Adelaide Klein

Klein was born in New York City on July 8, 1900.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/25/arts/memorial-service-scheduled-for-adelaide-klein-actress.html|title=Memorial Service Scheduled For Adelaide Klein, Actress|newspaper=The New York Times |date=25 March 1983 |access-date=2018-09-14|language=en}} While she attended Julia Richman High School, she prepared for a career in business but also was exposed to drama. After graduation, she began working as a secretary.{{cite news |last1=Mara |first1=Margaret |title=Real Life Mothers Seek Guidance From a Movie 'Mom' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49959901/adelaide-klein/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=May 6, 1948 |location=New York, Brooklyn |page=17|via = Newspapers.com}}

Klein began her radio as a singer in the late 1920s. However, demand for her talents with dialect and as a character actress led her to acting full-time by 1933.{{cite news |title=What Does the Listener Want In Programs? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23599620/dayton_daily_news/ |work=Dayton Daily News |date=September 10, 1933 |location=Ohio, Dayton |page=13|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = September 9, 2018}} {{Open access}} She performed in a variety of radio programs, including portraying Hilda, the maid in We, The Abbotts,{{r|rp|page1=349}} Dragon Lady in Terry and the Pirates,{{r|rp|page1=328}} Agatha Meek in Meet Mr. Meek,{{r|rp|page1=224}} and a Russian countess in The House on Q Street.{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows|date=1999|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7864-4513-4|page=158}} She also was heard in Sometime Before Morning.{{Cite book|url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810853232/Historical-Dictionary-of-American-Radio-Soap-Operas|title=Historical Dictionary of American Radio Soap Operas|language=en-us}} Klein mastered use of 12 dialects in radio performances.{{cite news |title=Radio 'mother' described role |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49963258/adelaide-klein/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=Arizona Daily Star |date=June 13, 1937 |location=Arizona, Tucson |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}}

Klein performed in a USO production of Blithe Spirit during World War II. Broadway shows in which she appeared included Double Dummy (1936), Brooklyn, U.S.A. (1941), Uncle Harry (1942), Collector's Item (1952), The Immoralist (1954), Once Upon a Tailor (1955), Jane Eyre (1958), and Marathon '33 (1963).{{cite web |title=Adelaide Klein |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/adelaide-klein-48263 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=May 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200501021638/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/adelaide-klein-48263 |archive-date=May 1, 2020 |url-status=live }} Her film credits included The Naked City (1948) and The Enforcer (1951).{{cite news |title=Broadway actress in 'The Enforcer' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49988094/adelaide-klein/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=The Newark Advocate |date=March 6, 1951 |location=Ohio, Newark |page=9|via = Newspapers.com}} She was signed to play the role of Martha in director Otto Preminger's Where the Sidewalk Ends and scenes were shot in New York City, but the role was ultimately played by another actress.{{Citation needed |date=May 2020}}

On television, Klein portrayed the landlady on the situation comedy Two Girls Named Smith (1951).{{r|slts|page1=25}} She also had roles on other TV shows, including The Boris Karloff Mystery Playhouse (1949), Studio One in Hollywood (1949), The Ford Theatre Hour (1950), and The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse (1950).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Sy1CgAAQBAJ&q=%22Adelaide+Klein%22&pg=PA25|title=Short-Lived Television Series, 1948–1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops|last1=Hyatt|first1=Wesley|date=2003|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786414208|pages=25–26|language=en|access-date=10 September 2018}}

In the mid-1940s, Klein was active in the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) and served as a delegate for New York at national conferences in 1943 and 1944.{{Cite journal|date=September 9, 1944|title=The Billboard AFRA Convention Pix|journal=The Billboard|pages=13|via=Google Books}} Klein was one of 56 delegates for New York at national conferences in 1943 and 1944, where she worked with others, including Donna Keath, Minerva Pious, Ann Shepherd, Selena Royle, and Hester Sondergaard.{{Cite journal|last=Frohlich|first=Shirley|date=April 17, 1943|title=Air Fraternity Gathers Coin from Field Which Once Gave Mikes Cold Shoulder Routine|journal=The Billboard|pages=1|via=Google Books}}

Along with Keath, Pious, Shepherd, Royle, Sondergaard, Klein was listed in the blacklisting publication, Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television in 1950. She continued to perform in theatre, but television roles dried up as a consequence of Klein being labelled a communist.{{cite book |author1=((American Business Consultants))|author1-link=Red Channels#Counterattack |title=Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television|date=1950 |publisher=Counterattack |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MNpQQAACAAJ}}

Klein married Louis S. Wettels in Manhattan in the late 1920s. She later married Norman Annenberg. Klein died of a brain tumor on March 18, 1983, at the age of 82.

• Double Dummy (November 11, 1936 – December 1936)
• Brooklyn, U.S.A. (December 21, 1941 – February 7, 1942)
• Uncle Harry (May 20, 1942 – May 9, 1943)
• Collector’s Item (February 8, 1952 – February 9, 1952)
• The Immoralist (February 8, 1954 – May 1, 1954)
• Once Upon A Tailor (May 23, 1955 – May 28, 1955)
• Jane Eyre (May 1, 1958 – June 14, 1958)
• Marathon ‘33 (December 22, 1963 – February 1, 1964)

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Category:1900 births

Category:1983 deaths

Category:American radio actresses

Category:American film actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actresses from New York City

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:Julia Richman Education Complex alumni