Beryl Wallace (c. 1909 – June 17, 1948) was an American singer, dancer and actress.Born Beryl Heischuber in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York, she was the eldest of nine children of working class Jewish immigrants from Austria. Pursuing a dancing career, she was in her teens when she saw a casting call advertisement in the newspaper and landed a role in the 1928 Earl Carroll Broadway theatre production of Vanities that was billed as having the "most beautiful girls in the world". Beryl Heischuber adopted the last name "Wallace" as part of her stage name and went on to appear in another six similar such risqué productions that featured scanty costumes for the female performers and full nudity for the first time on Broadway.Beryl Wallace and producer Earl Carroll began a personal relationship that would take them to Hollywood where she would perform in film and at his Earl Carroll Theatre. The theatre-supper club's facade was adorned by what at the time was one of Hollywood's most famous landmarks: a 20-foot (6.1 m)-high neon facial portrait of Beryl Wallace of which a recreation can be seen today at Universal CityWalk, at Universal City, as part of the collection of historic neon signs from the Museum of Neon Art.Beryl Wallace made her film debut in 1934 in an uncredited role in the Paramount Pictures film production of Carroll's Broadway play Murder at the Vanities. She went on to appear in a number of small roles until 1937, when she co-starred in the Monogram Pictures "B" Western film production of Romance of the Rockies with Tom Keene. This led to another co-starring role in the 1938 film, Air Devils. In the early 1940s she continued appearing in bit parts, but also had good secondary roles in Republic Pictures "B" Westerns starring the likes of Roy Rogers and Richard Dix. While acting in twenty-two films over a ten-year period, Wallace's primary job was as a star entertainer at Earl Carroll's theatre.During World War II, Beryl Wallace sang weekly on two 15-minute radio shows and on Monday evenings hosted a half-hour entertainment show on NBC radio called Furlough Fun. In addition to helping entertain soldiers at the Masquers Club, on Sunday afternoons she was a volunteer dancer at the Hollywood Canteen.Broadway performances:Earl Carroll's Vanities (1940)The Women (1936)Earl Carroll's Sketch Book (1935)Murder at the Vanities (1934)Earl Carroll's Vanities (1932)Earl Carroll's Vanities (1931)Earl Carroll's Vanities (1930)Earl Carroll's Vanities (1928)
At the Earl Carroll Theatre and Restaurant in Hollywood, Carroll created for her a 20-foot-high neon facial portrait of her. A recreation of Beryl's landmark portrait can be seen these days at Universal CityWalk, at Universal City, as part of the collection of historic neon signs from the Museum of Neon Art.
2
Hollywood folklore has it that Beryl had been enamored with Earl Carroll since the age of 13, after hearing the soft-spoken producer on a local radio program.
3
Earl Carroll's long time romance with beauty Dorothy Knapp fell apart during the disastrous stage production of "Fioretta". Beryl stepped in as Earl Carroll's new star and the two became inseparable until their deaths together in a plane crash.
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Stars flocked to the Carroll's theatre, passing beneath the neon-written words, "Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world.".
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The mystery of what happened to the plane was never solved. It was later suggested, after reviewing the final radio transmissions, that carbon dioxide fumes from a deployed extinguisher may have leaked into the cockpit and knocked the crew out, allowing the unguided plane to descend by itself until it crashed.
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Was the star of a popular night club act at the time of her death.
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Died in a plane crash that killed 42 others, including Venita Varden, the ex-wife of actor Jack Oakie.
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
Enemy of Women
1944
Jenny Hartmann
The Woman of the Town
1943
Louella O. Parsons
The Kansan
1943
Soubrette
Let's Have Fun
1943
Lead Dancer (uncredited)
I Married an Angel
1942
Fifi (uncredited)
Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die
1942
Queenie Fontaine (uncredited)
Sunset on the Desert
1942
Julie Craig
Johnny Eager
1941
Mabel (uncredited)
A Night at Earl Carroll's
1940
Miss DuBarry
The Women
1939
Woman in Cabinet (uncredited)
Coast Guard
1939
Pretty Nurse (uncredited)
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1939
Girl (uncredited)
Trade Winds
1938
Hawaiian Girl (uncredited)
Dramatic School
1938
Student (uncredited)
Youth Takes a Fling
1938
Switchboard Operator (uncredited)
The Rage of Paris
1938
Model (uncredited)
The Devil's Party
1938
Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
Air Devils
1938
Marcia Bradford
The Nurse from Brooklyn
1938
Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
Romance of the Rockies
1937
Betty Ross
Rough Riding Rhythm
1937
Helen Hobart
Thanks for Listening
1937
Gloria, Divorcee with Problems
Murder at the Vanities
1934
Beryl - Earl Carroll Girl (uncredited)
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Kansan
1943
performer: "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" - uncredited