 (Courtesy of Les Adams) |  | Claudia Dell Real name: Claudia Dell Smith 1909 or 1910 - 1977 Texan Claudia Dell was a Ziegfeld girl who wound up in Hollywood around 1930, and her film career lasted through the early 1940s. She did a few westerns with Tim McCoy and Ken Maynard as well as DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (Universal, 1932) with Tom Mix. She was also the female lead in THE LOST CITY (Krellberg, 1935), perhaps the worst sound serial ever filmed. Rumor has it that she was the model - or one of the models - for the Columbia Pictures 'standing lady' logo that was used by that studio in the 1930s.  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Claudia Dell: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0217303/ |
The Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen website has a bio/timeline on Claudia: http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/528/Claudia+Dell/index.html The Internet Broadway Database lists several 1920s Broadway plays for Claudia Dell: http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=37778 Jerry Murbach's Doctor Macro website includes several Ziegfeld photos of Dell (as a brunette): http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Dell,%20Claudia-Annex.htm Info on Dell (and others) who may have been the model for the Columbia logo can be found at: http://www.reelclassics.com/Studios/Columbia/columbia-article-logo.htm | ||
Lorraine Miller 1922? - 1978 Born in Michigan, Lorraine Miller had a brief career in B westerns. She did about a half dozen sagebrushers in the mid 1940s with Eddie Dew and the Three Mesquiteers at Republic, with the Texas Rangers, Buster Crabbe and Bob Steele at PRC, and with Jimmy Wakely at Monogram. Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Lorraine Miller: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0588852/ | |  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above, Lorraine Miller and Buster Crabbe in BORDER BADMEN (PRC, 1945). |
 (From Old Corral image collection) From L-to-R are Fuzzy St. John, Frank Ellis, Lorraine Miller and Buster Crabbe in BORDER BADMEN (PRC, 1945). Les Adams was able to ID the others - in the background and right of Lorraine Miller is Victor Cox and behind Buster Crabbe is Ray Henderson.  (From Old Corral image collection) Charlie King was still around as the B western began to fade. Here he is with the drop on the moustached Bob Steele and pretty Lorraine Miller in AMBUSH TRAIL (PRC, 1946), one of Steele's last starring westerns before he converted to playing supporting roles. |
Dorothy Dix Real name: Marie Louise Thye 1910? - 2006 Les Adams located a trade paper biography on Dix which is summarized below: She was born in 1910 in Chicago. Graduated from Hollywood High School. Lots of stage work in California, started film career with the Christie Company in 1931. Several Buster Keaton and Andy Clyde shorts and the Torchy series for Educational in 1933. No birth year given in trade bio which was written in 1933, but age at that time was given as 23. Her career was brief, amounting to about a dozen films, of which five are B westerns - two with Ken Maynard and one each with Bob Steele, Buck Jones and Gene Autry. Dix was the sister of Tex Harding (1918-1981) (real name: John Thye), who was a mid 1940s sidekick to Charles Starrett at Columbia. | |  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above, Dorothy Dix and Ken Maynard in DRUM TAPS (KBS/World Wide, 1933).  (From Old Corral image collection) Above is Dorothy Dix's brother Tex Harding (real name: John Thye) (1918-1981). |