Hollywood Stars and the Search for a Polio Vaccine

Hollywood public service shorts on behalf of the March of Dimes and the search for a polio vaccine remind us of a world where a deadly and extremely communicable virus was everybody's fight and patriotic Americans did their part.  

The March of Dimes was founded in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis was incorporated, launched by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  President Roosevelt, himself a victim of polio, was the nation's personification of the struggle against the mysterious virus.  After President Roosevelt's death, his image replaced the old Mercury Head Dime and became the Roosevelt Dime because of the March of Dimes and the fight against polio.  That fight still had almost another decade to find a solution. It found it in a vaccine.  The success of the field trials were announced on April 12, 1955 - the tenth anniversary of his death.  All of this, to a radical right fascist, might seem political.

Though there were plenty of detractors and outright enemies on the radical right against Roosevelt for his progressive programs, the fight against polio was not seen as political.  Polio was scary.

It also took more than one vaccine to vanquish.  The Salk vaccine was a two-injection process; the second shot was given three months after the first shot.  Then an additional booster shot some seven months later.

In 1961, the oral vaccine developed by Dr. Albert Sabin was available, and even those who had received the earlier Salk injection still took the Sabin oral vaccine.  Polio was that scary, people today who complain about the COVID vaccine and requiring boosters simply have no idea what they are talking about.

You were given a card on which to jot down the dates you received your shot:

Sound familiar?  The difference between then and now is now we have allowed the most ignorant and immature and irresponsible people in our society a louder voice and far more power than they deserve.

Polio still has no cure.  It is a virus that can be contained only by preventing it from spreading.  Since 1979 no polio cases have originated in the United States, a couple of decades from the discovery of the first vaccine, and four decades from the founding of the March of Dimes by the nation's most famous polio victim.

Hollywood pitched in and did its part.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland from 1938:

Robert Young and his family from 1951:

Cecil B. DeMille:

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and their kids from 1954:

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Memories in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century. Her newspaper column on classic films, Silver Screen, Golden Memories is syndicated nationally.  Her new book, a collection of posts from this blog - Hollywood Fights Fascism - is available here on Amazon.

Happy 93rd Birthday, Ann Blyth!

Happy 93rd Birthday to the wonderful Ann Blyth!   

For a bit of a departure, here's an episode of Burke's Law from 1964 now on YouTube.   From my book Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:

"She made two appearances on the whimsical detective series Burke’s Law starring Gene Barry. Both are fun and utterly goofy sides of sweet little Ann Blyth that should make any future critic dispense with typecasting her in their reviews.

In the “Who Killed Andy Zygmunt?” episode broadcast March 13, 1964, which satirizes the world of modern art and pokes fun at avant garde artists—one such artist has been murdered—Ann plays another beatnik style artist whose specialty is spray painting her live models with different colors and having them roll around on a canvas spread on the floor.  She is a suspect in the murder, and replies to the investigator, “Hey, man, can’t you see I’m busy working here?...you wouldn’t have buzzed Toulouse-Lautrec when he was fast sketching the lovely Jane Avril?”  She grins at the detective, “Your perceptivity just knocks me out, soldier.”

We learn she is a junkie, hooked on previously prescribed painkillers.  To keep herself supplied, she forges doctors’ signatures on prescription cards. The victim knew this and was blackmailing her.  However, Ann is not the only suspect, and collection of similar kooks includes Aldo Ray as a dog groomer, Macdonald Carey, Jack Weston, and Tab Hunter all as free-spirited weirdoes who could have murdered the dead man.  Gene Barry, star of the show, will tell us who did it after the last commercial."

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For more on Ann Blyth's career on stage and screen, television and radio, have a look at my book on Ann's career -- Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.

eBook edition (Amazon)

print edition available at Amazon and also my Etsy shop.

audiobook edition

Also available in eBook at:

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Apple iBooks

For more on my other books and plays, please see my website: JacquelineTLynch.com  

Requiescat in Pace - Jane Withers

Jane Withers, who passed away at 95 years old on August 7th, was one of Hollywood's greats, who deserves more recognition.  She began as a child of prodigious talent, and grew to be a lovely and generous lady.  She performed on radio, film, stage, and her commercials as "Josephine the Plumber" for Comet cleanser turned out to be one of the longest-running characters on television.  

Her gift for mimicry was splendid, such that during the post-production of Disney's animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) when Mary Wickes passed away, Jane stepped in and finished the role of Laverne the gargoyle, mimicking Mary Wickes' voice and reprising the role in the sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002).

We covered Jane Withers' work here in Paddy O'Day (1935) and Bright Eyes (1934).  She and actress Ann Blyth were devoted friends.  Jane appeared on an episode of This is Your Life in 1959 that paid tribute to Ann, and Ann appeared on an A&E episode of Biography that paid tribute to Jane Withers in 2003. 

From my essay on Paddy O'Day, we leave this image of Jane Withers' gift for friendship, her kindliness, and her loyalty to a newcomer on that movie, Rita Hayworth:

"Rita, 16 years old, was nervous on the set, more terrified than the immigrant she was playing. Jane, nine years old, but already a veteran and the star of the movie, felt protective of her.  Before the cameras rolled, Jane held Rita’s hand and said a prayer to comfort her. 

Decades later, in 1987, when Rita Hayworth died, Jane was asked to deliver the eulogy at her funeral.  She repeated on that occasion the prayer she said while holding Rita’s hand on the set of Paddy O’Day:

 

“Lord, this is Rita and she’s afraid… Please be with her because she’s special.”

Jane Withers is pretty special too."

May she be remembered for her many, many special gifts.