Sally Eilers enjoyed lunch with a classmate from drama school, Jane
Peters (who would later become known as
Carole Lombard), at the Sennett
Studios cafeteria. There she was spotted by
Mack Sennett and instantly became one of
his "discoveries". Having already appeared in several bit parts,
beginning with The Red Mill (1927)
in 1927, she was offered a role in
The Good-Bye Kiss (1928), a
rare dramatic feature for the studio. Either Sennett or
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (depending on
which version of the story is to be believed) tagged Sally with the
publicity line "the most beautiful girl in movies".
The vivacious former brunette (quickly transformed by Hollywood into a
blonde) spent her apprenticeship as a leading actress co-starring in
westerns with her future husband Hoot Gibson
and with Buster Keaton in
Doughboys (1930). In 1931 director
Frank Borzage cast her (instead of
established star Janet Gaynor) in
the depression-era film Bad Girl (1931).
What could have been maudlin melodrama was enlivened by excellent
direction and some snappy dialogue (winning Academy Awards for both
direction and screenplay) and elicited from Sally in the title
role (as "Dot Haley") the best performance of her career. There were to
be other films of note: Reducing (1931)
with Marie Dressler, the original
Jahrmarktsrummel (1933) with
Will Rogers (with Sally playing a
"carny") and Sailor's Luck (1933),
with her Bad Girl (1931) co-star
James Dunn, in which a reviewer described
her performance as "highly satisfactory".
Alas, most of her subsequent parts were in lesser features and she
never made the grade as a top star. Sally continued to act in films,
eventually reduced to supporting roles, until the late 1940s. She was
married four times.
