Alice Frost

Alice Dorothy Margaret Frost (August 1, 1910 – January 6, 1998) was an American actress. An inaugural member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre on radio and the stage, she later performed the role of Pamela North on the radio series Mr. and Mrs. North for nearly 10 years.

Alice Frost
Frost in 1940
Born
Alice Dorothy Margaret Frost

(1910-08-01)August 1, 1910
Minneapolis, Minnesota
DiedJanuary 6, 1998(1998-01-06) (aged 87)
Naples, Florida
NationalityAmerican
OccupationActress
Years active1926–1979
Known forPamela North in radio's Mr. and Mrs. North

Early years

Alice Dorothy Margaret Frost[1] was born on August 1, 1910, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[2] She was the youngest of four children.[3] Her father, Rev. John A. Frost,[4] was a Swedish immigrant and served as a minister in the Lutheran church in Mora, Minnesota, and her mother was the church's organist.[3] She attended high school in Mora and was active with the school's newspaper, glee club, drama society, and debate society. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota but had to drop out after her father's death. Later, she studied dramatics and voice for two years at the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[5]

Frost also worked in a department store's credit department.[6]

Radio
Alice Frost and Joseph Curtin as Mr. and Mrs. North (1950)

Frost debuted on radio at age 16 as a singer, participating in a duet with a friend on a Minneapolis station.[7] By 1933, she was a member of the cast of The Criminal Court.[8] In 1934, she was "one of the ghost voices during CBS-WABC's Forty-Five Minutes In Hollywood."[9] She was an inaugural member of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, on radio and on the stage,[10] and was one of his favorite actresses.[11]

An item in a 1939 newspaper noted Frost's "art of mimicry," saying "Alice is known to her friends as 'the girl of a hundred voices'"[12]—a talent which originated from her childhood, when she heard ministers who visited her home "when they returned from their missions in far-off places like Siam, India or Japan... [T]he missionaries delighted in teaching the little girl their various Hindustani, Javanese or Far Eastern dialects."[13] By 1938, she had already played "more than thirty different types of roles."[14] An item in a 1937 newspaper reported: "It's nothing unusual for her to appear in as many as eight network shows in a week, each one calling for a different role. In quick succession, she has been a comedienne, a tragedian, an ingenue, a mother, a daughter and a witch!"[15]

In the 1930s, Frost was "hostess, secretary, heckler and general all-around actress each Sunday" on Stoopnagle and Budd.[1] Late in that decade, she appeared regularly on Melody and Madness[16] and Undercover Squad.[17]

In 1941, Frost starred in Are You a Missing Heir?.[18] Her other roles as a regular cast member included those show in the table below.

ProgramRole
Big SisterRuth Evans[19]
Bright HorizonRuth Evans Wayne[20]
Camel Caravan"girl stooge"[21][22]
Home Sweet HomeLucy Kent[23]
Mighty CaseyCasey's girl friend.[24]
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage PatchMiss Hazy[25]
Summer Town Hall Tonight"No. 1 heckler"[26]
The Second Mrs. BurtonMarcia[27]
Woman of CourageMartha Jackson[19]

She also was heard in Song of the Stranger,[28] The Shadow, Grand Central Station,[29] The Campbell Playhouse, What Would You Have Done,[30] On Broadway,[31] Famous Jury Trials,[32] Al Pearce and His Gang,[33] David Harum, Lorenzo Jones, Suspense,[2] Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories,[34] The Fat Man, Romance,[20] The Big Story, Les Misérables,[19] The Mercury Theatre on the Air,[10] Mr. District Attorney,[35] Johnny Presents,[36] The FBI in Peace and War,[37] Don Ameche's True Life Stories,[38] and Columbia Workshop.[39]

Stage
Alice Frost and Orson Welles in Caesar (1938)

In 1928,[40] Frost appeared on stage in Chautauqua performances, playing Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.[41] A year later, she was part of a stock theater company in Miami.[5]

In 1932, she appeared in It's the Law, a farce presented at the Ritz Theater in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[42]

She appeared on Broadway in Green Grow the Lilacs (1931), The Great Lover (1932), As Husbands Go (1933), It's a Wise Child (1933), the Mercury Theatre productions Caesar (1937–38) and The Shoemaker's Holiday (1938), A Roomful of Roses (1955),[43] and The Bad Seed (1955).[44]

In 1967, Frost co-starred with Jack Bailey in a four-week production of Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse.[10]

Film

Frost had a role in the independent film Damaged Love in 1930.[5] She worked for the Independent Eastern Pictures company.[45]

Television

Frost played Mama Holstrom in 10 episodes of The Farmer's Daughter and Trina on Mama. She appeared in two episodes of Hazel and also had the role of Miss Bickle in the unsold pilot of the comedy His Model Wife.[46]

She was also seen on Gunsmoke,[47] Goodyear Theatre,[48] Bus Stop,[49] and The Alcoa Hour.[50]

In the 1960s, Frost appeared in two episodes of the The Twilight Zone ("The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" and "It's a Good Life"). She also found roles in the decade's popular Westerns, appearing on The Tall Man , The Virginian and in two episodes of both Bonanza and Wagon Train. As the Westerns gave way to the police and detective dramas of the 1970s, Frost found work on such series as Ironside, Adam-12, Police Woman, and Baretta .

Frost's final television work included a 1978 visit to Fantasy Island and a last role in a 1979 episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century . That final role brought Frost full circle, as the character of Buck Rogers also first found fame in the 1930s.

Recognition

Frost was named the winner in the Radio category among America's 13 Best Dressed Women for 1941. Winners were "selected in an annual poll of 100 leading designers for the Fashion Academy Awards."[51]

Death

Frost died January 6, 1998, in Naples, Florida. [52]

References
  1. "Laboratory Hostess". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The Evening News. April 30, 1937. p. 26. Retrieved December 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2. P. 100.
  3. "The Turning Point". TV Radio Mirror. 45 (4): 91. March 1956. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  4. "Alice Frost Got Her Start In Tent Chautauqua Stands". The Pittsburgh Press. February 26, 1938. p. 7. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  5. Fairfax, Arthur (March 2, 1940). "Mr. Fairfax Replies" (PDF). Movie and Radio Guide. p. 59. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  6. "Studio Notes". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The Evening News. November 20, 1937. p. 14. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "(untitled brief)". Daily Republican. Belvidere, IL. January 10, 1939. p. 13. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "The Criminal Court". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York. February 26, 1933. p. 60. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Smith, Carleton (November 24, 1934). "Music in the Air" (PDF). Radio Guide. p. 19. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  10. "Curtain Going Up On Classic". Pasadena Independent. California, Pasadena. March 16, 1967. p. 39. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Pike, Lori E. (December 26, 1988). "50 Years Ago, 'Mercury Theatre' Was the Talk of Radio". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  12. Ferris, Earle (August 24, 1939). "Right Out of the Air". Bernardsville News. New Jersey, Bernardsville. p. 6. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Thompson, Edgar A. (February 21, 1938). "Visiting Ministers Taught Actress All Dialects". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  14. "(untitled brief)". The Evening News. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. January 28, 1938. p. 22. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Studio Notes". The Evening News. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. November 3, 1937. p. 18. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. Thompson, Edgar A. (October 2, 1939). "Riding the Airwaves". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  17. "Olivier and Best in Radio Theater". Daily Republican. Belvidere. November 20, 1939. p. 5. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. North, Alberta (November 8, 1941). "Feminine Forum" (PDF). Movie-Radio Guide. p. 42. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  19. Dunning, John (1976). Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925–1976. Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-932616-2. pp. 68, 69, 352, 652.
  20. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. pp. 119, 241, 584.
  21. "(photo caption)" (PDF). Radio Mirror. 6 (3): 26. July 1936. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  22. "(photo caption)" (PDF). Radio Mirror. 5 (4): 42. February 1936. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  23. "Short Shorts". Radio Mirror. 7 (1): 87. November 1936. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  24. "W-G-N Salutes WGNB as New FM Era Opens". Chicago Tribune. Illinois, Chicago. March 1, 1947. p. 19. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  25. "(photo caption)" (PDF). Radio Mirror. 5 (5): 42. March 1936. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  26. "Takes Over Town Hall". The Evening News. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. July 2, 1937. p. 18. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. "Money on Bushes?". Avalanche-Journal. Lubbock, TX. March 16, 1958. p. 62. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. "(photo caption)". The Coaticook Observer. November 21, 1947. p. 3. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  29. "Mr. Fairfax Knows All" (PDF). Radio Guide. April 2, 1938. p. 44. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  30. Alicoate, Jack, Ed. The 1940 Radio Annual (PDF). Radio Daily Corp. p. 709.
  31. Grunwald, Edgar A., Ed. (1938–1939). Variety Radio Directory (PDF). New York: Variety, Inc. p. 366. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  32. Grunwald, Edgar A., Ed. (1939–1940). Variety Radio Directory (PDF). New York: Variety, Inc. p. 470. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  33. Grunwald, Edgar A., Ed. (1940–1941). Variety Radio Directory (PDF). New York: Variety, Inc. pp. 322–323.
  34. Alicoate, Jack, Ed. (1947). The 1947 Radio Annual. Radio Daily Corp. p. 789.
  35. "D.A. Drama Starts As Racketeer Shot". The Ogden Standard-Examiner. Utah, Ogden. October 22, 1939. p. 13. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. "Johnny Presents". The Capital Times. Wisconsin, Madison. November 14, 1939. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. "Radio Highlights". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York. July 7, 1954. p. 19. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. "What's on the Air". The Times Recorder. Zanesville, OH. May 12, 1958. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. "(untitled brief)". Daily Republican. Belvidere, IL. September 5, 1939. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. "From the Lobby of Listening Inn". Belvidere Daily Republican. Illinois, Belvidere. March 31, 1938. p. 3. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. Thomas, Elsia (March 10, 1943). "Alice Frost Prefers Radio to Chautauqua". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. West Virginia, Bluefield. p. 9. Retrieved January 5, 2016 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  42. "At the Theaters". The Scranton Republican. Pennsylvania, Scranton. November 5, 1932. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  43. "Alice Frost". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  44. "Little Patty Still Big in 'Bad Seed'" (PDF). Billboard. July 30, 1955. p. 18. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  45. "From the Lobby of Listening Inn". Belvidere Daily Republican. Illinois, Belvidere. April 7, 1938. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  46. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7. pp. 332, 464, 647.
  47. "(TV listing)". The San Bernardino County Sun. California, San Bernardino. April 16, 1960. p. 14. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  48. "(TV listing)". The Amarillo Globe-Times. Texas, Amarillo. May 28, 1959. p. 24. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  49. "(TV listing)". Independent Press-Telegram. California, Long Beach. October 15, 1961. p. 104. Retrieved December 25, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  50. "The Stingiest Man in Town" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 31, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  51. "Here's That Annual List of America's Best Dressed Women Again – 13 of 'em This Time". Delaware County Daily Times. Pennsylvania, Chester. March 26, 1941. p. 9. Retrieved December 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  52. "Alice Frost". Find A Grave. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
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