One of the things the Morlocks do best is remember.  We remember performers we loved, movies we watched, and so many other things.  Today I’m remembering Beverly Wills, the comic actress whose mother was the talented comedienne Joan Davis.  Beverly was born on August 5th back in 1933, but the end of her story is rather a sad one, like many told here by the Morlocks.

Aging Baby Boomers no doubt will remember Joan Davis probably best from her 1950s TV situation comedy I Married Joan, an I Love Lucy-esque madcap romp which was quite popular in its day but had nowhere near the staying power of Lucy in syndication, where true legends are spawned.  Born in 1907, Joan honed her talents in vaudeville after starting out life as a child performer, and after playing a stop in Los Angeles managed to nab a part in a Mack Sennett short.  Stints at various studios, none very successful, led her back onto the vaudeville stage, where she was again tapped for the movies, this time by 20th Century Fox who used her as comic relief for their more refined musical stars like Sonja Henie or Alice Faye.  She became a star in radio on Rudy Vallee’s show, and later had a series of her own which became one of the top-rated shows on radio and made her rich. 

At this point Joan was able to migrate between movie studios, choosing her roles, none of which were perhaps A-level pictures but all of which showcased her athletic hilarity.  Particularly memorable is her appearance in 1942’s Hold That Ghost with Abbott and Costello.  She was also a favorite of Eddie Cantor, and in fact legendary performer Fannie Brice, when asked who should play her in a Brice biography, could only come up with one possible choice:  Joan Davis.  Joan was that well-regarded and beloved in her profession and by the public. 

In the early 1950s Joan turned to TV, where she teamed with her ex-husband Si Wills to create I Married Joan, the story of the bird-brained wife of Judge Bradley Stevens (played by Jim Backus) and her misadventures.  (You probably remember the I Married Joan theme song, even if you don't recall anything else.) Joan tapped her own daughter, Beverly Wills, to play her adult sister, named Beverly.  Beverly had been appearing in small parts in movies and TV since her childhood, and was an able partner in her mother’s comic antics.  The show lasted two years, at which point  the hard-working Joan Davis essentially retired from show business, tired out from her long and successful career.  She divided her time between homes in Bel Air and Palm Springs, where her time was often filled with her two grandchildren from Beverly, and Joan’s elderly mother. 

In 1959 Beverly had a role as one of the supporting musicians in Marilyn Monroe’s all-girl band in the comedy classic Some Like It Hot.  Her personal life was also fascinating; she had been involved with William Bast, one of James’ Dean’s best friends, and reportedly Dean at one point was also closely (possibly romantically) connected with Beverly during their time at UCLA, socializing with her and her famous mother in Hollywood. 

But the conclusion of the story of Joan Davis and her daughter Beverly Wills is nothing less than tragic.  In late 1960, Joan’s home was hit by a fire, destroying family photographs and many souvenirs of her long show business career.  The memorabilia of a lifetime went up in smoke.  This shock behind her, in May 1961, while at her Palm Spring’s home, Joan Davis complained of severe back pains and her mother rushed her to Palm Springs’ Desert Hospital.  Those pains were symptoms of a severe heart attack, and Joan died there at the age of 53.  (A word of warning to all women:  we tend to get pains in our backs instead of chest or the left arm, like men do, when we’re having heart attacks. So noted!)   Beverly continued to make occasional film and TV appearances in the years after the sudden and early death of her mother, including roles in Jerry Lewis’ The Ladies Man and Disney's Son of Flubber.

And if there hasn’t been enough distress in this story so far, here’s how it ends.  In late October of 1963, while staying at her late mother Joan’s Palm Springs house, with her 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons, and Joan’s mother Nina, a house fire broke out and Beverly, her two sons, and Nina were killed.  That’s it.  Joan Davis’ incredible show business and personal legacy was gone, wiped out. 

Thank goodness that some of the work of Joan Davis and Beverly Wills is easily accessible.  I Married Joan occasionally surfaces on TV, and a few episodes are now on DVD; the same is true for some of Joan’s motion picture output.  There's also a biography available on Joan Davis, written by Ben Ohmart.  You’ll have to look harder for Beverly, but do look for her alongside her mother in I Married Joan and you’ll end up thinking she’s a chip off the old block.  These two talented ladies who lived to make people laugh deserve to be remembered. 

And they are.