For Actress Ruby Keeler, Another Opening, Another Show
Ruby Keeler was an unknown actress when she starred in the 1933 production of Busby Berkeley's 42nd Street.
But, the movie was so popular she was able to land two more splashy musicals that same year — and seven more by the end of the decade. There was nothing extraordinary about her talents as a vocalist or as an actress, but audiences of the Depression-era really bought into Keeler's "innocent" on-stage persona. In fact, they craved it.
Her life story was also a source of optimism for many during bleak times. She had truly earned her way to stardom, rather than being born into it. And unlike more graceful, natural performers, she had to work hard when she was on stage. They loved that about her.
But while Keeler was a huge star during the '30s, as the decade wound down, so did her career. Her marriage to Al Jolson came unraveled, and in 1940, she remarried outside Hollywood to a wealthy real estate broker and retired from showbiz — for what she thought be forever.
Thirty years later, the nation had survived World War II, a baby boom, television, Elvis, the Civil Rights movement, a presidential assassination, the Beatles, anti-war demonstrations, hippies, and astronauts walking on the moon.
Basically, there were a lot of reasons to forget about Ruby Keeler.
But she had come back, this time as a 61-year-old grandmother, performing in No No Nanette — a creaky old '20s musical that centers on a young flapper. The Broadway producer told her that if she agreed to do the play, she'd only have to do two musical numbers.
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