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Jane Withers — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Move to Hollywood

After two years of her radio work, Ruth took Jane to Hollywood before her sixth birthday in 1932 to explore opportunities in film. Walter remained in Atlanta, sending them $100 a month on which to live. In Los Angeles, Jane performed on children's shows on KFWB radio, did cartoon voice-overs, and also modeled. She got her first film role as an extra when their neighbor invited her to come along for her daughter's interview for Handle with Care (1932). Withers stood to the side while the other children interviewed with director David Butler. The assistant director came over and asked her why she was not standing with the others. "Sir, I was not invited to the interview. I came with our friends", she replied. The assistant director told her that Butler had seen her and wanted her to interview as well. Handle with Care was Withers's first film appearance, though she and all the children were photographed with their backs to the camera.

Withers subsequently appeared in many films as an uncredited extra, though occasionally she had a line of dialogue. She stood out from the other girls at auditions because of her appearance: she had a Dutchboy bob and preferred tailored clothes to frilly dresses. "Every interview I ever went on I was the only one with a tailored dress, with straight bangs and straight haircut, and no curls and no frills", she recalled. Butler was the first to notice this about her. He told her, "You're different than any other kid that I've ever seen in Hollywood. You've got a special quality and someday you are going to be a famous little star".

Withers was working as an extra on It's a Gift (1934), when W. C. Fields selected her from a group of juvenile extras to do a pantomime hopscotch scene with him. Afterwards, he praised her timing and called over her mother to compliment her on Jane's talent and predict that she would go far.

Withers's big break came two years after she started working as an extra, when she landed a supporting role in the Shirley Temple film Bright Eyes (also 1934), also directed by Butler. On her interview, Butler asked her if she could imitate a machine gun, and she gave it a try. She also charmed the casting director with her impersonations. Her character, Joy Smythe, is spoiled and obnoxious, a perfect foil for Temple's sweet personality. Withers was concerned that filmgoers would hate her for being so mean to Temple, but the film was a box-office hit. Withers said that director Butler confided to her, "You stole the picture".

Former child star Dickie Moore, in his memoir, wrote that Gertrude Temple was very protective of Shirley. While performing together in the film Bright Eyes with Shirley, Jane was prohibited from speaking to Shirley except in character.

After filming wrapped, Withers signed a seven-year contract with Fox Film Corporation. Included in her contract was the right to choose the crew members who would work on her productions. Her crew, dubbed the "Withers Family", worked on all her subsequent films.

After Withers signed her contract with Fox, her mother invested $10,000 into developing additional skills to improve her versatility as an actress, with the intention of spending $20,000 over an eight-year period. This included "ice skating lessons, voice training, horsemanship, dancing, French, Spanish, and swimming lessons".

Child stardom

Withers began filming her first starring vehicle, Ginger (1935), on her ninth birthday. She received two baskets of flowers on the set that day—one from Fields, to whom she had written about her casting in Bright Eyes, and one from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had seen her impersonate him on a newsreel. The same year, she appeared in a brief role in The Farmer Takes a Wife and then starred in This Is the Life. Her day of filming in The Farmer Takes a Wife coincided with Henry Fonda's screen debut, and noticing his nervousness, she encouraged him and offered a prayer for his success.

Throughout the remainder of the 1930s, Withers appeared in three to five films per year. In 1936, she starred in Paddy O'Day, Gentle Julia, Little Miss Nobody, and Pepper. In 1937, she performed in comedies, dramas, and a Western with lead roles in The Holy Terror, Angel's Holiday, Wild and Woolly, Can This Be Dixie?, 45 Fathers, and Checkers. In 1938, she filmed three comedies for Fox: Rascals, Keep Smiling, and Always in Trouble. In 1939 she appeared in four more comedy roles: The Arizona Wildcat, Boy Friend, Chicken Wagon Family, and Pack Up Your Troubles. Withers often received top billing even over other established stars.

Withers did not memorize her lines verbatim, but tried to think about them and draw out the "sense" from them; she often ad-libbed when she lost her way in a scene. A natural mimic, she did impersonations of film celebrities both on and off the set. Twentieth Century Fox studio head Darryl Zanuck reportedly forbade her from doing her Shirley Temple impersonation in public.

Withers freely gave her input to screenwriters and directors. From a young age, she sat in on writers' conferences to suggest changes in dialogue that would be more appropriate for a child to say. She also suggested the casting of other actors for her films, including Jackie Searl, whom she had met at auditions, and 16-year-old Rita Cansino (later renamed Rita Hayworth), whom she had observed dancing on an adjoining sound stage and recommended for a supporting role in Paddy O'Day. At age 13, she took the initiative to make a film with Gene Autry by acting as a go-between between 20th Century Fox studio head Joseph M. Schenck and Republic Pictures head Herbert J. Yates. Though neither studio was willing to loan their star player to the other, Withers suggested that Fox send three other contract players to Republic Pictures in exchange for Autry, who was paid $25,000 to co-star with Withers in Shooting High (1940).

Withers was the only child star to complete a seven-year contract. Studio contracts generally included a series of six-month option periods when the studio could terminate the agreement should the actor's films stop making money. Since all but one of her films were low-budget B movies, the studio held Withers to a lower standard than an A-movie actor whose films would cost the studio much more money. Additionally, the lower rental fees for Withers's B movies allowed her films to be screened in many more small theaters, expanding Withers's popularity. In 1937 and 1938, Withers's films made the top 10 list in box-office gross receipts. In addition to her studio contract, Withers made personal appearance tours for which she received $5,000 a week.

Parents and home life

While Withers typically played a brat onscreen, off-screen she was said to be "one of Hollywood's most charming and well-behaved juveniles". Her parents closely supervised her upbringing to make sure she did not grow up spoiled or entitled. In a 1942 newspaper article, Ruth described how she and her husband encouraged Jane to develop a generous personality and avoid the egotism and self-centeredness that a child star might accrue as the object of adoring fans and studio "sycophants".

For example, as Withers began to receive gifts of dolls from fans to add to her collection, her parents insisted that for every two dolls she received, she give away one to a needy child. When she began to purchase dolls to build the collection further, her parents mandated that she should use her allowance money to buy duplicate dolls for less fortunate children. Her earnings from film roles were invested in trust funds and annuities; Withers had to use her allowance money to buy things she wanted for herself, which often meant saving up for weeks. In 1938, her allowance was reported as $5 a week; this was raised to $10 a week in 1941.

To ease the pressured life of a child star, Withers's parents made sure she also had fun, but kept her activities supervised and close to home. Withers joined the Girl Scouts and her parents hosted the meeting in their home. The Withers's home, a 4-acre (1.6 ha) model home at 10731 Sunset Boulevard they bought in 1936, was equipped with a swimming pool, badminton court, and a 78 ft (24 m)-long playroom that saw frequent use by Withers and her fellow Hollywood child actors. Her afternoon swim parties continued into her teens and were the subject of many a fan magazine. When she became a teenager, her parents built a second-floor addition that included a beauty salon and soda fountain where Withers could entertain her friends. As a child, she also accumulated a menagerie of two horses, three kittens, "eight turtles, three baby alligators, 24 white Leghorn chickens, 12 turkeys, 2 Chinese hens", a rooster, six bantams, two ducks, seven frogs, and six dogs. At the family's cabin in Lake Arrowhead, where they vacationed on weekends and holidays, Withers had two motorbikes and a boat.

Withers's birthday parties, described as "the social event of the season for movietown's small fry", were annually covered by the media. For her twelfth birthday, her parents hired a 21-seat cargo plane for $18,000 to give party guests a low-altitude ride. Withers's thirteenth birthday party saw 60 young guests come in costume and participate in a balloon dance and jitterbug contest; this party earned a two-page pictorial spread in Life magazine. Withers's "sweet sixteen" party in 1942, with 150 invited guests and a hayride and barn dance on the program, was filmed by Paramount Pictures for the Hedda Hopper's Hollywood series. The short was transferred to 16 mm film for viewing by U.S. troops overseas during World War II. Withers had her eighteenth birthday party at Madison Square Garden with a circus theme and invited U.S. servicemen and their dates to be her guests. Her twenty-first birthday party was planned for a nightclub with 200 guests, but after she came down with the flu, Withers instead served cake and ice cream and watched movies in her personal suite at home with 12 close friends.

Withers was allowed to go on chaperoned dates with boys of her age in her early teens; by age 16 she was permitted to go on solo dates. After a 1936 kidnapping threat, she was always accompanied by round-the-clock bodyguards.

During Withers's first 15 years in film, Ruth "handled all negotiations with producers, supervised publicity, [and] completely managed Jane's off-screen life". However, Ruth was not a typical stage mother. She was usually present on the sound stage but did not watch Jane film her scenes; nor did she ever issue instructions or objections to studio personnel. Walter Withers did not involve himself in the movie business at all, but worked as a representative for a California wholesale furniture company.