Verna Felton

Verna Arline Felton (July 20, 1890 – December 14, 1966) was an American actress who provided voices for numerous Disney animated films.
She also provided the voice for Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law, Pearl Slaghoople in Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones (1962–1963) and had roles in live-action films. However, she was most active in radio programs, where her characters were known for their husky voices and no-nonsense attitudes. Two of her most famous roles were as Dennis Day's mother, Mrs. Day on both radio and television versions of The Jack Benny Program (1939–1962) and as Hilda Crocker on December Bride (1952–1959).
Felton's television appearances included The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, I Love Lucy, Where's Raymond?, Pete and Gladys and Dennis the Menace.
== Early years ==
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Verna Arline Felton was born in Salinas, California, on July 20, 1890. Her father, Horace Wilcox Felton, a doctor, died shortly before her ninth birthday. When going over his accounts after his death, Felton's mother Clara Winder Felton (née Lawrence) discovered that although her husband had a large medical practice in San Jose, there were no records of his patients' payments for treatment and no cash in the office.[citation needed]
Shortly before her father's death, Felton had performed in a local benefit for victims of the Galveston Flood. Her singing and dancing attracted the attention of a manager of a road show company that was playing in San Jose at the time. The manager spoke to Felton's mother, offering to give Felton a job with his company. Since the family was experiencing difficult financial times with the loss of Felton's father, her mother contacted the road show manager. Felton quickly joined the cast of the show, growing up in the theater.[1]
== Early career ==
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link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stage_juvenile_Verna_Felton_(SAYRE_251).jpg|thumb|Felton in 1903
An August 19, 1900, newspaper advertisement for Fischer's Concert House in San Francisco listed among the performers "Little Verna Felton, the Child Wonder."[2] By 1903, she was acting with the Allen Stock Company,[3] which that year toured the West Coast of the United States and performed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[4] By 1907, she was still with the Allen troupe, but she had progressed from child performer to leading lady.[5] Herbert Bashford wrote a play, The Defiance of Doris, specifically for Felton, and the Allen company included it among the group's productions in 1910.[6]
She acted in stage plays at the Empress Theatre in Vancouver in the late 1920s, playing the lead role in Goldfish, Stella Dallas, and The Second Mrs. Tanqueray.[7] Future husband Lee Millar (1888–1941) directed the band for these plays.[citation needed]
== Radio and television ==
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link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skelton_card_1948.jpg|left|thumb|Raleigh Cigarettes Program 1948 cast: Standing: Pat McGeehan, The Four Knights, David Rose (orchestra leader). Seated: Verna Felton ("Grandma" to Skelton's "Junior" character), Rod O'Connor (announcer), Lurene Tuttle ("Mother" to Skelton's "Junior" character). Front: Red Skelton.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Morgan_Cara_Williams_Verna_Felton_Pete_and_Gladys_1960.JPG|left|thumb|Harry Morgan, Cara Williams and Felton in Pete and Gladys (1960)
Felton worked in the 1930s and 1950s in radio, including playing the children's mother on the serial The Cinnamon Bear, Junior the Mean Widdle Kid's grandmother on Red Skelton's radio series, Hattie Hirsch on Point Sublime, and Dennis Day's mother, Mrs. Day, who was always looking out for him while trying to boss around Jack Benny on The Jack Benny Program. She recurred on The Great Gildersleeve and was heard on The Abbott and Costello Show and other comedy shows, as well as dramatic roles on The Lux Radio Theatre. She played the fairy godmother in one-shot adaptations of the Cinderella story on the anthology series Screen Directors Playhouse and Hallmark Playhouse.
Felton's first television appearance was in a 1951 episode of The Amos 'n Andy Show as a nurse. She appeared in a recurring role as the mother of Ruth Farley, a young woman played by Gloria Winters in the 1953–55 ABC sitcom with a variety show theme, Where's Raymond?, renamed The Ray Bolger Show. Though some sitcom aficionados might assume that her guest appearances on I Love Lucy led to a regular supporting role as Hilda Crocker on the CBS sitcom December Bride, Felton had played that same character on the radio version two years prior to the television production. Felton continued her Hilda Crocker role on the December Bride spin-off, Pete and Gladys, with Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. For her performance on December Bride, Felton was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1958 and 1959.[8]
Felton was the original voice of Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law, Pearl Slaghoople, voicing the character as a semi-regular in seasons two and three of Hanna-Barbera's landmark TV series The Flintstones. Fred's mother-in-law was not named during Felton's run; the "Slaghoople" name was mentioned in season four when Janet Waldo debuted in the role. In 1963, in the series finale of CBS's Dennis the Menace sitcom, Felton played John Wilson's aunt in the episode entitled "Aunt Emma Visits the Wilsons". In the story line, Mr. Wilson (Gale Gordon) tries to convince Aunt Emma to leave her estate to him and his wife, Eloise (Sara Seegar). Wilson becomes suspicious when Emma begins spending time with Dennis Mitchell (Jay North). Felton's son Lee Millar Jr. played Tommy Anderson's father on the same sitcom.
== Film and animation ==
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Felton's on-screen appearance was in the 1917 silent film, The Chosen Prince, or The Friendship of David and Jonathan. During the 1940s and the early 1950s, she was in demand as a character actress in films, with roles in If I Had My Way (1940), Girls of the Big House (1945), The Fuller Brush Man (1948), Buccaneer's Girl (1950), Belles on Their Toes, Don't Bother to Knock (both 1952), and her memorable role as Mrs. Potts warmly acting as surrogate mother to William Holden in the 1955 film adaptation of William Inge's stage play Picnic.
Felton was a popular actress at the Walt Disney Studios, lending her voice to the animated features:
* Dumbo (1941) as the Elephant Matriarch and Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo's Mother
* Cinderella (1950) as The Fairy Godmother
* Alice in Wonderland (1951) as the Queen of Hearts
* Lady and the Tramp (1955) as Aunt Sarah, Jim Dear's aunt (Felton's son voiced Jim Dear and the dogcatcher)
* Sleeping Beauty (1959) as Flora, the red fairy
* The Jungle Book (1967) as Winifred the elephant (her final role, animated or live-action)
According to the Los Angeles Times, Felton served as Honorary Mayor of North Hollywood for several years.
== Death ==
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Felton died at her home of a stroke at the age of 76 on the evening of December 14, 1966, one day before Walt Disney's passing. She is interred at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[9]
== Filmography ==
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=== Radio ===
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Original Air Date	Program 	Role 	Notes
1937 	The Cinnamon Bear 	Mother 	
1938–1939 	Candid Lady 	Aunt Julia 	
1939 	Fibber McGee and Molly 	Mrs. Homer Gildersleeve 	
1939–1942 	The Great Gildersleeve 	Miss Fitch, Mrs. Goddwin	
1939–1955 	The Jack Benny Program 	Dennis's Mother Mrs. Day	
1940–1944
1947–1948	Point Sublime 	Hattie Hirsch 	
1942 	Lux Radio Theatre 	Madame Therese DeFarge 	"A Tale of Two Cities"
1942–1943 	Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou 	Mrs. MacIntyre 	
1942–49 	The Abbott and Costello Show 	Multiple characters 	
1943–1947 	The Joan Davis Show 	Blossom Blimp 	Also known as The Sealtest Village Store
1944 	Command Performance 	Saleswoman 	"Christmas"
1944–1952 	The Judy Canova Show 	Aunt Agatha 	
1945 	The Old Gold Comedy Theater 	Nick's Mother 	"My Favorite Wife"
Also known as The Harold Lloyd Theater
1946–1951 	A Day in the Life of Dennis Day	Dennis Day's Mother 	
1946–1953 	The Red Skelton Show 	Junior's Grandmother 	
1948 	Suspense 	Ada 	"The Man Who Thought He Was Edward G. Robinson"
1950 	Young Love 	Janet's Mother Mrs. Shaw	"Visit by Janet's Mom and Jimmy's Dad"
1950 	Screen Directors Playhouse 	The Fairy Godmother 	"Cinderella"
1951 	Hallmark Playhouse 	The Fairy Godmother 	'"The Story of Cinderella'"
1952–1953 	December Bride 	Hilda Crocker 	Radio version
1952–1955 	My Little Margie 	Mrs. Odetts 	Radio version
=== Film ===
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Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1917	The Chosen Prince, or the Friendship of David and Jonathan	Michal 	
1939	Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President 	Neighbor 	Uncredited
1940	Northwest Passage 	Mrs. Jill Towne 	Uncredited
1940	If I Had My Way 	Mrs. Abigail DeLacey 	
1941	Dumbo 	Elephant Matriarch / Mrs. Jumbo 	Voice, Uncredited
1945	Girls of the Big House 	Agnes 	
1946	She Wrote the Book 	Mrs. Lauren Kilgour 	Uncredited
1948	The Fuller Brush Man 	Junior's Grandmother 	Uncredited
1950	Cinderella 	The Fairy Godmother 	Voice
1950	Buccaneer's Girl 	Dowager 	
1950	The Gunfighter 	Mrs. August Pennyfeather 	
1951	New Mexico 	Mrs. Fenway 	
1951	Alice in Wonderland 	Queen of Hearts 	Voice
1951	Little Egypt 	Mrs. Samantha Doane 	
1952	Belles on Their Toes 	Cousin Leora 	
1952	Don't Bother To Knock 	Mrs. Alex Ballew 	
1955	Lady and the Tramp 	Aunt Sarah 	Voice
1955	Picnic 	Mrs. Helen Potts 	
1957	The Oklahoman 	Mrs. Stephanie Waynebrook 	
1957	Taming Sutton's Gal 	Aunty Sutton 	
1959	Sleeping Beauty 	Flora 	Voice
1960	Guns of the Timberland 	Aunt Sarah 	
1965	The Man from Button Willow 	Mrs. Tiffany Pomeroy, Mother, Lady on Trolley	Voice
1967	The Jungle Book 	Winifred 	Voice, Released Posthumously, (final film role)
=== Television ===
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Year 	Program 	Role 	Notes
1951 	The Amos 'n Andy Show 	Nurse 	"Kingfish Has a Baby"
Uncredited
1952 	The Ezio Pinza Show 	Mrs. Day 	
1952–1953	The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show	Emily Marsh, Mrs. Rodney, Maggie, Mrs. Evans 	4 episodes
1952–1954	The Dennis Day Show 	Dennis' Mother Mrs. Day 	
1953 	I Love Lucy 	Mrs. Simpson, Mrs. Porter 	"Sales Resistance"
"Lucy Hires a Maid"
1953–1955	Where's Raymond? 	Ruth Farley's Mother 	
1954 	Walt Disney's Disneyland 	Queen of Hearts (voice, archived) 	"Alice in Wonderland"
1954–1959	December Bride 	Hilda Crocker 	155 episodes
1955 	Walt Disney's Disneyland 	Mrs. Jumbo / Elephant Matriarch (voice, archived)	"Dumbo"
1955–1962	The Jack Benny Program 	Dennis' Mother Mrs. Day 	5 episodes
1957 	Climax! 	Nurse 	"The Disappearance of Amanda Hale"
1959 	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis 	Mrs. Lapping 	"Deck the Halls"
1960 	The Real McCoys 	Naomi Vesper 	"Cousin Naomi"
1960–1961	Pete and Gladys 	Hilda Crocker 	30 episodes
Spin-off of December Bride
1961 	Miami Undercover 	Aramintha 	"Cukie Dog"
1962 	Wagon Train 	Gran Jennings 	"The Lonnie Fallon Story"
1962 	Henry Fonda and the Family 	 	TV miniseries
1962 	My Three Sons 	Mub 	"Coincidences"
1962–1963	The Flintstones 	Pearl Slaghoople 	Voice role
4 episodes
1963 	Dennis the Menace 	Aunt Emma 	"Aunt Emma Visits the Wilsons"
1977 	The Wonderful World of Disney 	Flora (voice, archived) 	"Sleeping Beauty"
1983 	Walt Disney 	Flora (voice, archived) 	"Sleeping Beauty"
1998 	The Wonderful World of Disney 	Flora (voice, archived) 	"Sleeping Beauty"
=== Discography ===
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* Walt Disney's Cinderella: Little Miller Series (1949, RCA/Camden) - The Fairy Godmother
* Walt Disney's Cinderella (1954, RCA/Camden) - The Fairy Godmother
* Disney Songs and Story: Sleeping Beauty (2012, Walt Disney Records) - Flora
Category:1890 births
Category:1966 deaths
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from California
Category:American film actresses
Category:American radio actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American voice actresses
Category:Audiobook narrators
Category:Burials at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery
Category:Disney people
Category:Hanna-Barbera people
Category:People from Salinas, California