White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1938-03-04
LightsofNewHr
BY H. STE YENSON

Two very personable young wom-
en-, whose early days were spent
far from the glittering lights of old
Broadway, are attracting lot OF
attention on that street at present.
One, Miss Joy Hodges, you've prob
ably sung about or heard sung
about. She's Miss Jones, of "I'd
Rather Be Right" Also, she's the
daughter Of a Des Moines postal
clerk. A lot of people have asked,
"Have you met Miss Jones?" but
as matter of fact, she never met
George NJ. Cohan until she became
member of the company of which
he is a star. The other is Vivian
Vance. She's the international spy
with the terrible accent in "Hooray
for What!" In the play, she con-
fesses that she was born in Wapa-
koneta, Ohio. AS matter of fact,
her home town is Independence,
Kan, though she reached New York
via Albuquerque, N. M. Both young
women did lot of dreaming about
Broadway before they finally got
there.
Before coming to New York, Miss
Hodges she was chriStened
Frances Eloise but chose the name
Joy for stage purposes-had never
been on the stage except in couple
of high-school plays in Des Moines.
After she left high school, she tried
to get a job as a singer. Along
came contest with the prize job
and a tour to New York included.
She won but the promoter left town
suddenly. At her mothers insist
ence, she followed him to Chicago
only to learn that he was all washed
up. A piano player in his orches-
ira felt sorry for her and sent her
to his brother who was running a
night club in Buffalo. For the next
three years, she toured the coun-
try with dance bands and early last
year reached Hollywood. One night
Moss Hart heard her sing at bene-
| fit.
When she had concluded her num-
bers, Hart told Miss Jones-beg
pardon, / mean Miss Hodges-that
he was writing a play with George
S. Kaufman and informed her that
she was the girl for the play. That
was the last she heard of the mat
ter, however, until last Memorial
day when Kaufman conducted an
addition. Two hundred girls sang
but Miss Hodges was the one picked
by Kaufman. AS he was talking
with her, Hart came in.
'"rhat's the gal I told you about"
shouted Hart to his fellow laborer.
Miss Hodges was hired. She came
on to New York. Her name leads
the program. But the show had
been running several weeks before
she got around to seeing the town.
One night four years ago down in
Albuquerque, there was benefit
performance. The play was "The
Trial of Mary Dugan." Vivian
Jones was Mary. The house was
packed and the play was success.
Such success that its purpose was
fulfilled since Miss Jones started for
Broadway at once with the good
wishes of Albuquerque ringing in
her ears. On Broadway, she
changed from Vivian Jones to Wv.
ian Vance. That's the way it reads
on the program of "Hooray for
What" and in the marquee lights.
Those lights didn't come overnight.
There was singing in choruses and
in night-club microphones. Then
there was understanding Ethel Mer-
man in Anything Goes" and Red
Hot and Blue" In the interval,
Miss Vance, who was Miss Jones,
became Mrs. George Kook, the wife
of dance-band violin player with
a home over in jackson Heights,
Queens.
4
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