INTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS AND FILMMAKERSINTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS AND FILMMAKERS
She was a former child star, known for her roles in "Bright Eyes" (1934) and "Ginger" (1935), and she was a box office draw in the era of Jean Harlow, Norma Shearer and the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals. As an adult, she became legendary as the commercial character Josephine the Plumber. Of course, I'm talking…
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FILM TALK
She was a former child star, known for her roles in “Bright Eyes” (1934) and “Ginger” (1935), and she was a box office draw in the era of Jean Harlow, Norma Shearer and the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals. As an adult, she became legendary as the commercial character Josephine the Plumber. Of course, I’m talking about Jane Withers, legendary screen actress for so many reasons.

Ms. Withers passed away on August 6, 2021, in Burbank, California at age 95. Her daughter, costume designer Kendall Errair, confirmed the death to the Associated Press and said in a statement, ‘My mother was such a special lady. She lit up a room with laughter, but she especially radiated joy and thankfulness when talking about the career she so loved and how lucky she was.’

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 12, 1926, Ms. Withers made her breakthough film “Bright Eyes” when she was 8, playing ‘the meanest and creepiest little girl that God ever put on this planet, running over Shirley Temple with a tricycle and a baby buggy.’ When I met Ms. Withers in 2000, she said, ‘I thought everyone was going to hate me forever because I was so mean to Shirley Temple.’ But no, not at all. Quite to the contrary. As Joyce Smythe, a loud, spoiled, and obnoxious girl, she stole the show and audiences loved her. She then signed a seven-year contract with Fox, and appeared in three to five films a year.

I was welcomed by Ms. Withers in her office in North Hollywood, in March 2000, located in a warehouse filled with her Hollywood memorabilia she had collected over the years. She was working very hard on an auction she was preparing, and although she was about to part with all this movie memorabilia, she would never lose it. ‘It will always stay in my heart,’ she said, ‘I had the fun of finding and saving these things which are very important to me, because it is all Hollywood history. It includes the barber chair of “My Darling Clementine” [1946], and the hat Clark Gable wore in “Saratoga” [1937] with Jean Harlow. I loved it very much, and because of that, I wanted to save it. But it has become a tremendous responsibility and it is taking so much of my time, while there are so many other things now that I could be doing and that I would like to do, and haven’t had a chance to do yet. I have always been working and I loved it, but there are other things as well in life. I would like to travel again, visit many places I have never had the privilege of going to before, and I’m looking forward to that.’

Miss Withers was also famous for her priceless doll collection; it has become the largest and most extensive in the world. By the early 1940s, the collection was estimated at 3,500 dolls. Later it totalled 14,000 dolls; she started collecting them as a youngster when people used to send her gifts at the studio. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom she befriended in the mid-1930s, gave her one of his teddy bears, and from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt she got a French doll.

Miss Withers’ first husband was Texas oilman and rancher Bill Moss. After their divorce in 1954, she met and married Kenneth Errair, one of the Four Freshman, in 1955. They had two children, one of them Emmy Award winner Kendall Errair (b. 1960), renowned costume designer and costume supervisor who worked on numerous films since the mid-1980s.

Ms. Withers’ first starring role in “Ginger” (1935), which began filming on her 9th birthday, catapulted her to fame and she became one of the top money-making stars of the late 1930s, as Quigley’s Motion Picture Herald and The Motion Picture Almanac indicated for 1936 until 1939:

1936—1 Shirley Temple 2 Clark Gable 3 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers 4 Robert Taylor 5 Joe E. Brown 6 Dick Powell 7 Joan Crawford 8 Claudette Colbert 9 Jeanette MacDonald 10 Gary Cooper 11 Jane Withers 12 James Cagney 13 William Powell 14 Jean Harlow 15 Wallace Beery 16 Fred MacMurray 17 Irene Dunne 18 Myrna Loy 19 Ginger Rogers 20 Fred Astaire 21 Warner Baxter 22 Bing Crosby 23 Dionne Quintuplets 24 Janet Gaynor 25 Nelson Eddy

1937—1 Shirley Temple 2 Clark Gable 3 Robert Taylor 4 Bing Crosby 5 William Powell 6 Jane Withers 7 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers 8 Sonja Henie 9 Gary Cooper 10 Myrna Loy 11 Bob Burns 12 Martha Raye 13 Jeanette MacDonald 14 Dick Powell 15 Wallace Beery 16 Joan Crawford 17 Joe E. Brown 18 Spencer Tracy 19 Claudette Colbert 20 Eleanor Powell 21 Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy 22 Jack Benny 23 Nelson Eddy 24 William Powell/Myrna Loy 25 Bob Burns/Martha Raye

1938—1 Shirley Temple 2 Clark Gable 3 Sonja Henie 4 Mickey Rooney 5 Spencer Tracy 6 Robert Taylor 7 Myrna Loy 8 Jane Withers 9 Alice Faye 10 Tyrone Power 11 Gary Cooper 12 Wallace Beery 13 Bing Crosby 14 Jeanette MacDonald 15 Deanna Durbin 16 Don Ameche 17 Dorothy Lamour 18 Ginger Rogers 19 Nelson Eddy 20 Bob Burns 21 Errol Flynn 22 Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy 23 Irene Dunne 24 Paul Muni 25 William Powell

1939—1 Mickey Rooney 2 Tyrone Power 3 Spencer Tracy 4 Clark Gable 5 Shirley Temple 6 Bette Davis 7 Alice Faye 8 Errol Flynn 9 James Cagney 10 Sonja Henie 11 Bing Crosby 12 Deanna Durbin 13 Jane Withers 14 Robert Taylor 15 Wallace Beery 16 Myrna Loy 17 Bob Burns 18 Gary Cooper 19 Jeanette MacDonald 20 Don Ameche 21 Ginger Rogers 22 Henry Fonda 23 Paul Muni 24 Irene Dunne 25 Cary Grant

With such impressive statistics, it’s needless to say that we brought them up right away.

When you were still a child, were you ever aware that you were a box office star?

I never thought of that as a child, I didn’t know what it meant to be 6th in the box office. I know it did result into a huge amount of fan mail; at one time I had seven secretaries that handled the mail and we would spend three nights a week answering them. I asked them to separate the mail into five different categories. Mostly the fans asked the same questions; like what your favorite movie is, things like that. Some of them had much deeper thoughts than that and those I always answered first myself. I still get fan mail, now they often send lobby cards and stills to autograph. The last two times I moved, I had put everything into boxes and crates, including the fan mail. But after I moved, I opened the boxes of mail and I did answer them.

Ms. Withers, how do you explain your success in the 1930s?

Both Shirley Temple and I were Depression babies, but in “Bright Eyes” I played a character that was the opposite of her. I had no lovely curls, though; I had no dimples, no anything, so I could never be like her. I was just plain Jane. But in the 1930s so much insecurity and so much unhappiness went on. Our films were always entertaining and funny, and they would take anybody’s mind of their problems. Because we were both children, the audience would associate their families with us and with the films we did. So it was logical that we were very successful at that time because we brought love and entertainment, we brought a lot of the things maybe they felt they were lacking in some way.

You then made film after film, and became a very popular child star. But what happened in the early 1940? Is it correct to say that your career came to a standstill?

In the 1940s I didn’t appear in films that much anymore, because of the war. I was doing all those bond and camp tours, that had priority over any movie I made. And I always said I would work until I was 21, then I hoped to find Mr. Right and be married for the rest of my life. Well, I got married at 21, unfortunately it wasn’t Mr. Right—but we’re still good friends though. Also, in the 1940s I had to leave Fox. I didn’t want to, but they weren’t letting me grow up. I was getting all these letters from kids telling me I had grown up with. They wrote, ‘Hey, you’re still doing those movies like you did when you were 10, but you’re not 10 anymore.’ In fact, when I was 15, I wrote one of my own films. It was called “Small Town Deb” [1942]. I wrote exactly about what was happening to me in my real life, only I put it in a small town. It gave me a chance to show in the film what my feelings as a teenager are when the mother isn’t allowing her daughter to grow up, or to be herself and to find herself. The character of the mother [played by Katharine Alexander] didn’t realize she was so concerned about her older daughter [role for Cobina Wright], and she really didn’t take into her heart the situation of her younger daughter [Ms. Wither’s part] who really needed her help and guidance.

“Giant” (1956, trailer)

After “Small Town Deb,” you made a handful of films in the 1940s, until you virtually retired from the screen. But, in the end, your career was far from over. Another milestone was your supporting role in “Giant” [1956]. Can you tell something about that? What was it like shooting that film?

When we were shooting “Giant” in Texas, after work or at night, we’d have Monopoly marathons, bridge tournaments, play records, etc. I’d always have simple, wholesome food and at night nobody wanted to go home. So I had this huge Chinese gong sent from the studio. We always had to get up at four o’clock in the morning, and at ten minutes to nine, I’d ring this gong and would say, ‘Okay everybody, put the covers over the Monopoly games, we’ll continue tomorrow night just were we left off.’ It was fun, great fun.

You became friends with James Dean, didn’t you?

After we had spent some time in Texas, he came up to me and asked me, ‘You don’t like me, do you?’ I said I did, but he had to change his attitude. Instead of spitting on the ground or kicking up the dirt when he was talking to somebody, he could at least be more gentle and kind to all the others, be more appreciative for what they did for him. We talked about that, and one evening when he came to my house, he wore a pink shirt he had been wearing for a few days already. As it was terribly hot in Texas, I told him, ‘You should put on another shirt every day. Why don’t you give it to me and I’ll see to it that it has been washed by tomorrow, so you can drop by and pick it up.’ That’s what he did and whenever it was dirty or needed to be washed, he brought it over to me, and we got along just fine. He had set his mind on going to this race in California and he frequently asked George Stevens if he couldn’t leave any sooner to drive up to California. George Stevens always said, ‘No Jimmy, you have to stay here until your scenes are finished, you can’t leave any sooner than that.’ The day he left, he brought me his pink shirt before driving off. And the, when we heard he had been killed in this car accident, everybody on the set was heart-broken.

Do you have photographs of the two of you together?

Yes. I also took photographs of him on the set, but there are also photographs of the two of us. I cherish those very dearly.

One of the Comet TV commercials of Josephine the Plumber, with Robby Benson

From 1963 to 1974, you played Josephine the Plumber, one of the most recognizable faces on television, in Comet cleanser TV commercials. Sometimes you read that this character made you a very wealthy woman. How do you feel about that?

Well, it is true, but I never look at wealth in dollars and cents. To me it’s the wealth of experience, the people you share your time with and what you do with your time, that’s the real wealth in life. But I did put all my five children through school and college of what I made as Josephine the lady plumber. It was fun to do, it entertained a lot of people, they all got a big kick out of the character I played and I took it very seriously. There has never been a lady plumber shown in any way before. Although it was only a TV commercial, I went to school to learn all about plumbing. You have to be familiar with it all, you have to know about the job you’re performing. Anywhere I would go in that period of my life, truck drivers would say to me, ‘Hey Josy! I got a bad sink!’ And I’d say, ‘I’m on my way to a job, if I had more time I would be glad to fix it!’ or something like that [laughs].

Finally, what is the best advice you would give anyone?

Keep watching those old movies, they’re the best!

North Hollywood,

March 8, 2000

FILMS

HANDLE WITH CARE (1932) DIR David Butler PROD George King, Randall Faye SCR Frank Craven, Sam Mintz (story by David Butler) CAM John Schmitz ED Irene Morra MUS George Lipschultz CAST James Dunn, Boots Mallory, El Brendel, Victor Jory, Buster Phelps, Jane Withers (Extra [uncredited])

ZOO IN BUDEPEST (1933) DIR Rowland V. Lee PROD Jesse L. Lasky SCR Rowland V. Lee, Dan Totheroh, Louise Long (story by Melville Baker, Jack Kirkland) CAM Lee Garmes ED Harold D. Schuster MUS Hugo Friedhofer, Peter Brunelli, Louis De Francesco, J.S. Zamecnik CAST Loretta Young, Gene Raymond, O.P. Heggie, Wally Albright, Paul Fix, Murray Kinnell, Margaret Hamilton, Jane Withers (Young Girl at Zoo [uncredited])

MARY STEVENS, M.D. (1933) DIR Lloyd Bacon EXEC PROD Hal B. Wallis SCR Rian James, Robert Lord (story by Virginia Kellogg) CAM Sidney Hickox ED Ray Curtiss MUS Bernhard Kaun CAST Kay Francis, Lyle Talbot, Glenda Farrell, Thelma Todd, Una O’Connor, Harold Huber, Hobart Cavanaugh, Cora Sue Collins, Jane Withers (Little Girl at Zoo [uncredited])

TAILSPIN TOMMY (1934) DIR Louis Friedlander [Lew Landers] PROD Milton Gatzert SCR Norman S. Hall, Vin Moore, Ella O’Neill (newspaper strip by Hal Forrest) CAM Richard Fryer, William A. Sickner ED Albert Akst, Edward Todd, Saul A. Goodkind, Irving Applebaum CAST Maurice Murphy, Noah Beery Jr., Patricia Farr, Walter Miller, Grant Withers, Charles A. Browne, Jane Withers (Mary Elizabeth [uncredited])

IMITATION OF LIFE (1934) DIR John M. Stahl PROD Carl Laemmle Jr. SCR William Hurlbut (novel “Imitation of Life” [1933] by Fannie Hurst) CAM Merritt B. Gerstad ED Maurice Wright, Philip Cahn MUS Heinz Roemheld CAST Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Ned Sparks, Henry Armetta, Louise Beavers, Fredi Washington, Alan Hale, Hattie McDaniel, Jane Withers (Frontrow Classmate [uncredited])

IT’S A GIFT (1934) DIR Norman McLeod PROD William LeBaron SCR Jack Cunningham (story by Charles Bogle) CAM Henry Sharp MUS John Leipold CAST W. C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Jean Rouverol, Julian Madison, Tom Bupp, Baby LeRoy, Tammany Young, Jane Withers (Hopscotch Girl [uncredited])

BRIGHT EYES (1934) DIR David Butler PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR William Conselman (story by David Butler, Edwin Burke) CAM Arthur Miller MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Shirley Temple, James Dunn, Jane Darwell, Judith Allen, Lois Wilson, Charles Sellon, Walter Johnson, Jane Withers (Joy Smithe)

GINGER (1935) DIR Lewis Seiler PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Arthur Kober (also story) CAM Bert Glennon MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Ginger), O.P. Heggie, Jackie Searl, Katharine Alexander, Walter King, Donald Haines, Oscar Apfel, Bess Flowers

THE GOOD FAIRY (1935) DIR William Wyler PROD Carl Laemmle Jr., William Wyler SCR Preston Sturges (play “The Good Fairy” [1930] by Ferenc Molnár) CAM Norbert Brodine ED Daniel Mandell MUS Heinz Roemheld CAST Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Eric Blore, Beulah Bondi, Alan Hale, Cesar Romero, Luis Alberni, Ann Miller, Jane Withers (Child in Orphanage [uncredited])

REDHEADS ON PARADE (1935) DIR Norman Z. McLeod PROD Jesse L. Lasky, Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Don Hartman, Rian James (story by Don Hartman, Gertrude Purcell, Jay Gorney) CAM John F. Seitz, Barney McGill CAST John Boles, Dixie Lee, Jack Haley, Raymond Walburn, Alan Dinehart, Patsy O’Connor, Lynn Bari, Bess Flowers, Mary MacLaren, Jane Withers (Young Girl [uncredited])

THE FARMER TAKES A WIFE (1935) DIR Victor Fleming PROD Winfield R. Sheehan SCR Edwin J. Burke (play “The Farmer Takes a Wife” [1934] by Frank B. Elser, Marc Connelly; novel “Rome Haul” [1929] by Walter D. Edmonds) CAM Ernest Palmer, John F. Seitz ED Harold D. Schuster MUS Cyril J. Mockridge, David Buttolph, R.H. Bassett CAST Janet Gaynor, Henry Fonda, Charles Bickford, Slim Summerville, Andy Devine, Roger Imhof, Jane Withers (Della), Margaret Hamilton, Sig Ruman, John Qualen

THIS IS THE LIFE (1935) DIR Marshall Neilan SCR Lamar Trotti, Arthur Horman, Marshall Neilan (story by Gene Towne, Graham Baker, Lou Breslow, Sid Brod) CAM Daniel B. Clark ED Fred Allen MUS David Buttolph CAST Jane Withers (Geraldine Revier), John McGuire, Sally Blane, Sidney Toler, Gloria Roy, Gordon Westcott

PADDY O’DAY (1936) DIR Lewis Seiler PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Lou Breslow, Edward Eliscu CAM Arthur C. Miller ED Al De Gaetano MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Paddy O’Day), Pinky Tomlin, Rita Cansino [Rita Hayworth], Jane Darwell, George Givot, Francis Ford

GENTLE JULIA (1936) DIR John Blystone PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Lamar Trotti (novel “Gentle Julia” [1922] by Booth Tarkington) CAM Ernest Palmer ED Fred Allen MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Florence Atwater), Tom Brown, Marsha Hunt, Jackie Searl, Francis Ford, George Meeker, Hattie McDaniel

LITTLE MISS NOBODY (1936) DIR John G. Blystone PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Lou Breslow, Paul Burger, Edward Eliscu (short story by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan) CAM Bert Glennon ED Al DeGaetano MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Judy Devlin), Jane Darwell, Ralph Morgan, Sara Haden, Harry Carey, Betty Jean Hainey, Thomas E. Jackson

PEPPER (1936) DIR James Tinling EXEC PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Lamar Trotti (story by Jefferson Parker, Murray Roth) CAM Daniel B. Clark ED Fred Allen CAST Jane Withers (Pepper Jolly), Irvin S. Cobb, Slim Summerville, Dean Jagger, Muriel Robert, Ivan Lebedeff, George Humbert

THE HOLY TERROR (1937) DIR James Tinling EXEC PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Lou Breslow, John Patrick CAM Daniel B. Clark ED Nick DeMaggio MUS Gene Rose CAST Jane Withers (‘Corky’ Wallace), Anthony Martin, Leah Ray, Joe Lewis, El Brendel, Joe E. Lewis, Joan Davis, Fred Kohler Jr.

ANGEL’S HOLIDAY (1937) DIR James Tinling PROD Darryl F. Zanuck SCR (story by Frank Fenton, Lynn Root) CAM Daniel B. Clark ED Nick DeMaggio MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (‘Angel’ June Everett), Joan Davis, Sally Blane, Robert Kent, Harold Huber, Frank Jenks, John Qualen, Lon Chaney Jr.

WILD AND WOOLLY (1937) DIR Alfred Werker PROD John Stone SCR Frank Fenton, Lynn Root (story by Frank Fenton) CAM Harry Jackson ED Al De Gaetano CAST Jane Withers (Arnette Flynn), Walter Brennan, Pauline Moore, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, Jack Searl, Berton Churchill, Robert Wilcox, Lon Chaney Jr.

CAN THIS BE DIXIE? (1937) DIR George Marshall EXEC PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Lamar Trotti (story by Lamar Trotti, George Marshall) CAM Bert Glennon, Ernest Palmer ED Louis Loeffler MUS Samuel Kaylin, Gene Rose, Joe Glover, Emil Gerstenberger CAST Jane Withers (Peg Gurgle), Slim Summerville, Helen Wood, Thomas Beck, Sara Haden, Claude Gillingwater, Hattie McDaniel

45 FATHERS (1937) DIR James Tinling PROD John Stone SCR Frances Hyland, Albert Ray (story by Mary Bickel, Edith Sparks) CAM Harry Jackson ED Alex Troffey MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Judith Frazier), Thomas Beck, Louise Henry, The Hartmans (Joe & Flo McCoy), Richard Carle, Nella Walker, Leon Ames, Hattie McDaniel

CHECKERS (1938) DIR H. Bruce Humberstone PROD John Stone SCR Lynn Root, Frank Fenton, Robert Chapin, Karen De Wolf (story by Lynn Root, Frank Fenton) CAM Daniel B. Clark ED Jack Murray MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Checkers Judy), Edgar Connell, Una Merkel, Marvin Stephens, Andrew Tombes, June Carlson, Francis Ford, Lon Chaney Jr.

RASCALS (1938) DIR H. Bruce Humberstone PROD John Stone, John Reinhardt SCR Robert Ellis, Helen Logan CAM Edward Cronjager ED Jack Murray MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Gypsy), Rochelle Hudson, Robert Wilcox, Borrah Minevitch, Minevitch Gang, Steffi Duna, Kathleen Burke

KEEP SMILING (1938) DIR Herbert I. Leeds PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Frances Hyland, Albert Ray (story by Lynn Root, Frank Fenton) CAM Edward Cronjager ED Harry Reynolds MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Jane Rand), Gloria Stuart, Henry Wilcoxon, Helen Westley, Jed Prouty, Douglas Fowley, Paula Raymond

ALWAYS IN TROUBLE (1938) DIR Joseph Santley ASSOC PROD John Stone SCR Karen De Wolf, Robert Chapin (original story by Albert Treynor, Jeff Moffitt) CAM Lucien N. Andriot ED Nick DeMaggio CAST Jane Withers (Jerry Darlington), Jean Rogers, Arthur Treacher, Robert Kellard, Eddie Collins, Andrew Tombes

THE ARIZONA WILDCAT (1939) DIR Herbert I. Leeds PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Barry Trivers, Jerry Cady (story idea by Frances Hyland, Albert Ray) CAM Lucien N. Andriot ED Fred Allen CAST Jane Withers (Mary Jane Patterson), Leo Carrillo, Pauline Moore, William Henry, Henry Wilcoxon

BOY FRIEND (1939) DIR James Tinling ASSOC PROD John Stone SCR Joseph Hoffman, Barry Trivers (original story by Lester Ziffren, Louis Moore) CAM Lucien N. Andriot ED Norman Colbert CAST Jane Withers (Sally Murphy), Arleen Whelan, Richard Bond, Douglas Fowley, Warren Hymer, George Ernst, Robert Kellard

CHICKEN WAGON FAMILY (1939) DIR Herbert I. Leeds PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Viola Brothers Shore (novel “The Chicken-Wagon Family” [1925] by John Barry Benefield) CAM Edward Cronjager ED Fred Allen MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Addie Fippany), Leo Carrillo, Marjorie Weaver, Spring Byington, Kane Richmond, Hobart Cavanaugh

PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES (1939) DIR H. Bruce Humberstone PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Lou Breslow, Owen Francis CAM Lucien N. Andriot ED Nick DeMaggio MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Collette), The Ritz Brothers, Lynn Bari, Joseph Schildkraut, Stanley Fields, Fritz Leiber, Lionel Royce

HIGH SCHOOL (1940) DIR George Nichols, Jr. PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Jack Jungmeyer, Edith Skouras, Harold Tarshis (idea by Robert Ellis, Helen Logan) CAM Lucien N. Andriot ED Harry Reynolds MUS Gene Rose CAST Jane Withers (Jane Wallace), Joe Brown, Jr., Lloyd Corrigan, Claire Du Brey, Lynne Roberts, Paul Harvey, Cliff Edwards

SHOOTING HIGH (1940) DIR Alfred E. Green ASSOC PROD John Stone SCR Lou Breslow, Owen Francis CAM Ernest Palmer ED Nick DeMaggio MUS Samuel Kaylin CAST Jane Withers (Jane Pritchard), Gene Autry, Marjorie Weaver, Robert Lowery, Katharine Aldridge, Hobart Cavanaugh, Jack Carson, Charles Middleton

GIRL FROM AVENUE A (1940) DIR Otto Brower PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Frances Hyland, Albert Ray (play “The Brat” [1917] by Maude Fulton) CAM George Barnes, Lucien N. Andriot ED Louis R. Loeffler MUS Cyril J. Mockridge CAST Jane Withers (Jane), Kent Taylor, Katharine Aldridge, Elyse Knox, Laura Hope Crews, Jessie Ralph, Rand Brooks

YOUTH WILL BE SERVED (1940) DIR Otto Brower PROD Lucien Hubbard SCR Wanda Tuchock (story by Ruth Fasken, Hilda Vincent) CAM Edward Cronjager ED Nick DeMaggio MUS Cyril J. Mockridge CAST Jane Withers (Edie May), Jane Darwell, Robert Conway, Elyse Knox, Joe Brown Jr., John Qualen, Charles Holland, Clara Blandick

GOLDEN HOOFS (1941) DIR Lynn Shores PROD Walter Morosco, Ralph Dietrich SCR Ben Grauman Kohn (story by Roy Chanslor, Thomas Langan) CAM Lucien N. Andriot ED James B. Clark MUS Cyril J. Mockridge CAST Jane Withers (Jane Drake), Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Katharine Aldridge, George Irving, Buddy Pepper, Cliff Clark

HER FIRST BEAU (1941) DIR Theodore Reed PROD B.B. Kahane SCR Gladys Lehman, Karen De Wolf (story by Florence Ryerson, Colin Clements) CAM George Meehan ED Charles Nelson MUS Leo Shuken CAST Jane Withers (Penny Wood), Jackie Cooper, Edith Fellows, Josephine Hutchinson, William Tracy, Martha O’Driscoll, Edgar Buchanan

A VERY YOUNG LADY (1941) DIR Harold Schuster PROD Robert Kane SCR Ladislas Fodor, Elaine Ryan (play “Érettségi,” a.k.a. “Matura” [1934] by Ladislas Fodor) CAM Edward Cronjager ED James B. Clark MUS Cyril J. Mockridge, David Buttolph CAST Jane Withers (Kitty Russell), Nancy Kelly, John Sutton, Janet Beecher, Richard Clayton, June Carlson, Cecil Kellaway

SMALL TOWN DEB (1941) DIR Harold D. Schuster PROD Lou L. Ostrow SCR Ethel Hill (story by Jerrie Walters [Jane Withers]) CAM Virgil Miller ED Alex Troffey MUS Mark Gordon CAST Jane Withers (Patricia Randall), Jane Darwell, Bruce Edwards, Cobina Wright, Cecil Kellaway, Katharine Alexander, Jackie Searl

YOUNG AMERICA (1942) DIR Louis King ASSOC PROD Sol M. Wurtzel SCR Samuel G. Engel CAM Glen MacWilliams, Lucien N. Andriot ED Louis R. Loeffler MUS Cyril J. Mockridge CAST Jane Withers (Jane Campbell), Jane Darwell, Lynne Roberts, William Tracy, Robert Cornell, Roman Bohnen, Louise Beavers, Darryl Hickman

THE MAD MARTINDALES (1942) DIR Alfred Werker PROD Walter Morosco SCR Francis Edwards Faragoh (play “Not For Children” by Wesley Towner) CAM Lucien N. Andriot ED Nick DeMaggio MUS Emil Newman CAST Jane Withers (Kathy Martindale), Marjorie Weaver, Alan Mowbray, Jimmy Lydon, Byron Barr, George Reeves

JOHNNY DOUGHBOY (1942) DIR – ASSOC PROD John H. Auer SCR Lawrence Kimble (original story by Frederick Kohner) CAM John Alton ED Wallace Grissell MUS Marlin Skiles CAST Jane Withers (Ann Winters/Penelope Ryan), Henry Wilcoxon, Patrick Brook, William Demarest, Ruth Donnelly, Etta McDaniel, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, Cora Sue Collins

THE NORTH STAR (1943) DIR Lewis Milestone PROD Samuel Goldwyn SCR Lillian Hellman (also original story) CAM James Wong Howe ED Daniel Mandell MUS Aaron Copland CAST Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan, Ann Harding, Jane Withers (Clavdia Kurin), Farley Granger, Erich von Stroheim, Dean Jagger

MY BEST GAL (1944) DIR Anthony Mann PROD Harry Grey SCR Olive Cooper, Earl Fenton (original story by Richard Brooks) CAM Jack A. Marta ED Ralph Dixon MUS Marlin Skiles CAST Jane Withers (Kitty O’Hara), Jimmy Lydon, Frank Craven, Fortunio Bonanova, George Cleveland, Franklin Pangborn

FACES IN THE FOG (1944) DIR John English ASSOC PROD Herman Millakowsky SCR Jack Townley (also original story) CAM Reggie Lanning ED Tony Martinelli MUS Joseph Dubin CAST Jane Withers (Mary Elliott), Paul Kelly, Lee Patrick, John Litel, Eric Sinclair, Dorothy Peterson, H.B. Warner

AFFAIRS OF GERALDINE (1946) DIR George Blair ASSOC PROD Armand Schaefer SCR John K. Butler (story by Lee Loeb, Arthur Strawn) CAM John Alton ED Tony Martinelli MUS Nathan Scott CAST Jane Withers (Geraldine Cooper), James Lydon, Raymond Walburn, Donald Meek, Charles Quigley, Grant Withers

DANGER STREET (1947) DIR Lew Landers PROD William H. Pine, William C. Thomas SCR Winston Miller, Kae Salkow, Maxwell Shane (story by Winston Miller, Kae Salkow) CAM Benjamin H. Kline ED Howard A. Smith MUS Darrell Calker CAST Jane Withers (Pat Marvin), Robert Lowery, Bill Edwards, Elaine Riley, Audrey Young, Lyle Talbot, Bess Flowers

GIANT (1956) DIR George Stevens PROD George Stevens, Henry Ginsberg SCR Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat (novel “Giant” [1952] by Edna Ferber) CAM William C. Mellor ED William Hornbeck, Robert Lawrence MUS Dimitri Tiomkin CAST Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers (Vashti Snythe), Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Judith Evelyn, Earl Holliman, Bess Flowers

THE HEART IS A REBEL (1958) DIR Dick Ross PROD Dick Ross, Jerry Beavan SCR Richard James CAM Alfred Gilks ED Eugene Pendleton MUS Ralph Carmichael CAST Ethel Waters, Georgia Lee, John Milford, Scotty Morrow, Alvy Moore, Sam Gilman, Rhoda Williams, Jane Withers (Grace)

THE RIGHT APPROACH (1961) DIR David Butler PROD Oscar Brodney SCR Fay Kanin, Michael Kanin (play “The Live Wire” [1950] by Garson Kanin) CAM Sam Leavitt ED Tom McAdoo MUS Dominic Frontiere CAST Juliet Prowse, Frankie Vaughan, Martha Hyer, Gary Crosby, David McLean, Jane Withers (Liz, Life Magazine Photographer), Jesse White

CAPTAIN NEWMAN, M.D. (1963) DIR David Miller PROD Robert Arthur, Gregory Peck [uncredited] SCR Henry Ephron, Phoebe Ephron, Richard L. Breen (novel “Captain Newman, M.D.” [1961] by Leo Rosten) CAM Russell Metty ED Alma Macrorie MUS Frank Skinner, Russell Garcia CAST Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Eddie Albert, James Gregory, Bethel Leslie, Robert Duvall, Jane Withers (Lt. Grace Blodgett), Dick Sargent, Larry Storch, Bobby Darin

THE HUNCHBACK OF THE NOTRE DAME (1996, animated) DIR Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise PROD Don Hahn SCR Tab Murphy, Irene Mecchi, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White, Jonathan Roberts (story by Tab Murphy; novel “Notre-Dame de Paris” [1831] by Victor Hugo) ED Ellen Keneshea MUS Alan Menken CAST (voices only) Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline, Paul Kandel, Jason Alexander, Jane Withers (additional Laverne dialogue)

TV MOVIES

ALL TOGETHER NOW (1975) DIR Randal Kleiser PROD Ron Bernstein TELEPLAY Rubin Carson, Jeff Andrus (story by Rubin Carson) CAM Gene Polito ED Larry Robinson, Bob Wyman MUS John Rubinstein CAST John Rubinstein, Glynnis O’Connor, Brad Savage, Helen Hunt, Dori Brenner, Bill Macy, Jane Withers (Helen Drummond), Larry Bishop, Adam Arkin

VIDEO

THE HUNCHBACK OF THE NOTRE DAME 2: THE SECRET OF THE BELL (2002, animated) DIR Bradley Raymond SCR Jule Selbo, Cindy Marcus, Flip Kobler (novel “Notre-Dame de Paris” [1831] by Victor Hugo) ED Colleen Halsey, Peter Lonsdale MUS Carl Johnson CAST (voices only) Tom Hulce, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline, Haley Joel Osment, Charles Kimbrough, Jane Withers (Laverne)