Comedienne/writer Barbara Jo Allen induced laughs nationwide after
originating and literally becoming synonymous with the talky,
shrill-voiced, man-hungry spinster "Vera Vague," a WWII creation in the
late 1930s. She kept the name throughout much of her career and was
often billed as such. The character, however, was to be both her
fortune and her curse.
Barbara was born on Fifth Avenue in New York City on September 2, 1906.
She developed a deep passion for entertaining in high school and
appeared in many of her school plays. After graduating, she went to
study at the Sorbonne in Paris. Following the death of her parents she
moved to Los Angeles to live with an uncle. She broke into radio in
1937 playing the part of Beth Holly on "One Man's Family," then moved
into a succession of popular programs such as "Death Valley Days" and
"I Love a Mystery."
Inspiration for her highly prim-looking and utterly absurd clubwoman
caricature came after the comedienne attended a PTA meeting in which a
woman was lecturing endlessly to a group of parents on world
literature. The woman had literally no thought pattern and changed the
subject with every sentence. The proverbial light bulb switched on and
"Vera Vague" was born. The name itself became a household term. Barbara
Jo first introduced the character on "NBC Matinee" in 1939 and went on
to write most of her own material. Bob Hope took an interest and hired
her for his Pepsodent-sponsored show. A favorite, she stayed with the
program for many years and, along with other Hope connections such as
comic Jerry Colonna and singer Frances Langford, traveled with Bob on his various USO
tours throughout the world. She also appeared with other top radio
stars of the time such as Al Jolson and Jack Benny.
Essentially a radio artist, she went on to appear in over 50 pictures.
In real life, the glamorous and lovely, raven-haired Barbara Jo was
nothing at all like the "old maid" character so it slowly evolved into
a dizzy, man-chasing gal on film, not unlike the Lucille Ball TV
scatterbrain that was forthcoming. In short films from 1938, Barbara
made her feature debut unbilled in the classic Die Frauen (1939). She received
better or co-star billing in such subsequent "B" musicals as Sing, Dance, Plenty Hot (1940),
Melody and Moonlight (1940) opposite Johnny Downs, Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1941) backing up Mary Martin and Don Ameche,
Ice-Capades (1941), Hi, Neighbor (1942), and Lake Placid Serenade (1944), providing needed comedy escapism during
these war-torn times. The matronly cut-up stole more than a few scenes
in Buy Me That Town (1941), Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942), Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid (1944), and Girl Rush (1944), among others. Barbara Jo
began appearing in comedy shorts for Columbia in 1943.
Her voice was purposely dissimilar to the "Vera Vague" voice in her
first two-reeler You Dear Boy (1943), the title also being a popular "Vera"
catchphrase. After that, however, Barbara Jo played "Vera" to the
delight of her audiences. Two of her Columbia vehicles were nominated
for Academy Awards in both 1945 and 1946. She starred in over a dozen
shorts for Columbia in all, ending the long run in 1952.
Barbara Jo slowed down considerably after that. Still billing herself
as "Vera Vague," she was a regular on the variety show Ford Festival (1951), and
earned TV hostessing jobs on such shows as Follow the Leader (1953) and The Greatest Man on Earth (1952). After
being featured in the musical remake of her 1939 film "The Women"
entitled Das schwache Geschlecht (1956) as the ever-chatty Dolly DeHaven, she was heard in the
immortal animated Disney classic Dornröschen und der Prinz (1959) in which she voiced Fauna, the
green "good fairy" character. It was a happy reunion with other fellow
radio veterans Verna Felton, who inhabited the part of Flora (the red
fairy), and Barbara Luddy as the rolypoly blue fairy Merryweather.
Because she could not escape the "Vera Vague" tag, Barbara Jo
eventually retired. In 1943 she married Hope's producer Norman Morrell. Her
husband went on to work with other famous names such as Andy Williams. The
couple had one daughter and settled in the Santa Barbara area of
Southern California until her death in 1974. She had huge compassion
for animals and later wrote and published the book "The Animal
Convention," which was a story for children in which she voiced
ecological and environmental concerns.
