
Barbara Jo Allen
Actor · 1906 – 1974 · New York City, New York, USA
From Wikipedia Barbara Jo Allen (September 2, 1906 – September 14, 1974) was an actress also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. She based the character on a woman she had seen delivering a PTA literature lecture in a confused manner. As Vague, she popularized the catch phrase "You dear boy!" Allen's acting ability first surfaced in school plays. Following her high school graduation, she went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. Concentrating on language, she became proficient in French, Spanish, German and Italian. After the death of her parents, she moved to Los Angeles where she lived with her uncle. In 1937, she debuted on network radio drama as Beth Holly on NBC's One Man's Family, followed by roles on Death Valley Days, I Love a Mystery and other radio series. According to Allen, her Vera Vague character was “sort of a frustrated female, dumb, always ambitious and overzealous… a spouting Bureau of Misinformation.” After Vera was introduced in 1939 on NBC Matinee, she became a regular with Bob Hope beginning in 1941. Allen appeared in at least 60 movies and TV series between 1938 and 1963, often credited as Vera Vague rather than her own name. The character she created was so popular that she eventually adopted the character name as her professional name. From 1943 to 1952, as Vera, she made more than a dozen comedy two-reel short subjects for Columbia Pictures. In 1948, she did less acting and instead opened her own commercial orchid business, while also serving as the Honorary Mayor of Woodland Hills, California. In 1953, as Vera, she hosted her own television series, Follow the Leader, a CBS audience participation show. In 1958, she appeared as Mabel, the boss of the flight attendants, in Jeannie Carson's syndicated version of her situation comedy Hey, Jeannie! The program aired only six episodes in syndication. Allen's first marriage was to actor Barton Yarborough. They had one child together. In 1946, the couple co-starred in the two-reel comedy short, Hiss and Yell, nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Subject. In 1931-32, Allen married Charles H. Crosby. In 1943, she married Bob Hope's producer, Norman Morrell. They had one child and were married for three decades, until her 1974 death in Santa Barbara, California.
Movies24
Movie6.9FantasyAnimationCursed to die by the evil fairy Maleficent when she was a baby, Princess Aurora is sent into hiding under protection from three good fairies. As she grows up far away, Maleficent becomes increasingly determined to seal the princess's fate.
Sleeping Beauty
1959 · 5.6K votes
Movie7.2AnimationFamilyWart is a young boy who aspires to be a knight's squire. On a hunting trip he falls in on Merlin, a powerful but amnesiac wizard who has plans for him beyond mere squiredom. He starts by trying to give him an education, believing that once one has an education, one can go anywhere. Needless to say, it doesn't quite work out that way.
The Sword in the Stone
1963 · 4.2K votes
Movie7.2ComedyDramaA happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
The Women
1939 · 183 votes
Movie6.8MusicRomanceJohnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to, gives him the name of his partner.
Broadway Melody of 1940
1940 · 40 votes
Movie5.4ComedyMusicFormer radio singer Kay learns from her gossipy friends that her husband, Steve, has had an affair with chorus girl Crystal. Devastated, Kay tries to ignore the information, but when Crystal performs one of her musical numbers at a charity benefit, she breaks down and goes to Reno to file for divorce. However, when she hears that gold-digging Crystal is making Steve unhappy, Kay resolves to get her husband back. The Opposite Sex is a remake of the 1939 comedy The Women.
The Opposite Sex
1956 · 21 votes
Movie6.5MusicNew York chorus girl Cindy Lou Bethany becomes frustrated when she prepares for an audition for a Broadway musical, but the auditions close and her roommate, Gwen Abbott, is hired to be secretary to Top Rumson, the show's financial backer. Gwen tells Cindy that the director, Lloyd Lloyd, and composer, Dick Rayburn, have been sent to the South on a talent search for a classic Southern belle type to star in the show, although their shows usually feature Myra Stanhope, an actress whose style is hopelessly inappropriate for this show. Desperate for work, Cindy returns to her aunt Lily Lou and uncle Jefferson Davis Bethany's home in the South and schemes to get Lloyd and Rayburn to audition her.
Kiss the Boys Goodbye
1941 · 2 votes
Movie6.3DramaComedyA gangster and his mob buy a small-town in this warm comedy. They, tired of trying to make it as big city hoods, buy the town to use as a hideout. The leader of the gang begins to have a change of heart after he begins falling for a local girl.
Buy Me That Town
1941 · 3 votes
Movie5.6ActionWesternAn artist working in a remote army post is juggling the storekeeper's daughter, his fiancée newly arrived from the east, and the Indian Chief's daughter. But when a vengeful settler manages to get the army and the braves at each other's throats his troubles really begin.
Mohawk
1956 · 17 votes
Movie6.6AnimationGoliath II is a 6-inch-tall elephant (son of the huge Goliath). He's a big disappointment to his father, but mom is proud of Goliath II anyway. Goliath II is constantly getting into trouble because he's so small. In particular, the tiger Raja looks for every opportunity to try a bite-size taste of elephant. After one incident where he ran away and his mother scolded him, he runs away. After he's rescued, the rest of the elephants are terrified of a mouse, but Goliath II stands his ground.
Goliath II
1960 · 34 votes
Movie7.1ComedyCrimeThree ex-cons buy a luggage shop to tunnel into the bank vault next door. But despite all they can do, the shop prospers...
Larceny, Inc.
1942 · 37 votes
Movie8.0ComedyDramaIn the shanty town called the Cabbage Patch, Mrs. Wiggs scrabbles for survival with her brood of children and hopes for the return of her husband, who left many years before.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
1942 · 1 votes
- Movie8.0Comedy
Vera Vague, in the All-StarComedy works for the district attorney, and when his two-timing fiancee and her boyfriend try some trickery, Vera steps in with some effective wrestling holds.
Nursie Behave
1950 · 1 votes
- Movie6.0FamilyAnimation
Through redubbed footage of The Coyote's Lament, the coyote's relationship with man and dog is shown from the coyote's point of view, as seen in various Disney cartoons.
Disney’s Coyote Tales
1991 · 5 votes
Movie6.2WesternHis Arizona hometown of Torpedo invites Gene back to be the honorary sheriff of the Frontier Days Celebration.
Melody Ranch
1940 · 6 votes
Movie10.0ComedyHigh-school student Henry Aldrich hopes to improve his grades by finding a sweetheart for his unmarried teacher.
Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid
1944 · 1 votes
Movie10.0RomanceComedyA beautiful woman goes to Las Vegas in a scheme to make her husbnd jealous, but once she gets there she becomes involved with another man.
Moon Over Las Vegas
1944 · 1 votes
Movie7.0MusicComedyBand leader Johnny Draper auditions his band, the Dixie Pixies, at the Eagle Aircraft Co., hoping to be hired to play for the workers in the plant. However, personnel manager E. V. Hartley can only offer them regular jobs, and when Johnny inspires the Dixie Pixies to work in the plant, lead singer and dancer Donna D'Arcy leaves the band for a singing job at the Club Martel in downtown Los Angeles.
Priorities on Parade
1942 · 1 votes
Movie5.9ComedyMusicBob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating on a different New York rink and pass her off as Karen. The scheme backfires when promoter Larry Herman takes a look at Bob's film and decides to make the skater a star. Unfortunately, it's actually amateur (and illegal immigrant) Marie Bergin in the newsreel footage, not the great figure skater from Switzerland. Chaos ensues as Bob tries to straighten everybody out.
Ice-Capades
1941 · 7 votes
- Movie9.0MusicComedy
In this musical, a con man makes a good living by promoting bogus charity shows. He gets the communities all revved up and then skips town with all their money. But then he meets three earnest people wanting to garner financial support for an orphanage. This time the con man's loyal assistant finally catches on to the wicked scam and turns him in to the police. Meanwhile, the newly reformed assistant and one of the charity workers fall in loves.
Sing, Dance, Plenty Hot
1940 · 1 votes
Movie5.1ComedyRomanceA newsman (Walter Pidgeon) falls in love on Cape Cod with the judge (Rosalind Russell) his angry boss (Edward Arnold) expects him to discredit.
Design for Scandal
1941 · 9 votes
Movie9.0ComedySuffering from amnesia, Vera thinks she's responsible for a burglary.
Wha' Happen?
1949 · 1 votes
Movie5.3ComedyMusicIn this romantic wartime comedy, four female defense plant workers share a house with four male workers. The situation is on the up and up as the men and women work different shifts and they are only making do because there is a housing shortage. Unfortunately, they soon begin to fight about who gets the house during certain hours. Romance ensues.
Rosie the Riveter
1944 · 3 votes
Movie9.0ComedyActionReleased to theaters in 1974, this collection of vintage Columbia short subjects included: "Yes, We Have No Bonanza" with The Three Stooges; "Violent Is the Word for Curly" with The Three Stooges; "You Nazty Spy!" with The Three Stooges (replaced by "Men in Black" for the nontheatrical reissue); "Nothing But Pleasure" with Buster Keaton; "Strife of the Party" with Vera Vague; Chapter 1 of the 1943 "Batman" serial with Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft; and "America Sings with Kate Smith."
The Three Stooges Follies
1974 · 1 votes
Movie10.0ComedyVera's husband thinks she ahs been killed in a plane crash, unaware she has been arrested for speeding on the way to the airport.
Clunked in the Clink
1949 · 1 votes
Series4
TV7.0ComedyWesternThe Maverick boys - Bret, Bart, Beau and Brent - are a clan of well-dressed dandies, gamblers who'd much rather make their money playing cards than messing up their fine clothing with actual work. Sly and clever, none of the Mavericks are much for acts of derring do, but they can be courageous when the situation calls for it. Most often, however, they live by their wits and considerable charm.
Maverick
1957 · 43 votes
TV6.3DramaSurfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat. Margarita Sierra also had a supporting role as Cha Cha O'Brien, an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room, a popular Miami Beach hangout at the Fontainebleau Hotel, directly across the street from Surfside 6. Surfside 6 was in fact a real address in Miami Beach, where an unrelated houseboat was moored at the time; it can also be seen in the sweeping aerial establishing shot of the Fontainebleu in 1964's Goldfinger.
Surfside 6
1960 · 3 votes
- TV7.8Comedy
The George Gobel Show is an American television series hosted George Gobel that aired on NBC from 1954 to 1960.
The George Gobel Show
1954 · 4 votes
TV6.8ComedyDramaGeneral Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
General Electric Theater
1953 · 6 votes