Blanche Mehaffey — The “Follies” Still Donates (1925) 🇺🇸

“Don’t hold it against me that I’m from the ‘Follies.’”

A clear, ringing laugh, a mass of short, red curls framing a pretty, heart-shaped face, and Blanche Mehaffey gives a splash of color and life to that plebeian place, the Hal Roach cafeteria. “I’m really trying to learn to act. What helped me get into the ‘Follies’ — a fairly good voice, feet that could dance a step or two — aren’t assets now. It’s like going to school all over again, but they are taking so much trouble to coach me patiently that I am bound to learn in time.’

Her mother was an opera singer. Knowing from her own experiences the theatrical ropes, she has saved Blanche many of the disappointments and heartaches that the young novitiate usually encounters. On the happy side of twenty, one of the Wampas’ 1924 Baby Stars, Blanche has an iridescent, bubbling personality with just that little fleck of poise that training in the Ziegfeld garden gives to a girl. And yet her mother’s constantly watchful eye has kept her singularly untouched by the theatrical artificiality that the past few years have brought her in contact with.

Roach noticed her in the “Follies” galaxy when he went East last year to sign Will Rogers and, after tests, brought her out to his Culver City fun factory on a long-term contract. He thinks that she has unusual possibilities and is carefully grooming her for bigger opportunities. She is acquiring that invaluable foundation of training which work in short, rapid-pace comedies gives.

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Photo copyright by Curtis

Collection: Picture Play Magazine, July 1925