Theatre Register

Betty Compton

Shows · Betty Compton

Actor 1906–1944 On stage 19241929

Betty Compton (born Violet Halling Compton; May 13, 1906 – July 12, 1944), was an English actress and singer, who married New York City mayor Jimmy Walker in 1933. Compton was born Violet Halling Compton in Sandown, Isle of Wight. She moved to Canada with her parents when she was seven years old. She studied singing in New York City with Estelle Liebling. A member of the Ziegfeld Follies, she appeared in the original stage production of Funny Face (1927) alongside Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire, as well as Oh, Kay! in 1926. Compton married film dialog director Edward D. Dowling on February 16, 1931, in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and they were divorced in that city on March 20, 1931. She had receive…

On stage 7 productions, 5 years

1924 Vogues of 1924 Shubert Theatre · Original · directed by Frank Smithson 114 perf.
1925 The City Chap Liberty Theatre · Original · directed by R.H. Burnside 72 perf.
1926 Americana Belmont Theatre · Original · directed by Alan Dinehart 224 perf.
1926 Oh, Kay! Imperial Theatre · Original · directed by John Harwood 256 perf.
1927 Funny Face Alvin Theatre · Original · directed by Edgar MacGregor 244 perf.
1928 Hold Everything! Broadhurst Theatre · Original · directed by (uncredited) 413 perf.
1929 Fifty Million Frenchmen Lyric Theatre · Original · directed by Monty Woolley 254 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

Victor Moore 3 productions
Jack Fraley 3 productions
Tom Martin 2 productions
Ruth Sato 2 productions
Polly Williams 2 productions
Peggy Quinn 2 productions
Pansy Maness 2 productions
Ona Hamilton 2 productions
Maxine Marshall 2 productions
Marie Otto 2 productions
Marcia Bell 2 productions
Lionel Maclyn 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 11 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on1 work

Ziegfeld Follies

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature8 passages

  • Cast: Gertrude Lawrence, Oscar Shaw, Victor Moore, Harland Dixon, Fairbanks Twins, Gerald Oliver Smith, Betty Compton, Constance Carpenterebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Cast: Fred & Adele Astaire, Victor Moore, William Kent, Allen Kearns, Betty Compton, Dorothy Jordanebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Cast: Jack Whiting, Ona Munson, Bert Lahr, Betty Compton, Victor Moore, Nina Olivette, Frank Allworth, Gus Schillingebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Cast: William Gaxton, Genevieve Tobin, Helen Broderick, Betty Compton, Evelyn Hoey, Jack Thompson, Thurston Hallebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Published July 1984 in the Oh, Kay! vocal selections. Registered for copyright as an unpublished composition in June 1958. Introduced by Betty Compton (Molly),theatre-pdfs/The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin - Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983.txt
  • Published November 1926. Introduced by Harland Dixon (Larry), Betty Compton (Molly), Paulette Winston (Daisy), Constance Carpenter (Mae), Janette Gilmore (Peggy), and ensemble. Introduced in London by Claude Hulbert (The Duke), Rita McLean (Molly), Cecile Maule-Cole (Peggy), Beth Dodge (Dolly), Betty Dodge (Phil), and ensemble. Alternate…theatre-pdfs/The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin - Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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