Alice White

Alice White

Born: August 25, 1904
Died: February 19, 1983
in Paterson, New Jersey, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alice White (born Alva White, August 25, 1904 – February 19, 1983) was an American film actress. Her career spanned late silent films and early sound films.

After leaving school, White became a secretary and "script girl" for director Josef Von Sternberg. She also worked as a switchboard operator at the Hollywood Writers' Club. After clashing with Von Sternberg, White left to work for Charlie Chaplin, who decided before long to place her in front of the camera.

Her bubbly and vivacious persona led to comparisons with Clara Bow, but White's career was slow to progress. In his book, Silent Films, 1877-1996: A Critical Guide to 646 Movies, Robert K. Klepper wrote: "Some critics have said that Ms. White was a second-string Clara Bow. In actuality, Ms. White had her own type of charm, and was a delightful actress in her own, unique way. Whereas Clara Bow played the quintessential, flaming redheaded flapper, Alice White was more of a bubbly, vivacious blonde."

After playing a succession of flappers and gold diggers, she attracted the attention of director and producer Mervyn LeRoy, who saw potential in her. Her screen debut was in The Sea Tiger (1927). Her early films included Show Girl (1928), which had Vitaphone musical accompaniment but no dialog, and its "talkie" musical sequel Show Girl in Hollywood (1930), both released by Warner Brothers and both based on novels by J. P. McEvoy. In these two films, White appeared as "Dixie Dugan". In October 1929, McAvoy started the comic strip Dixie Dugan with the character Dixie having a "helmet" hairstyle and appearance similar to actress Louise Brooks. White also used the services of Hollywood 'beauty sculptor' Sylvia of Hollywood to stay in shape.

White was featured in The Girl from Woolworth's (1929), having the role of a singing clerk in the music department of a Woolworth's store. Karen Plunkett-Powell wrote in her book, Remembering Woolworth's: A Nostalgic History of the World's Most Famous Five-and-Dime: "First National Pictures produced this 60-minute musical as a showcase for up-and-coming actress Alice White."

She left films in 1931 to improve her acting abilities, returning in 1933 only to have her career hurt by a scandal that erupted over her involvement with boyfriend actor Jack Warburton and future husband Sy Bartlett. Although she later married Bartlett, her reputation was tarnished and she appeared only in supporting roles after this. By 1937 and 1938, her name was at the bottom of the cast lists. She made her final film appearance in Flamingo Road (1949) and eventually resumed working as a secretary.

Movies for Alice White...

Title: The Crown
Character: Bethan
Released: November 4, 2016
Type: TV
The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.
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Flamingo Road
Title: Flamingo Road
Character: Gracie
Released: April 30, 1949
Type: Movie
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
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Girls' Town
Title: Girls' Town
Character: Nicky
Released: March 6, 1942
Type: Movie
A West Coast version of "Stage Door", set at a Hollywood boarding house for young women hoping for movie careers.
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The Night of January 16th
Title: The Night of January 16th
Character: Flashy Blonde
Released: November 28, 1941
Type: Movie
Accused of killing her employer, financier Bjorn Faulkner, Kit is championed by wisecracking sailor-on-leave Steve Van Ruyle, who has a vested interest in the outcome of the trial.
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Annabel Takes a Tour
Title: Annabel Takes a Tour
Character: Marcella, Hotel Manicurist
Released: November 10, 1938
Type: Movie
Annabel Allison, star of Wonder Pictures, is irked at her poor publicity, especially when a rival gets engaged to a Marquis; so she makes studio head Webb re-hire disgraced publicity agent Morgan for her personal appearance tour. The trip proceeds with a flurry of Morgan's crazy, slapstick publicity stunts. Then Annabel has her chance to "bag" a real Viscount.
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King of the Newsboys
Title: King of the Newsboys
Character: Dolly
Released: March 18, 1938
Type: Movie
A poor young man's girlfriend leaves him for a gangster, who has the money and power she wants and the young man doesn't have. Determined to show her that he can be a success--and how much of a mistake she made by leaving him--he starts up a newspaper distribution business that is soon the biggest in the city, but things don't turn out exactly the way he wanted them to.
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Telephone Operator
Title: Telephone Operator
Character: Dotty Stengal
Released: December 7, 1937
Type: Movie
A telephone operator covering for a friend's "fling" finds herself in the middle of a major disaster when the city is hit by a big flood and her switchboard is the center of communications.
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Big City
Title: Big City
Character: Peggy Devlin
Released: September 3, 1937
Type: Movie
Anna and Joe are newly married, playful and deeply in love. Joe is scraping by as cab driver in New York City during a period of corruption, mob control and violence between cab companies.
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Coronado
Title: Coronado
Character: Violet Wray Hornbostel
Released: November 27, 1935
Type: Movie
Southern California's Hotel Coronado caters to and is frequented by members of the social upper-crust. Although she lives on the wrong side of the San Diego track, in a tent-city with her father. Otto, and ditzy sister, Violet, June Wray is a singer with the Eddy Duchin Orchestra appearing to the hotel. Johnny Marvin, an aspiring songwriter and the son of a wealthy automobile manufacturer, is staying at the hotel and, from they moment June and Johnny meet, they fall instantly in love. Trouble arises when Johnny's father objects to the romance, and complications and help arrive in the form of two Marine-hating sailors,Chuck Hornbostel and "Pinky" Falls, when Chuck marries June's ditzy sister.
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Sweet Music
Title: Sweet Music
Character: Lulu Betts
Released: February 23, 1935
Type: Movie
A midwest band leader and his lead singer share a love-hate relationship as they try for success in New York.
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A Trip Through A Hollywood Studio
Title: A Trip Through A Hollywood Studio
Character: Herself (uncredited)
Released: February 2, 1935
Type: Movie
This short shows the entrances of the various Hollywood studios, then specifically visits Warner Bros. / First National Studios. We start at the casting office, then see Busby Berkeley and choreographer Bobby Connolly working with chorus girls on production numbers. Then come some candid shots of several contract stars. Finally we see comedian Hugh Herbert filming a scene for an upcoming release, then the various behind the scenes steps that transition the raw film in the camera into the finished product.
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Secret of the Chateau
Title: Secret of the Chateau
Character: Didi Bonfee
Released: December 3, 1934
Type: Movie
Murder results when a group of houseguests converge on a chateau, each plotting to steal a valuable Gutenberg Bible.
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The Hollywood Gad-About
Title: The Hollywood Gad-About
Character: Self (uncredited)
Released: October 4, 1934
Type: Movie
A parade highlights the Screen Actors Guild's Film Stars Frolic, hosted by Walter Winchell as Master of Ceremonies.
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Gift of Gab
Title: Gift of Gab
Character: Margot
Released: September 1, 1934
Type: Movie
Conceited radio announcer irritates everyone else at the station.
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A Very Honorable Guy
Title: A Very Honorable Guy
Character: Hortense
Released: April 18, 1934
Type: Movie
Well respected local good guy, "Feet" Samuels finds himself heavily in debt due to an uncharacteristic gambling binge. Feet decides the only way to settle the bill is by selling his body to an ambitious doctor who agrees to allow him one last month to live life to the fullest, then kill himself.
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Jimmy the Gent
Title: Jimmy the Gent
Character: Mabel
Released: March 9, 1934
Type: Movie
An unpolished racketeer, whose racket is finding heirs for unclaimed fortunes, affects ethics and tea-drinking manners to win back the sweetheart who now works for his seemingly upright competitor.
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Cross Country Cruise
Title: Cross Country Cruise
Character: May
Released: January 16, 1934
Type: Movie
A young woman is involved with a married man, although she does not know that he is married. He kills his jealous wife and implicates her in the murder. However, a playboy character who had been flirting with the woman earlier turns amateur detective and clears her.
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King for a Night
Title: King for a Night
Character: Evelyn
Released: December 9, 1933
Type: Movie
A prizefighter is convicted of a murder that was actually committed by his sister.
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Picture Snatcher
Title: Picture Snatcher
Character: Allison
Released: May 6, 1933
Type: Movie
An ex-con uses his street smarts to become a successful photojournalist.
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Employees' Entrance
Title: Employees' Entrance
Character: Polly Dale
Released: February 11, 1933
Type: Movie
Kurt Anderson is the tyrannical manager of a New York department store in financial straits. He thinks nothing of firing an employee of more than 20 years or of toying with the affections of every woman he meets. One such victim is Madeline, a beautiful young woman in need of a job. Anderson hires her as a salesgirl, but not before the two spend the night together. Madeline is ashamed, especially after she falls for Martin West, a rising young star at the store. Her biggest fear is that Martin finds out the truth about her "career move."
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Luxury Liner
Title: Luxury Liner
Character: Milli Lynch
Released: February 3, 1933
Type: Movie
This drama offers a few slices from the lives of those who live, work, and travel upon a luxurious trans-atlantic ocean liner.
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Murder at Midnight
Title: Murder at Midnight
Character: Millie Scripps
Released: September 1, 1931
Type: Movie
Wealthy Mr. Kennedy shoots his secretary, Channing, during a parlor game, but it turns out the gun was loaded with real bullets. Luckily, criminologist Phillip Montrose is on hand to help the police. When Kennedy quickly ends up dead as well, the police think it's a tidy murder-suicide, but the family lawyer knows of a letter that voiced Kennedy's suspicions about someone who was out to get him. Soon, the cops are on the trail of a ruthless and clever killer who is one step ahead of even Montrose.
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The Naughty Flirt
Title: The Naughty Flirt
Character: Miss Katherine Constance 'Kay' Elliott
Released: December 17, 1930
Type: Movie
A coquettish socialite falls for a straight-laced associate in her father's law firm. But she must also fend off the advances of a greedy fortune-hunter and his sister.
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The Widow from Chicago
Title: The Widow from Chicago
Character: Polly Henderson, aka Polly Dorgan
Released: November 23, 1930
Type: Movie
A woman infiltrates a criminal mob to avenge her brother's death.
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Sweethearts on Parade
Title: Sweethearts on Parade
Character: Helen
Released: September 12, 1930
Type: Movie
Helen and Nita work in a department store to make ends meet while they search for millionaire husbands. They meet Bill and Hank, who make them reconsider whether they really need millionaires to be happy.
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Sweet Mama
Title: Sweet Mama
Character: Goldie
Released: July 6, 1930
Type: Movie
A young girl falls in love with a member of a gang of crooks. She determines to bring the rest of the gang to justice so she can save the man she loves.
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Show Girl in Hollywood
Title: Show Girl in Hollywood
Character: Dixie Dugan
Released: April 20, 1930
Type: Movie
Broadway actress leaves New York to become a star in Hollywood, and succeeds despite sleazy directors and her own ego.
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Playing Around
Title: Playing Around
Character: Sheba Miller
Released: January 10, 1930
Type: Movie
New York girl has a dull boyfriend and seems destined for a dull marriage when she meets a rich playboy who has money to burn and places to go.
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Show of Shows
Title: Show of Shows
Character: Performer in 'If I Could Learn to Love' Number (uncredited)
Released: November 21, 1929
Type: Movie
Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!
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The Girl from Woolworth's
Title: The Girl from Woolworth's
Character: Pat King
Released: October 27, 1929
Type: Movie
Daisy, a clerk at Woolworth's, loves to sing. She meets Bill, a guard on the subway, at a party and they're both attracted to each other, but each tells the other that they have a different job than they actually do. Bill later finds her handbag on the subway, returns it to her and invites her to dinner. They dine at the swanky Mayfield Club, where owner Lawrence Mayfield is also attracted to Daisy and offers her a job there as a singer. Bill is not happy, although Daisy is.
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Broadway Babies
Title: Broadway Babies
Character: Dee Foster
Released: June 30, 1929
Type: Movie
Dee is a naive chorus girl living in a boarding house full of low-paid actors. Dee and Billy are in love and he helps her to move from chorus girl to star. Things run afoul when jealousy, misunderstandings and sleazy men enter the picture.
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Hot Stuff
Title: Hot Stuff
Character: Barbara Allen
Released: May 5, 1929
Type: Movie
An uptight society aunt sends her too sexy niece to college so she can land a man.
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Naughty Baby
Title: Naughty Baby
Character: Rosalind McGill
Released: December 16, 1928
Type: Movie
A cloak room girl (Alice White) falls for a rich boy who may not actually be rich.
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Fashion News
Title: Fashion News
Character: Self (1929)
Released: November 6, 1928
Type: Movie
Hollywood actresses including Jeanette Loff and Raquel Torres modeling Spring fashions in color.
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Show Girl
Title: Show Girl
Character: Dixie Dugan
Released: September 23, 1928
Type: Movie
An aspiring dancer fakes her own kidnapping as a publicity stunt. Her new found fame causes trouble with her boyfriend.
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3-Ring Marriage
Title: 3-Ring Marriage
Character: Trapeze Performer
Released: June 10, 1928
Type: Movie
Anna runs away from her wealthy father's ranch and becomes a trick rider in a circus to be with her sweetheart, Cal Coney, a circus cowboy, when her father disapproves the match. There she achieves fame as "Anna Montana," but she remains unhappy because Cal refuses to admit that he loves her. Meanwhile, Rawl Souvane, manager of the circus, plans to woo and marry Anna when he preceives that she is wealthy.
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Harold Teen
Title: Harold Teen
Character: Giggles Dewberry
Released: April 28, 1928
Type: Movie
Farmboy Harold moves to the city and there attends high school. Soon he is very popular, his spirited nature causing much excitement on the campus. He joins a fraternity, goes out for football, and directs his class theatrical effort. Instead of a school play, Harold suggests doing a western motion picture. Part of the plot requires them to blow up the dam that has cut off the water supply to Harold's homestead in the country. After the explosion Harold runs away because he is afraid of being arrested, but he returns just in time to win a football game for his team.
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The Big Noise
Title: The Big Noise
Character: Sophie Sloval
Released: March 25, 1928
Type: Movie
John Stoval, a guard in a New York subway, thinks that Philip Hurd, who owns a concession at Coney Island, would make a good husband for his daughter Sophie. Sophie, however, has her sights set on Bill Hedges, the son of a wealthy farmer in upstate New York. Her father arranges for her to marry Hurd in exchange for a 25% interest in the concession, but matters come to a halt when John slips and falls off a subway platform and is injured.
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Mad Hour
Title: Mad Hour
Character: Aimee
Released: March 4, 1928
Type: Movie
Mad Hour is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Joseph Boyle and starring Sally O'Neil, Alice White and Donald Reed. It was adapted from a novel by Elinor Glyn.
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Title: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Character: Dorothy Shaw
Released: January 22, 1928
Type: Movie
Gold digging blonde Lorelei and her brunette friend Dorothy are searching for rich husbands. This film is believed lost.
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The Private Life of Helen of Troy
Title: The Private Life of Helen of Troy
Character: Adraste
Released: December 9, 1927
Type: Movie
Setting the standard for his later light-hearted biopics The Private Life of Henry VIII and Rembrandt, producer-director Alexander Korda steadfastly refuses to take any of The Private Life of Helen of Troy seriously. Maria Corda, wife of the director, plays the title character as a fetchingly underdressed coquette, oblivious to all the political turmoil she's causing when she allows the handsome Paris (Ricardo Cortez) to kidnap her. Meanwhile, poor King Menelaus (Lewis Stone), Helen's husband, stands by in stoic silence, just as he's done on previous occasions when his wife succumbed to the charms of various sexy suitors (one of whom is played by future cowboy star "Wild Bill" Elliot). Finally galvanized into action, Menelaus reclaims his bride, who seems none the worse for wear for her experiences.
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Breakfast at Sunrise
Title: Breakfast at Sunrise
Character: Loulou
Released: October 23, 1927
Type: Movie
While plotting together to win back their lovers, the rich Madeleine and the penniless Pierre fall for each other.
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American Beauty
Title: American Beauty
Character: Claire O'Riley
Released: October 9, 1927
Type: Movie
American Beauty (1927)
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The Satin Woman
Title: The Satin Woman
Character: Jean Taylor
Released: July 24, 1927
Type: Movie
Dorothy Reid -- who before her marriage to ill-fated screen idol Wallace Reid was better known as Dorothy Davenport -- was both producer and star of Satin Woman. After the death of her husband from drug abuse in 1923, Davenport dedicated herself to helping others avoid the pitfalls of modern life by turning out a series of cautionary film fables. In Satin Woman, she endeavored to warn society women not to neglect their families for the sake of fads, foibles, and handsome younger men.
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The Sea Tiger
Title: The Sea Tiger
Character: Manuella
Released: February 27, 1927
Type: Movie
Silent Film drama...now a lost film. Julian Ramos is a fisherman in the Canary Islands. As the guardian of his hotheaded younger brother Charles, Julian regards it as his duty to protect the boy from women -- and vice versa. When Charles begins pitching woo at aristocratic Amy, Julian runs interference by pretending to be in love with the girl himself. As time passes, of course, he stops pretending.