Miriam Wolfe
Encyclopedia
Miriam Wolfe was an American
actor
, director, producer and writer
, who worked in theatre
, television
and radio
from the 1920s to the 1950s. She is mainly remembered for her character roles on radio's weekly Let's Pretend
.
She was born Miriam Wolff in Brooklyn, New York on 2 January 1922 to Belarussian and Ukrainian immigrant parents. She made her professional acting debut at age four, reciting poems and reading stories on The Uncle Gee Bee Kiddie Hour on WGBS, one of New York’s first radio stations.
’s WCBS Saturday morning children's program, Let's Pretend
. She joined the repertory acting company in 1934 and remained with the program well into her adult years, playing spooky witches, wicked and wise queens, good and bad spirits, kind and cruel mothers and stepmothers.
At 12, Wolfe auditioned to succeed the 79-year-old Adelaide Fitz-Allen in the part of the ancient witch-narrator Old Nancy on Alonzo Deen Cole’s The Witch's Tale
(on the Mutual Broadcasting System
). Cole, puzzled at first when he saw a young girl in a straw hat and Buster Brown
haircut, hired her as soon as he heard the spine-chilling, cackling laugh which became her trademark. She played this part for five years, also doubling as other characters and leading women on the show.
Later, Wolfe was heard regularly from New York and Hollywood on Fletcher Markle
’s Studio One and Ford Theater (CBS Network). There, she worked with actors such as Lucille Ball
, Ingrid Bergman
, Montgomery Clift
and Marlene Dietrich
. She was also heard on American School of the Air, Mystery Hall, Casey, Crime Photographer
and Suspense
. In the early 1940s, she directed and starred in numerous radio soap operas on WGR
and WKBW in Buffalo.
In the 1950s, Wolfe became a weekly regular on The Rayburn & Finch Comedy Hour and Popeye the Sailor (CBS Network), where she played both Olive Oyl
and the Sea Hag for several seasons. She was featured in the U.S. Army production of So Proudly We Hail!
, starring film and stage actor Lee Tracy
. In 1952, as a regular on the television version of Studio One, Wolfe played the Virgin Mary in Markle’s television production of the medieval mystery play The Nativity, one of the few times that such a play has been presented on commercial network television.
and became active as a performer, writer and director with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(CBC). While at CBC she co-authored, produced, directed and played all the roles in the children’s series, Miss Switch, and adapted, directed and played all the roles in a one-woman radio version of Paul Bowles
’ You Are Not I. She was also featured on many CBC commercials, comedy hours and dramas. For Canadian television, she performed featured, leading and starring roles on Wayne and Shuster
, Ford Star Time, General Motors Presents and several other well-regarded programs.
, a Hollywood production of Tennessee Williams
’ The Rose Tattoo
and a Toronto Crest Theatre production of Eugene O'Neill
’s Ah, Wilderness!
She was elected a member of the Board of the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Actors (ACTRA
) in 1958-59.
In 1959, she married Canadian John Forrest Mackay Ross. The couple had a child and moved to Paris, where they resided from 1961 to 1980 and where she conducted a series of improvisational workshops.
Upon her return to Toronto
, Wolfe concentrated on writing and teaching, developing an original method of teaching the English language and its pronunciation, which later formed the basis of her book, Listening to Language: The Sounds of English. Wolfe also learned Blissymbolics, wrote teachers’ guides and directed a weekly workshop for the Ontario Gifted Children’s Program. She also worked with the Young People's Theatre. Her involvement with performance continued through her membership from 1981 to 1986 on the Board of the ACTRA Awards.
On September 29, 2000, Miriam Wolff Ross died at her home in Toronto, of breast cancer.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, director, producer and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, who worked in theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
from the 1920s to the 1950s. She is mainly remembered for her character roles on radio's weekly Let's Pretend
Let's Pretend
This article is on the US radio series. For the UK TV series see Let's Pretend .Let's Pretend, created and directed by Nila Mack , was a long-run CBS radio series for children....
.
She was born Miriam Wolff in Brooklyn, New York on 2 January 1922 to Belarussian and Ukrainian immigrant parents. She made her professional acting debut at age four, reciting poems and reading stories on The Uncle Gee Bee Kiddie Hour on WGBS, one of New York’s first radio stations.
Radio roles
Wolfe is best remembered for her diverse roles on Nila MackNila Mack
Nila Mack was the creator and director of Let's Pretend, the long-running CBS radio series for children. She was the Director of Children's Programs for CBS from 1930 to 1953....
’s WCBS Saturday morning children's program, Let's Pretend
Let's Pretend
This article is on the US radio series. For the UK TV series see Let's Pretend .Let's Pretend, created and directed by Nila Mack , was a long-run CBS radio series for children....
. She joined the repertory acting company in 1934 and remained with the program well into her adult years, playing spooky witches, wicked and wise queens, good and bad spirits, kind and cruel mothers and stepmothers.
At 12, Wolfe auditioned to succeed the 79-year-old Adelaide Fitz-Allen in the part of the ancient witch-narrator Old Nancy on Alonzo Deen Cole’s The Witch's Tale
The Witch's Tale
For the video game with a similar name, see A Witch's Tale.The Witch's Tale was a horror-fantasy radio series which aired from 1931 to 1938 on WOR and Mutual and in syndication. The program was created, written and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole, who was born February 22, 1897 in St...
(on the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
). Cole, puzzled at first when he saw a young girl in a straw hat and Buster Brown
Buster Brown
Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault who was known for his association with the Brown Shoe Company. This mischievous young boy was loosely based on a boy near Outcault's home in Flushing, New York...
haircut, hired her as soon as he heard the spine-chilling, cackling laugh which became her trademark. She played this part for five years, also doubling as other characters and leading women on the show.
Later, Wolfe was heard regularly from New York and Hollywood on Fletcher Markle
Fletcher Markle
Fletcher Markle was a Canadian actor, screenwriter, television producer and director.Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Markle began his career in the early 1940s in Vancouver, British Columbia doing radio dramas with a group whose members included John Drainie, Lister Sinclair, Bernie Braden and Alan...
’s Studio One and Ford Theater (CBS Network). There, she worked with actors such as Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
, Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
and Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
. She was also heard on American School of the Air, Mystery Hall, Casey, Crime Photographer
Casey, Crime Photographer
Casey, Crime Photographer was a media franchise, in the 1930s through the 1960s...
and Suspense
Suspense (radio program)
-Production background:One of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" and focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era...
. In the early 1940s, she directed and starred in numerous radio soap operas on WGR
WGR
WGR, or WGR Sports Radio 550, is an all sports radio station in Buffalo, New York that broadcasts on 550 AM. It is the flagship station of the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bandits, and is currently the only full-time sports talk station in the city of Buffalo. Its studios are located in Amherst,...
and WKBW in Buffalo.
In the 1950s, Wolfe became a weekly regular on The Rayburn & Finch Comedy Hour and Popeye the Sailor (CBS Network), where she played both Olive Oyl
Olive Oyl
Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929...
and the Sea Hag for several seasons. She was featured in the U.S. Army production of So Proudly We Hail!
So Proudly We Hail!
So Proudly We Hail! is a 1943 film directed by Mark Sandrich, and starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard – who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance – and Veronica Lake...
, starring film and stage actor Lee Tracy
Lee Tracy
William Lee Tracy was an American actor.- Early life :Tracy was born in Atlanta, Georgia.After graduating from Western Military Academy in 1918 he studied electrical engineering at Union College, and then served as a 2nd lieutenant in World War I. In the early 1920s he decided to work as an actor...
. In 1952, as a regular on the television version of Studio One, Wolfe played the Virgin Mary in Markle’s television production of the medieval mystery play The Nativity, one of the few times that such a play has been presented on commercial network television.
CBC
In 1956, Wolfe moved to CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and became active as a performer, writer and director with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(CBC). While at CBC she co-authored, produced, directed and played all the roles in the children’s series, Miss Switch, and adapted, directed and played all the roles in a one-woman radio version of Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
’ You Are Not I. She was also featured on many CBC commercials, comedy hours and dramas. For Canadian television, she performed featured, leading and starring roles on Wayne and Shuster
Wayne and Shuster
Wayne and Shuster were a Canadian comedy duo formed by Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster. They were active professionally from the early 1940s until the late 1980s....
, Ford Star Time, General Motors Presents and several other well-regarded programs.
Films
During her career, Wolfe worked as a scriptwriter, dubbed more than 50 films and cartoons, appeared in films and made recordings. Notable stage performances include the Broadway production of Make Momma Happy with Molly PiconMolly Picon
Molly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller....
, a Hollywood production of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
’ The Rose Tattoo
The Rose Tattoo
- External links :*...
and a Toronto Crest Theatre production of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
’s Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness! is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 2 October 1933.-Plot summary:...
She was elected a member of the Board of the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Actors (ACTRA
ACTRA
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists is a Canadian labour union representing performers in English-language media. It has 22,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media....
) in 1958-59.
In 1959, she married Canadian John Forrest Mackay Ross. The couple had a child and moved to Paris, where they resided from 1961 to 1980 and where she conducted a series of improvisational workshops.
Upon her return to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Wolfe concentrated on writing and teaching, developing an original method of teaching the English language and its pronunciation, which later formed the basis of her book, Listening to Language: The Sounds of English. Wolfe also learned Blissymbolics, wrote teachers’ guides and directed a weekly workshop for the Ontario Gifted Children’s Program. She also worked with the Young People's Theatre. Her involvement with performance continued through her membership from 1981 to 1986 on the Board of the ACTRA Awards.
On September 29, 2000, Miriam Wolff Ross died at her home in Toronto, of breast cancer.
Awards
In 1981 Wolfe received an award from Friends of Old Time Radio USA for her contribution to Radio’s Golden AgeOld-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
.
External links
- Obituary, The New York Times, October 5, 2000