Born May 1: Two Women from the World of Ed Wood

Your correspondent left off bundling biographical posts a long time ago, but in this case it just made so much sense because both of our subjects, both born of the same day, were both members of ersatz auteur Ed Wood’s larger circle.

The first is Myrtle Louise Stonesifer a.k.a. Louise Howard a.k.a Halo Meadows (1905-1985), although her significance may be more quickly digested if we describe her as Mrs. Criswell.

As Louise Howard she was an off-Broadway actress. As Halo Meadows she was a burlesque dancer. She married Criswell in 1940. Together they wrote books with titles like How Your Play Can Crash Broadway and How to Crash Tin-Pan Alley. Most delightfully in 1956 she joined Groucho Marx as a contestant on You Bet Your Life, singing her own song “Chop My Head Off”. It’s a crazy thing, much more like a beat poem than a song, but her performance is delightfully weird.

In 1974, though both were approaching the 70 year mark, the Criswells divorced. Halo returned to her hometown of Littletown, Pennsylvania, where she spent the last years of her life. Thanks, Edward Parker Bolman, for putting her on my radar!

Mona McKinnon (1929-1990) is best known for playing Paula Trent, the lead damsel in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957). Originally from Tennessee, she was best friends with Dolores Fuller, and started out with a local children’s radio show in Pomona, CA, on which she supplied all the voices. In addition to appearing on the tv show Queen for a Day and performing in a mouthwash commercial, she was also in the movies Mesa of Lost Women (1953), Jail Bait (1954), Teenage Thunder (1958), Unwed Mother (1958), and Night of the Ghouls (1959).

May both enjoy their birthdays today — beyond the grave!