What Becomes of Baby Stars? (1931) 🇺🇸

Thirteen lucky girls have been selected as Wampas Baby Stars for 1931. Thirteen lucky girls now face the camera and the future with heads and hopes a little higher, eyes and ambition a little brighter, because they are the chosen few.

by Alma Talley

Hollywood is full of promising young actresses; they are considered the most promising of all.

Joan Blondell, Constance Cummings, Frances Dade, Frances Dee, Sidney Fox, Rochelle Hudson, Anita Louise, Joan Marsh, Marian Marsh, Karen Morley, Marion Shilling, Barbara Weeks and Judith Wood — these are the lucky thirteen.

But are they so lucky, these thirteen?

Where will they go from here — to stardom, or to oblivion? To happiness or tragedy?

There have been one hundred and four Wampas Baby Stars in the past. Where are they now?

—

It was back in 1922 that the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers — Wampas to you — began picking baby stars. Every year they hold a ball. And what is a ball without a belle? Without, in fact, several belles?

The Wampas, being press agents, set out to get not only belles for the balls, but publicity for their companies’ future stars all at the same time.

So the first Wampas Baby Stars were selected, thirteen young women players for whom success was predicted. Thirteen new players have been chosen every year since, except 1930, when the Wampas boys decided to do no wamping. They were too tuckered out to vote, or maybe they went on a fishing trip instead.

But you can’t keep a chronic predicter from predicting, so now here they are again, telling us who is who among the new actresses for 1931. The Wampas may be wrong or right, but it will take us several years to find out which.

What then lies in store for this year’s lucky thirteen?

Let’s go back, if you can spare a moment, to 1922 and that first lucky thirteen.

The Wampas were good guessers that year. They chose: Colleen Moore, Lila Lee, Bessie Love, Lois Wilson, Mary Philbin, Patsy Ruth Miller, Jacqueline Logan, Claire Windsor, Pauline Starke, Helen Ferguson, Louise Lorraine, Kathryn McGuire, and Marion Aye.

Colleen Moore. Of all that year’s young new stars, Colleen rose to the dizziest heights. For years Colleen was one of the very brightest stars in Hollywood.

Postmen staggered to her doorstep with fan mail.

But where are those fans now? Colleen is now trying to acquire stage experience, her professional life ruined by the talkies, her home life ruined by her divorce from John McCormick, whom many believe she still loves. Colleen was a lucky girl. Today she is a rich woman, but a disillusioned one.

Lila Lee. The girl who was once known as Cuddles went straight to the hearts of the fans. Lila acquired a public, a devoted husband, and a young son, James Kirkwood, Jr. In public life, in private life, Lila had everything to make her happy. Luck was with her. Even when she began to slip, talkies came in and Lila could talk! She was in new demand for pictures. And then came the crash! Divorce from James Kirkwood. A new, heart-breaking love affair. Too many pictures in too few months. And Lila, who had been such a lucky girl, spent months and months in an Arizona sanitarium mending a broken heart and a broken body.

Lois Wilson. For years Lois held her own as a featured player, and is still holding it. If she has never attained stardom, if she has never been too happy in her roles, at least she has gone on and on, when bigger stars have risen and fallen.

Bessie Love. A true trouper, who has had her ups and her downs. Bessie was all but through in pictures, after a steady but not brilliant success. She no longer stood out on the screen, but how she stood out in the parlor! Bessie could hoof the fanciest Charleston in Hollywood. Paramount was casting “The Song and Dance Man,” which needed a song and dance girl. Bessie got the part and hot-footed it back into screen popularity. “The Broadway Melody” proved that she could talk as well as dance. Now, married to William Hawks [William B. Hawks], Bessie plays sometimes in pictures, sometimes in vaudeville.

Mary Philbin. The ethereal heroine of The Phantom of the Opera justified the Wampas prediction. She rose to stardom, but the end of her career came with talkies. Her engagement to Paul Kohler was broken off, no one knows why, and now somewhere Mary is living the quiet life of the star who is forgotten.

Pauline Starke. For years Pauline was a well-known leading woman. After Gloria Swanson left Paramount, Pauline was groomed as her successor, to look and act like Gloria. Pauline was a good actress, an interesting girl. She got the “breaks” many times and yet they seemed valueless to her. Once even a picture that was meant for the great Garbo [Greta Garbo] — it was called “Women Love Diamonds” — was given to Pauline instead. But somehow things never broke quite right for her. Her career lasted about eight years; her marriage to Jack White lasted four. We don’t hear much of Pauline now.

Claire Windsor, Jacqueline Logan. Both knew years of success, and both were talked out of it. Jacqueline tried picture-making in Europe, but without outstanding success. She is now Mrs. Larry Winston, and Claire, divorced from Bert Lytell, is living in New York.

Helen Ferguson. Western fans will remember her as the girl the cowboy hero used to rescue. Then Helen married William Russell and settled down to home life. But Helen had to face real tragedy when she lost her husband by death. Helen is still settled down, in the limbo of stars who never were.

Louise Lorraine, a serial queen. Married and divorced from Art Acord. Now he is dead, and she is all but forgotten.

Kathryn McGuire, a pretty girl on the First National lot, married George Landy, formerly of the publicity department, a Wampa himself. Here was her chance for publicity and stardom. She got publicity. She never got the stardom.

And last, was little Marion Aye, who flickered for one brief evening as a baby star and was never really heard of again.

—

The 1923 group achieved a smaller percentage of fame: Eleanor Boardman, Evelyn Brent, Dorothy Devore, Laura La Plante, Pauline Garon, Betty Francisco, Virginia Brown Faire, Jobyna Ralston, Kathleen Key, Ethel Shannon, Derelys Perdue, Helen Lynch, and Margaret Leahy.

Eleanor Boardman, successful actress, successful as Mrs. King Vidor [King Vidor], wife and mother, now under contract to Paramount and more beautiful than ever. We won’t worry about her!

Evelyn Brent. The former Mrs. B. P. Fineman is now Mrs. Harry Edwards. Her home life is very happy and so is her career. Evelyn works constantly, in roles she likes.

Laura La Plante, since talkies, hasn’t been a star, as she was in silent days. Yet she’s making as many pictures as she desires, and her off-screen life as Mrs. William A. Seiter [William A. Seiter], wife of the director, is gay and debonair, she and Bill being the best of pals.

Dorothy Devore has sparkled through reels and reels and years and years of comedies, and if she works at a small studio, at least she is the queen of it.

Jobyna Ralston got half way up the ladder of fame, saw Dick Arlen [Richard Arlen] and kicked the ladder out from under her. Thousands of girls feel that being Mrs. Arlen is luck enough for any girl — and Joby feels so, too.

Pauline Garon. In the heyday of flappers, Pauline was the heyhey-est of them all. While flappers were in vogue, Pauline was “that cute little girl” in hundreds of pictures. Only recently Pauline, the erstwhile Mrs. Lowell Sherman [Lowell Sherman], has ceased to hit the fans in a big way, and decided to hit a baseball instead. She and a group of other young Hollywood women went on tour as ball players. The flappers flopped as a ball team, and when last heard from had wired Hollywood for money to get home.

Betty Francisco has achieved only secondary roles, but at any rate she is still achieving them.

Virginia Brown Faire’s years of minor leads did not enable her to save enough money to prevent a recent bankruptcy.

Kathleen Key got lots of publicity when she played in Ben Hur. But she hasn’t had any since, until last winter when Buster Keaton accused her, in newspaper headlines, of trying to extort money from him.

Helen Lynch has settled down to obscurity and her husband, Carroll Nye.

Ethel Shannon, Derelys Perdue — their names are scarcely remembered.

Margaret Leahy. She was that English girl who won a beauty contest conducted in England by the Talmadges, Norma and Constance [Norma Talmadge | Constance Talmadge]. Surrounded by Talmadges and reporters she arrived in America, to play opposite Buster Keaton in one film, get elected as a baby star, and subside again into obscurity.

—

The Wampas boys in 1924 selected Clara Bow, Dorothy Mackaill, Marian Nixon, Alberta Vaughn, Lucille Ricksen, Elinor Faire, Blanche Mehaffey, Margaret Morris, Hazel Keener, Carmelita Geraghty, Gloria Grey, Julanne Johnston, and Ruth Hiatt.

Clara Bow. They guessed right on Clara, but she hasn’t been so lucky. Despite her popularity, one can only think of Clara as a very tragic figure. Clara, beloved by millions, but hurt by very bad publicity. Clara, America’s girl friend, betrayed by her own girl friend. Clara’s history remains unfinished. Perhaps she will achieve a new success on the screen, a new happiness in her love for Rex Bell.

Dorothy Mackaill is doing very nicely, thank you. Her marriage to Lothar Mendes was unhappy and terminated in divorce. But Dot has forgotten all that. You remember her string of engagements in Honolulu this summer, don’t you?

While Marian Nixon’s fame has never gone up like a skyrocket, neither has it ever gone up in smoke. She holds her place on the screen and she holds her husband, the very nice Edward Hillman, Jr., and what more could any girl ask?

Alberta Vaughan showed all the promise the Wampas boys predicted for her. Alberta worked hard and demanded nothing. But an over-officious manager harmed her career. He followed Alberta to the studios, complained about her dressing room, complained about her hours, until he complained Alberta right out of work.

Lucille Ricksen. There was a real child of tragedy. A brilliant actress, with a brilliant future. Until suddenly pneumonia seized upon her and there was no future at all. Poor little Lucille, dead at sixteen.

As for Elinor Faire, Blanche Mehaffey, Margaret Morris, Ruth Hiatt, Julanne Johnston, Hazel Keener, Carmelita Geraghty, and Gloria Grey, none of them lived up to their first initial promise.

—

In the 1925 group were Olive Borden, June Marlowe, Madeline Hurlock, Dorothy Revier, Natalie Joyce, Duane Thompson, Lola Todd, Anne Cornwall, Ena Gregory, Joan Meredith, Evelyn Pierce, Betty Arlen, and Violet Avon.

The Wampas were very bad guessers indeed, that year, because of all that lucky thirteen Olive Borden was the only one to achieve stardom. And Olive’s stardom was neither very great nor very lasting.

Dorothy Revier was for years the queen of Poverty Row, the leading light in quickies, pictures which are quickly made and quickly forgotten. She stepped out a bit — or spoke out a bit — in talkies, and though her present success is not striking, she does continue with her. career.

June Marlowe appeared for several years in Warner pictures, usually with her arm around Rin-tin-tin, the dog star. But even Rin-tin-tin was licked by sound effects.

As for the others of that 1925 group, do you even remember Violet Avon or Betty Arlen or Joan Meredith or Evelyn Pierce? Anne Cornwall, of course, got along mildly well for awhile.

Duane Thompson and Lola Todd were horse opera heroines.

Ena Gregory had a few minor roles — indeed after changing her name to Marion Douglas she almost proved there was something in numerology after all! But her moderate success did not last. Now she is Mrs. Al Rogell [Albert S. Rogell]. I wonder whether her husband calls her Ena or Marion.

Natalie Joyce played minor roles.

Madeline Hurlock stayed with the Mack Sennett troupe, the highest priced of the comedy bathing girls, but at length gave up and has left her career behind as the wife of Marc Connelly, the playwright.

—

But in 1926, the Wampas proved that sometimes one guess is better than another. For just look whom they produced for that year: Janet Gaynor, Joan Crawford, Dolores Costello, Mary Brian, Fay Wray, Dolores Del Río, Sally O’Neil, Mary Astor, Marceline Day, Vera Reynolds, Joyce Compton, Sally Long, and Edna Marion.

All but three of those girls established real names for themselves — oh, well, perhaps not their real names!

Janet Gaynor. Seventh Heaven was heaven for her because it made her one of the biggest stars in pictures. And Mrs. Lydell Peck still has nothing to complain of, thank you!

As for Joan Crawford, all her dreams have come true, even to her marrying the man in them!

Dolores Costello was never quite the same radiant personality after talking pictures came in, but with her husband, John Barrymore, and with little Dolores Ethel, her baby daughter, Dolores is still a very lucky girl.

Mary Brian and Fay Wray have lost their Paramount contracts, but they keep on free-lancing. Mary is still the favorite of the college boys, and Fay is still the favorite of her husband, John Monk Saunders, and a large number of fans.

But Mary Astor and Dolores Del Río, for all their fame, have had their share of tragedy. Mary Astor, sleeping beauty whom love and marriage changed into a gracious, charming woman. She had her career, which was increasingly successful; she had her marriage, to Director Kenneth Hawks, which was increasingly successful.

But tragedy so often comes without warning. One morning Mary kissed Kenneth good-bye as usual, and at night he was brought home to her, the victim of an airplane accident.

Fame brought disaster to Dolores Del Río’s first marriage; Jaime was jealous of her success. And then, just as she was looking forward to happiness with her second husband. Cedric Gibbons, illness overtook her, and for months Dolores lay helpless while the movie world moved on without her, threatening to leave her behind. But now she is coming back in The Dove, and there may be a happy ending to her story.

Sally O’Neil, Marceline Day, Vera Reynolds. All their careers have suffered from the talkies. Sally O’Neil is now making a comeback.

Several times film companies have promised to build up Joyce Compton’s name, but nothing has ever come of it.

Edna Marion has been buried in shorts, and Sally Long has disappeared.

—

Fame touched very lightly the 1927 group: Helene Costello, Barbara Kent, Martha Sleeper, Sally Rand, Natalie Kingston, Mary McAllister, Gladys McConnell, Sally Phipps, Rita Carewe, Patricia Avery, Adamae Vaughn, Frances Lee, and Iris Stuart.

Helene Costello, as Mrs.*Lowell Sherman, is so happy that she wonders why she should ever have bothered with a film career.

Barbara Kent did so well in Gloria Swanson’s “Indiscreet” that we shall probably hear more of her.

Martha Sleeper has not been outstandingly famous, but she is still busy, and frequently plays in Broadway stage plays as well.

Sally Phipps was seen last winter in the stage play, “Once in a Lifetime.”

Natalie Kingston still plays occasional roles.

Gladys McConnell, Mary McAllister, Sally Rand, Adamae Vaughn, Rita Carewe, Frances Lee, Patricia Avery — none of these girls has ever become quite established. Last winter Sally Rand was glad to be a chorus girl on Broadway.

Iris Stuart’s is a tragic story. Iris was very beautiful. So beautiful that nothing, it seemed, could stop her. But something did. Her health broke down, and Iris was forced to go into the desert country to live, leaving behind all hope of fame, all hope of the success which might have been hers.

—

The 1928 group included: Sue Carol, June Collyer, Sally Eilers, Gwen Lee, Molly O’Day, Ruth Taylor, Lupe Vélez, Dorothy Gulliver, Lina Basquette, Ann Christy, Alice Day, Audrey Ferris, and Flora Brantley.

Sue Carol and Lupe Vélez were both minor sensations on their first public appearance. While neither of them continued to be sensational, both have managed to keep successful, Lupe especially, particularly with her Garee [Gary Cooper] and now with a new romance budding.

June Collyer. Dainty and lady-like, with a steady place on the screen which shows no signs of being undermined. Now Mrs. Stuart Erwin [Stuart Erwin], and liking it.

Alice Day and Ruth Taylor have both chosen the role of wife and mother and find that, though fame is fleeting, happiness can be lasting. Alice married Jack Cohn, her childhood sweetheart, and feels that a husband and a son are enough for any woman.

Ruth Taylor. Ruth was such a lucky, lucky girl. After years of obscure screen work in comedies, Ruth was the nationally famous choice for Lorelei Lee, the blonde whom gentlemen prefer. Ruth was famous: from now on, she would be a big star. But after Lorelei, somehow, though presumably gentlemen still preferred blondes, the screen gentlemen didn’t prefer Ruth.

Again she was without work. Again her career came to a halt. And then she met another gentleman, Paul Zuckerman, of breeding and millions, who not only preferred Ruth but insisted that she marry him. This story has a fairy tale ending, for Ruth and her Prince Charming certainly seem to be living happily ever after.

Sally Eilers was for years a Mack Sennett gal. Making a living, but getting nowhere. Luck, for her, was only moderate. She married Hoot Gibson; she found love, even if she didn’t find much fame. But luck promises to do even better for Sally. She was a hit in Bad Girl, one of the big pictures of the year. “More appealing than Gaynor,” one of the critics said. So now it looks as if thirteen is at last a lucky number for Sally.

But tragedy was the fate of Lina Basquette. A brief flare of fame. A briefly happy marriage. She and Sam Warner were very happy indeed, with their little daughter, Lina. Jr. And then, quite suddenly Sam Warner died, and Lina lost both husband and — with talkies — her career. And she has been fighting in the courts even to keep her daughter, whom all her in-laws are trying to take away. And Lina’s second marriage to Peverell Marley recently ended in divorce.

Dorothy Gulliver. Remember the heroine of all The Collegians series? Dorothy played in several feature films, besides, but somehow she never emerges from semi-obscurity.

Ann Christy has suffered a similar fate.

Gwen Lee’s roles remain quite secondary, though Gwen is admittedly an excellent actress.

Molly O’Day. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. Or rather, there was too much flesh, for Molly’s success. She has reduced, though, and is making a comeback in “Sob Sister.”

And now we come to 1929 and Helen Twelvetrees, Loretta Young, Jean Arthur, Anita Page, Josephine Dunn, Sally Blane, Doris Dawson, Helen Foster, Doris Hill, Ethlyn Claire, Betty Boyd, Caryle Lincoln, and Mona Rico.

Two big successes among that group. Helen Twelvetrees, one of our major stars. Loretta Young, whose beauty increases steadily and who is now close to stardom. But she is no longer leading woman for Grant Withers, whom she eloped with so romantically, lived with so briefly, and parted from so abruptly.

Jean Arthur. Paramount did not renew her contract this year. It’s hard to say what lies ahead of her.

Josephine Dunn. Luck has always been one step behind Josephine. One of the few players to emerge with honors from the Paramount school, Josephine was re-signed by Paramount and promised eventual stardom. And then, just as another option came due, Ruth Taylor made her sensation. “We can’t,” Paramount told Josephine, “feature two such similar blondes.” Josephine was out of work for months. Then she was signed by Metro and again promised eventual stardom. Along came Anita Page making her sensation. “Two blondes!” said Metro. And Josephine was again out of a job. Her marriage to Clyde Greathouse lasted only a few months. Josephine has had bad luck. But now there are whispers that perhaps — just perhaps — she is going to get another chance.

Sally Blane, Loretta Young’s sister, has dropped out, except in very minor roles. She has that fatal tendency toward weight.

Doris Hill, Helen Foster, Caryl Lincoln, Ethlyn Claire, Betty Boyd — somehow, though they all work from time to time, they don’t click.

Mona Rico, of course, has her opportunity in foreign versions.

Doris Dawson is now Mrs. Pat Rooney the third.

That’s the bunch.

One hundred and four girls. One hundred and four baby stars who are no longer “babies,” but have grown up to take their places in the world. To some of them life has been kind. Others have known tragedy and turmoil; the bitterness of oblivion.

Now there is a new lucky thirteen. All of them look forward to brilliant years of success. All of them look forward to blissful years of love.

But all of them can’t be lucky.

For which of them, then, the brilliant years, or the blissful years? For which of them tragedy, or oblivion?

It depends a lot on luck.

It depends a lot on themselves.

Good-luck, Babies.

We’ll be seeing you.

—

Clara Bow was the bright particular darling of the 1924 selection. She attained the greatest fame of them all — and the greatest heartbreak

—

Helen Twelvetrees was a baby star of 1929. They called her a “second Gish.” Helen shook that label off by going in for heavy, sexy drama

Marian Nixon was chosen the same year that Clara Bow took the Wampas honors, 1924. Her career has been neither a skyrocket nor a dud

—

1922. The girl’s name was Colleen Moore. She was a flapper type, distinctive, different. She had an astute husband as her manager. 1931, a star who used to be, rich, divorced, lonely

—

Mary Philbin was one of the Pickford [Mary Pickford] successors, with the same curls, the same sweetness. She couldn’t make the talkie grade

Another baby star of 1922 was Claire Windsor, the most beautiful of them all. But Hollywood never sees her now

—

Collection: Movie Mirror Magazine, November 1931