The vivacious multi-talented Betty Hutton celebrates her 86th birthday today, born on this day, Feb. 26th, in 1921.  What a bundle of energy and delight Betty Hutton is on the screen – is there anybody quite like her?  There are lots of beautiful women who’ve graced the screen, stunningly beautiful ones and maybe they even can act, but there’s something very special about an attractive woman who can sing and make you laugh, too.  Betty Hutton was one of those gals, and though her almost manic energy and million-watt smiles might have concealed a more complex personality than met the eye, lucky for us Hollywood producers found at least a few properties that could effectively harness her prodigious will to entertain. 

The Michigan-born Betty made it in show business the hard way, breaking in through her extraordinary pipes, making it as the girl singer for dance bands, working her way to Broadway (with a part in a Vitaphone short subject along the way), and then discovery – again – by Hollywood and a contract at Paramount.  I love/hate the story about Betty’s role in Panama Hattie, the Ethel Merman Broadway musical.  Supposedly Betty was so effective in her breakout number than La Merm had it cut, lest she upstage the star, an incident which was later fictionalized by Jacqueline Susann in Valley of the Dolls.  You know you’re good when the star wants you out, eh?  (Ironically, it’s probably fair to say that Hollywood didn’t exactly know what to do with either of these two overwhelming personalities, really.)

Betty Hutton made at least one certified comedy classic – The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, directed by Preston Sturges – and a whole lot of other pleasant wartime romantic comedies, including the screen version of the Danny Kaye Broadway smash Let’s Face It, but starring Bob Hope instead of Danny, who had signed on with Samuel Goldwyn instead of Paramount.  Therein lies of my long-time what-ifs, that is, can you imagine the talent explosion that would have occurred if Betty Hutton and Danny Kaye had appeared onscreen together?  They would have looked marvelous paired up, and both were preternaturally talented and exuberant performers who might have created greatness.  Oh well…  

Though Betty starred in some good movies, to be sure, including stepping in for Judy Garland in Annie Get Your Gun, and C.B. DeMille’s over-the-(big)-top The Greatest Show on Earth, personality conflicts seemed to have cut short some of her opportunities and she moved into TV and back to the stage, and then virtually disappeared from public life.  She might be most famous for her return from seclusion, when she was discovered working at a Rhode Island rectory and recovering from personal problems.  The always-charming Miss Hutton made an appearance on TCM with Robert Osborne back in 2000, and is reportedly living happily in Palm Springs.  Good to hear it!  Happy Birthday, Betty!

The pictures here are from the early 1950s, when Betty was between marriages and actively dating, hence the two photos with writer/producer Norman Krasna and the handsome Robert Sterling.  Mr. Krasna, we know from an early entry of mine, married Al Jolson’s widow in later 1951, and Mr. Sterling married the delightful actress Anne Jeffreys also that same year.  The other photo is a happy Betty posing with Japanese singing legend Koshiji Fubuki.  There are a couple of cute TV clips of Betty on YouTube, including this one from The Hollywood Palace  and one from the middle 1950s on Dinah Shore’s show.  (And what a great performer Dinah is, by the way.  Too bad she didn’t make too many movies, but perhaps her warm style was better suited to the more intimate medium of TV.  Check them out!)