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June Havoc

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Not to be confused with June Haver.

June Havoc
Havoc in the 1950s
Born
Ellen June Evangeline Hovick

November 8, 1912[1]
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
DiedMarch 28, 2010 (aged 97)
Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, dancer, director, writer
Years active1918–1990
Spouse(s)Bobby Reed (a.k.a. Welson Hyde)
(m. 1928; div. 193?)
Donald S. Gibbs
​
​
(m. 1935; div. 1942)​

​
​
(m. 1948; died 1973)​
Children1
Parent(s)John Olaf Hovick
Rose Thompson Hovick
RelativesGypsy Rose Lee (sister)

June Havoc (born Ellen June Evangeline Hovick,[2] (November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010)[3][4] was a Canadian American actress, dancer, writer, and stage director.[5]

Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick.[6] She later acted on Broadway and in Hollywood, and stage-directed, both on and off-Broadway. She last appeared on television in 1990 in a story arc on the soap opera General Hospital. Her elder sister Louise gravitated to burlesque and became the well-known striptease performer Gypsy Rose Lee.

Early life

She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada sometime in the 1910s, in Jewish Family[7][8] For many years, however, 1916 was cited as her year of birth. Havoc acknowledged in her later years that 1912 was likely the correct year.

She was reportedly uncertain of the year. Her mother forged various birth certificates for both her daughters to evade child labor laws.[5] Her life-long career in show business began when she was a child, billed as "Baby June."[9]

Her sister, entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee (born as Rose Louise Hovick), was called "Louise" by her family members. Their parents were Rose Thompson Hovick, of German descent, and John Olaf Hovick (c. 1885-1952), the son of Norwegian immigrants, who worked as an advertising agent and reporter at The Seattle Times.[4][10]

Career

Vaudeville

November 13, 1927 ad in The Decatur Review

Following their parents' divorce, the two sisters earned the family's income by appearing in vaudeville, where June's talent often overshadowed Louise's. Baby June got an audition with Alexander Pantages (1876–1936), who had come to Seattle, Washington in 1902 to build theaters up and down the west coast of the United States. Soon, she was launched in vaudeville and also appeared in Hollywood movies. She could not speak until the age of three, but the films were all silent. She would cry for the cameras when her mother told her that the family's dog had died.[11]

In December 1928, Havoc, in an effort to escape her overbearing mother, eloped with Bobby Reed, a boy in the vaudeville act. Weeks later after performing at the Jayhawk Theatre in Topeka, Kansas on December 29, 1928, Rose reported Reed to the Topeka Police, and he was arrested. Rose had a concealed gun on her when she met Bobby at the police station. She pulled the trigger, but the safety was on. She then physically attacked her soon-to-be new son-in-law, and the police had to pry her off the hapless Reed. June soon married him, leaving both her family and the act. The marriage did not last, but the two remained on friendly terms.

Film and stage

She adopted the surname Havoc, a variant of her birth name. In 1936, Havoc got her first part on Broadway in the Sigmund Romberg operetta Forbidden Melody. In 1940, she gave a show-stopping performance as Gladys Bumps in the Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey, with Gene Kelly in the lead role and Van Johnson. Based on their success, Havoc, Johnson and Kelly were beckoned by Hollywood. Havoc made her first film in 1942, and she began to alternate film roles with returns to the Broadway stage. From 1942 to 1944, Havoc appeared in 11 films, including My Sister Eileen with Rosalind Russell, No Time For Love with Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray and Hello, Frisco, Hello with Alice Faye and John Payne. She then returned to Broadway, co-starring with Bobby Clark, in the Cole Porter musical Mexican Hayride, for which she received the Donaldson Award for best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a musical. That was followed by the musical Sadie Thompson. In 1945, Havoc was featured in the film Brewster’s Millions and starred in The Ryan Girl on Broadway. Havoc's best remembered film role was probably as the Jewish, yet antisemitic, secretary in the Elia Kazan Oscar-winning film Gentleman's Agreement.[12]

Havoc and her sister continued to get demands for money and gifts from their mother until her death in 1954.[3]After their mother's death, the sisters then were free to write about her without risking a lawsuit. Lee's memoir, titled Gypsy, was published in 1957 and was taken as inspirational material for the Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents Broadway musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable. Havoc did not like the way she was portrayed in the piece, which became a source of contention between the two, but gave her agreement in her sister's financial interest. Havoc and Lee reportedly were estranged for more than a decade, but reconciled shortly before Lee's death in 1970.[13]

In 1959, Havoc's first memoir, Early Havoc, was published. In the memoir, Havoc recounted her life from childhood to 1933, when she first competed in a marathon dance contest. The chapters alternated from a chronological progression to a description of the grueling marathon dance contest, detailing the desperation and degradation she experienced and observed.[14] At the time of the book's publication, Havoc was appearing on Broadway in the play The Warm Peninsula, co-starring Julie Harris and Farley Granger. Harris read the memoir, and was so taken with the dance contest chapters that she urged Havoc to write a play based upon that experience.[15] At first she demurred, never having written a play. However, Harris persisted, and when she said that she would star as Havoc's character in the play, Havoc was finally persuaded to write the play.[16] Upon completion, the play Marathon ’33 was performed in a workshop at the Actors Studio.[17] David Merrick optioned the play for Broadway; however, when he demanded that another playwright work with Havoc to revise the play, she refused. Havoc then planned to present Marathon '33 in an actual dance hall, the Riviera Terrace ballroom near Columbia University.[18] However, when the ballroom was sold, she agreed to present her play on Broadway.[19] As director and choreographer, Havoc turned the stage at the ANTA Theatre into a dance hall.[20] Marathon '33 opened on December 22, 1963 and ran for 48 performances, closing on February 1, 1964.[21] The play featured 34 actors, several of whom went on to highly successful careers, including Doris Roberts, Joe Don Baker, Conrad Janis, Gabriel Dell and Ralph Waite.[22] The play earned four Tony nominations, including nominations for Havoc for best direction of a play and for Harris as best actress in a play.[23] Havoc wrote one more play, I, Said The Fly; the book and lyrics for a musical, Oh Glorious Tintinnabulation; as well as a second memoir, More Havoc.

In 1995, Havoc made her last stage appearance at age 82 as the title character in The Old Lady’s Guide to Survival at the Off-Broadway Lamb's Theater. Her performance was cited as one of the season's five best by an actress in a primary role by the editors of The Best Plays of 1994–1995.[24]

Television and radio

Havoc performed intermittently on the radio in the 1940s and early 1950s. Her performances ranged from the full-length plays, such as Golden Boy on the prestigious Theater Guild on the Air and Skylark on NBC Best Plays, to the more popular mystery program Suspense.

In the 1950s, Havoc was a frequent performer on the anthology television series, both filmed, such as General Electric Theater, and live, such as the Emmy Award-winning Robert Montgomery Presents and Omnibus. She starred in a weekly half hour series Willy during the 1954 – 1955 television season.[25]In some rsepects, the show was ahead of its time in that Havoc's character, Willa “Willy” Dodger, was an unmarried lawyer with her own legal practice in a small New England town.[25]Lucille Ball had encouraged her to star in a weekly series, and the show was a Desilu production.[25] Like I Love Lucy, Willy show was filmed before a live studio audience.[25]Her husband, William Spier, was the producer.[25] Willy was broadcast on CBS at 10:30 p.m. on Saturdays opposite the popular NBC series, Your Hit Parade, and the show only lasted one season.

In the 1960s into 1990, Havoc appeared occasionally on such successful television series as The Untouchables, Murder She Wrote, McMillan & Wife, The Paper Chase, and The Outer Limits, as well as an arc on the popular soap opera General Hospital.

Personal life

Havoc was married three times. Her first marriage, at age 16, was in December 1928 to Bobby Reed, a boy in her vaudeville act.[13][26] Her second marriage was in 1935 was to Donald S. Gibbs; they later divorced. Her third marriage, to radio and television director and producer William Spier (1906–1973), lasted from January 25, 1948 until his death.[5] Havoc's sister Gypsy Rose Lee died of lung cancer in 1970, aged 59, and is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. June's only child was a daughter, April Rose Hyde, born on April 2,1935, in New York City.[27] A marriage license, dated November 30, 1928 for Ellen Hovick and Weldon Hyde, would seem to indicate that Bobby Reed's real name was Weldon Hyde.[28][29] However, in her second memoir More Havoc, Havoc suggested that the father of her daughter was a marathon dance promoter.[30] This suggestion seems credible since she had separated from her first husband before she entered her first marathon dance contest in 1933. April became an actress in the 1950s known as April Kent. She was best known for her portrayal of the wife in the science fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man.[27] April predeceased her mother, dying in Paris in 1998.[27][13]

In 1947, Havoc was a member of the Committee for the First Amendment (the "First Amendment Committee"), founded by Philip Dunne, Myrna Loy, John Huston and William Wyler, to support the "Hollywood Ten" during the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee ("HUAC"), investigating Communist infiltration of the film industry.[31] The HUAC's investigation had been prompted, in part, by the film Gentleman's Agreement, in which Havoc coincidentally had played a supporting role. Producer Daryl F. Zanuck and director Elia Kazan were called to testify before the committee. Actors Anne Revere and John Garfield were also called. When Revere refused and Garfield refused to “name names” during his testimony, they were both placed in the Red Channels of the Hollywood Blacklist.

On October 27, 1947, Havoc flew by chartered plane with other members, including Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, to Washington, D.C. to protest and attend the hearings. The First Amendment Committee also sponsored two pre-recorded network radio broadcasts, Hollywood Fights Back, on October 26 and November 2, 1947, in which Havoc and other members voiced their opposition to the HUAC hearings and the existence of the HUAC itself.[32] The members, including Havoc, walked to the Capitol, and the HUAC hearings were recessed.[33] Rep. J. Parnell Thomas, the HUAC chairman, reportedly stated that the recess was due to a "communist invasion."[34] On November 24, 1947, Congress voted to hold the "Hollywood 10" in contempt. Not only were the protests unsuccessful, but the First Amendment Committee and its members were viewed with suspicion. Suspicions were heightened when Sterling Hayden, a member, acknowledged that he was briefly a member of the Communist Party, albeit "a romantic Communist."[31]While West Coast studio executives were sympathetic to the actors, the East Coast investors were not. As a result, some of the participating actors, such as Edward J. Robinson, reportedly experienced career downturns with fewer if any film roles being offered."[30] It is unknown whether Havoc's film career was affected. However, the fact that she had prominent roles in three films in 1948 and three films in 1949 would suggest otherwise.

In 1967, Havoc founded Youthbridge, a program that provided theatrical training to adolescents, primarily African American adolescents, at the Bridgeport, Connecticut YWCA. She was the executive and artistic director of the Youthbridge program and participated in fund raising events.[35]

In the mid-1970s, Havoc purchased an abandoned train depot and various 19th-century buildings on eight acres of land in Wilton, Connecticut called Cannon Crossing. Restoring, rebuilding and re-purposing several small buildings from other locations, she worked hands-on and successfully completed this vast restoration project, which remains a popular destination today. It is home to artisan shops, galleries, boutiques, a cafe and a restaurant. Havoc sold the enclave in 1989.[36]

A long-time resident of Fairfield County (Weston, Wilton and lastly North Stamford) Connecticut, Havoc was fiercely devoted to the care and well-being of animals. Her homes were a nurturing and loving sanctuary to many orphaned geese, donkeys, cats, and dogs over the decades.[36]

Havoc was a Democrat and supported Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election.[37]

Death

Havoc died at her home in Stamford, Connecticut, on March 28, 2010, from unspecified natural causes. She was believed to be 97 at the time of her death.[5][38]

Honors

Havoc received the Donaldson Award for best supporting actress in a musical comedy (Mexican Hayride) in the 1943 – 1944 Broadway season.[39]

In 1960, Havoc was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one at 6618 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the motion picture industry, and the other at 6413 Hollywood Boulevard for television.[40][41]

Havoc was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 1964 for Marathon '33,[42] which she wrote.

In 1971, Havoc received a Humanitarian Award from Bridgeport University, Bridgeport, Connecticut.[43]

In 2000, Havoc was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.[44]

Legacy

The June Havoc Theatre, housed at the Abingdon Theatre in New York City, was named for her in 2003.[45][46]

June Havoc was the first American woman nominated for a Tony Award for direction of a play.[47]

In his autobiography Original Story, Arthur Laurents reports that June Havoc refused to sign a release for any claim regarding the content of the musical Gypsy. Havoc demanded that his script state that she was 13 years old when she left the vaudeville act and eloped with one of the dancers. Laurents explains that he objected to Havoc's demand because the audience would lose any sympathy for the character of her mother Rose. He indicates that while the musical was in tryouts out of town, he altered the script, changing the name of Havoc's character from Dainty June to Dainty Claire. He states that as a result, Havoc signed the release, and her character's name was restored to Dainty June.[48]

In her one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Elaine Stritch recalled that after the closing of the play Time of the Barracudas on the West Coast, she returned to New York and landed a leading role in the play Oh Glorious Tintinnabulation. Stritch recounted that the play was written and directed by June Havoc and scheduled for performance at the Lincoln Center Theater. According to Stritch, during dress rehearsal Havoc told Stritch that "it just wasn't working out." Stritch added that she went home and that Havoc assumed the role she had been playing. She noted that this incident resulted in an article by Lee Israel, in which Stritch criticized directors, published in The New York Times, which led to her casting in the musical Company.[49]

Havoc's papers are held in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University, and a 28-page inventory is accessible online.[50]

Selected Stage Work

(All shows on Broadway unless indicated otherwise.)

Acting

Directing

  • Marathon '33 (1963)
  • Royal Flush (1965) (pre-Broadway tryout)
  • Oh Glorious Tintinnabulation (1974) The Actors Studio
  • A Delicate Balance (1967) Mineola Theatre & Tappan Zee Playhouse
  • Black Comedy / White Lies (1968) Mineola Theatre

Artistic Director of The Repertory Theater of New Orleans (1969–71)

Select filmography

Features

Short subjects

Selected television work

Selected radio work

Recordings

Literary works

Plays

  • Marathon '33 (1963)
  • I, Said The Fly (1973)
  • Oh Glorious Tintinnabulation (1974) book and lyrics by June Havoc and music by Cathy MacDonald

Books

References

  1. ^ Many sources cite 1913 but Havoc in her late years endorsed the earlier year, although a copy of her birth certificate has not been made available.
  2. ^ Some sources indicate she was born Ellen Evangeline Hovick.
  3. ^ a b Beck, Kathrine K. (April 8, 2004). "Historylink.org". Historylink.org. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Frankel, Noralee (2009). Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-536803-1. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d Gates, Anita (March 29, 2010). "June Havoc, Vaudeville Star, Is Dead". The New York Times. June Havoc ... died on Sunday at her home in Stamford, Conn. She was believed to be 97. ... Ellen Evangeline Hovick was born on Nov. 8, 1912, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Or so Ms. Havoc concluded. Her mother reportedly carried five birth certificates for her younger daughter, to satisfy the child labor laws of every state, so June wasn't sure exactly how old she was. ...
  6. ^ McLellan, Dennis (March 29, 2010). "Los Angeles Times obituary". Latimes.com. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  7. ^ "Ancestry Library Edition". www.ancestrylibrary.com.
  8. ^ "Ancestry Library Edition". search.ancestrylibrary.com.
  9. ^ Klein, Alvin (March 5, 1995). "June Havoc, Off Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved May 9, 2006.
  10. ^ Preminger, Erik Lee (2004) [1984]. My G-String Mother: At Home and Backstage with Gypsy Rose Lee. Berkeley, California: Frog. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-58394-096-9.
  11. ^ Havoc, June (1959). Early Havoc. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 20. OCLC 721747.
  12. ^ IMDb.com, June Havoc, retrieved July 9, 2020.
  13. ^ a b c Simonson, Robert (March 28, 2010). "June Havoc, Stage Star Whose Life Became Legend in Gypsy, Dies at 96". Playbill. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  14. ^ Havoc, June (1959). Early Havoc. Simon and Schuster, pp. 1–27.
  15. ^ Playbill, vol. 1 (January 1964) No. 1, Marathon ’33, p. 38.
  16. ^ Ibid.
  17. ^ Ibid.
  18. ^ Filichia, Peter (2015). The Great Parade: Broadway's Astonishing Never-To-Be-Forgotten 1963–1964 Season. St. Martin's Press, p. 183.
  19. ^ Ibid.
  20. ^ Ibid.
  21. ^ Klein, Alvin (November 6, 1983). "The Lively Arts; Theater Bows With 'Marathon'33'". The New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  22. ^ Playbill, vol. 1 (January 1964) No. 1, Marathon ’33, pp. 23–27.
  23. ^ Filichia, Peter (2015). The Great Parade: Broadway's Astonishing Never-To-Be-Forgotten 1963–1964 Season. St. Martin's Press, pp. 267–268
  24. ^ Guernsey, Jr., Otis L. and Jeffrey Sweet (1995). The Best Plays of 1994–1995. Limelight Editions, p. 28.
  25. ^ a b c d e "Havoc's Here," TV Guide October 30, 1954, pp. 16-17.
  26. ^ Aaker, Everett (2013) George Raft: The Films. McFarland, pg. 130; ISBN 0786493135
  27. ^ a b c April Kent at IMDb
  28. ^ Dates of birth and death of April Kent, familysearch.org; accessed August 6, 2014.
  29. ^ "The real June is still singing out". The New York Times. August 10, 2003. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  30. ^ Havoc, June (1980). More Havoc. Harper & Row, Publishers. pp. 133–134.
  31. ^ a b Connolly, Kieron (2014). A Dark History: Hollywood. A Century of Greed, Corruption, and Scandal Behind the Movies. London, England: Amber Books Co. ISBN 978-1782741091. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  32. ^ youtube.com1watch?v+i6HpeyPjYxl;youtube.com1watch?v+5ZLmUlgbCEO&+=1238s, accessed on June 18–19, 2020.
  33. ^ Ibid.
  34. ^ Ibid.
  35. ^ Mahalia Gives a Big Boost to Youthbridge TV Show," The Bridgeport Post (Bridgeport, CN), August 12, 1971.
  36. ^ a b Klein, Alvin, "THEATER; June Havoc, Off Stage", article, The New York Times, March 5, 1995, retrieved July 9 2020.
  37. ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
  38. ^ "June Havoc, Actress Who Outgrew Tyranny of Her 'Momma Rose', Dies". Today.com. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  39. ^ "Havoc's Here" TV Guide October 30, 1954, pp. 16-17.
  40. ^ "June Havoc - Hollywood Walk of Fame". www.walkoffame.com.
  41. ^ June Havoc, L.A. Times Hollywood Star Walk; accessed January 17, 2017.
  42. ^ "1964 Tony Award Winners". broadwayworld.com. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  43. ^ "Humanitarian Reward from University of Bridgeport," The Bridgeport Telegram (Bridgeport, CT), May 19, 1971
  44. ^ "Theater family comes together to celebrate Hall of Fame honorees". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  45. ^ "Abingdon Theatre Company, June Havoc Theatre". NYC Music Spaces. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2006.
  46. ^ Entertainment editors (November 3, 2003). "Actress-Director-Playwright June Havoc Honored by Abingdon Theatre Company with Naming of Theatre Tonight". Business Wire. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2006. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  47. ^ Tony Award nominees for direction @tonyawards.com. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  48. ^ Laurents, Arthur (2000). Original Story, Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 388–390.
  49. ^ Elaine Stritch at Liberty (2002). Act II. 2 CDs recorded live DRG Records 12994.
  50. ^ http://archives.bu.edu/finding-aid/finding_aid_329821.pdf accessed on August 5, 2020.
  51. ^ The Paper Chase, Season 1, Episode 19: "The Clay-Footed Idol" (YouTube)
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