MANIKINS ENTER MOVIES

July 24, 1933

Manikins (aka mannequins) implies that the girls were chosen for their looks, not their talents.  Indeed some reports called the seven ‘poster girls’ because most of them, including Lucille Ball, were familiar faces from appearing as models on posters for various products.  Casting New York-based models was a publicity ploy by Goldwyn. The press followed the seven familiar faces on their cross-country journey to Tinseltown. 

Katherine (aka Katharine) Mauk was born in Texas, and came to New York City to write about Broadway, becoming a performer in the process. Her first role was in the revival of Florenz Ziegfeld’s Show Boat. She was then chosen to be in the chorus of Earl Carroll’s Vanities when she was convinced to go West for Roman Scandals. After that she did only one more film, Hell Cat in 1934.  Mauk appeared in posters and print ads for Lucky Strike Cigarettes as well as a brand of chewing gum.  

Rosalie Fromson started as a secretary, before moving to New York to work at the Hollywood Restaurant.  She was a poster girl for Pond’s cold cream. Her only film was Roman Scandals. 

Mary Lange was successful model and a Ziegfeld girl, before she was invited to Hollywood to become a Goldwyn girl. Her husband was a marketing executive for Standard Oil. 

Roman Scandals was her 3rd of 15 films, 4 of which were with Lucille Ball.

Vivian Keefer was born in 1909 in New York City. She was the poster girl for Listerine!  Roman Scandals was the first of her 5 films, 4 of which were with Lucille Ball.

Barbara Pepper was the poster girl for Gotham Hosiery. Scandals was her screen debut, but would go on to appear in hundreds of films and television shows, including episodes of “I Love Lucy”. She became best known for playing Florence Ziffel on the TV series “Green Acres.”

Theo Phane (aka Theo Plane) was a shoe model who only did one film.

Lucille Ball (aka Diane Belmont) was the Chesterfield cigarette girl and a model for Hattie Carnegie. She had been fired from the chorus of Ziegfeld’s Rio Rita.