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Martha Raye

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Martha Raye (born Margy Reed; August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994), nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including on Broadway.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was honored in 1969 at the Academy Awards as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops.

Early yearsEdit

Raye was born at St. James Hospital in Butte, Montana, as Margy Reed,<ref>Birth Certificate Template:Webarchive, ColonelMaggie.com; accessed September 16, 2014.</ref><ref name=raye2>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the daughter of Irish immigrant Peter F. Reed Jr., and Maybelle Hazel (Hooper) Reed, who had been raised in Milwaukee and Montana.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> Her parents were performing in a local vaudeville theatre as Reed and Hooper when their daughter was born.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

CareerEdit

As a teenager in the early 1930s, Raye began her career as a vocalist with the Paul Ash and Boris Morros orchestras. She made her first film appearance in a band short titled A Nite in the Nite Club (1934). In 1936, she was signed for comic roles by Paramount Pictures; her first feature film was Rhythm on the Range with Bing Crosby. She made her Broadway debut in the Harry Akst musical Calling All Stars in 1934, and later returned to Broadway in starring roles in Yip Harburg's Hold On to Your Hats (1941), Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! (1967), and Vincent Youmans's No, No, Nanette (1972).

From 1936 to 1939, she was a featured cast member in 39 episodes of Al Jolson's weekly CBS radio show, The Lifebuoy Program, also called Cafe Trocadero. In addition to comedy, Raye sang both solos and duets with Jolson. Over the next quarter century, she would appear in films with many of the leading comics of her day, including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W.C. Fields, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin and Jimmy Durante. She joined the USO in 1942, soon after the US entered World War II.<ref name="rayeMT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="SI"/>

She was known for the size of her mouth, which was large in proportion to her face, earning her the nickname "The Big Mouth". She later referred to this in a series of television commercials for Polident denture cleaner in the 1980s: "So take it from The Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!" Her large mouth would relegate her motion picture work to supporting comic parts, and was often made up so it appeared even larger. In the Disney cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, she is caricatured while dancing with Joe E. Brown, another actor known for a big mouth. In the Warner Bros. cartoon The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (1937), she was caricatured as a jazzy scat-singing donkey named 'Moutha Bray'.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1969, she was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in the form of an Oscar at the 41st Academy Awards. She was the first woman to receive this award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After her death, the statuette was displayed for many years in a specially constructed lighted niche at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills. On November 2, 1993, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for her service to her country.<ref name=rayeMT /><ref name="SI"/> The citation reads:

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A talented performer whose career spans the better part of a century, Martha Raye has delighted audiences and uplifted spirits around the globe. She brought her tremendous comedic and musical skills to her work in film, stage, and television, helping to shape American entertainment. The great courage, kindness, and patriotism she showed in her many tours during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War earned her the nickname Colonel Maggie. The American people honor Martha Raye, a woman who has tirelessly used her gifts to benefit the lives of her fellow Americans.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Television careerEdit

She was a television star very early in its history. She starred in the short-lived (28 episodes) The Martha Raye Show (1954–1956), opposite retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano, who played her boyfriend. The writer and producer was future The Phil Silvers Show creator Nat Hiken.

Some of the guest stars on the show were Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cesar Romero, and Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb. She also appeared on other TV shows in the 1950s, such as What's My Line?

Following the demise of her TV variety show, the breakup of her fifth marriage, and a series of other personal and health problems, she attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills on August 14, 1956. Well-wishers gave her a St. Christopher's medal, a St. Genesius medal, and a Star of David. After her recovery, she wore these amulets faithfully, but she was neither Catholic nor Jewish. At the conclusion of each episode of her TV shows, she would thank the nuns at the Sisters of St. Francis Hospital in Miami, Florida, where she had recovered. She always said "Goodnight, Sisters" as a sign of appreciation and gratitude.

Later in her career, she made television commercials for Polident denture cleanser, principally during the 1970s and 1980s.

Later careerEdit

In 1970, she portrayed Boss Witch, the "Queen of all Witchdom", in the feature film Pufnstuf for Sid and Marty Krofft. This role led to her being cast as villainess Benita Bizarre in The Bugaloos (1970), which the Kroffts produced the same year.

She often appeared as a guest on other programs, particularly those which often featured older performers as guest stars, such as The Love Boat, and on variety programs, including the short-lived The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show. She appeared from the third to the ninth seasons as Carrie Sharples, Mel's mother on Alice, making two or three appearances per season. She made guest appearances or did cameos in series such as Murder, She Wrote, The Andy Williams Show, and McMillan & Wife. She appeared again as Agatha for the six-episode run of the retooled McMillan, taking over for Nancy Walker, who had left the series. Her last film appearance was as an airline passenger in the disaster film The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979).

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Personal lifeEdit

Raye's personal life was complex and emotionally tumultuous.<ref name="ms540425">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> She was married seven times.

Raye was a devout Methodist. She regularly attended church, she read the Bible on a daily basis, and she also taught Sunday school.<ref>Pitrone, Maddern Jean (1999). Take It from the Big Mouth: The Life of Martha Raye Hardcover, The University of Kentucky Press, pp. 220–221 Template:ISBN</ref> Because her religious views were frequently misconstrued, she said "One paper says I'm Catholic, and the other says I'm Jewish. I guess that's fitting because, as a Methodist, I'm meant to be undetermined some of the time".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Her engagement to orchestra leader Johnny Torrence was announced in June 1936.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Less than two months later she commented, "They tell me I've gone Hollywood already because I got engaged to Johnny Torrence one day and broke it off the next."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

She was married to make-up artist Hamilton "Buddy" Westmore from May 30, 1937, until September 1937, filing for divorce on the basis of extreme cruelty; to composer-conductor David Rose from October 8, 1938, to May 19, 1941; to Neal Lang from May 25, 1941, to February 3, 1944; to Nick Condos from February 22, 1944, to June 17, 1953; to Edward T. Begley from April 21, 1954, to October 6, 1956; to Robert O'Shea from November 7, 1956, to December 1, 1960; and to Mark Harris from September 25, 1991, until her death in 1994.<ref name="wapo/rayes-december">Template:Cite news</ref> She had one child, a daughter born in July 1944, with Nick Condos. Melodye Condos was named after Raye's recently deceased younger sister.<ref>Pitrone, op. cit., pp. 65, 57.</ref>

Politically, Raye was conservative, in a 1984 interview, she affirmed: "I believe in the constitution, strength in national defense, limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility. They reinforce the resolve that the United States is the greatest country in the world, and we can all be eternally grateful to our founding fathers for the beautiful legacy they left us."<ref>Interview, The Hollywood Reporter, 1984.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DeathEdit

Raye died of pneumonia at the age of 78 on October 19, 1994.<ref>Pitrone, op. cit., p. 219</ref>

LegacyEdit

Appreciation of her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars led to her being named both an honorary colonel in the U.S. Marines and an honorary lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, and earned special consideration to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Upon her death it was instead requested that she be buried with full military honors in the Fort Bragg Main Post cemetery<ref name="SI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at Spring Lake, North Carolina, home of her loving and beloved United States Army Special Forces; the Fifth Special Forces Group (Airborne) made her an honorary Green Beret for her USO work in Vietnam,<ref name="SI"/> including an unauthorized visit to the Leghorn, a top secret SOG listening post on a spire in Laos.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref>

Raye has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one for motion pictures at 6251 Hollywood Boulevard and the other for television at 6547 Hollywood Blvd.

The moving image collection of Martha Raye is held at the Academy Film Archive. The collection consists of an audio tape and home movies.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

FilmographyEdit

FilmEdit

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TelevisionEdit

  • Four Star Revue (host from 1951 to 1953) – Herself
  • The Martha Raye Show (1954–1956) – Herself
  • What's My Line? (mystery guest December 11, 1955)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Stage workEdit

ReferencesEdit

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SourcesEdit

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External linksEdit

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