Alice Faye, one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actresses, would have been 100 on May 5th, this year. She did everything at Fox: musicals, drama, co-starring with Tyrone Power, Shirley Temple. She was the darling of such films as Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938), Tin Pan Alley (1940), The Gang’s All Here (1943), and many others. When she came to 20th Century Fox in 1935, she looked like a Jean Harlow clone. Within the next couple of years, her features softened By the 1940’s, the columnists were trying to create a rivalry between Faye and fellow contract actress Betty Grable. Realistically, Faye and Grable were the best of friends. By 1945, Faye was moving into more gritty film fare. By this time, she was happily married to Bandleader Phil Harris, and had her first daughter (she had been married to Tony Martin, then divorced). Faye was starring in a film, directed by Otto Preminger, called Fallen Angel. A film noir, with Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell. Faye noticed that many of her scenes were being cut, since 20th Century Fox Studio head Daryl Zanuck was focusing more on Darnell. Faye made a deicision: she wanted to focus more on her family, and doing the things she had never done before.  She felt that she was getting the short end of the stick. So, Faye dropped off her dressing room key in her dressing room, left a departing note for Zanuck, and left the studio. She was sued for breach of contract by Zanuck, who would then try to bring her back for a couple of films. Faye was determined to stand by her decision. During this period, Faye and Harris appeared on the radio comedy, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, a situation comedy about the “private” life of Faye and Harris, with their two daughters. On the show, Harris and Faye would poke fun at themselves. The Faye-Fallen Angel incident was the subject of alot of funny jokes. Alice Faye would not return to 20th Century Fox until 1962, when she would be one of the stars of the remake of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s State Fair.

Fallen Angel (1945): Alice Faye and Dana Andrews