Hannah Williams (actress)

Hannah Williams was born in Taylor, Pennsylvania and performed as a young child with her older sister Dorothy as "The Williams Sisters", a singing and dancing vaudeville act. Hannah was aged eight and her sister Dorothy aged ten when they commenced their stage careers. The sisters performed with the Scranton Sirens Orchestra (1923), and achieved early fame on Broadway, New York, when they performed in George White's Scandals of 1924. In Chicago, they performed with the Charley Straight Orchestra in (1925), and with the Ben Pollack Orchestra from 1926 to 1927, and in various Chicago and New York nightclubs and theaters. They were known as the hippest sister act in vaudeville and cabaret.

During the 1920s the Williams Sisters recorded with various orchestras including Ben Pollack's band. In Chicago on December 17, 1926, the Williams Sisters recorded the vocals on ‘He's The Last Word’Voices of the Jazz Age: Profiles of Eight Vintage Jazzmen by Chip Deffaa, publ. University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition (Jun 30, 1992) – Hannah and Dorothy Williams are discussed on pages 162–166 with Ben Pollack and his Californians starring Benny Goodman.{{Citation |title=Ben Pollack And His Orchestra Starring Benny Goodman - 1926-31 |date=1973 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/6464249-Ben-Pollack-And-His-Orchestra-Starring-Benny-Goodman-1926-31 |access-date=2023-11-28 |language=en}} The following day, also in Chicago with Ben Pollack and his Californians, the Williams Sisters recorded ‘Nothing Else Matters Anymore’ and ‘Sam, The Old Accordion Man’ with a piano accompaniment by Wayne Allen. The tracks were released by Victor Records (No. 20452).{{Citation |title=Williams Sisters - Nothing Else Matters Anymore (1926) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXyowmfSjbQ |access-date=2023-11-28 |language=en}}{{Citation |title=Williams Sisters - Sam, The Old Accordion Man (1926) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA8zXI5KCDc |access-date=2023-11-28 |language=en}}

In 1930, Hannah achieved featured billing, along with Fanny Brice and George Jessel in the Broadway musical revue Sweet and Low in which she sang the hit tune "Cheerful Little Earful", which in later years became the song most associated with her. She quit the show in 1931 to marry Roger Wolfe Kahn.Hannah Williams Quits ‘Sweet and Low’; Musical Comedy Actress to Mary Roger Wolfe Kahn, It Is Reported (retrieved 20/10/2020) - New York Times, February 8, 1931, page 26: [https://www.nytimes.com/1931/02/08/archives/hannah-williams-quits-sweet-and-low-musical-comedy-actress-to-marry.html New York Times]

Her only known film appearance was singing "Get Happy" in the short film [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212781/?ref_=tt_ch The Audition] (1933), one of the Warner Brothers series of "Melody Masters" musical shorts. In 1933, Hannah and her new husband Jack Dempsey appeared together in a featured [https://www.britishpathe.com/video/jack-dempsey-with-bride-anna-williams-sic Pathé newsreel].

In 1935, Hannah's husband Jack Dempsey{{Cite web |date=2018-05-04 |title=Jack Dempsey with wife colorized by william19763 on DeviantArt |url=https://www.deviantart.com/william19763/art/Jack-Dempsey-with-wife-colorized-743442538 |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=www.deviantart.com |language=en}} opened his famous Broadway restaurant & bar Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant, which became an institution.

In 1937, Hannah was cast in the Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg musical Hooray for What!The New York Times, July 10, 1937, page 18 – NEWS OF THE STAGE; Hannah Williams Likely to Be in Hurray for What- (report) and performed in the Boston and Philadelphia tryouts, but was replaced before the show opened on Broadway by actress June Clyde.Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbows, and Blues by Edward Jablonski, Northeastern University Press (Aug 31, 1996), {{ISBN|1555532632}}, page 116 – Hannah Williams' role taken over by June Clyde.{{Cite web |date=2013-09-30 |title=hooray for what – Page 4 |url=https://jacksonupperco.com/tag/hooray-for-what/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! |language=en-US}}‘Down With Love’ from Hooray For What: Sheet Music, (1937) with Ed Wynn, Kay Thompson and Hannah Williams: http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/ref/collection/fa-spnc/id/63032{{Cite web |title=I've gone romantic on you [music] / words by E.Y. Harburg ; music by Harold Arlen - Catalogue {{!}} National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/5952328 |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=catalogue.nla.gov.au |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Irvin |first=Sam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CW_6bTRqoxUC&dq=hooray+for+what+musical+hannah+williams&pg=PA66 |title=Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise |date=2011-11-15 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-7654-2 |language=en}}Hannah Williams returning to the stage: report and picture:https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2024904/photography_ProvidedCHO_TopFoto_co_uk_EU056277.html

In 1940, Hannah planned to reignite her stage career. Reports appeared in the press acknowledging her comeback. She also confirmed she would not be using her husband's surname on stage and would go under her maiden name Williams.{{Cite web |date=2017-01-04 |title=On Broadway |url=https://thegrandarchive.wordpress.com/man-about-town-2/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=The Archive |language=en}} Although she went into rehearsals, her planned comeback was temporarily halted, due to her marriage commitments. Her return to the stage did finally take place three years later, in 1943 upon her divorce from Dempsey. She opened in vaudeville and made various nightclub appearances, including at New York's chic Riobamba.{{Cite web |title=New York, NY- Hannah Williams, recently divorced from ex-heavyweight... |url=https://www.gettyimages.fi/detail/uutiskuva/new-york-ny-hannah-williams-recently-divorced-from-ex-uutiskuva/515181066 |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=Getty Images |language=en-us}}

In 1947, Hannah recorded with the bandleader Tommy Dorsey and his Clambake Seven, laying down the vocals on ‘But I Do Mind If Ya Don't’ and ‘That's Life; I Guess’. The songs were released by RCA Victor Records (release No. 20-2320).{{Citation |title=Tommy Dorsey And His Clambake Seven - But I Do Mind If Ya Don't / That's Life; I Guess |date=1947 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/3601330-Tommy-Dorsey-And-His-Clambake-Seven-But-I-Do-Mind-If-Ya-Dont-Thats-Life-I-Guess |access-date=2023-11-28 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6h8EAAAAMBAJ&dq=Tommy+Dorsey+And+His+Clambake+Seven+%E2%80%8E%E2%80%93+But+I+Do+Mind+If+You+Don%27t+%2F+That%27s+Life%3B+I+Guess&pg=PA34 |title=Billboard |date=1947-05-31 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |language=en}}

File:Jack Dempsey LCCN2016848584.jpg]]

Hannah first married the bandleader and future movie actor Charles Kaley. The marriage was terminated due to her being underage.Unsung Hollywood Musicals of the Golden Era: 50 Overlooked Films and Their ... by Edwin M. Bradley, page 23

She then married bandleader Roger Wolfe Kahn from 1931 through 1933. Hannah went on to have a brief relationship with actor & crooner Russ Colombo who tragically died soon after in a shooting accident. A series of love-letters from Hannah written to Colombo exist and are mentioned in the book Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel: The Uncensored Book Reviews of Classic Images by Laura Wagner.{{Cite book |last=Wagner |first=Laura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsB7DwAAQBAJ&dq=hannah+williams+actress+broadway&pg=PT288 |title=Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel: The Uncensored Book Reviews of Classic Images' Laura Wagner, 2001-2010 |publisher=BearManor Media |language=en}}

Hannah was married to eight-year heavyweight champion boxer Jack Dempsey from 1933 to 1943, with whom she had two children, Joan (1934) and Barbara (1936).{{cn|date=August 2022}} Rare film footage of Hannah and Jack filmed by British Pathé Newsreel in 1933 just after they were married is housed at the British Pathé Historical Archive.British Pathe Historical Archive: Hannah Williams and Jack Dempsey in the kitchen of their home making breakfast:https://www.britishpathe.com/video/jack-dempsey-with-bride-anna-williams-sic/query/jack+dempsey In 1950, she married the Hollywood movie actor and comedian Thomas J. Monaghan,{{cite news|title=Hannah Williams and Thomas J. Monaghan marriage (March 22, 1950) announcement |newspaper=Billboard |date=April 1, 1950 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j_UDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59}}Hannah Williams Married (retrieved 20/10/2020) – New York Times, March 23, 1950 page 34: [https://www.nytimes.com/1950/03/23/archives/hannah-williams-married.html New York Times] only to file for divorce the next year."Hannah Williams Seeks Divorce". The Pomona Progress. May 19, 1951. Her sister Dorothy was married to Dixieland cornet player Jimmy McPartland who was occasionally hired by Roger Wolfe Kahn.

• Williams Sisters Discography: Moanin' Low: A Discography of Female Popular Vocal Recordings, 1920–1933, by Ross Laird.Moanin' Low: A Discography of Female Popular Vocal Recordings, 1920–1933, by Ross Laird, publ. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996 – The Williams Sisters, page 587

• Meyerson, Harold. & Harburg, Ernest, Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz? Yip Harburg, Lyricist, publ. Uni. Michigan Press 1993, {{ISBN|0472104829}}, page 115 (Hooray For What?).
• Williams, Iain Cameron. The KAHNS of Fifth Avenue: the Crazy Rhythm of Otto Hermann Kahn and the Kahn Family, 2022, iwp publishing, {{ISBN|978-1916146587}} - details in-depth Hannah's marriage and divorce to Roger Wolfe Kahn, and Hannah's marriage to Jack Dempsey and gives a comprehensive account of Hannah's career with the Williams Sisters and as a solo performer.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20220225075656/https://www.thekahnsoffifthavenue.com/about The KAHNS of Fifth Avenue book synopsis]}}

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• {{IMDb name|930731|Hannah Williams}}

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Category:1911 births

Category:1973 deaths

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American women comedians

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:20th-century American comedians

Category:Comedians from Pennsylvania