Ruby Keeler is best known as a singer and dancer from the 20s and 30s. Dropping out of school in the sixth grade, she lied about her age to audition as a showgirl and was hired. She performed in clubs, dancing and singing, sometimes two or three a night to earn money to help her family. Her father was very ill and had high medical costs. Her first big break came when she was noticed by Broadway producers Charles B. Dillingham. He signed her to multiple shows including; “Bye, Bye, Bonnie,” “Lucky,” and “The Sidewalks of New York.” Later she was spotted by Flo Ziegfeld, who immediately recognized her talent and sent her bunch of roses with a note saying, “May I make you a star?”. She then appeared in Ziegfeld’s “Whoopee!” She married Al Jolson in 1928 when they met while she was helping promote “The Jazz Singer.”
Paired with Dick Powell, Keeler made a string of successful musicals in the 30s, the first being 42nd Street. Released in 1933, 42nd Street was only her second film, with lavish sets and choreography by the inimitable Busby Berkley. The film was wildly successful and would garner her a long-term contract with Warner Brothers. Although the film was released in black and white, many film studios released two-reelers, usually short musical numbers or band performances that were played before a feature film. (Yes, the concept of the musical video existed decades before MTV.) This is an example of a two-reeler that was filmed in the very new technology of Technicolor and is one of the very few of Keeler in color. Keeler divorced Jolson in the early 40s and retired from the limelight. It wasn’t until 1971 that she returned to the Broadway stage in a production of “No No Nanette,” once again choreographed by Berkley.
Let’s take a trip down…naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sport, forty, forty-second street!