Jack Whiting (born Albert Draper Whiting, Jr.; June 22, 1901 – February 15, 1961) was an American actor, singer and dancer whose career ran from the early 1920s through the late 1950s, playing leading men or major supporting figures.
He performed in 30+ musicals on Broadway, including Stepping Stones (1923–1924), Hold Everything! (1928–1929), Take A Chance (1932–1933), Hooray for What! (1937–1938), Hold On to Your Hats (1940–1941), Hazel Flagg (1953) and The Golden Apple (1954). As a dancer, his talent was likened to Fred Astaire's and Gene Kelly's. He starred in London's West End premieres of Anything Goes (1935–1936) and On Your Toes (1937), and recorded medleys from these shows while in England. As a singer, he enjoyed great success with a few hit songs, such as "You're the Cream in My Coffee" (1928), "I've Got Five Dollars" (1931), and "Every Street's A Boulevard In Old New York" (1953).
Whiting acted in theatre plays like Aren't We All? (1923), Design for Living (1943), The Overtons (1945), and A Girl Can Tell (1953), and toured nationally with Arsenic and Old Lace (1941–1942 with Erich von Stroheim, 1943 with Boris Karloff, and 1944 with Bela Lugosi), and with the musicals The Red Mill (1947), High Button Shoes (1948–1949, 1950), and Gay Divorce (1950).
Whiting also starred in a handful of films during the 1930s, including the British musical Sailing Along (1938) with Jessie Matthews, and the American comedy Give Me a Sailor (1938) with Martha Raye, Bob Hope and Betty Grable. He featured in a dozen popular television shows in the 1950s, as his career drew to a close. In 1953, he won the 10th Annual Donaldson Award for Best Musical Supporting Performance in Hazell Flagg, and came second in 1954, for his role in The Golden Apple.
Early life Whiting was born on June 22, 1901, in Philadelphia, where he worked as a stenographer before going on the vaudeville stage as a young amateur actor with the Mask and Wig Club at the University of Pennsylvania, and developing a career as a singer and dancer, often portraying a smiling, blond leading man or a major supporting character.
Career 1922–1930: Early Broadway musicals, "You're the Cream in My Coffee" Whiting's debut on Broadway was in the 1922 edition of Ziegfeld Follies, in which he sang "Flappers" with the Connor Twins (sisters Thelma and Velma) during a dance by Jimmy Nervo. His career took off and he featured in many musicals where, as stated by Broadway chronicler Thomas Hischak: "he played the all-American boy who gets the all-American girl". In September 1922, he joined the cast of Orange Blossoms, to play one of the eight "Gentlemen in the case" with whom he sang three songs: "On the Riviera", "Orange Blossoms" and "Let's Not Get Married" (all by Victor Herbert and Buddy DeSylva). The following April, he appeared as Bruce in Cinders, again in a group of nine gentlemen singing "I'm Simply Mad about the Boys", "You and I", "The Argentine Arago", and "Cinders" (all by Rudolf Friml and Edward Clark).
In May 1923, Whiting appeared as Martin Steele with Leslie Howard in the Broadway staging of the drawing room comedy Aren't We All?, which ran for 32 performances. In November, he played the role of Captain Paul in the musical comedy Stepping Stones (1923–1924), and sang "In Love With Love" alongside the other principal characters, plus two more songs with the rest of the Company: "Babbling Babette" and "Rose Potpourri Finale". Stepping Stones ran for 11 months and 281 performances, ending on October 4, 1924. Exactly one month later, he was playing Alfred Weatherby in Annie Dear (1924–1925), in which he joined other cast members to sing "The Only Girl" (by Clifford Grey and Sigmund Romberg) and "Help, Help, Help" (by Clare Kummer), and to dance in "A Comic Fantasy" (also by Kummer). In October and November 1925, he played Larry Patton in When You Smile and sang "One Little Girl" with the Girls in the cast, as well as "Gee, We Get Along" and "Oh, What a Girl", both with Wynne Gibson (all songs by Phil Cook and Tom Johnstone). During the latter song, Whiting and Gibson also performed a dumbshow duet to the orchestra's mock sounds of flute, horn and saxophone in musical conversation.
From March to May 1926, he played Tommy Lansing in Rainbow Rose and sang "Jealous" with Billy Tichenor and Dancers, "If You Were Someone Else and Someone Else Were Only Here" with Shirley Sherman and Ensemble, and "Let's Get Married" with Billy Tichenor (all songs by Owen Murphy and Harold Levey). In September, he played Billy Shannon in The Ramblers, in which he sang "All Alone Monday" and "You Smiled at Me", both with Marie Saxon and Chorus, and reprised "All Alone Monday" with Saxon, Eleanor Dawn, Blaine Cordner and Chorus (all songs by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby). This show ran for 289 performances, closing on May 28, 1927. He played Robert Bennett in Yes, Yes, Yvette which opened on October 3, 1927, and closed on November 5, after only 40 performances. He sang "My Lady" (by Ben Jerome and Frank Crumit) and "How'd You Like To?" (by Irving Caesar, and music by Stephen Jones), both with Jeanette MacDonald. Despite the show's short-lived run, Charles Brackett nonetheless wrote in The New Yorker that Whiting was "certainly the most promising jeune premier in his department."
In January 1928, he was Bob Martin in She’s My Baby, in which he sang "You're All I Need" with Irene Dunne, "Camera Shoot" with Beatrice Lillie and Clifton Webb, "Trio" with Webb and Nick Long Jr., and "Wasn't It Great?" with Long Jr., William McCarthy, Joan Clement, Pearl Eaton, Phyllis Rae and Ensemble (all songs by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers). This show closed on March 3, after 71 performances. He played "Sonny Jim" Brooks in the highly successful Hold Everything!, which opened on October 10, 1928, and closed nearly a year later, after 409 performances. Whiting sang "Footwork", the highly popular "You're the Cream in My Coffee" with Ona Munson, "Too Good To Be True", and "To Know You Is to Love You" with Munson (all songs by Ray Henderson, Lew Brown and Buddy DeSylva). Whiting then immediately joined the cast of Heads Up!, which opened on November 11, 1929, and ran for 144 performances until March 15, 1930. He played the role of Lieutenant Jack Mason, and sang "Why Do You Suppose?" and "It Must be Heaven", both with Barbara Newberry, and "A Ship Without a Sail" (all songs by Hart and Rodgers).
1930–1935: Early films, more Broadway musicals, "I've Got Five Dollars" In 1930, Whiting turned to acting in three musical comedy films in succession. In June of that year, he joined the cast of College Lovers, in which he starred in the role of Frank Taylor alongside Marian Nixon. He was Jerry Brooks in Top Speed with Joe E. Brown and Bernice Claire, and A. J. Smith in The Life of the Party with Winnie Lightner and Irene Delroy. The following year, he starred opposite Irene Delroy again, this time in the role of Jack Ames in Men of the Sky, a spy drama film with songs.
On February 10, 1931, Whiting opened Rodgers and Hart's America's Sweetheart in the role of Michael Perry, singing three songs with Ann Sothern (): "I've Got Five Dollars", "We'll Be the Same", and "Hello Folks! Goodbye Folks!", as well as "How About It?" with Inez Courtney. On February 13, Whiting also recorded the first two of these songs for Brunswick Records. The New York Times said: "Jack Whiting of the blonde hair and baritone voice and Harriette Lake are a personable pair of musical comedy bandmasters. 'I've Got Five Dollars' is far more romantic than it sounds. It is the pet melody of Jack Whiting and H.L. the inevitable love interest." The show closed on June 6, 1931, after 135 performances.
He played three roles in Take A Chance: Kenneth Raleigh, Ronald in scene "Blackmail", and Daniel Boone in scene "Daniel Boone's Defense". The show opened on November 26, 1932, and closed on July 1, 1933, after 243 performances. He sang "So Do I" and "I Long To Belong To You", both with June Knight, "Tickled Pink" with the Girls, and "Turn Out the Light" with Sid Silvers, Jack Haley, June Knight and the Girls (all by Nacio Herb Brown, Richard A. Whiting and Buddy DeSylva),
On December 13, 1934, he featured as himself in Harry Akst and Lew Brown's Calling All Stars, singing three songs with Mitzi Mayfair: "Thinking Out Loud", "I Don't Want To Be President", and "I'd Like To Dunk You In My Coffee", as well as "If It's Love" with Ella Logan, Martha Raye, Judy Canova, plus Boys and Girls. The show closed on January 12, 1935, after 36 performances.
1935–1937: Musicals in London West End, Sailing Along In early 1935, Whiting and his wife Beth travelled to London to join her son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., for the celebrations of George V's silver jubilee, which took place on May 6. During their break in England, Whiting was offered the lead role of Billy Crocker in C. B. Cochran's London production of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, which opened on June 14. He sang "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "You're the Top" with Jeanne Aubert, "All Through the Night" with Adele Dixon, and "Anything Goes" with the Entire Company. The show closed on January 18, 1936, after 261 performances.
In May 1936, he starred in the London production of Rise and Shine by Harry Graham & Desmond Carter and Robert Stolz, in which he played Jack Harding, with Binnie Hale as Anne. One of the show's songs was "I'm Building Up to an Awful Letdown", written by Fred Astaire and Johnny Mercer. On May 8, The Times commented that while the piece had every possible element of a spectacular musical, it lacked "the impact of a unifying and selective personality." The show was considered a flop and closed on June 13, 1936, after 44 performances.
Still in London, the premiere of On Your Toes took place on February 5, 1937, and when Whiting joined the others in the company for the traditional first night celebrations at the Savoy Grill, "he was once again cheered to the rafters". In the lead role of Phil Dolan III, "Junior", he sang the title song, and "There's a Small Hotel" with Vera Zorina. The show ran for 123 performances and closed on May 29, 1937. Just over a week earlier, on May 21, Whiting and the cast's other main characters appeared in a viewing of excerpts from the same show, televised by the BBC as part of the British series Theatre Parade. Whiting, backed by the New Mayfair Orchestra, also recorded two medleys from the show: one comprised "There's a Small Hotel", "Glad to Be Unhappy", "Quiet Night", and a reprise of "There's a Small Hotel"; the other "It's Got to Be Love", "On Your Toes", "The Heart Is Quicker Than the Eye", and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" from the musical ballet of the same name. All of Whiting's recording from On Your Toes are included in the collection Jack Whiting & Jessie Matthews, along with two songs from the 1935 production of Anything Goes: "All Through the Night" sung by Whiting, and "You're the Top" by Whiting and Jeanne Aubert.
Whiting also starred with Jessie Matthews in the British film Sailing Along, shot at Pinewood Studios from August to December 1937. Playing the part of a Broadway star named Dicky Randall, he sang and danced solo to "Souvenir of Love", and with Matthews to "Your Heart Skips a Beat", two songs written by Arthur Johnston and Maurice Sigler. The contemporary Monthly Film Bulletin stated that "Matthews sings adequately and dances superbly, but Whiting matches her in dancing ability and outshines her in singing and acting". For the final big dance number—"My River", which lasted seven minutes on screen—the camera followed Whiting and Matthews for nearly a mile, and the set was so large that it had to be built across two studios. Including rehearsals, the pair danced an estimated twenty miles to complete that single scene. The film opened at the Gaumont Haymarket on April 17, 1938, and was generally released on August 29, 1938.
1937–1944: Return to Broadway, Give Me a Sailor, national tours