Barbara Jo Allen
From Wikipedia
Barbara Jo Allen (September 2, 1906 – September 14, 1974) was an actress also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. She based the character on a woman she had seen delivering a PTA literature lecture in a confused manner. As Vague, she popularized the catch phrase "You dear boy!"
Allen's acting ability first surfaced in school plays. Following her high school graduation, she went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. Concentrating on language, she became proficient in French, Spanish, German and Italian. After the death of her parents, she moved to Los Angeles where she lived with her uncle.
In 1937, she debuted on network radio drama as Beth Holly on NBC's One Man's Family, followed by roles on Death Valley Days, I Love a Mystery and other radio series. According to Allen, her Vera Vague character was “sort of a frustrated female, dumb, always ambitious and overzealous… a spouting Bureau of Misinformation.” After Vera was introduced in 1939 on NBC Matinee, she became a regular with Bob Hope beginning in 1941.
Allen appeared in at least 60 movies and TV series between 1938 and 1963, often credited as Vera Vague rather than her own name. The character she created was so popular that she eventually adopted the character name as her professional name. From 1943 to 1952, as Vera, she made more than a dozen comedy two-reel short subjects for Columbia Pictures.
In 1948, she did less acting and instead opened her own commercial orchid business, while also serving as the Honorary Mayor of Woodland Hills, California. In 1953, as Vera, she hosted her own television series, Follow the Leader, a CBS audience participation show. In 1958, she appeared as Mabel, the boss of the flight attendants, in Jeannie Carson's syndicated version of her situation comedy Hey, Jeannie! The program aired only six episodes in syndication.
Allen's first marriage was to actor Barton Yarborough. They had one child together. In 1946, the couple co-starred in the two-reel comedy short, Hiss and Yell, nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Subject. In 1931-32, Allen married Charles H. Crosby. In 1943, she married Bob Hope's producer, Norman Morrell. They had one child and were married for three decades, until her 1974 death in Santa Barbara, California.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 1.887 |
Birthday | 1906-09-02 |
Place of Birth | New York City, New York, USA |
Also Known As | Vera Vague, Marian Barbara Henshall, |
1959
Sleeping Beauty
6.951/5079
A beautiful princess born in a faraway kingdom is destined by a terrible curse to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a...
Watch Now
Sleeping Beauty
1940
The Mad Doctor
6/9
A reporter sleuths the mystery behind an oft-married Viennese doctor whose wives met mysterious fates.
Watch Now
The Mad Doctor
1939
Moving Vanities
0/0
Leon Errol moves because of a rent increase.
Watch Now
Moving Vanities
1942
Larceny, Inc.
7/30
Three ex-cons buy a luggage shop to tunnel into the bank vault next door. But despite all they can do, the shop prospers...
Watch Now
Larceny, Inc.
1960
Goliath II
6.1/24
Goliath II is a 6-inch-tall elephant (son of the huge Goliath). He's a big disappointment to his father, but mom is proud of Goliath II anyway. Goliat...
Watch Now
Goliath II
1944
Girl Rush
5/1
During the California Gold Rush, two down-on-their-luck vaudevillians attempt to become wealthy by bringing a girlie show to an all-male western minin...
Watch Now
Girl Rush
1941
Kiss the Boys Goodbye
5/1
New York chorus girl Cindy Lou Bethany becomes frustrated when she prepares for an audition for a Broadway musical, but the auditions close and her ro...
Watch Now
Kiss the Boys Goodbye
1941
Ice-Capades
5/4
Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating...
Watch Now
Ice-Capades
1959
Born to Be Loved
5.2/6
Director Hugo Haas reprises the theme of romantic love in this routine yet innocent story of matchmaking. The setting is an overcrowded tenement build...
Watch Now
Born to Be Loved
1942
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
0/0
In the shanty town called the Cabbage Patch, Mrs. Wiggs scrabbles for survival with her brood of children and hopes for the return of her husband, who...
Watch Now
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1945
Snafu
6/1
A 14-year-old boy lies about his age and enlists in the United State Marine Corps without his family's consent or knowledge. He is sent into battle in...
Watch Now
Snafu
1956
Mohawk
5.633/15
An artist working in a remote army post is juggling the storekeeper's daughter, his fiancée newly arrived from the east, and the Indian Chief's daught...
Watch Now
Mohawk
1944
Moon Over Las Vegas
0/0
A beautiful woman goes to Las Vegas in a scheme to make her husbnd jealous, but once she gets there she becomes involved with another man.
Watch Now
Moon Over Las Vegas
1944
Rosie the Riveter
4.5/2
In this romantic wartime comedy, four female defense plant workers share a house with four male workers. The situation is on the up and up as the men...
Watch Now
Rosie the Riveter
1944
Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid
0/0
High-school student Henry Aldrich hopes to improve his grades by finding a sweetheart for his unmarried teacher.
Watch Now
Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid
1939
The Women
7.1/146
A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
Watch Now
The Women
1946
Hiss and Yell
3/2
Vera thinks she's witnessed a man decapitating his wife. Actually, she's only seen magician Bluebeard the Great rehearsing his act. Still convinced th...
Watch Now
Hiss and Yell
1940
Village Barn Dance
0/0
Dan Martin, an unemployed college graduate, drifts into the town of Lyndale, only to learn that the town and everything in it are dominated by Minerva...
Watch Now
Village Barn Dance
1946
Earl Carroll Sketchbook
6/1
An aspiring singer and her lover, a songwriter who has desperately resorted to writing radio jingles, have many conflicts on their road to success...
Watch Now
Earl Carroll Sketchbook
1940
Broadway Melody of 1940
6.7/37
Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who...
Watch Now
Broadway Melody of 1940
1942
Ice Capades Revue
5.7/3
Promoter Ann Porter decides to start her own Ice Show despite the efforts of ex-racketeer Duke Baldwin who owns a rival show. Jeff Stewart, a rich, su...
Watch Now
Ice Capades Revue
1940
Melody and Moonlight
5/1
Jane Frazee made her starring film debut in the Republic B-plus musical Melody and Moonlight. The plot is motivated by the show-biz aspirations of bel...
Watch Now
Melody and Moonlight
1950
Square Dance Katy
2/1
In this musical, an ambitious young singer and her band leave their small hometown to head for the Big Apple in hopes of finding fame and fortune.
Watch Now
Square Dance Katy
1940
Sing, Dance, Plenty Hot
0/0
In this musical, a con man makes a good living by promoting bogus charity shows. He gets the communities all revved up and then skips town with all th...
Watch Now
Sing, Dance, Plenty Hot
1943
Get Going
0/0
Judy King, newly arrived in Washington, applies for a secretary job with a government agency and while being interviewed by Bob Carlton, an agent with...
Watch Now
Get Going
1941
Buy Me That Town
6/2
A gangster and his mob buy a small-town in this warm comedy. They, tired of trying to make it as big city hoods, buy the town to use as a hideout. The...
Watch Now
Buy Me That Town
1944
Cowboy Canteen
0/0
Song and comedy revue, featuring Western talents, along with a theatrical troupe taking their vacation on the Lazy B Ranch run by Steve Bradley. Steve...
Watch Now
Cowboy Canteen
1956
The Opposite Sex
5.2/20
Former radio singer Kay learns from her gossipy friends that her husband, Steve, has had an affair with chorus girl Crystal. Devastated, Kay tries to...
Watch Now
The Opposite Sex
1940
Melody Ranch
5.5/3
His Arizona hometown of Torpedo invites Gene back to be the honorary sheriff of the Frontier Days Celebration.
Watch Now
Melody Ranch
1956
Columbia Laff Hour
7/1
A Columbia Pictures feature, featuring 4 unedited shorts, released between 1947-1956, featuring Shemp Howard.
Watch Now
Columbia Laff Hour
1944
Lake Placid Serenade
0/0
On a peaceful, pre-war winter in Czechoslovakia, the genial godfather, Jaroslav Haschek, of Vera Hascheck, presents the young girl with her first pair...
Watch Now
Lake Placid Serenade
1952
Happy Go Wacky
0/0
Nurse Vera is hired by a patient to help him get rid of some unwelcome relatives living at his house.
Watch Now
Happy Go Wacky
1944
Doctor, Feel My Pulse
1/1
Vera, a hypochondriac, mistakes an escaped lunatic for a physician who can help "cure" her.
Watch Now
Doctor, Feel My Pulse
1945
The Jury Goes Round 'n' Round
0/0
Vera is one of many of a group of jurors who must work together to come up with a decision whether or not a man is guilty of murder.
Watch Now
The Jury Goes Round 'n' Round
1944
Strife of the Party
0/0
Vera Vague (Barbara Jo Allen) locks herself in her garage and has to be freed by her neighbor. Later, she discovers that the wife of her husband's bos...
Watch Now
Strife of the Party
1943
You Dear Boy!
0/0
Vera pretends to be insane in order to get out of a prearranged marriage.
Watch Now
You Dear Boy!
1944
She Snoops to Conquer
0/0
Vera Vague (Barbara Jo Allen) is a reporter aiming to march her editor boss down the aisle. He agrees to marry her if she can uncover a key spy. She n...
Watch Now
She Snoops to Conquer
1945
Calling All Fibbers
0/0
Vera pretends to have been injured in an auto accident in order to get out of two conflicting engagements.
Watch Now
Calling All Fibbers
1946
Headin' for a Weddin'
0/0
Vera and Claire vie for the affections of a handsome millionaire cowboy.
Watch Now
Headin' for a Weddin'
1946
Reno-Vated
0/0
After Vera divorces her husband, she marries her lawyer.
Watch Now
Reno-Vated
1947
Cupid Goes Nuts
0/0
Vera plays twin sisters of opposite personalities.
Watch Now
Cupid Goes Nuts
1949
Miss in a Mess
0/0
Vera Vague marries a man who is the twin-image of an escaped ax-murderer. The key word here is "escaped", as that guarantees that Vera will get involv...
Watch Now
Miss in a Mess
1951
She Took a Powder
0/0
Vera's fiancee tries to cure her of her hypochondria.
Watch Now
She Took a Powder
1950
Nursie Behave
0/0
Vera Vague, in the All-StarComedy works for the district attorney, and when his two-timing fiancee and her boyfriend try some trickery, Vera steps in...
Watch Now
Nursie Behave
1949
Clunked in the Clink
0/0
Vera's husband thinks she ahs been killed in a plane crash, unaware she has been arrested for speeding on the way to the airport.
Watch Now
Clunked in the Clink
1949
Wha' Happen?
0/0
Suffering from amnesia, Vera thinks she's responsible for a burglary.
Watch Now
Wha' Happen?
1942
Priorities on Parade
0/0
Band leader Johnny Draper auditions his band, the Dixie Pixies, at the Eagle Aircraft Co., hoping to be hired to play for the workers in the plant. Ho...
Watch Now
Priorities on Parade
1963
The Sword in the Stone
7.248/3764
Wart is a young boy who aspires to be a knight's squire. On a hunting trip he falls in on Merlin, a powerful but amnesiac wizard who has plans for him...
Watch Now
The Sword in the Stone
1941
Design for Scandal
5.2/6
A newsman (Walter Pidgeon) falls in love on Cape Cod with the judge (Rosalind Russell) his angry boss (Edward Arnold) expects him to discredit.
Watch Now
Design for Scandal
1943
Swing Your Partner
0/0
Caroline Bird, the crotchety and stingy owner of Bird Milk Products, is not amused when her employees at the Dairyville factory, the oldest plant in t...
Watch Now
Swing Your Partner
1939
Kennedy the Great
0/0
A short film about a family man who realizes he's a bore at social gatherings so he purchases a trunk full of magic tricks hoping to soon be the life...
Watch Now
Kennedy the Great
1991
Disney’s Coyote Tales
6/5
Through redubbed footage of The Coyote's Lament, the coyote's relationship with man and dog is shown from the coyote's point of view, as seen in vario...
Watch Now