey, whom she met in 1928. Dressler and Du Brey's falling out in 1931 was followed by a later lawsuit by Du Brey, who had been trained as a nurse, claiming back wages as Dressler's nurse.

Death
On Saturday, July 28, 1934, Dressler died of cancer, aged 65, in Santa Barbara, California. After a private funeral held at The Wee Kirk o' the Heather chapel, she was interred in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Dressler left an estate worth $310,000, the bulk left to her sister Bonita. She bestowed her 1933 Duesenberg Model J automobile and $35,000 to her maid of 20 years, Mamie Steele Cox, and $15,000 to Cox's husband, Jerry R. Cox, who had served as Dressler's butler for four years. Dressler intended that the funds should be used to provide a place of comfort for black travelers, and the Coxes used the funds to open the Coconut Grove night club and adjacent tourist cabins in Savannah, Georgia, in 1936, named after the night club in Los Angeles.

Legacy
Dressler's birth home in Cobourg, Ontario, is known as Marie Dressler House and is open to the public. The home was converted to a restaurant in 1937 and operated as a restaurant until 1989, when it was damaged by fire. It was restored, but did not open again as a restaurant. It was the office of the Cobourg Chamber of Commerce until its conversion to its current use as a museum about Dressler and as a visitor information office for Cobourg. Each year, the Marie Dressler Foundation Vintage Film Festival is held, with screenings in Cobourg and in Port Hope, Ontario. A play about the life of Marie Dressler called "Queen Marie" was written by Shirley Barrie and produced at 4th Line Theatre in 2012 and Alumnae Theatre in 2018.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Dressler has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1731 Vine Street, added in 1960. After Min and Bill, Dressler and Beery added their footprints to the cement forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, with the inscription "America's New Sweethearts, Min and Bill."

Canada Post, as part of its "Canada in Hollywood" series, issued a postage stamp on June 30, 2008, to honour Marie Dressler.

Dressler is beloved in Seattle. She played in two films based on historical Seattle characters. Tugboat Annie (1933) was loosely based on Thea Foss, of Seattle. Likewise Hattie Burns, in Politics (1931), was based on Bertha Knight Landes, the first woman to become mayor of Seattle.

Dressler's 152nd birthday was commemorated in a Google Doodle on November 9, 2020.

Stage
Note: The list below is limited to New York/Broadway theatrical productions

Quotes

 * "If ants are such busy workers, how come they find time to go to all the picnics?"
 * "You're only as good as your last picture"

Images

 * 1922 passport photo
 * Ephemera at Virtual History
 * Marie Dressler sneezing, c.1900
 * Ephemera at New York Public Library
 * 1908 portrait at Washington University Libraries (archived)
 * 1911 still from Tillie's Nightmare at Washington University Libraries (archived)
 * 1917 still from Tillie the Scrub Lady at Washington University Libraries (archived)

title: Marie Dressler


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A Patch of Blue

A Patch of Blue is a 1965 American drama film directed by Guy Green about the friendship between an educated black man (played by Sidney Poitier) and an illiterate, blind, white 18-year-old girl (played by Elizabeth Hartman in her film debut), and the problems that plague their friendship in a racially divided America. Made in 1965 against the backdrop of the growing civil rights movement, the film explores racism while playing on the idea that "love is blind."

Shelley Winters won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, her second win for the award, following her victory in 1959 for The Diary of Anne Frank. It was the final screen appearance for veteran actor Wallace Ford.

Scenes of Poitier and Hartman kissing were cut from the film when it was shown in film theaters in the Southern United States. These scenes are intact in the DVD version. According to the DVD audio commentary, it was the decision of director Guy Green that A Patch of Blue be filmed in black and white although color was available.

The film was adapted by Guy Green from the 1961 book Be Ready with Bells and Drums by the Australian author Elizabeth Kata. The book later won a Writers Guild of America award. The book's plot has a slightly less optimistic ending than the film.

In addition to the Best Supporting Actress win for Winters, the film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Elizabeth Hartman), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Black-and-White) (George Davis, Urie McCleary, Henry Grace, Charles S. Thompson), Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) and Best Music (Original Music Score). Hartman, 22 at the time, was the youngest Best Actress nominee, a record she held for 10 years before 20-year-old Isabelle Adjani broke her record in 1975.

Plot
Selina D'Arcey is a blind white girl living in a city apartment with her crude and vulgar mother Rose-Ann, who works as a prostitute, and her grandfather Ole Pa. She strings beads to supplement her family's small income and spends most of her time doing chores. Her mother is abusive, and Ole Pa is an alcoholic. Selina has no friends, rarely leaves the apartment, and has never received an education.

Selina convinces her grandfather to take her to the park, where she meets Gordon Ralfe, an educated and soft-spoken black man working night shifts in an office. The two become friends, meeting at the park almost every day. Gordon learns that she was blinded at age five when Rose-Ann threw chemicals on her while attempting to hit her husband and that she was raped by one of Rose-Ann's "boyfriends."

Rose-Ann's friend Sadie is also a prostitute, and she realizes that Selina can be useful in their business. Rose-Ann and Sadie decide to leave Ole Pa, move with Selina into a better apartment, and force her into prostitution.

In the meantime, Gordon has contacted a school for the blind, which is ready to take Selina. While Rose-Ann is out, Selina runs away to the park and meets Gordon. She tells him about Rose-Ann's plan, and he assures her that she will be leaving for school in a few days. Finding Selina missing from the apartment, Rose-Ann takes Ole Pa to the park and confronts Gordon. Despite Rose-Ann's resistance, Gordon takes Selina away. Ole Pa then stops Rose-Ann from chasing after them, telling her that Selina is not a child anymore.

At Gordon's house, Selina asks Gordon to marry her, to which he replies that there are many types of love, and she will realize that their relationship will not work. Selina tells him that she loves him and knows that he is black and his skin color doesn't matter to her. Gordon tells her she must meet more people and wait a year to find out whether their love is more than friendship. A bus arrives to pick up Selina for her trip to the school, and the two say goodbye. Gordon has given Selina a music box that belonged to his grandmother. When she leaves it in the apartment, he runs after her to give it back but misses the bus and walks back upstairs to his apartment building.

Production
Guy Green bought the rights to himself. He made the film at MGM after another film he was going to make for that studio, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, did not happen.

Critical reception
The New York Times was critical: "There is no doubt about the good intentions of those who produced 'A Patch of Blue,'....But for the most part this little drama...seems a compound of specious contrivance. Miss Hartman...is just a wee bit too tidy and sweet...The action is too patly formulated, and Mr. Poitier, who is an honest performer, has to act like a saint. Why should it be, in a film of this nature...that the cold-water flat in which the heroine lives...looks like any phony slum apartment fabricated by the art department of a studio? And why should it be that the tune the girl is humming when the man comes upon her in the park is 'Over the Rainbow?' Why should they leap and frolic like a couple of Disney kids on a shopping spree in a supermarket? And why should she discover a French music box that plays a little tune that he sings, in French, when she first visits his apartment? These are small things, but many more like them, strung together in a get-this-clearly way, give an air of artificial fictionalizing to what should be a casual, gritty, human, throbbing film."

The Chicago Tribune wrote: "That storied shrew, the Wicked Stepmother, is back again. This time she's played by Shelley Winters, who is not actually a step relative...but is wicked enough to make anyone see red....Not woman enough to do a solo set in sadism, Shelley shares her apartment with another Mean Person, a gin-guzzling grandfather....The park is the girl's salvation, for there she meets a young man who opens up a new world to her. As played by Sidney Poitier, he is both kind and practical, never patronizing.....As Selina, newcome Hartman extracts what she can from the mawkish, melodramatic script and effectively captures the personality nuances of the pale, gaunt girl whose frightened-rabbit isolation in the bleak apartment is transformed into a childlike exuberance in the park where a patch of green becomes her patch of blue."

The TIME magazine review was mixed: "'A Patch of Blue' takes some getting used to. It starts as a pointless little tearjerker, then turns abruptly into contemporary hope opera. To save it from itself requires extraordinary skill, and the movie is fortunate in having miracle workers at hand....Luckily, Director Guy Green...has a knack for sustaining the sort of idea that in lesser hands might easily slip from pathos into bathos. Green's style is simple, forceful and true, and he habitually activates a performer's most astonishing inner resources. The prize of his present cast is 21-year-old film fledgling Elizabeth Hartman....Patch of Blue flirts openly with the issue of interracial love, only to leave it unresolved in the last reel, and the film's message becomes almost immaterial. In their quiet, tender scenes together, Hartman and Poitier conquer the insipidity of a plot that reduces tangled human problems to a case of the black leading the blind."

A Patch of Blue has a 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on nine reviews.

Box-office
The film proved to be the most successful in Poitier's career, which proved a lucrative development considering he agreed to a salary cut in exchange for 10% of the film's gross earnings. In addition, the film made Poitier a major national film star with excellent business in even southern cities like Houston, Atlanta and Charlotte.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack to A Patch of Blue was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. It gained Goldsmith his second Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score following his score to Freud in 1962. It was one of the 250 nominated scores for the American Film Institute's top 25 American film scores. The score has been released three times on CD; in 1991 through Mainstream Records (with the score to David and Lisa by Mark Lawrence), in 1992 through Tsunami Records (with his score to Patton), and an extended version in 1997 through Intrada Records.

A Cinderella Named Elizabeth
The film's creators also made a short film about Hartman's selection to play the starring role. The short, titled A Cinderella Named Elizabeth, focuses on her status as an unknown actress from Youngstown, Ohio, and includes segments from her screen test and associated "personality test", in which the actress is filmed while being herself and answering questions about everyday topics such as her taste in clothing. The short also shows her visiting the Braille Institute of America to watch blind people being trained to do handwork — similar to the beadwork her character does in the film — and to perform tasks of daily living and self-care, of the sort that Poitier's character teaches Selina to do.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: A Patch of Blue


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Min and Bill

Min and Bill is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-drama film, directed by George W. Hill and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson from Lorna Moon's 1929 novel Dark Star, the film tells the story of dockside innkeeper Min's tribulations as she tries to protect the innocence of her adopted daughter, Nancy, while loving and fighting with boozy fisherman Bill, who resides at the inn. The picture was a runaway hit. In 1931, the studio released a Spanish-language version of Min and Bill, La fruta amarga, directed by Arthur Gregor and starring Virginia Fábregas and Juan de Landa.

Min and Bill stars Dressler (Min), Beery (Bill), Dorothy Jordan (Nancy), and Marjorie Rambeau (Bella, Nancy's disreputable mother). Dressler won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931 for her performance in this film. Beery received the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1931 for playing the title role in The Champ, which “fully vaulted him from character player to genuine movie star.”

Beery became MGM's highest-paid actor in the early 1930s, before Clark Gable took over that crown; Beery had a clause in his 1932 contract that he be paid a dollar per year more than any other actor on the lot.

In 1933, the studio teamed Dressler and Beery as a married couple in Tugboat Annie, which was also a huge success. In 1933, Dressler topped Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll of movie exhibitors in 1931 and 1932. She died of cancer in July 1934.

Plot
Min Divot (Marie Dressler) runs a dockside inn. She has been raising Nancy Smith (Dorothy Jordan) as her own since her prostitute mother, Bella (Marjorie Rambeau), left her at the inn as an infant. Min frequently argues with fisherman Bill (Wallace Beery). Despite Bill's near-constant drinking, Min and he care for each other. Bill and she are the only ones who know the identity of Nancy's real, still living, mother.

Min does her best to raise Nancy and keep her from learning about the real activities of the people who live and work on the docks. Despite not having much extra money or a home outside her inn, Min does her best to raise Nancy into a young lady. She does everything she can to make sure Nancy is never around when Bella arrives for a visit.

Nancy loves Min as her own mother and frequently skips school to be with her. After repeatedly dealing with the truant officer, Min uses the money she had hidden in her room to send Nancy to a fancy boarding school. She hopes the school will teach Nancy better manners than those she had been picking up from Bill and the others on the docks. The schooling works, and Nancy returns to Min with good manners, an education, and the news that she is now engaged to a very wealthy man named Dick Cameron. She wants Min to attend the wedding.

Min is thrilled, until she finds out that Bella has returned. Seeing how happy Nancy is to be getting married (and the wedding will be taking place in a few days), Min deliberately argues with Nancy and says terrible things she does not mean for Nancy to immediately leave. She is mad at herself for hurting Nancy, but is relieved that she is gone by the time Bella arrives. Min stalls Bella, hoping the wedding will take place and the couple can leave for their honeymoon before Bella can interfere.

Bella arrives as the ceremony takes place. She confronts Min in an upstairs room in her inn. She has discovered her daughter's identity, and that of her very wealthy new husband. She taunts Min with the information and pledges to torment Nancy and her new husband until they give her money and take her into their new home. Min thinks about the wedding and Nancy's happiness, and tries to prevent Bella from leaving. When Bella attacks Min with a hot curling iron and attempts to leave, Min takes a hidden gun and shoots her dead. Min drops the gun and flees the room. Bill, knowing what was going on, tries to help Min by pleading with her to drive down to Mexico on his boat. Once Min and Bill leave the inn for the boat, an eavesdropping sailor enters Min's room and discovers Bella's corpse. Just as Min and Bill are about to board Bill's boat, however, Min sees Nancy and Dick Cameron about to board a boat to their honeymoon, and is drawn silently to the happy couple. She wants to see Nancy one last time. Min watches, but decides not to let Nancy know she is there, and stays hidden in the crowd. Two police officers quietly confront Min about the shooting at the inn. Min does not say much. She takes one final look at a smiling Nancy as she leaves with her husband. Min turns back and smiles as she quietly walks away with the officers. She is sad that it may be the last time she ever sees Nancy, but at the same time, she is happy that Nancy managed to escape a dead-end life by the docks. Bill watches helplessly.

Cast

 * Marie Dressler as Min Divot
 * Wallace Beery as Bill
 * Dorothy Jordan as Nancy Smith
 * Marjorie Rambeau as Bella Pringle
 * Donald Dillaway as Dick Cameron
 * DeWitt Jennings as Groot
 * Russell Hopton as Alec Johnson
 * Frank McGlynn, Sr. as Mr. Southard (credited as Frank McGlynn)
 * Gretta Gould as Mrs. Southard

In popular culture
Jack Kerouac, in On the Road, has his protagonist-narrator Sal Paradise compare Dean Moriarty and his second wife Camille to Min and Bill.

Reception
The film made a profit of $731,000.

title: Min and Bill


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Vizsla

The Vizsla, also known as Hungarian Vizsla, Magyar Vizsla or Hungarian Pointer, is a dog breed from Hungary and belongs to the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) group 7 (Pointing Dogs), the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) group 1 (Sporting group), and the American Kennel Club (Sporting group). The Hungarian or Magyar Vizsla or Smooth-Haired Vizsla are sporting dogs and loyal companions. The Vizsla's medium size is one of the breed's most appealing characteristics. As a hunter of fowl and upland game, the Vizsla has held a prominent position among sporting dogs – that of household companion and family dog.

The Hungarian Vizsla is a versatile hunting dog that was traditionally and is currently used to hunt, point, and retrieve, referring to the dog's natural ability in tracking, pointing, and retrieving game, including in water. Although they are lively, gentle-mannered, demonstrably affectionate and sensitive, they are also fearless and possess a well-developed protective instinct.

Appearance
The Hungarian Vizsla is a short-coated hunting dog of distinguished appearance and bearing. Robust, but rather lightly built, they are lean dogs that have defined muscles.

Various breeds are often mistaken for Vizslas and vice versa. Redbone Coonhounds, Weimaraners and Rhodesian Ridgebacks are most commonly mixed up. The body structure of a Vizsla is very similar in appearance to a Weimaraner and a Redbone Coonhound, though the Vizsla is typically leaner with a more defined musculature. Weimaraners and Rhodesian Ridgebacks are generally larger than Vizslas.

The nose of the Vizsla will usually be a reddish color that blends with the coat color. Black, brown, light pink, or another color nose is an indication of another breed. A Vizsla's eye and nail color usually also blend with the coat color.

Color and coats
The standard coat is French-row yellow in several shadings. The coat could also be described as a yellow, orange, copper-brown color, russet gold, and dark sandy gold. Solid, dark, mahogany red and pale yellow are considered faults and a disqualification in competitions. Small areas of white on the fore-chest, neck, or tail are permissible but not preferred. Some variations in the Vizsla coat color along their back (saddle-type marks) are typical.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) breed standards for the Vizsla states that the coat should be short, smooth, dense, and close-lying, without a woolly undercoat. The Vizsla is not suited to being kept outside since, unlike most other breeds, it does not have an undercoat. They are self-cleaning dogs and rarely need to be bathed, if ever. They have little noticeable "dog smell" detectable by humans. After several forays into lakes and streams they will develop an aroma that is a weaker version of the 'wet dog' smell. A quick bath and this odor will vanish.

Grooming and cleaning
Maintaining a vizsla's coat is relatively simple because of its short hair. When wet, a quick towel pat-down dries the dog fast, and for mud or dirt, letting it dry makes brushing it off easy. Using a velvet brush not only keeps their coat shiny but also helps in removing much of what they shed. Unlike most dogs, vizslas shed during all seasons, so it is important to keep up with brushing. Aside from their fur, keeping their claws trimmed prevents injury due to excessive length and chewing on hard items like raw marrow bones prevents plaque buildup and ensures clean teeth.

Size
The Vizsla is a medium-sized dog, The average height and weight:
 * Males
 * Height: 23 - 27 in
 * Weight: 45 - 66 lb
 * Females
 * Height: 20.5 - 24 in
 * Weight: 40 - 55 lb

Tail
The Vizsla holds its tail horizontal to the ground and wags it vigorously while charging through rough scrub and undergrowth.

The American breed standard calls for the tail to be docked to two-thirds of its original length, though docking for cosmetic reasons is opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. UK's Kennel Club breed standard permits both a docked tail or a natural tail; this accommodates laws in England & Wales and in Scotland which outlaw docking for cosmetic reasons but exempt docking in newborn working dogs.

The docked tail of the Vizsla is significantly longer than that of other dogs with traditionally docked tails such as the Weimaraner, Dobermann, Boxer, and Australian Shepherd. Since the tail is docked when the puppy is less than three days old, this longer dock can result in some variation in tail length among Vizsla dogs from different breeding programs.

Temperament
Vizslas are very energetic, gentle-mannered, loyal, caring, and very affectionate. They quickly form close bonds with their owners, children, and even strangers. Often, they are referred to as "velcro" dogs because of their loyalty and affection. Vizslas will cry or whine when they feel neglected or are otherwise unhappy. Some will bark at strangers if they feel that they are invading the "pack" space. They are very good guard dogs when trained to be so.

They are natural hunters with an excellent ability to take training. Not only are they great pointers, but they are excellent retrievers as well. They will retrieve on land and in the water making the most of their natural instincts. However, they must be trained gently and without harsh commands or strong physical correction, as they have sensitive temperaments and can be easily damaged if trained too harshly. However the owner must show quiet authority in training, otherwise the dog is likely to take over the training session.

Vizslas thrive on attention, exercise, and interaction. They are intelligent dogs and need a lot of mental stimulation when young. If left alone for long hours, they can be bored and become destructive. With proper socialization and training, Vizslas are very gentle dogs that can be great around children. The Vizsla wants to be close to its owner as much as possible, and it is commonly observed that vizslas insist on sleeping under the covers in their owner's bed at night.

Health
A 2024 UK study found a life expectancy of 13.5 years for the breed compared to an average of 12.7 for purebreeds and 12 for crossbreeds. The Vizsla is considered to be a robust dog but some localized breeding programs using a small number of dogs have led to heritable illnesses in some offspring including: Responsible breeders do not select dogs for breeding if they have such inherent problems. Vizslas can also suffer from hypothyroidism, dwarfism, persistent right aortic arch, tricuspid valve dysplasia, and progressive retinal atrophy. Major risks include epilepsy and lymphosarcoma. Vizslas can also be prone to skin and food allergies.
 * Hip dysplasia is very rare but possible.
 * Canine epilepsy
 * Cancer (mast cell tumors, hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma)
 * Sebaceous adenitis

There is also the possibility of diseases and cancer developing in vizslas that are spayed or neutered. According to the Veterinary Medical DataBases, lymphoma is most likely to occur in gonadectomized vizslas (4.3x) compared to sexually intact vizslas. However, this is due to the fact that there is a 1.1% chance of illness in dogs neutered 12 months after birth compared to the 0.3% chance in dogs neutered before 12 months, and the 0.1% chance in those that are sexually intact. Vizslas can be prone to various bleeding-related conditions such as hemophilia A and Von Willebrand's disease, leading to significant bleeding even from minor wounds due to a lack of blood clotting. Additionally, they may experience hypothyroidism, necessitating lifelong medication to support their thyroid in producing essential hormones for their survival.

Breeding
A vizsla will begin puberty on average 8–10 months after birth. Though for vizslas and most other breeds, they should not be bred during their first heat; instead, the second or third heat cycle is when they should be bred if desired. But even these measures can vary depending on the dogs mental and physical maturity.

History
The first written reference to the Vizsla dog breed has been recorded in the Illustrated Vienna Chronicle prepared on order of King Louis I of Hungary by the Carmelite Friars in 1357.

The Vizsla has survived the Turkish occupation (1526–1696), the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, World War I, World War II and the Hungarian People's Republic. However, Vizslas faced and survived several near-extinctions in their history, including being overrun by English Pointers and German Shorthaired Pointers in the 1800s (Boggs, 2000:19) and again to near-extinction after World War II. A careful search of Hungary and a poll of Hungarian sportsmen revealed only about a dozen Vizslas of the true type still alive in the country. From that minimum stock, the breed rose to prominence once again. The various "strains" of the Vizsla have become somewhat distinctive as individuals bred stock that suited their hunting style. Outside Hungary, vizslas were commonly bred in Romania, Austria, Slovakia, and Serbia.

The Vizsla started arriving in the United States at the close of World War II. As interest in and devotion to the breed began to increase, owners formed the Vizsla Club of America in order to gain American Kennel Club (AKC) recognition. As a result of registering foundation stock with the AKC, Vizsla owners were able to obtain official recognition on 25 November 1960, as the Vizsla became the 115th breed recognized by the American Kennel Club.

The Vizsla was used in development of other breeds, most notably the Weimaraner, Wirehaired Vizsla and German Shorthaired Pointer breeds. There is much conjecture about those same breeds, along with other pointer breeds, being used to reestablish the Vizsla breed at the end of the 19th century.

Vizsla in the UK
Approximately 4,520 Vizsla puppies are registered with the Kennel Club of Great Britain (KC) each year, making the breed one of the top 50 most popular. The number is steadily rising year after year as more people recognize the breed. There are two breed clubs for the Vizsla in Britain, The Hungarian Vizsla Club and The Hungarian Vizsla Society. The winner of the Best In Show award at Crufts 2010 was a Vizsla named Hungargunn Bear It'n Mind.

Vizsla in the US
About 2,500 vizslas are registered in the U.S. every year. According to the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, vizslas are the 7th highest annually registered dog, and this popularity has remained over the past 10 years. Other clubs in the U.S. include the Vizsla Club of America (breeding club) and The American Kennel Club (AKC).

The Vizsla Club of America a club dedicated to the health, betterment, and rescue of the purebred Hungarian vizsla. Established in the year 2000, this club partners with the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation to further research in the field of vizsla health, specifically health related issues such as hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, mast cell cancer, canine epilepsy, brucellosis, diet-related DCM and temperament studies. They also partner with independent rescue organizations in creating a rescue fund for vizslas as well as The Frank Lacko Memorial Cancer Research Fund to research and eventually end cancer in the vizsla breed.

In popular culture

 * Dana Perino, the former White House Press Secretary and cohost of The Five, had owned a Vizsla, Henry. After the dog's death, Perino got another Vizsla, Jasper. After Jasper's death, she got one more Vizsla, Percy.
 * Kubrick the Dog, a 2011 photography book by British fashion photographer and film maker Sean Ellis as a tribute to his Vizsla dog named Kubrick.
 * Comedian Drew Lynch had a Vizsla, Stella, as a service dog, until 2022. They hosted a YouTube series called "Dog Vlog".
 * Former American professional baseball pitcher Mark Buehrle and his family own three Vizslas: Diesel, Drake, and Duke.
 * Professional basketball player Kevin Love owns a Vizsla.
 * Former George W. Bush White House Communications Director and current MSNBC show host Nicolle Wallace has two Vizslas
 * Professional hockey player and former NHL MVP Taylor Hall owns a Vizsla named "Leo".
 * The titular character of the popular children's literature series and franchise Clifford the Big Red Dog is a gigantic Vizsla.

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Talk:Midwestern United States

the war
the war was started in 2001 and it ended in 2014 204.184.214.42 (talk) 13:22, 7 October 2022 (UTC)

Main Photos
I think it would be more appropriate to add a photo of an Upper Midwestern park, city, or landmark, as the region appears underrepresented in the photographs. For example, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, or Isle Royale National Park. A photo of a historic copper mine or lake freighter. I do not think it is necessary to have both the wheat belt and corn belt pictured. Dionysus240 (talk) 16:10, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

Bias
This article contains bias and will be marked as such. There is still controversy on what the midwest is. For instance, some call Buffalo midwest. See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-29/where-is-the-midwest-here-s-what-you-told-us 2600:1700:5BD0:4400:B936:31E3:4413:4A85 (talk) 17:24, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

 * The Bloomberg article you cite doesn't really prove your point. There are only four areas outside the states in the Census Bureau definition. Three of them are immediately adjacent and the one in southeast Oklahoma has 50%-80% agreement. The other areas outside those states have less than 50% agreement by their inhabitants. I do agree that the article could go into more detail about the fuzziness of the boundary areas and the question of whether state boundaries should be used to define it. But given the inevitable subjectivity involved, using an official government definition is not unreasonable. Indyguy (talk) 18:27, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

 * the anonymous editor has not explained where the "bias" lies, nr does he tell us what an unbiased text would look like. It's a poor argument made much worse by the threatening tone. Rjensen (talk) 19:51, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
 * It was well explained. 2600:1700:5BD0:4400:C1F5:C42D:C4AC:8581 (talk) 04:18, 19 June 2023 (UTC)
 * No, it's not explained well, and you still have not offered text to go in the article. Alanscottwalker (talk) 22:18, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
 * The IP shows no systemic bias and the article does not support it. Moreover, the unscientific survey provides no definition, at all, let alone different definitions. Alanscottwalker (talk) 22:12, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The "definition" is based on consensus, not science. I would recommend rather than opinion-bombing talk then prematurely sabotaging a bias template, that you let discussion play out. There is no consensus as you state, sorry. 2600:1700:5BD0:4400:C1F5:C42D:C4AC:8581 (talk) 04:18, 19 June 2023 (UTC)
 * No. Your article provides no definition and is based on an unscientific survey, meaning no statistical controls. Alanscottwalker (talk) 22:08, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

It appears that the bickering here is the direct inevitable result of the fact that no single accurate geographic definition of Midwest is possible -- and expectations that state lines can always serve as approximate boundaries leads to unfortunate outcomes. Best to accept that fact and proceed accordingly in the article. Here's some help with the western edges, where following state lines leads to outright silliness:
 * Jon K. Lauck, ed. 2019. The Interior Borderlands: Regional Identity in the Midwest and Great Plains. The Center for Western Studies
 * "Where does the Midwest end and the Great Plains begin? And does it matter? The authors of essays in this latest collection from the Center for Western Studies believe such questions are important to understanding how regional identity forms and persists--or erodes and even disappears." Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 05:44, 19 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Your statement also provides no definition, as for "single" definitions, this article already provides several definitions and nothing is preventing more sourced content to be added. -- Alanscottwalker (talk) 22:13, 3 July 2023 (UTC)
 * "Your statement also provides no definition." Of course not: central to core understanding the topic is that no single accurate geographic definition of Midwest is possible, and chasing such a chimera is doomed to failure. The article requires text of elucidation. — As a native Illinoisan who has also lived in Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin (and places far from the Midwest), my notion of midwestern is probably pretty "good". However, there can be no guarantee -- and it would not be expected -- that my notion corresponds with great precision to that of any other native of my home town, much less to notions of midwesterners from further afield (or of outsiders). Where the disagreements? Hard to believe that anyone would question Dayton OH or Blue Springs MO or Marion IL or Janesville WI being in the Midwest. But using the Census Bureau map as a touchstone, venture E, W, S, N from those points and consensus will eventually weaken, then break down, most markedly in the western reaches shoe-horned into the Midwest by adherence to state lines as boundaries, but also to the E, N and, pretty quickly, to the S. — Bref: while text elucidating the variegated inadequacies of a few definitions can be helpful in the body of the article, the existence of indeterminacies inherent to The Midwest Marches must be made clear in the lead. Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 23:38, 4 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Your comment is all over the place, you begin by saying it can't be defined, which would suggest that we delete the article entirely as unexplainable. Then you say people know what it definitely is because they definitely will say some places like Dayton or Blue Springs are there. In fact, there are several definitions already in the article with sources, so yes it can be defined and you are plainly wrong about that. (As for your personal experiences, they are worse than irrelevant, nothing here is looking for your personal ideas of what you think you understand). As for the edges, those are already discussed in the lead. The lead already talks expressly "in general" (not in 'must be'), and talks about what's on the edges (the Great Lakes are on the edges, Appalachia is on the edges, the Great Plains are on the edges)  Even taking for granted there are other regions (like the Great Lakes Region, Appalachia, Great Plains) nothing would make them any more definite than the Midwest, and certainly nothing would prevent overlap of regions. Alanscottwalker (talk) 13:54, 2 August 2023 (UTC)
 * "you begin by saying it can't be defined" No, I didn't. "Then you say people know what it definitely is because they definitely will say some places like Dayton or Blue Springs are there" No, that's not what I said. "[...] can't be defined, which would suggest that we delete the article entirely as unexplainable" Actually, if it were true that it can't be defined (it isn't), or true even just that no single accurate geographic definition of Midwest is possible (it is), brief well-researched presentation of why that is would make the article all the more informative and interesting. What is it about something that seems so simple at first blush that makes it unamenable to the usual binaristic neatly circumscribed pigeon-holing? Why would anyone bother to assemble a book like The Interior Borderlands: Regional Identity in the Midwest and Great Plains, and what insights might it contain? ("This is a special book. Its uniqueness is in part due to the questions it asks: Where does the northern Great Plains end and the upper Midwest begin? In essence, is there a case to build for 'interior borderlands,' the title of the volume? Twenty-two regional experts have taken on this challenge, and the result is a book that rivals any and all other North American regional writings. Don't miss it!"--John R. Wunder, Emeritus Professor of History and Emeritus Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) -- Ma basta. This thread has degenerated. The original unexplained claim of bias is unintelligible as is, but the need to address that person's point re "controversy on what the midwest is" is central to the article and clear for those who choose to grasp the point. Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 23:28, 2 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Apologies if this is littering, but I've just come across this in a review of the book cited above.
 * /On the opening page of the first chapter, Christopher Laingen alerts readers that if they are seeking a definitive answer as to an exact dividing line between the Great Plains and Midwest from this book, they should "prepare for disappointment."
 * As one drives west from Kansas City, Des Moines, or Minneapolis, eventually there is the sense of leaving one region and entering another, but there is no quick "Aha!" moment that you have crossed into the Great Plains. If the transition between the two regions was easy to identify, such as the Fall Line or the Ohio River, there would be little reason for twentytwo scholars to explore contrasts, schisms, and similarities between them. Some approaches are more successful than others, and the variety of criteria used is refreshing—including low-altitude landscape photography analysis, Jewish in-migration, indigenous cultures, and agricultural challenges./
 * The Interior Borderlands: Regional Identity in the Midwest and Great Plains ed. by Jon K. Lauck, review by Matthew Engel, Great Plains Quarterly, Vol. 40, pp. 333-334, 2020.[] Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 23:59, 2 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Now you go back go to your "single definition" comment which has already been refuted. We present a common definition (common definition does not mean everyone agrees with it, it just means it is common) and other definitions and already identify the Great Plains as on the border. And that there is a great deal of variation throughout the Midwest, as well as commonalities. And why would anyone think regions, including the Midwest are simple, it certainly does not appear simple in this long article, reflecting the extensive literature. (For example, why would anyone back in the 1800s refer to Kansas and Nebraska as the Midwest, even though they are in part in the Great Plains, but they did, and that is what we report in this article.) The very word, suggests in the middle and to the west of something else, well as vague as that is, that is the case in the sense this article discusses. Moreover, even if not every inch of those states are in the Great Plains, and if none of those states are in every inch in the Midwest (if you believe that there must be a great divide, and they can't overlap) that makes those states not one or the other, but both, Midwestern and Great Plains. -- Alanscottwalker (talk) 13:25, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

Lower Midwest -> Cultural Overlap
Why does "Lower Midwest" under sub-regions in the infobox link to cultural overlap? Pineappman (talk) 05:56, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

 * I don't know, but my guess is that it's since Lower Midwest and Upper Midwest can be quite different in some cultural aspects, a nod to the overlap of (Upper) Southern culture and Lower Midwest is potentially informative.  Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 15:53, 17 November 2023 (UTC)

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Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other genres.

After her father died when she was 14, Dunne's family relocated from Kentucky to Indiana. She was determined to become an opera singer, but when she was rejected by The Met, she performed in musicals on Broadway until she was scouted by RKO and made her Hollywood film debut in the musical Leathernecking (1930). She later starred in the successful musical Show Boat (1936). Overall, she starred in 42 movies and was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress—for her performances in the western drama Cimarron (1931), the screwball comedies Theodora Goes Wild (1936) and The Awful Truth (1937), the romance Love Affair (1939), and the drama I Remember Mama (1948). Dunne is considered one of the finest actresses never to have won an Academy Award. Some critics feel that her performances have been underappreciated and largely forgotten, often overshadowed by later remakes and better-known co-stars.

After the success of The Awful Truth, she was paired with Cary Grant, her co-star in that movie, two further times; in another screwball comedy, My Favorite Wife (1940), and in the melodrama Penny Serenade (1941). She has been praised by many during her career, and after her death, as one of the best comedic actresses in the screwball genre. The popularity of Love Affair also led to two additional movies with her co-star of that film, Charles Boyer; those were When Tomorrow Comes (1939) and Together Again (1944). Her last film role was in 1952 but she starred in and hosted numerous television anthology episodes until 1962 after having done numerous radio performances from the late 1930s until the early 1950s. She was nicknamed "The First Lady of Hollywood" for her regal manner despite being proud of her Irish-American, country-girl roots.

Dunne devoted her retirement to philanthropy and was chosen by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a delegate for the United States to the United Nations, in which she advocated world peace and highlighted refugee-relief programs. She also used the time to be with her family—her husband, dentist Dr. Francis Griffin, and their daughter Mary Frances, whom they adopted in 1938. She received numerous awards for her philanthropy, including honorary doctorates, a Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame, and a papal knighthood—Dame of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1985, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor for her services to the arts.

Early life
Irene Marie Dunn was born on December 20, 1898, at 507 East Gray Street in Louisville, Kentucky, to Joseph John Dunn, an Irish-American steamboat engineer/inspector for the United States government, and Adelaide Antoinette Dunn (née Henry), a concert pianist/music teacher of German descent from Newport, Kentucky. She was their second child and second daughter, and had a younger brother named Charles; Dunne's elder sister died soon after her birth. The family alternated between living in Kentucky and St. Louis, due to her father's job offers, but he died in April 1913 from a kidney infection when she was fourteen. She saved all of his letters and both remembered and lived by what he told her the night before he died: "Happiness is never an accident. It is the prize we get when we choose wisely from life's great stores."

Following her father's death, Dunne's family moved to her mother's hometown of Madison, Indiana, living on W. Second St., in the same neighborhood as Dunne's grandparents. Dunne's mother taught her to play the piano as a very small girl — according to Dunne, "Music was as natural as breathing in our house," — but unfortunately for her, music lessons frequently prevented her from playing with the neighborhood kids. Her first school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream began her interest in drama, so she took singing lessons as well, and sang in local churches and high school plays before her graduation in 1916. Wanting to become a music teacher, she studied at the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music, earning a diploma in 1918. Later, she auditioned for the Chicago Musical College when she visited friends during a journey to Gary, Indiana, and won a college scholarship, officially graduating in 1926. Hoping to become a soprano opera singer, she moved to New York after finishing her second year in 1920, but failed two auditions with the Metropolitan Opera Company due to her inexperience and her "slight" voice.

1920–1929: Acting beginnings, Broadway debut
Dunne took more singing lessons and then dancing lessons to prepare for a possible career in musical theater. On a New York vacation to visit family friends, she was recommended to audition for a stage musical, eventually starring as the leading role in the popular play Irene, which toured major cities as a roadshow throughout 1921. "Back in New York," Dunne reflected, "I thought that with my experience on the road and musical education it would be easy to win a role. It wasn't." Her Broadway debut was December 25 the following year as Tessie in Zelda Sears's The Clinging Vine. She understudied Peggy Wood, playing the role several times in February 1923. She then obtained the leading role when the original actress took a leave of absence in 1924. She replaced Leeta Corder in the lead role of Virginia Warewell in Ginger (1923) for the final few weeks on the production. She was also a replacement in Lollipop (1924) on Broadway. Supporting roles in musical theater productions followed in the shows The City Chap (1925), Yours Truly (1927) and She's My Baby (1928). Her first top-billing, leading role Luckee Girl (1928) was not as successful as her previous projects. She would later call her career beginnings "not great furor." At this time, Dunne added the extra "e" to her surname, which had ironically been misspelled as "Dunne" at times throughout her life until this point; until her death, "Dunne" would then occasionally be misspelled as "Dunn". Starring as Magnolia Hawks in a road company adaptation of Show Boat was the result of a chance meeting with its director Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. in an elevator the day she returned from her honeymoon, when he mistook her for his next potential client, eventually sending his secretary to chase after her. A talent scout for RKO Pictures attended a performance, and Dunne signed the studio's contract, appearing in her first movie, Leathernecking (1930), an adaptation of the musical Present Arms. Already in her 30s when she made her first film, she would be in competition with younger actresses for roles, and found it advantageous to evade questions that would reveal her age, so publicists encouraged the belief that she was born in 1901 or 1904; the former is the date engraved on her tombstone.

1930–1949: Hollywood leading lady
The "Hollywood musical" era had fizzled out, so Dunne moved to dramatic roles during the Pre-Code era, leading a successful campaign for the role of Sabra in Cimarron (1931) with her soon-to-be co-star Richard Dix, earning her first Best Actress nomination. A Photoplay review declared, "[This movie] starts Irene Dunne off as one of our greatest screen artists." Other dramas included Back Street (1932) and No Other Woman (1933); for Magnificent Obsession (1935), she reportedly studied Braille and focused on her posture with blind consultant Ruby Fruth. This was after she and Dix reunited for Stingaree (1934), where overall consensus from critics was that Dunne had usurped Dix's star power. Under a new contract with Warner Bros., the remake of Sweet Adeline (1934) and Roberta (1935) were Dunne's first two musicals since Leathernecking; Roberta also starred dancing partners Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and she sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". In 1936, she starred as Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat (1936), directed by James Whale. Dunne had concerns about Whale's directing decisions, but she later admitted that her favorite scene to film was "Make Believe" with Allan Jones because the blocking reminded her of Romeo and Juliet. It was during this year that Dunne's Warner Bros. contract had expired and she had decided to become a freelance actor, with the power to choose studios and directors. She was apprehensive about attempting her first comedy role as the title character in Theodora Goes Wild (1936), but discovered that she enjoyed the production process, and received her second Best Actress Oscar nomination for the performance. Dunne followed Theodora Goes Wild with other romantic and comedic roles. The Awful Truth (1937) was the first of three films also starring Cary Grant and was later voted the 68th best comedy in American cinema history by the American Film Institute. Their screwball comedy My Favorite Wife (1940) was praised as an excellent spiritual successor, whereas Penny Serenade (1941) was a "romantic comedy that frequently embraced melodrama." Dunne also starred in three films with Charles Boyer: Love Affair (1939), When Tomorrow Comes (1939), and Together Again (1944). Love Affair was such an unexpected critical and financial success that the rest of Dunne and Boyer's films were judged against it; When Tomorrow Comes was considered the most disappointing of the "trilogy," and the advertising for Together Again promoted the actors' reunion more than the movie. Dunne and Grant were praised as one of the best romantic comedy couples, while the Dunne and Boyer pairing was praised as the most romantic in Hollywood.

On her own, Dunne showed versatility through many film genres. Critics praised her comedic skills in Unfinished Business (1941) and Lady in a Jam (1942), despite both movies' negative reception. When the United States entered the Second World War, Dunne participated in celebrity war bond tours around the country, announcing at a rally in 1942, "This is no time for comedy. I'm now a saleswoman, I sell bonds." She followed the tour with her only two war films: A Guy Named Joe (1943) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). Despite A Guy Named Joe's troubled production and mixed reviews, it was one of the most successful films of the year. Over 21 (1945) was Dunne's return to comedy but the themes of war (such as her character's husband enlisting in the army) immediately dated the story, which may have contributed to its lack of success. Strong but ladylike motherly roles in the vein of Cimarron's Sabra would follow throughout her next films, such as Anna Leonowens in the fictionalized biopic Anna and the King of Siam (1946), and mothers Vinnie Day in Life with Father (1947), and Marta Hanson in I Remember Mama (1948). Dunne openly disliked Vinnie's ditziness and had rejected Life with Father numerous times, eventually taking the role because "it seemed to be rewarding enough to be in a good picture that everyone will see." For I Remember Mama, Dunne worked on her Norwegian accent with dialect coach Judith Sater, and wore body padding to appear heavier; Marta Hanson was her fifth and final Best Actress nomination.

1950–1962: Declining movie-star power
Dunne's last three films were box-office failures. The comedy Never a Dull Moment (1950) was accused of trying too hard. Dunne was excited to portray Queen Victoria in The Mudlark (1950) for a chance to "hide" behind a role with heavy makeup and latex prosthetics. It was a success in the UK, despite initial critical concern over the only foreigner in a British film starring as a well-known British monarch, but her American fans disapproved of the prosthetic decisions. The comedy It Grows on Trees (1952) became Dunne's last movie performance, although she remained on the lookout for suitable film scripts for years afterwards. She filmed a television pilot based on Cheaper by the Dozen that was not picked up. On the radio, she and Fred MacMurray respectively played a feuding editor and reporter of a struggling newspaper in the 52-episode comedy-drama Bright Star, which aired in syndication between 1952 and 1953 by the Ziv Company. She also starred in and hosted episodes of television anthologies, such as Ford Theatre, General Electric Theater, and the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars. Faye Emerson wrote in 1954, "I hope we see much more of Miss Dunne on TV," and Nick Adams called Dunne's performance in Saints and Sinners worthy of an Emmy nomination. Dunne's last acting credit was in 1962, but she was once rumored to star in unmaterialized movies named Heaven Train and The Wisdom of the Serpent, and rejected an offer to cameo in Airport '77. In 1954, Hedda Hopper reported a rumor that Dunne would star alongside Robert Mitchum in Charles Laughton's stage adaptation of The Web and the Rock. "I never formally retired," Dunne later explained, "but an awful lot of the girls my age soldiered on in bad vehicles. [I] couldn't run around with an ax in my hand like Bette [Davis] and Joan [Crawford] did to keep things going."

Hollywood retirement
Dunne was a presenter at the 1950 BAFTAs when she was in London filming The Mudlark, and then represented Hollywood for the 12th Venice International Film Festival in 1951. She later appeared at 1953's March of Dimes showcase in New York City to introduce two little girls nicknamed the Poster Children, who performed a dramatization about polio research.

She accepted Walt Disney's offer to present at Disneyland's "Dedication Day" in 1955, and christened the Mark Twain Riverboat with a bottle containing water from several major rivers across the United States. Years before, Dunne had also christened the SS Carole Lombard.

Dunne was the only actress to be appointed a member of the California Arts Commission between 1967 and 1970. The three years were spent developing a museum exhibit called "Dimension" for visually impaired visitors which officially opened on January 12, 1970, in the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, and toured California for eleven months. Dunne recorded a talking booklet, explaining the history of the 30 sculptures on display and inviting guests to touch.

Activism
During the Second World War, Dunne joined the Beverly Hills United Service Organization, and co-founded the Clark Gable's Hollywood Victory Committee. It organized servicemen entertainment and war-bond sales tours on behalf of willing Hollywood participants. The National War Savings Program awarded her a certificate for her work from their Treasury Department.

In her retirement, she devoted herself primarily to humanitarianism. Some of the organizations she worked with include the Sister Kenny Foundation, the American Cancer Society (becoming Chairwoman of its Field Army in 1948), the Los Angeles Orphanage, the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, and was Co-Chairman of the American Red Cross. She was elected president of Santa Monica's St. John's Hospital and Health Clinic in 1950 (she resigned in 1966 to work in the developing council) and became a board member of Technicolor in 1965, the first woman ever elected to the board of directors. She established an African American school for Los Angeles, negotiated donations to St. John's through box office results, and Hebrew University Rebuilding Fun's sponsors committee. Harold Stassen appointed her chairwoman for the American Heart Association's women's committee on February 7, 1949, and she held the position until February 28. She appeared in a celebrity-rostered television special Benefit Show for Retarded Children (1955) with Jack Benny as host. Dunne also donated to refurbishments in Madison, Indiana, funding the manufacture of Camp Louis Ernst Boy Scout's gate in 1939 and the Broadway Fountain's 1976 restoration. In 1987, she founded the Irene Dunne Guild, a foundation which remains "instrumental in raising funds to support programs and services at St. John's." It was reported that the Guild had raised $20 million by the time of her death.

Dunne reflected in 1951: "If I began living in Hollywood today, I would certainly do one thing that I did when I arrived, and that is to be active in charity. If one is going to take something out of a community—any community—one must put something in, too." She also hoped that charity would encourage submissive women to find independence: "I wish women would be more direct. [...] I was amazed when some quiet little mouse of a woman was given a job which seemed to be out of all proportion to her capabilities. Then I saw the drive with which she undertook that job and put it through to a great finish. It was both inspiring and surprising. I want women to be individuals. They should not lean on their husbands' opinions and be merely echoes of the men of the family[.]"

American delegate to the United Nations
In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Dunne one of five alternative U.S. delegates to the United Nations in recognition of her interest in international affairs and Roman Catholic and Republican causes. Dunne admired the U.N.'s dedication to creating world peace, and was inspired by colleagues' beliefs that Hollywood influenced the world. On September 12, she was sworn in with Herman B. Wells, Walter H. Judd, A. S. J. Carnahan, Philip M. Klutznick and George Meany. She held delegacy for two years and addressed the General Assembly twice. She gave her delegacy its own anthem: "Getting to Know You" because "it's so simple, and yet so fundamental in international relations today." Dunne later described her Assembly request for $21 million to help Palestinian refugees as her "biggest thrill," and called her delegacy career the "highlight of my life." She also concluded, "I came away greatly impressed with the work the U.N. does in its limited field—and it does have certain limits. I think we averted a serious situation in Syria, which might have been much more worse without a forum to hear it... And I'm much impressed with the work the U.N. agencies do. I'm especially interested in UNICEF's work with children[,] and the health organization [.]"

Political views
Dunne was a lifelong Republican and served as a member of the Californian delegation in 1948's Republican National Convention and campaigned for Thomas Dewey in the 1944 United States presidential election and Ronald Reagan in the 1966 California gubernatorial election. She accepted the U.N. delegacy offer because she viewed the U.N. as apolitical. She later explained: "I'm a Nixon Republican, not a Goldwater one. I don't like extremism in any case. The extreme rights do as much harm as the extreme lefts." Her large input in politics created an assumption that she was a member of the "Hollywood right-wing fringe," which Dunne denied, calling herself "foolish" for being involved years before other celebrities did.

Personal life
Dunne's father frequently told Dunne about his memories of traveling on bayous and lazy rivers. Dunne's favorite family vacations were riverboat rides and parades, later recalling a voyage from St. Louis to New Orleans, and watching boats on the Ohio River from the hillside. She admitted, "No triumph of either my stage or screen career has ever rivaled the excitement of trips down the Mississippi on the riverboats with my father."

Dunne was an avid golfer, playing the sport since high-school graduation; her husband and she often played against each other and she made a hole in one in two different games. They often socialized with Californian business people, but she was good friends with Loretta Young, Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Rosalind Russell, Van Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Carole Lombard, and George Stevens Jr., and became godmother to Young's son, Peter. She and Charles Boyer's blossoming friendship in Love Affair seeped through the movie so strongly, they wrote essays about each other in the October issue of Photoplay. Dunne also bonded with Leo McCarey over numerous similar interests, such as their Irish ancestry, music, religious backgrounds, and humor. School friends nicknamed her "Dunnie" and she was referred to as this in Madison High School's 1916 yearbook, along with the description "divinely tall and most divinely fair." John Cromwell, however, reportedly described her as "always [having] the look of a cat who had swallowed the canary."

Dunne was popular with co-workers off-camera, earning a reputation as warm and approachable, and having a "poised, gracious manner" like royalty, which spilled into her persona in movies. On observing life behind the scenes of a typical day of filming in Hollywood, Jimmie Fidler noted, "There is something about Irene Dunne that makes every man in the room unconsciously straighten his tie." Dunne earned the nickname "The First Lady of Hollywood" because "she was the first real lady Hollywood has ever seen," said Leo McCarey, with Gregory La Cava adding, "If Irene Dunne isn't the first lady of Hollywood, then she's the last one." Ironically, this title had been bestowed on her when she was a little girl when an aunt cooed "What a little lady!" When approached about the nickname in 1936, Dunne admitted it had grown tiresome but approved if it was meant as "the feminine counterpart of 'gentleman'"; a later interview she did have with the Los Angeles Times would ironically be titled "Irene Dunne, Gentlewoman."

Her fashion tastes were often the talk of newspapers, and Best Dressed lists featured her as one of the most stylish celebrities in the world. Dunne explained in a 1939 fashion-advice interview that her husband was partially responsible because he was equally stylish, but also chooses outfits based on personality, color scheme and the context of where the outfits will be worn. McCall's magazine later revealed Dunne chose outfits specifically designed for her by Mainbocher and Jean Louis because she did not like buying clothes in stores.

One of Dunne's later public appearances was in April 1985, when she attended the unveiling of a bronze bust in her honor at St. John's Hospital and Health Clinic. The artwork, commissioned by the hospital from artist Artis Lane, has a plaque reading "IRENE DUNNE First Lady Of Saint John's Hospital and Health Center Foundation."

Relationships
Between 1919 and 1922, Dunne was close to Fritz Ernst, a businessman based in Chicago who was 20 years older than she, and a member of one of the richest families in Madison, Indiana. They frequently corresponded while Dunne was training for musical theater but when Fritz proposed, Dunne declined, due to pressure from her mother and wanting to focus on acting. They remained friends and continued writing letters until Ernst died in 1959. At a New York, Biltmore Hotel supper party in 1924, Dunne met Northampton, Massachusetts-born dentist Francis Griffin. According to Dunne, he preferred being a bachelor, yet tried everything he could to meet her. To her frustration, he did not telephone her until over a month later, but the relationship strengthened and they married in Manhattan on July 13, 1927. They had constantly argued about the state of their careers if they ever got married, with Dunne agreeing to consider theater retirement sometime in the future and Griffin agreeing to support Dunne's acting. Griffin later explained: "I didn't like the moral tone of show business. [...] Then Ziegfeld signed her for Show Boat and it looked like she was due for big things. Next came Hollywood and [she] was catapulted to the top. Then I didn't feel I could ask her to drop her career. [I] really didn't think marriage and the stage were compatible but we loved each other and we were both determined to make our marriage work."

When Dunne decided to star in Leathernecking, it was meant to be her only Hollywood project, but when it was a box-office bomb, she took an interest in Cimarron. Soon after, she and her mother moved to Hollywood and maintained a long-distance relationship with her husband and brother in New York until they joined her in California in 1936. A family friend described their dynamic as "like two pixies together," and they remained married until Griffin's death on October 14, 1965, living in the Holmby Hills in a "kind of French Chateau" they designed. A hobby they both shared was astronomy. Griffin explained the marriage had lasted so long because: "When she had to go on location for a film I arranged my schedule so I could go with her. When I had to go out of town she arranged her schedule so she could be with me. We co-operate in everything. [...] I think a man married to a career woman in show business has to be convinced that his wife's talent is too strong to be dimmed or put out. Then, he can be just as proud of her success as she is and, inside he can take a bow himself for whatever help he's been." Due to Dunne's privacy, Hollywood columnists struggled to find scandals to write about her—an eventual interview with Photoplay included the disclaimer, "I can guarantee no juicy bits of intimate gossip. Unless, perhaps she lies awake nights heartsick about the kitchen sink in her new home. She's afraid it's too near to the door. Or would you call that juicy? No? No, I thought not." When the magazines alleged that Dunne and Griffin would divorce, Griffin released a statement denying any marital issues.

After retiring from dentistry, Griffin became Dunne's business manager and helped negotiate her first contract. The couple became interested in real estate, later investing in the Beverly Wilshire and throughout Las Vegas (including co-founding and chairing the board of Huntridge Corporation),  and partnering with Griffin's family's businesses (Griffin Equipment Company and The Griffin Wellpoint Company.) Griffin sat as a board member of numerous banks, but his offices were relocated from Century City to their home after his death, when Dunne took over as president. They had one daughter, Mary Frances (née Anna Mary Bush; 1935 – 2020), who was adopted by the couple in 1936 (finalized in 1938) from the New York Foundling Hospital, run by the Sisters of Charity of New York.

Religion
Dunne was a devout Catholic laywoman, who became a daily communicant. She was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California. In 1953, Pope Pius XII awarded Dunne and her husband papal knighthoods as Dame and Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, respectively. Griffin also became a Knight of Malta in 1949.

Death
Dunne died at the age of 91 in her Holmby Hills home on September 4, 1990, and was entombed four days later next to her husband in the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles. She had been unwell for a year with an irregular heartbeat, and became bedridden about a month before. The funeral was private with family friend Loretta Young being the only celebrity allowed to attend. Her personal papers are housed at the University of Southern California.

Legacy
Dunne is considered one of the best actresses of The Golden Age of Hollywood never to win an Academy Award. After I Remember Mama was released, Liberty magazine hoped she would "do a Truman" at the 1949 Oscars whereas Erskine Johnson called her and Best Actor nominee Montgomery Clift the dark horses of that ceremony. In 1985, Roger Fristoe said "a generation of filmgoers is mostly unfamiliar with her work" because eleven of her movies had been remade, including Love Affair (remade as An Affair to Remember), Show Boat (remade in 1951), My Favorite Wife (remade as Move Over, Darling), and Cimarron (remade in 1960). Dunne explained she had lacked the "terrifying ambition" of some other actresses, commenting in 1977, "I drifted into acting and drifted out. Acting is not everything. Living is."

Although known for her comedic roles, Dunne admitted that she never saw comedy as a worthy genre, even leaving the country to attend the London premiere of Show Boat with her husband and James Whale to get away from being confronted with a script for Theodora Goes Wild. "I never admired a comedienne," she said retrospectively, "yet it was very easy for me, very natural. It was no effort for me to do comedy at all. Maybe that's why I wasn't so appreciative of it." She ascribed her sense of humor to her late father, as well as her "Irish stubbornness." Her screwball comedy characters have been praised for their subversions to the traditional characterisation of female leads in the genre, particularly Susan (Katharine Hepburn) in Bringing Up Baby and Irene (Carole Lombard) in My Man Godfrey. "Unlike the genre's stereotypical leading lady, who exhibits bonkers behaviour continuously, Dunne's screwball heroine [in Theodora Goes Wild] chooses when she goes wild," writes Wes D. Gehring, who also described Dunne's screwball as situational because her characters often obfuscate wackiness to attract the male lead, and could turn it off when needed.

Biographers and critics argue that Dunne's groundedness made her screwball characters more attractive than those of her contemporaries. In his review for My Favorite Wife, Bosley Crowther wrote that a "mere man is powerless" to "her luxurious and mocking laughter, her roving eyes and come-hither glances." Maria DiBattista points out that Dunne is the "only comic actress working under the strictures of the Production Code" who ends both of her screwball movies alongside Cary Grant with a heavy implication of sharing a bed with him, "under the guise of keeping him at bay." Frankie Teller claimed Dunne's sexiness had been overshadowed by her melodramatic movies until The Awful Truth was released. Meanwhile, outside of comedy, Andrew Sarris theorized that Dunne's sex appeal is due to the common narrative in her movies about a good girl "going bad." Dunne's backstage "First Lady" reputation furthered Sarris' sex appeal claims, admitting the scene when she shares a train carriage with Preston Foster in Unfinished Business was practically his "rite of passage" to a sex scene in a film, theorizing that the sex appeal of Dunne came from "a good girl deciding thoughtfully to be bad." On the blatant eroticism of the same train scene, Megan McGurk wrote, "The only thing that allowed this film to pass the censors was that good-girl Irene Dunne can have a one-night stand with a random because she loves him, rather than just a once-off fling. For most other women of her star magnitude, you could not imagine a heroine without a moral compass trained on true north. Irene Dunne elevates a tawdry encounter to something justifiably pure or blameless. She's just not the casual sex type, so she gets away with it."

The Los Angeles Times referred to Dunne's publicity in their obituary as trailblazing, noting her as one of the first actors to become a freelancer in Hollywood during its rigid studio system through her "non-exclusive contract that gave her the right to make films at other studios and to decide who should direct them," and her involvement with the United Nations as a decision that allowed entertainers from movies and television to branch out into philanthropy and politics, such as Ronald Reagan and George Murphy.

Dunne later said, "Cary Grant always said that I had the best timing of anybody he ever worked with." Lucille Ball admitted at an American Film Institute seminar that she based her comedic skills on Dunne's performance in Joy of Living, Joan Leslie called her an "outstanding example as a woman and a star." Charles Boyer described her having "an irrepressible youthfulness" and Ralph Bellamy described working in three films with her as "like a three-layered cake with candles[. She was] truly professional, extremely talented, and socially attractive and beautiful." When asked about life after retiring from baseball, Lou Gehrig stated he would want Dunne as a screen partner if he ever became a movie actor. Charles Mendl once called her one of the most attractive and fascinating women in the world "who has beauty as an accomplished actress and sophisticated conversationalist." Dunne told James Bawden in 1977: "Now don't you dare call me normal. I was never a Pollyanna. There was always a lot of Theodora in me."

In 2006, a historical marker was erected on 105 E. Main Street, Madison (Jefferson County, Indiana) to honor her contributions to the state of Indiana.

Awards and nominations
Dunne received five Best Actress nominations during her career: for Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939) and I Remember Mama (1948); she was the first actor to lose against the same actor in the same category twice, losing to Best Actress winner Luise Rainer in 1936 and 1937. When asked if she ever resented never winning, Dunne pointed out that the nominees she was up against had strong support, believing that she would never have had a chance, especially when Love Affair was against Gone with the Wind. "I don't mind at all," she told Joyce Haber, "Greta Garbo never got an Oscar either [and] she's a living legend."

However, Dunne was honored numerous times for her philanthropy from Catholic organizations and schools, receiving the University of Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, and the Bellarmine Medal from Bellarmine College. She received numerous honorary doctorates, including from Chicago Musical College (for music), Loyola University and Mount St. Mary's College (both for Law). For her film career, she was honored by the Kennedy Center, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6440 Hollywood Blvd, and displays in the Warner Bros. Museum and Center for Motion Picture Study. A two-sided marker was erected in Dunne's childhood hometown of Madison in 2006.

Box–office ranking

 * 1936 – 17th
 * 1938 – 23rd
 * 1939 – 24th
 * 1944 – 19th
 * 1948 – 24th

Singles
"Lovely to Look At" was the only song Dunne performed in a non-musical movie that entered the Billboard charts, peaking at number 20 in early June 1935.

Songs from the Pen of Jerome Kern
Decca Records released Dunne's only album, titled Irene Dunne in Songs from the Pen of Jerome Kern, which contained recordings of six show tunes composed by Jerome Kern. It was recorded between July 16 and August 24, 1941, with Victor Young's orchestra, making Dunne another singing movie star to create a Jerome Kern album.

Articles

 * "Irene Dunne (1904–1990): A Bright Star," Filmnews,by Peter Kemp November 1990.
 * "Irene Dunne: The Awesome Truth," Film Comment (New York), by James McCourt January/February 1980.
 * "Irene Dunne: Native Treasure," Close-Ups: The Movie Star Book, DeWitt Bodeen, edited by Danny Peary, New York, 1978.
 * Irene Dunne, in Films in Review (New York), Madden, J. C., December 1969.
 * "Irene Dunne (1904–1990): A Bright Star," Filmnews,by Peter Kemp November 1990.
 * "Irene Dunne: The Awesome Truth," Film Comment (New York), by James McCourt January/February 1980.
 * "Irene Dunne: Native Treasure," Close-Ups: The Movie Star Book, DeWitt Bodeen, edited by Danny Peary, New York, 1978.
 * Irene Dunne, in Films in Review (New York), Madden, J. C., December 1969.
 * Irene Dunne, in Films in Review (New York), Madden, J. C., December 1969.

Other

 * https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAERDOUHEO9PZFZYV9YZTVSVWWF-USA-ARAB-REFUGEE-QUESTION-BEFORE-UN-ASSEMBLY/ (from 2:11)

title: Irene Dunne