Betty Jaynes (Who’s Who at MGM, 1937) 🇺🇸
Betty Jaynes, the child singer who astounded the musical world when she appeared with Martinelli in La Boheme at the Chicago City Opera, easily captured the hearts of Hollywood’s screen folk. Before she had been in the film capital many weeks, Betty won many friends with her unsophisticated charm and her eagerness to succeed.
Born in Chicago on February 12, Betty was christened Betty Jane Schultz. Her father, Louis Schultz, is a dentist. Betty attended Myra Brodwell grade school and the Starrett School for Girls. She has always excelled in music. At school she was a member of Phi Beta sorority.
Sang “Mimi” in “Boheme”
She came to the attention of Longone, manager of the Chicago Opera, and so impressed him that he broke all precedent in casting her as Mimi in La Boheme. Pietro Cimini has been one of her closest friends and has advised and encouraged her in her career.
Betty plays the piano and enjoys reading biographies of the musical geniuses of history. Her favorite sport is horseback riding and she collects charms for a hobby. Her favorite color is blue.
Fond of Coward Plays
Her choice in perfumes is lavender and she loves to wear gardenias. She attends the theatre frequently and likes the plays of Noel Coward above all others. Betty believes that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is the best in the country.
She is five feet four inches tall, weighs 103 pounds, has blonde hair and blue eyes. She is one of four children. The others are Marian Lee, Carrain and Bobby. Marian Lee is attending Betty’s alma mater, studying dramatics and voice, and hopes to have a career.
Betty spent her early days at the studio being tested for make-up, hair-dress and camera-angles.
Following her arrival at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Betty was an extremely busy young lady. She arrived on the lot each morning at nine o’clock and began her studies in the studio school room. Other students included Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Suzanne and John Arlington.
Pal of Judy Garland
Betty did all of her studying with Judy Garland. The girls are good friends and spend most of their time together. Their teacher. Mary MacDonald, gave them their assignments in history, French and English, and whenever they were ready to recite, questioned them alternately. Both Betty and Judy are in the tenth grade.
School was over at noon, but after lunch Betty and Judy spent an hour with singing coach, Roger Edens.
At four o’clock Betty had her voice training with Maestro Pietro Cimini and, for an hour, sang the operatic arias she loves so well.
Because she had so many activities to occupy her attention, she was not impatient to begin her actual work in pictures. She was content to continue her training until Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production heads were ready to launch her on her film career.
MacDonald Her Ideal
Jeanette MacDonald is Betty’s ideal. A rich-voiced mezzo-soprano, Betty is studying hard to follow in Miss MacDonald’s operatic footsteps.
Since her singing requires that she stay in perfect health, she is an avid equestrienne, plays tennis daily, and at other times can be found at beach amusement parks riding the roller coaster.
Collection: Who’s Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1937)