The Lois Collier Centennial

Classic comedy fans know Lois Collier (Madelyn Earl Jones, 1919-1999) principally from three pictures: Follow the Boys (1944) with W.C. Fields, The Naughty Nineties (1945) with Abbott and Costello (1945), and A Night in Casablanca (1946) with the Marx Brothers. Most of her screen career was spent in B movies, westerns in particular such as The Three Mesquiteers series. She also has the amusing distinction of appearing in the movies Weird Woman (1944), Cobra Woman (1944), Jungle Woman (1944), Jungle Queen (1945), and Slave Girl (1947) within a four year period. She was a regular on the television version of Boston Blackie from 1951 to 1953. Among her last performances were a couple of episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. She retired in 1957.

For more on vaudeville please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,and for more on classic comedy see Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.  And keep an eye peeled for The Marx Brothers Miscellany, coming this fall!