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Rebel Randall Profile
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| (Alaine Brandes) |
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| 22 January 20 | is born in Chicago, Illinois |
| c. 23 | is named the most beautiful child in a baby show |
| c. 25 | is designated best dancer in an operetta at age 5 |
| c. 36 | graduates from Foreman High School at age 16 |
| ? | is named foremost dancer at the Enchanted Island of Chicago’s Century of Progress exhibition |
| ? | is on stage at a Chicago playhouse in everything from The Wild Duck to Long Voyage Home |
| c. 40 | is crowned “Ad Queen of Chicago” by the Chicago Federated Advertising Club. As a reward, she is sent to Hollywood with a scholarship to study at Max Reinhardt’s workshop / upon graduation she plays the lead in Booth Tarkington's Seventeen, where she is seen by a talent scout who suggests that she audition for Max Reinhardt's Workshop in Hollywood |
| 40 | is crowned “Movie Glamour Girl of 1940” by the Motion Pictures Still Photographers Association |
| May 40 | is among the leading candidates tested for Columbia’s upcoming Tillie, the Toiler |
| pinups in the magazines hail her as a member of the cast of The Boys from Syracuse. The publicity department then discovers that she isn’t in the movie at all. In the nick of time, just before shooting is completed, a bit role is found for her. |
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| April 41 | one of the zingiest of the Ziegfeld Girls troupe, a Hollywood publicity blurb lists her as finally getting a break: “She goes into a picture named Lone Rider Gallops to Glory, which stars George Houston.” |
| May 41 | columnist Walter Winchell asks: “How serious is ex-Mayor Walker over Elaine Brandeis, ex-girlfriend Edgar Bergen?” |
| ? | is a Powers model |
| c. Summer 42 | after a one-year stock contract at Paramount with nothing to do except bit roles and publicity stills, she revolts and changes her name to Rebel Randall |
| June 42 | calls off her engagement to radio announcer Peter Potter |
| 43 | is the fold-out in Esquire |
| May 43 | marries William M. Moore, a.k.a. Peter Potter, the radio personality |
| April 44 | is reported taking time off from Atlantic City to divorce Peter Potter, creator of Potter's Platter Parade and Juke Box Jury |
| June 44 | Esquire features her in a series of American beauties representing Eastern-style beauty |
| Summer 44 | is on the cover of Glamorous Models |
| 46 | remarries Potter |
| 9 October 47 | divorces Potter for a second time in Los Angeles. She says he stayed away from home for days at a time. |
| 49 | is named “The Most Beautiful Girl on TV” and “The Glamour Girl of Hollywood” |
| September 51 | is featured in See |
| May 52 | models Hollywood-approved fashion in a layout in Modern Screen |
| October 52 | is a big success as Hollywood's only female disc jockey with her Armed Forces Radio Service program "America Calling" on KCBS. She claims she has the world's biggest telephone bill - at least $2,000 a month. Between records, she awards a free phone call to a GI overseas and his family at home. "Only one minute of the phone call is heard on the air, after which the bosomy disc jockey lets the rest of the conversation be private from the estimated radio audience of 244,000,000." Her popularity earns her a lot of titles: "Miss Double Distilled Honey," "The Girl Who Keeps Us Cooking," "The Girl We'd Most Like to Keep Us Warm," "The Girl We Would Like to be at Sea With," "The Girl We Would Most Like to Buzz With," and "The Girl Whose Voice Could Melt an Iceberg" |
| November 52 | her program "Jukebox, U.S.A." is reported the biggest mail-getter of the Armed Forces Radio Service |
| 21 September 53 | marries wealthy actor-salesman Glenn Thompson of Amarillo, Texas, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He's 22; she's 32. He’s the son of socialite Tommy Thompson and was seen around a lot with Georgette Martel, sister of "Miss Universe," Christiane Martel. She leaves him after three / four / six days. |
| 6 October 53 | files a suit in Los Angeles court asking for annulment of her marriage to Thompson, showing a great deal of bitterness. She declares that Thompson deceived her by saying his real name was Glenn Burgess and that he "was not a healthy and normal male and did not desire children" and was once "committed to a sanitarium for treatment as abnormal." She adds that the marriage shocked her physically and mentally. She wants $500,000 in damages. The press gives his age as 22; hers as 26. On July 10, 1950, Thompson had tried to commit suicide in New York by jumping from the Brooklyn Bridge and was taken to Bellevue hospital for mental examination. |
| 4 November 53 | Burgess is found semiconscious in the basement of an antique shop / art gallery on Sunset Boulevard, that is owned by his father, Tommy Thompson, having cut his wrists and having taken poison or sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. He is reported in fair condition at General Hospital. The police say he telephoned his mother, Mrs. Robert Burgess, in Amarillo, Texas, that he was dying and left a suicide note. His mother contacted her divorced husband, Thompson, who found Burgess on the basement floor. The note reads: "Before I kill myself I want to tell you I love you and dad... I can't stand the disgrace of Miss Randall's charges... You know that it isn't true. My mind is perfectly clear and I think this is the best way out for all of us... I couldn't face any more than I've been through..." Sheriff Sergeant E. J. Evans says Burgess had attempted to see Rebel without success the night before. |
| 9 November 53 | columnist Harrison Carroll ponders: "If Rebel Randall files the expected annulment against Glenn Thompson, will her process servers be able to serve him personally? According to intimates, Glenn is taking off for England to be the house guest of Lady Tankerville Chamberlayne and then will go on to Portugal to visit at the home of Madame Lupescu." |
| Early December 53 | obtains an annulment from Thompson in Los Angeles because theirs was a "kissless" honeymoon. She testifies that she and Thompson never lived as man and wife after their elopement last September. She dismisses the part of her suit which demanded $500,000 damages on grounds he concealed that he was not mentally and physically suited for marriage. |
| April 54 | meets Count Julio Thomas Molnar in Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| July 54 | is off to Paris, France, to visit Molnar and to attend with him the marriage of Jean-Marc Heidsieck of the famous champagne clan |
| March 56 | dates ad executive Robert E. Lee even though she claims she is still engaged to Molnar, whom she hasn’t seen in a year |
| August 56 | attends Roberta Linn's opening at the Mocambo with Blake Garner. Columnist Harrison Carroll reports that he noticed "that Rebel now wears her engagement ring from Count Julio Molnar on her right hand..." |
| 90s | lives in Palm Springs |
| 10 | resides in Cathedral City, California |
| May 10 | resides at the Valencia Palms Nursing Home in Indio, California |
| 24 July 10 | dies at age 90 in California |
| Sources: "The Rebellious Rebel Randall" by Mike Barnum for Classic Images, Mike Fitzgerald, Boyd Magers, Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, The Frederick Post, Western Clippings, Van Nuys News, The Lowell Sun, Modern Screen, Pottstown Mercury, Syracuse Herald-Journal, The Lethbridge Herald, Reno Evening Gazette, The News, The Ada Evening News, The Modesto Bee, Long Beach Independent, Long Beach Press Telegram, San Mateo Times, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, The Vidette-Messenger, The Port Arthur News, www.IMDb.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography An Interview with Rebel Randall by Mike Fitzgerald | |