Mary Jane Higby

The daughter of vaudevillian parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Higby{{cite news|title=When a Girl Marries (continued)|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Tune-In-IDX/IDX/Tune-In-1943-09-OCR-Page-0019.pdf|accessdate=28 May 2016|work=Tune-In|date=September 1943|page=18}} (known professionally as the Higby Players) Mary Jane Higby was born in St. Louis, Missouri, "between a matinee and an evening performance."{{cite news|title=Day Dramatist Tells Story of Odd Debut|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5407170/harrisburg_telegraph/|work=Harrisburg Telegraph|issue=June 8, 1940|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=22|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}} According to a newspaper photograph's caption, "literally she was carried on the stage by her theatrical parents as a prop when she was only 2."{{cite news|title=Reaches Stardom|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5407095/the_evening_news/|work=The Evening News|date=April 18, 1940|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=26|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Perhaps her earliest public performance occurred when she was 5 years old. An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1914 listed Higby as one of "a number of helpful children [who] will give a performance for the benefit of the Post-Dispatch Pure Milk and Free Ice Fund."{{cite news|title=Children Busily Working Now to Save the Babies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5404361/st_louis_postdispatch/|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=May 30, 1914|location=Missouri, St. Louis|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}} A later article cited Higby as one of two "little performers" who were "brought out repeatedly for their excellent work."{{cite news|title=Saturday Matinee Benefit Realizes $28.65 for Babies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5404483/st_louis_postdispatch/|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=June 8, 1914|location=Missouri, St. Louis|page=9|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Higby's radio debut came in 1932 "in singing and dramatic roles."{{cite news|title=The Girl|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5407341/harrisburg_telegraph/|work=Harrisburg Telegraph|date=July 12, 1941|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=25|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}} In 1936, she played Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's Othello on KECA in Los Angeles, California.{{cite news|title=Farnum Will Star in New Adventure Serial Starting Over KHJ Tonight|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5406956/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=January 14, 1936|location=California, San Bernardino|page=10|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}} She also participated in network radio that year as a part of the cast of Death Rides the Highways on NBC.{{cite news|title='Death Rides Highways' on Air Tonight; Hersholt To Broadcast; Carlotta King Opens Own Program|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5406997/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=February 28, 1936|location=California, San Bernardino|page=8|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Higby's signature role was portraying Joan Davis, the female lead on When a Girl Marries, a part she played for 18 years. Her other roles in radio programs included Cynthia in The Romance of Helen Trent{{cite news|title=New Stars Join WHP "Romance of Helen Trent" Cast|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5407419/harrisburg_telegraph/|work=Harrisburg Telegraph|date=February 17, 1945|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=15|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}} and various supporting parts in Perry Mason{{cite news|title=Perry Mason|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5407507/harrisburg_telegraph/|work=Harrisburg Telegraph|date=September 21, 1946|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Higby was also in the cast of Joe Palooka,Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-5149-4}}. P. 350. John's Other Wife,{{r|sies|page1=351}} Joyce Jordan, Girl Interne,{{r|sies|page1=357}} The Listening Post,{{r|sies|page1=399}} Mary Marlin,{{r|sies|page1=426}} Parties at Pickfair,{{r|sies|page1=510}} Stella Dallas{{r|sies|page1=662}} and This Is Nora Drake.{{r|sies|page1=687}}

In the 1970s, Higby once again appeared on network radio, acting in episodes of CBS Radio Mystery Theater.{{cite book|last1=Rhoads|first1=B. Eric|title=Blast from the Past: A Pictorial History of Radio's First 75 Years|date=1996|publisher=Streamline Publishing, Inc.|isbn=1-886745-06-4|page=337|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Bookshelf-IDX/IDX/PQR/Radio's-First-75-Years-Radio-Ink.-OCR-Page-0341.pdf|accessdate=28 May 2016}}

File:Guy Sorel and Mary Jane Higby, June 1953.jpg

Higby appeared in We, the People.{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5407822/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=November 4, 1949|location=New York, Brooklyn|page=29|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Higby "had a Hollywood career as a child actress," primarily acting in silent films for which her father was the director.Reinehr, Robert C. and Swartz, Jon D. (2008). The A to Z of Old-Time Radio. Scarecrow Press, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-7616-3}}. P. 126. As an adult, looking back on her cinematic experience as a child, Higby said, "... the movies frightened me. I was, it seems, always being kidnaped, riding runaway horses or, generally speaking, being yanked around."{{cite journal|last1=Haller|first1=Marie|title=When a Girl Marries|journal=Radio-TV Mirror|date=June 1953|volume=40|issue=1|pages=44–45, 67, 69|url=https://archive.org/stream/radiotvmirr00macf#page/44/mode/2up|accessdate=28 May 2016}}

As an adult, Higby appeared in The Honeymoon Killers.{{cite news|title=(The Honeymoon Killers ad)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5410582/the_ottawa_journal/|work=The Ottawa Journal|date=February 27, 1970|location=Canada, Ottawa, Ontario|page=25|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}}

In 1968, Cowles Publishing Company published Tune in Tomorrow, Higby's account of her life in radio's golden age. A reviewer called the book "a fast, bouncy, information-loaded" description of the era—one that focused on "actors, actresses, sponsors, engineers, agents, writers, sound men, on everything and everybody who made pre-TV radio tick" rather than on herself.{{cite news|last1=Brockman|first1=Zoe|title=Observations About Books|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5410456/the_gastonia_gazette/|work=The Gastonia Gazette|date=August 11, 1968|location=North Carolina, Gastonia|page=47|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Higby married actor Guy Sorel{{cite news|last1=Gerhard|first1=Inez|title=Star Dust|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5407702/shiner_gazette/|work=Shiner Gazette|agency=Western Newspaper Union|date=June 5, 1947|location=Texas, Shiner|page=10|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 28, 2016}} {{Open access}} on January 13, 1945, in New York City, New York.

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Category:1909 births

Category:1986 deaths

Category:American film actresses

Category:American radio actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actresses from St. Louis

Category:20th-century American actresses