Alice Frost

Alice Frost
Born Alice Dorothy Margaret Frost
August 1, 1910
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Died January 6, 1998
Nationality American
Occupation Actress
Known for Starring as Pamela North in radio's Mr. and Mrs. North
Spouse(s) Robert C. Foulk
Willson M. Tuttle (1941 - ?)
Parent(s) Rev. and Mrs. John A. Frost

Alice Dorothy Margaret Frost (August 1, 1910[1] – January 6, 1998[2]) was an American actress. An inaugural member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre on radio and the stage,[3] she later performed the role of Pamela North on the radio series Mr. and Mrs. North for nearly 10 years.[4]

Early years

Alice Dorothy Margaret Frost[5] was born on August 1, 1910, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[1] The youngest of four children,[6] she was a descendant of Sweden's King Carl XV.[7] Her father, Rev. John A. Frost,[8] was a minister in the Lutheran church in Mora, Minnesota, and her mother was the church's organist.[6] She attended high school in Mora and was active with the school's newspaper, glee club, drama society, and debate society. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota but had to drop out after her father's death. Later, she studied dramatics and voice for two years at the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[7]

Frost also worked in a department store's credit department.[9]

Radio

Alice Frost and Joseph Curtin as Mr. and Mrs. North (1950)

Frost debuted on radio at age 16 as a singer, participating in a duet with a friend on a Minneapolis station.[10] By 1933, she was a member of the cast of The Criminal Court.[11] In 1934, she was "one of the ghost voices during CBS-WABC's Forty-Five Minutes In Hollywood."[12] She was an inaugural member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, on radio and on the stage,[3] and was one of his favorite actresses.[13]

An item in a 1939 newspaper noted Frost's "art of mimicry," saying "Alice is known to her friends as 'the girl of a hundred voices'"[14]—a talent which originated from her childhood, when she heard ministers who visited her home "when they returned from their missions in far-off places like Siam, India or Japan... [T]he missionaries delighted in teaching the little girl their various Hindustani, Javanese or Far Eastern dialects."[15] By 1938, she had already played "more than thirty different types of roles."[16] An item in a 1937 newspaper reported: "It's nothing unusual for her to appear in as many as eight network shows in a week, each one calling for a different role. In quick succession, she has been a comedienne, a tragedian, an ingenue, a mother, a daughter and a witch!"[17]

In the 1930s, Frost was "hostess, secretary, heckler and general all-around actress each Sunday" on Stoopnagle and Budd.[5] Late in that decade, she appeared regularly on Melody and Madness[18] and Undercover Squad.[19]

In 1941, Frost starred in Are You a Missing Heir?.[20] Her other roles as a regular cast member included those show in the table below.

Program Role
Big Sister Ruth Evans[21]
Bright Horizon Ruth Evans Wayne[22]
Camel Caravan "girl stooge"[23][24]
Home Sweet Home Lucy Kent[25]
Mighty Casey Casey's girl friend.[26]
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch Miss Hazy[27]
Summer Town Hall Tonight "No. 1 heckler"[28]
The Second Mrs. Burton Marcia[29]
Woman of Courage Martha Jackson[21]

She also was heard in Song of the Stranger,[30] The Shadow, Grand Central Station,[31] The Campbell Playhouse, What Would You Have Done,[32] On Broadway,[33] Famous Jury Trials,[34] Al Pearce and His Gang,[35] David Harum, Lorenzo Jones, Suspense,[1] Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories,[36] The Fat Man, Romance,[22] The Big Story, Les Misérables,[21] The Mercury Theatre on the Air,[3] Mr. District Attorney,[37] Johnny Presents,[38] The FBI in Peace and War,[39] Don Ameche's True Life Stories,[40] and Columbia Workshop.[41]

Stage

Alice Frost and Orson Welles in Caesar (1938)

In 1928,[42] Frost appeared on stage in Chautauqua performances, playing Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.[43] A year later, she was part of a stock theater company in Miami.[7]

In 1932, she appeared in It's the Law, a farce presented at the Ritz Theater in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[44]

She appeared on Broadway in Green Grow the Lilacs (1931), The Great Lover (1932), As Husbands Go (1933), It's a Wise Child (1933), the Mercury Theatre productions Caesar (1937–38) and The Shoemaker's Holiday (1938), A Roomful of Roses (1955),[45] and The Bad Seed (1955).[46]

In 1967, Frost co-starred with Jack Bailey in a four-week production of Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse.[3]

Film

Frost had a role in the independent film Damaged Love in 1930.[7] She worked for the Independent Eastern Pictures company.[47]

Television

Frost played Mama Holstrom on The Farmer's Daughter and Trina on Mama. She also had the role of Miss Bickle on the unsold pilot of the comedy His Model Wife.[48]

She was also seen on Gunsmoke,[49] Goodyear Theatre,[50] Bus Stop,[51] and The Alcoa Hour.[52]

Recognition

Frost was named the winner in the Radio category among America's 13 Best Dressed Women for 1941. Winners were "selected in an annual poll of 100 leading designers for the Fashion Academy Awards."[53]

Personal life

Frost's first husband was Robert C. Foulk, an actor and scene designer.[7]

She married Willson M. Tuttle June 27, 1941,[54] in Bedford Village, New York[55] (Another source says Pound Ridge, New York.[56]). He was the director of Big Sister, in which she starred.[54]

Frost's hobby was collecting early Americana, especially antique American jewelry.[57]

Death

Frost died January 6, 1998, in Naples, Florida.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2. P. 100.
  2. 1 2 "Alice Frost". Find A Grave. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Curtain Going Up On Classic". California, Pasadena. Pasadena Independent. March 16, 1967. p. 39. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Reinehr, Robert C. and Swartz, Jon D. (2008). The A to Z of Old-Time Radio. Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8108-7616-3. P. 105.
  5. 1 2 "Laboratory Hostess". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The Evening News. April 30, 1937. p. 26. Retrieved December 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 "The Turning Point". Tv Radio Mirror. 45 (4): 91. March 1956. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Fairfax, Arthur (March 2, 1940). "Mr. Fairfax Replies" (PDF). Movie and Radio Guide. p. 59. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "Alice Frost Got Her Start In Tent Chautauqua Stands". The Pittsburgh Press. February 26, 1938. p. 7. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Studio Notes". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The Evening News. November 20, 1937. p. 14. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "(untitled brief)". Illinois, Belvidere. Belvidere Daily Republican. January 10, 1939. p. 13. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "'The Criminal Court'". New York, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. February 26, 1933. p. 60. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Smith, Carleton (November 24, 1934). "Music in the Air" (PDF). Radio Guide. p. 19. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  13. ↑ Pike, Lori E. (December 26, 1988). "50 Years Ago, 'Mercury Theatre' Was the Talk of Radio". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  14. ↑ Ferris, Earle (August 24, 1939). "Right Out of the Air". New Jersey, Bernardsville. Bernardsville News. p. 6. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Thompson, Edgar A. (February 21, 1938). "Visiting Ministers Taught Actress All Dialects". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "(untitled brief)". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The Evening News. January 28, 1938. p. 22. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Studio Notes". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The Evening News. November 3, 1937. p. 18. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Thompson, Edgar A. (October 2, 1939). "Riding the Airwaves". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "Olivier and Best in Radio Theater". Belvidere Daily Republican. Belvidere Daily Republican. November 20, 1939. p. 5. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ North, Alberta (November 8, 1941). "Feminine Forum" (PDF). Movie-Radio Guide. p. 42. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  21. 1 2 3 Dunning, John. (1976). Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976. Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-932616-2. Pp. 68, 69, 352, 652.
  22. 1 2 Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Pp. 119, 241, 584.
  23. ↑ "(photo caption)" (PDF). Radio Mirror. 6 (3): 26. July 1936. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  24. ↑ "(photo caption)" (PDF). Radio Mirror. 5 (4): 42. February 1936. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  25. ↑ "Short Shorts". Radio Mirror. 7 (1): 87. November 1936. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "W-G-N Salutes WGNB as New FM Era Opens". Illinois, Chicago. Chicago Tribune. March 1, 1947. p. 19. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "(photo caption)" (PDF). Radio Mirror. 5 (5): 42. March 1936. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  28. ↑ "Takes Over Town Hall". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The Evening News. July 2, 1937. p. 18. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ↑ "Money on Bushes?". Texas, Lubbock. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. March 16, 1958. p. 62. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ↑ "(photo caption)". The Coaticook Observer. November 21, 1947. p. 3. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  31. ↑ "Mr. Fairfax Knows All" (PDF). Radio Guide. April 2, 1938. p. 44. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  32. ↑ Alicoate, Jack, Ed. (1940). The 1940 Radio Annual (PDF). Radio Daily Corp. p. 709.
  33. ↑ Grunwald, Edgar A., Ed. (1938). Variety Radio Directory 1938-1939 (PDF). New York, N. Y.: Variety, Inc. p. 366. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  34. ↑ Grunwald, Edgar A., Ed. (1939). Variety Radio Directory 1939-1940 (PDF). New York, N. Y.: Variety, Inc. p. 470. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  35. ↑ Grunwald, Edgar A., Ed. (1940). Variety Radio Directory 1940-1941 (PDF). New York, N. Y.: Variety, Inc. pp. 322–323.
  36. ↑ Alicoate, Jack, Ed. (1947). The 1947 Radio Annual. Radio Daily Corp. P. 789.
  37. ↑ "D.A. Drama Starts As Racketeer Shot". Utah, Ogden. The Ogden Standard-Examiner. October 22, 1939. p. 13. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ↑ "Johnny Presents". Wisconsin, Madison. The Capital Times. November 14, 1939. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ↑ "Radio Highlights". New York, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 7, 1954. p. 19. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ↑ "What's on the Air". Ohio, Zanesville. The Times Recorder. May 12, 1958. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ↑ "(untitled brief)". Illinois, Belvidere. Belvidere Daily Republican. September 5, 1939. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. ↑ "From the Lobby of Listening Inn". Illinois, Belvidere. Belvidere Daily Republican. March 31, 1938. p. 3. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  43. ↑ Thomas, Elsia (March 10, 1943). "Alice Frost Prefers Radio to Chautauqua". West Virginia, Bluefield. Bluefield Daily Telegraph. p. 9. Retrieved January 5, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  44. ↑ "At the Theaters". Pennsylvania, Scranton. The Scranton Republican. November 5, 1932. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  45. ↑ "Alice Frost". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  46. ↑ "Little Patty Still Big in 'Bad Seed'" (PDF). Billboard. July 30, 1955. p. 18. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  47. ↑ "From the Lobby of Listening Inn". Illinois, Belvidere. Belvidere Daily Republican. April 7, 1938. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  48. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7. Pp. 332, 464, 647.
  49. ↑ "(TV listing)". California, San Bernardino. The San Bernardino County Sun. April 16, 1960. p. 14. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  50. ↑ "(TV listing)". Texas, Amarillo. The Amarillo Globe-Times. May 28, 1959. p. 24. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  51. ↑ "(TV listing)". California, Long Beach. Independent Press-Telegram. October 15, 1961. p. 104. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  52. ↑ "The Stingiest Man in Town" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 31, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  53. ↑ "Here's That Annual List of America's Best Dressed Women Again -- 13 of 'em This Time". Pennsylvania, Chester. Delaware County Daily Times. March 26, 1941. p. 9. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  54. 1 2 "Behind the Mike" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 7, 1941. p. 30. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  55. ↑ "Meredith to Be Heard on Radio". Illinois, Belvidere. Belvidere Daily Republican. July 1, 1941. p. 13. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  56. ↑ "Sentimental Twosome". Radio-TV Mirror. 38 (3): 70. August 1952. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  57. ↑ "Practical Hobby". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Harrisburg Telegraph. January 25, 1941. p. 21. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
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