During her career, she acted in Westerns, a popular genre in the 1940s, as well as family comedies and musicals. In 1951, she appeared in the television series The Cisco Kid.
Hall performed her last acting role in 1952, when she was 28.
Early years
Ellen Hall's mother was the actress Ella Hall, and her father was actor-turned-director Emory Johnson. The couple married in a private ceremony in 1917.[1] After their honeymoon, the newlyweds moved into Johnson's Los Angeles residence, which they shared with his mother, Emilie Johnson. The oldest of Hall's siblings, Emory Waldemar Johnson Jr, was born on January 27, 1919.[2] The Johnson's second child, Alfred Bernard Johnson, was born on September 26, 1920.[3] Ellen Hall was born Ellen Joanna Johnson on April 19, 1923.[4]
In 1924, Ellen's mother filed for divorce, though the couple reconciled in late 1925. In March 1926, a truck fatally struck the five-year-old Alfred while the kids were crossing a busy street in Hollywood. The Johnson couple subsequently had another child—Diana Marie—on October 27, 1929.[5]
Hall's parents eventually divorced in 1930, and Ella and her three children found residence with Ella's mother, who lived in North Hollywood. Ella found work at the upscale department store I. Magnin.[6] In 1932, Emory Johnson declared bankruptcy to reduce his financial obligations towards Ella and their children.[7]
Career
Hall appeared in her first large-scale production when she was 7. Her mother secured roles for Ellen and her 10-year-old brother, Waldmar, in the 1930 Universal production of All Quiet on the Western Front.[8]
In the book, "The Encyclopedia of Feature Players of Hollywood," Hall's brother, Richard Emory, recalled his minor part in the film and their mother's uncredited role as a nurse. He could not remember his sister being present on the set. It is important to note that her brother's recollections of the movie were forty years after its release.[9]
According to another newspaper account, Hall, 9, made her first appearance in front of the cameras with an uncredited role in Mary Pickford's Secrets released on March 16, 1933.[6]
Comedies, glamour and musicals
Horseshoe Girls 1944
Berkeley Girls 1943
"I have always insisted that every Goldwyn Girl look as though she just had stepped out of the bathtub. There must be a kind of radiant, scrubbed cleanliness about them which rules out all artificiality."
Early in his career, Sam Goldwyn traveled to the East Coast. Goldwyn found the New York-based Ziegfeld Follies impressive, and he was particularly impressed by their dazzling chorus line, the Ziegfeld Girls. Appreciating the potential, Goldwyn created a West Coast version of the Chorus line and named them the Goldwyn Girls. From 1930 to 1955, over 200 women moved through the ranks of Goldwyn Girls. While many had successful marriages, others found success in their careers in film and television. Hall was fortunate to have both a successful career and marriage.[12]
At the age of 18, her next film opportunity emerged when she was chosen to play one of the background autograph seekers in the musical comedy "The Chocolate Soldier." The MGM production was starring Nelson Eddy and Risë Stevens and released in November 1941.[13][14]
Besides showcasing her talents in family-oriented musicals, she would gain her marquee status in westerns.
Westerns
Although she found work in other genres, she found her acting niche in B moviewesterns. Often referred to as the "Golden Age of the spurs-and-saddles films" spanning from 1940 to 1960, Hall's affinity for this genre would flourish.[22] Since the Western genre was a constant staple in those days, acting in these types of films represented a source of steady employment. Out of her filmography of twenty movies, she appeared in eight westerns.[23]
Following her 1944 marriage, she started accepting fewer movie roles. 1946 saw the release of Thunder Town featuring Bob Steele.[13][30] Her final Hollywood western was the Monogram Pictures production of Lawless Code released on December 4, 1949. The movie featured Jimmy Wakely and a 26 year old Hall as Rita Caldwell.[13][31]
Interspersed with her 1944 Western roles, she also managed to land a role as the long-dead wife of Bela Lugosi in the 1944 production of Voodoo Man.[13][33]
The 1950s saw Hall's career winding down and her older brother, Richard Emory, beginning the early stages of his acting career. The 1950s also proved to be the Golden Age of Television, during which the medium underwent enormous growth. Television began to vie with motion pictures as a major form of popular entertainment. The same opportunity to act in a new western television series, The Cisco Kid, was presented to Hall and Emory. Hall appeared in three episodes:
Newspaper Crusade aired May 5, 1951
Freight Line Feud aired June 2, 1951
Performance Bond aired June 30, 1951
Although they never acted in the same episode, each of Hall's three appearances was preceded by Emory's performance in the previous week's installment of the popular Western series.[34][35][36]
After her 1945 marriage, Hall acted in six more movies. Hall's last Hollywood film was the 1951 production of the Bowery Battalion featuring The Bowery Boys.[13][37] Her last recorded film is the 1952 PFC production of The Congregation starring Peter Graves and June WhitleyTaylor.[13][38] She retired from making films at the age of 28.
Marriage
Lee Langer, Ann Sheridan, Ellen Hall
"I said to the producers what a horrible thing to do to a G.I. You're going to get every guy in the army all upset, thinking he can marry a movie queen. He doesn't even know what he's getting into."
—Ann Sheridan - explaining her refusal to take part in the 1944 wartime musical Hollywood Canteen[39]
Louella Parsons, the "Queen of Hollywood gossip," wrote in her "In Hollywood" gossip column dated January 26, 1944, "Ann Sheridan, as gay and happy as a lark, was with the Perc Westmore in the Mocambo."[lower-alpha 4] The same column also noted, "Kim Hunter, whose favorite boyfriend is Captain Bill Baldwin, is out with him, Captain Lee Langer, and Orry Kelly at the Mocambo. The two boys have been overseas and soon will be off for other duties"[41]
In the early months of 1943, 28-year-old Ann Sheridan was given the female lead of Nora Bayes in the Warner Bros. production of Shine On, Harvest Moon.[lower-alpha 5] Fast forward to February 1944, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, Sheridan and Ellen Hall collaborated on a scene in the movie. [43] Captain Lee Langer was a Marine fighter pilot who had seen action in the Guadalcanal campaign.[lower-alpha 6] As noted before, Langer had been observed at the Mocambo on the same night as Sheridan.[41] For reasons unknown, Captain Langer appeared on the same movie set where Sheridan and Hall were working together. Sheridan seized upon the opportunity to play matchmaker and introduced Langer to Hall. Hall and Langer immediately connected. They adopted the song Shine On, Harvest Moon and claimed it belongs to them. Two weeks later, Hall and Langer made a significant announcement.
Ellen Joanna Johnson, also known as Ellen Hall, shared the news of her engagement with Nathan Hale Langer, also known as Lee Langer, on Monday, March 13, 1944. At the time of the announcement, Ellen was 20 years old, while Nathan was 25.[52] They planned an early marriage, but ended up waiting almost a year.
On Sunday, December 3, 1944, Ellen Jeane Johnson, 21, married Lee Langer, 25, at an Episcopalian Church located North Hollywood.[53]Rickie VanDusen,19, a fellow Diamond Horseshoe Girl.[54] was Hall's Maid of Honor.[55] Hall's mother, Ella Hall, was a good friend of Mary Pickford.[9] Pickford arranged for the Wedding reception to be held at the Hollywood home of her good friend, Frances Marion. Along with Hall's mother, Pickford was in the Receiving line.[55] A newspaper article describing the wedding referenced her father as "The late Emory Johnson." Father and daughter were estranged at the time.[55] The marriage was filed in Los Angeles, California, on January 11, 1945.[56]
After their marriage, Captain Langer remained on active duty. They moved into a modest three-bedroom Spanish stucco-style home[57] at 4421 Talofa Avenue in Los Angeles.[58] They knew the military could order him to return to the Pacific theater at any time. In June 1945, a news article listed him as "serving with a fighter squadron at a Pacific base."[58] The war in the Pacific would linger until VJ Day on August 15, 1945. The military discharged Langer from active service on February 21, 1946.[59] A son was born to the couple on March 4, 1949. They would remain married until his death in 1995.
Post hollywood
By 1952, she had retired from films. The couple moved to a quiet cul-de-sac in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Raising her son and local volunteer work became her main focus. She was a Motion Picture & Television Fund volunteer group member. She served as its volunteer president from 1969 to 1970.[60]
Her husband became a Hollywood restaurateur. He managed the upscale restaurant Encore Cafe at 806 North La Cienega Boulevard.[61] The restaurant was one of the many upscale diners located on La Cienega Boulevard in an area that became Hollywood's Restaurant Row. In 1951, he also became a Major in the Marine Reserves.[62]
Death
After living in Los Angeles, the couple retired to Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Lee Langer died in 1995 in San Ysidro, San Diego at the age of 76.[63] Langer and Ellen had celebrated 50 years of marriage. After his death, Hall moved to Bellevue, Nebraska. On March 24, 1999, Ellen Hall Langer died of complications from a stroke while residing in Bellevue's Hillcrest Care and Rehabilitation Center. A private service was held in Bellevue. Her ashes were transported West and interred with her mother and sister at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Her estranged father is interred a block away. Ellen Langer was 75 at the time of her death.[64]
Hall's father, Emory Johnson, 66, died in San Mateo, California on April 18, 1960, from burns suffered in a fire.[65] Hall's mother, Ella Hall, 84, was residing in Los Angeles, California at the time of her death on September 3, 1981.[66] Hall's only sister, Diana Marie (Dinie) Johnson, 55, died on November 29, 1984 in Los Angeles, California.[67] Her brother, Emory Waldemar Johnson (Richard Emory), 74, died of a stroke on February 15, 1994, in Moab, Utah.[68]
↑ Ziegfeld did teach Goldwyn a lesson he would carry for the rest of his career, one of the secrets behind the success of the Follies: Women enjoyed looking at beautiful women in beautiful clothes, the glorification of their gender. Goldwyn decided to assemble his own chorus line, which he christened the Goldwyn Girls. He told the press that the criteria were beauty, personality, talent, self-confidence, and ambition. "They must have one other characteristic," Goldwyn later told an interviewer. "I have always insisted that every Goldwyn Girl look as though she just had stepped out of the bathtub. There must be a kind of radiant, scrubbed cleanliness about them which rules out all artificiality."[11]
↑ Hedda Hopper stated in her column: When Sam Goldwin told me he had picked 34 of the most beautiful girls in America for his new color musical "Up in Arms," I was remembering some golden girls of previous years - Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard, Lucille Ball, just to mention a few. I introduced them one by one to the servicemen at Hollywood Canteen, and the boys nearly took off the roof. The 1943 Goldwyn Girls, all our high school graduates, average age 19, some of them have completed college, others are midway in college. Statistics show the girl's average height is 5 foot 5 1/2 inches, and their average weight is 118 pounds . . . Ellen Hall is a Los Angeles girl, daughter of Emery Johnson, Pioneer, Director, writer, and actor in silent film. She's been in pictures three years.[17]
↑ Quoted from the Hedda Hopper column titled - Glamour girls given long-term contracts Musicals make an ideal setting for beauty, as every producer knows. William Perlberg, the 20th-century beauty producer, signed 14 showgirls to a long-term contract, calling them Diamond Horseshoe girls. The girls were hand-picked from 250 color tests of candidates drawn from all over the USA. Perlberg made a claim regarding beauty, "It must have an impact." "Pretty girls are a dime a dozen," he says, "especially in Hollywood. But very few have an impact – it's a combination of beauty, personality, and that intangible something we call magnetism for lack of a better word." Some even go so far as to call it sex appeal. [21]
↑ Established in 1941, the Mocambo nightclub was situated on the iconic Sunset Strip at 8588 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. This Latin American-inspired venue boasted glass enclosures showcasing exotic birds and hosted performances by prominent big bands. Renowned as a premier all-night dancing destination, the Mocambo drew a diverse crowd, including some of Hollywood's most prominent stars. It wasn't uncommon to find the venue filled with the leading men and women of the motion picture industry, solidifying its status as a hotspot for entertainment and glamour.[40]
↑ "Shine On, Harvest Moon" is a Warner Brothers film from 1944 that delves into the musical biographies of Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth, a renowned Vaudeville duo. Warner Brothers filmed the movie between June and September 1943. They released the film on April 8, 1944, after it premiered in New York on March 10, 1944. The film explores their lives and showcases how they collaboratively created the widely loved song "Shine On, Harvest Moon." They also acknowledge Jack Norworth as the Lyricist behind many Tin Pan Alley hits, including the 1908 classic, Take Me Out to the Ball Game.[42]
↑ Nathan Hale "Toots" Langer was born on February 3, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois.[44] His parents were Jewish immigrants who migrated to the United States from Austria in 1910.[45] After earning his diploma from Chicago's Bowen High School he became a student at Bradley Polytechnic Institute located in Peoria, Illinois.[46] According to the details he provided on his Draft Registration card signed on October 16, 1940, he stood at 6 feet, had black hair and brown eyes, and weighed 182 pounds.[47] On September 26, 1941, Langer was 22 yrs old and a second-year student at Bradley when he volunteered for the United States Marine Corps.[48] He secured his commission as a second lieutenant in June 1942.[49]
Lieutenant Langer received his assignment to VMA-124. The marine squadron, VMA-124 (Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 124), was founded on September 2, 1942, and was stationed at Camp Kearny, San Diego, California. The squadron became operational on December 28, 1942, and subsequently deployed to Guadalcanal on February 12, 1943. VMA-124 remained in the Solomon Islands until September 1943.[50]
An article in the Chicago Sunday Tribune dated November 7, 1943, stated Lt. Lee Langer is currently on leave, enjoying some time at home after a ten-month deployment in the South Pacific. During his service, he experienced combat in Munda, New Georgia, and the Russell Islands. While on a strafing mission over Rekata Bay in New Georgia, his plane had a mechanical issue. He was forced to Water landing his corsair three miles off Santa Isabel Island. Lt. Langer reached the island three hours later in his rubber raft, albeit with severe head injuries from navigating coral reefs. In the morning, they dispatched a rescue plane to retrieve the injured pilot for medical treatment. Lieutenant Langer will remain in Chicago until his leave is over. Then, he expects orders to report to El Toro, California as an instructor.[51]
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References
↑ "Ella Hall Takes the Step". Motion Picture News. Motion Picture News, inc. September–October 1917. p.2202. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
↑ "California, Death Index, 1940-1997". California Department of Public Health – Vital Records. 2000. Retrieved January 20, 2024. Diana Marie Moxley died Los Angeles November 29, 1984
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