Movie Stars: Allyson, June–Detailed Profile

 

June Allyson (born Eleanor Geisman; October 7, 1917–July 8, 2006) was an American stage, film, and television actress, dancer, and singer.

Allyson began her career in 1937 as dancer in short subject films and on Broadway in 1938.

She signed with MGM in 1943, and rose to fame the next year in Two Girls and a Sailor. Allyson’s “girl next door” image was solidified during the mid-1940s when she was paired with actor Van Johnson in six films.

In 1951, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss.

From 1959 to 1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own series, “The DuPont Show with June Allyson,” which aired on CBS.

In the 1970s, she returned to the stage starring in Forty Carats and No, No, Nanette.

In 1982, Allyson released her autobiography “June Allyson by June Allyson,” and continued her career with guest starring roles on television and occasional film appearances.

She later established the June Allyson Foundation for Public Awareness and Medical Research and worked to raise money for research for urological and gynecological diseases affecting senior citizens.

During the 1980s, Allyson also became spokesperson for Depend undergarments, in a successful marketing campaign that has been credited in reducing the social stigma of incontinence. She made her final onscreen appearance in 2001.

Allyson was married four times (to three husbands) and had two children with her first husband, Dick Powell.

She died of respiratory failure and bronchitis in July 2006 at the age of 88.

Allyson was born Eleanor Geisman, nicknamed Ella, in the Bronx, New York City. She was the daughter of Clara (née Provost) and Robert Geisman. She had a brother, Henry, who was two years older. She said she had been raised as a Catholic, but a discrepancy exists relating to her early life, and her studio biography was often the source of the confusion.

Her paternal grandparents, Harry Geisman and Anna Hafner, were immigrants from Germany, though Allyson claimed her last name was originally “Van Geisman”, and was of Dutch origin. Studio biographies listed her as Jan Allyson born to French-English parents.

Upon her death, her daughter said Allyson was born “Eleanor Geisman to a French mother and Dutch father.”

In April 1918 (when Allyson was 6 months old), her alcoholic father, who had worked as a janitor, abandoned the family. Allyson was brought up in near poverty, living with her maternal grandparents. To make ends meet, her mother worked as  telephone operator and restaurant cashier. When she had enough funds, she reunited with her daughter, but more often Allyson was “farmed” to her grandparents or other relatives.

In 1925 (when Allyson was 8), a tree branch fell on her while she was riding her tricycle with her pet terrier in tow. Allyson sustained fractured skull and broken back, and her dog was killed. Her doctors said she never would walk again and confined her to a heavy steel brace from neck to hips for four years, and she ultimately regained her health, but when Allyson had become famous, she was terrified that people would discover her background from the “tenement side of New York City,” and she readily agreed to studio tales of a “rosy life,” including a concocted story that she underwent months of swimming exercises in rehabilitation to emerge as star swimmer. In her later memoirs, Allyson describes a summer program of swimming that did help her recovery.

After progressing from a wheelchair to crutches to braces, Allyson’s escape from her impoverished life was to go to the cinema, where she was enraptured by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire movies. As teen, Allyson memorized the trademark dance routines of Ginger Rogers; she claimed to have watched “The Gay Divorcee” 17 times. She also tried to emulate singing styles of movie stars, but she never mastered reading music.

When her mother remarried and the family was reunited with  more stable financial standing, Allyson was enrolled in the Ned Wayburn Dancing Academy and began to enter dance competitions with the stage name of Elaine Peters.

With the death of her stepfather and a bleak future ahead, she left high school midway her junior year to seek jobs as dancer. Her first $60-a-week job was as a tap dancer at the Lido Club in Montreal. Returning to New York, she found work as actress in movie short subjects filmed by Educational Pictures at its Astoria, Queens NY studio.

Ambitious, Allyson tried her hand at modeling, but became the “sad-looking before part” in a before-and-after bathing suit magazine ad.

Her first career break came when Educational cast her as ingenue opposite singer Lee Sullivan, comic dancers Herman Timberg, Jr., and Pat Rooney, Jr., and future comedy star Danny Kaye in a series of shorts. These included Swing for Sale (1937), Pixilated (1937), Ups and Downs (1937), Dime a Dance (1938), Dates and Nuts (1938) and Sing for Sweetie (1938).

When Educational ceased operations, Allyson moved to Vitaphone in Brooklyn and starred or co-starred (with dancer Hal Le Roy) in musical shorts. These included The Prisoner of Swing (1938), The Knight Is Young (1938), Rollin’ in Rhythm (1939) and All Girl Revue (1940).

Interspersing jobs in the chorus line at the Copacabana Club with acting roles at Vitaphone, the diminutive 5’1″, below-100-pound Allyson landed a chorus job in the Broadway show Sing Out the News in 1938.

The “legend” around her stage name is that the choreographer gave her a job and a new name: Allyson, a family name, and June, for the month, although like many aspects of her career resume, the story is highly unlikely as she was already dubbing herself “June Allyson” prior to her Broadway engagement. At one point she attributed the name to a director she worked with even later.

Allyson appeared in the chorus in the Jerome Kern–Oscar Hammerstein II musical Very Warm for May (1939).

When Vitaphone discontinued NY production in 1940, Allyson returned to stage to take for chorus roles in Rodgers and Hart’s Higher and Higher (1940) and Cole Porter’s Panama Hattie (1940).

Understudy

Her dancing and musical talent led to a stint as understudy for the lead, Betty Hutton, and when Hutton contracted measles, Allyson appeared in 5 performances of Panama Hattie. Broadway director George Abbott caught one performance and offered Allyson a lead role in his production of Best Foot Forward (1941).

After appearance in the Broadway musical, Allyson was selected for the 1943 film version of Best Foot Forward. When she arrived in Hollywood, the production had not started, so MGM “placed her on the payroll” of Girl Crazy (1943). Despite playing bit part,” Allyson received good reviews as sidekick to Best Foot Forward’s star, Lucille Ball, but was still relegated to the “drop list.

MGM’s musical supervisor Arthur Freed saw her screen test sent up by an agent and insisted Allyson be put on contract immediately.

Another musical, Thousands Cheer (1943), was a showcase for her singing, albeit still in a minor role.

Fabricating Age and Background

As a new starlet, though Allyson had already been a performer on stage and screen for over five years, she was presented as an “overnight sensation,” with Hollywood press agents attempting to portray her as an ingenue, selectively slicing years off her true age. Studio bios listed her variously as being born in 1922 and 1923.

Allyson’s breakthrough was in Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) where the studio image of the “girl next door”[22] was fostered by her being cast alongside long-time acting chum Van Johnson, the quintessential “boy next door.” As the “sweetheart team,” Johnson and Allyson were to appear together in four later films.

Allyson supported Lucille Ball again in Meet the People (1944), which was a flop. It was on this film she met Dick Powell, whom she later married.

She supported Margaret O’Brien in Music for Millions (1944) and was billed after Robert Walker and Hedy Lamarr in the romantic comedy Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945).

Allyson was top-billed along with Walker in The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945). She had a role in Two Sisters from Boston (1946) with Kathryn Grayson and Peter Lawford, and was one of several MGM stars in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946). She also appeared in her first drama, The Secret Heart, in 1946 with Claudette Colbert and Walter Pidgeon.[25]

She was reunited with Johnson in High Barbaree (1947) and followed with the musical Good News, also in 1947.[17]

Allyson starred with Johnson in the 1948 comedy The Bride Goes Wild, then played Constance in the hugely popular 1948 The Three Musketeers (1948). Her song “Thou Swell” was a high point of the Rodgers and Hart biopic Words and Music (1948), as performed in the “A Connecticut Yankee” segment with the Blackburn Twins.[25]

Allyson played the tomboy Jo March in Little Women (1949), which was a huge hit. She was adept at crying on cue, and many of her films incorporated a crying scene. Fellow MGM player Margaret O’Brien recalled that she and Allyson were known as “the town criers”.[27] “I cried once in a picture and they said ‘Let’s do it again’, and I cried for the rest of my career”, she later said.[28]

The same year, MGM announced Allyson would be in Forever by Mildred Crann, but the project was dropped.[25] Instead, she starred in The Stratton Story (1949) with James Stewart, which she later said was her favorite film.[28]

She made two films with Dick Powell: The Reformer and the Redhead (1950) and Right Cross (1950), after which she was reunited with Johnson in Too Young to Kiss (1951).

In 1950, Allyson had been signed to appear opposite her childhood idol Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding, but had to leave the production due pregnancy. She was replaced initially by Judy Garland, who in turn was replaced by Jane Powell.

Allyson played a doctor in The Girl in White (1952), which lost revenue, and a nurse in Battle Circus (1953), a hit.[24] She started in Remains to Be Seen (1953) with Johnson, which was a flop. In May 1953, she and MGM agreed to part ways by mutual consent.[29]

Post MGM
In 1954, Allyson was in a huge Universal Pictures hit, The Glenn Miller Story, as well as another successful MGM film, Executive Suite. She also starred the Fox Film Woman’s World, which did less well.

Allyson was teamed with Stewart again in Strategic Air Command (1955) at Paramount, another success.[30]

She had a change of pace in The Shrike (1955) with José Ferrer at Universal; it flopped. More popular was The McConnell Story (1955) with Alan Ladd at Warner Bros..

Allyson did some musical remakes of classic films, The Opposite Sex (1956) at MGM and You Can’t Run Away from It (1956) at Columbia, which was directed by Powell.[15]

In 1957, she signed with Universal and did two more remakes: Interlude, a drama for Douglas Sirk, and My Man Godfrey, a comedy with David Niven. She then made A Stranger in My Arms (1958) with Jeff Chandler. The box office failure of these films effectively ended her reign as an A-list movie star.[28]

Television
The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959–60) ran for two seasons on CBS and was an attempt to use a high budget formula. She later called it “the hardest thing I ever did.”[31] Her efforts were dismissed by an entertainment critic in the LA Examiner as “reaching down to the level of mag fiction.”[32] However, TV Guide and other fan magazines such as TV Magazine considered Allyson’s foray into television as revitalizing her fame and career for a younger audience, and remarked that her typecasting by the movie industry as the “girl next door” was a “waste and neglect of talent on its own doorstep.”[33]

She also appeared on shows like Zane Grey Theater, The Dick Powell Theatre and Burke’s Law before retiring for several years after the death of Powell in 1963.[15]

Allyson returned to acting in The Name of the Game. In 1970, she briefly starred in Forty Carats on Broadway.

Throughout the 1970s, she appeared regularly on television shows such as See the Man Run (1971), The Sixth Sense (1972), and Letters from Three Lovers (1973), as well as in the film They Only Kill Their Masters (1972).

Later appearances include Curse of the Black Widow (1977), Three on a Date (1978), Vega$ (1978), Blackout (1978), House Calls, The Kid with the Broken Halo (1982) Simon & Simon, The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, Murder, She Wrote, Misfits of Science, Crazy Like a Fox, and Airwolf. Her last appearance was in These Old Broads (2001).

On her arrival in Hollywood, studio heads attempted to enhance the pairing of Van Johnson and Allyson by sending out the two contracted players on a series of “official dates”, which were highly publicized and led to a public perception that a romance had been kindled.[34] Although dating David Rose, Peter Lawford, and John F. Kennedy, Allyson was actually being courted by Dick Powell, who was 13 years her senior and had been previously married to Mildred Maund and Joan Blondell.

On August 19, 1945, Allyson caused MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer some consternation by marrying Dick Powell. After defying him twice by refusing to stop seeing Powell, in a “tactical master stroke”, she asked Mayer to give her away at the wedding. He was so disarmed that he agreed but put Allyson on suspension anyway.

The Powells had two children, Pamela Allyson Powell (adopted in 1948 through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in an adoption arranged by Georgia Tann) and Richard Powell, Jr., born December 24, 1950.

In the mid 1950s, Allyson had an affair with actor Alan Ladd.

In 1961, Allyson underwent a kidney operation and later, throat surgery, temporarily affecting her trademark raspy voice.[42] She filed for divorce that year, the reason being Powell’s devotion to work. In February 1961, Allyson was awarded $2.5 million in settlement,[clarification needed] along with custody of their children,[43] but they then reconciled and remained married until his death on January 2, 1963.

Later, Allyson reflected on how the loss of Powell affected her:
I felt I had no props. I’m not really that wise to be able to live life alone and know where I’m going. I felt fear. I felt loneliness. I felt guilt and anger. I was afraid that I would not be able to stand on my own two feet. The loneliness made me feel empty. Then I had an awful guilt. I had always complained that Richard worked too hard, that he had no time for me. I gave him a bad time about this. When he left, I realized that he was working for our future and he wasn’t there for me to say, “I’m sorry.” I was angry because God had taken Richard away. God should have taken me. He should have left Richard, who had so much more to give.

This loss prompted Allyson to start drinking heavily. In 1963, she was going to elope with Powell’s barber, Glenn Maxwell, but decided against it. She and Maxwell would later get married and divorced, then married and divorced again.

She went through a bitter court battle with her mother over the custody of the children. Writer-director Dirk Summers, with whom Allyson was romantically involved from 1963 to 1975, was named legal guardian for Ricky and Pamela as a result of court petition. Members of the nascent jet-set, Allyson and Summers were frequently seen in Cap d’Antibes, Madrid, Rome, London. However, Summers refused to marry her and the relationship did not last.

During this time, Allyson struggled with alcoholism, which she overcame in the mid-1970s.

In 1976, Allyson married David Ashrow, a dentist turned actor. The couple occasionally performed together in regional theater, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, toured the US in the stageplay My Daughter, Your Son. They also appeared on celebrity cruiseship tours on the Royal Viking Sky ocean liner in a program that highlighted Allyson’s movie career.[46]

Philanthropy
After Dick Powell’s death, Allyson committed herself to charitable work on his behalf, championing the importance of research in urological and gynecological diseases in seniors, and thus, chose to represent the Kimberly-Clark Corporation in commercials for adult incontinence products.

Following a lifelong interest in health and medical research (Allyson had initially wanted to use her acting career to fund her own training as a doctor),[21] she was instrumental in establishing the June Allyson Foundation for Public Awareness and Medical Research.

Allyson also financially supported her brother, Dr. Arthur Peters, through his medical training, and he went on to specialize in otolaryngology.[4]

Politics
Allyson was a staunch Republican and strong supporter of Richard Nixon.[47] Allyson also supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.[48]

Later years
Powell’s wealth made it possible for Allyson effectively to retire from show business after his death, making only occasional appearances on talk and variety shows. Allyson returned to the Broadway stage in 1970 in the play Forty Carats[16] and later toured in a production of No, No, Nanette.

Her autobiography, June Allyson by June Allyson (1982), received generally complimentary reviews due to its insider look at Hollywood in one of its golden ages. A more critical appraisal came from Janet Maslin at the New York Times in her review, “Hollywood Leaves Its Imprint on Its Chroniclers”, who noted: “Miss Allyson presents herself as the same sunny, tomboyish figure she played on screen in Hollywood… like someone who has come to inhabit the very myths she helped to create on the screen.”[7] Privately, Allyson admitted that her earlier screen portrayals had left her uneasy about the typecast “good wife” roles she had played.[49]

As a personal friend of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, she was invited to many White House dinners, and in 1988, Reagan appointed her to the Federal Council on Aging. Allyson and her later husband, David Ashrow, actively supported fund-raising efforts for both the James Stewart and Judy Garland museums; both Stewart and Garland had been close friends.[7]

In 1993, actor-turned-agent Marty Ingels publicly charged Allyson with not paying his large commission on the earlier deal on incontinence product advertising. Allyson denied owing any money, and Ashrow and she filed a lawsuit for slander and emotional distress, charging that Ingels was harassing and threatening them, stating Ingels made 138 phone calls during a single eight-hour period. Earlier that year, Ingels had pleaded no contest to making annoying phone calls.

In December 1993, Allyson christened the Holland America Maasdam, one of the flagships of the Holland America line. Although her heritage, like much of her personal story, was subject to different interpretations, Allyson claimed to be proud of a Dutch ancestry.

Allyson made special appearance in 1994 in That’s Entertainment III, as one of the film’s narrators. She spoke about MGM’s golden era and introduced vintage film clips.

In 1996, Allyson became the first recipient of the Harvey Award, presented by the James M. Stewart Museum Foundation, in recognition of her positive contributions to the world of entertainment.

Until 2003, Allyson toured with personal appearances, headlining celebrity cruises, and speaking on behalf of Kimberly-Clark, a long-time commercial interest.[46]

The American Urogynecologic Society established the June Allyson Foundation in 1998 made possible by a grant from Kimberly-Clark. As the first celebrity to undertake the role of public spokesperson for promoting the use of the Depend undergarment, Allyson did “more than any other public figure to encourage and persuade people with incontinence to lead fuller and more active lives”.[1]

After hip-replacement surgery in 2003, Allyson’s health began to deteriorate. With her husband at her side, she died July 8, 2006, aged 88 at her home in Ojai, California. Her death was a result of pulmonary respiratory failure and acute bronchitis.

On her death, Kimberly-Clark Corporation contributed $25,000 to the June Allyson Foundation to support research advances in the care and treatment of women with urinary incontinence.

Awards and honors

1951: won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress-Musical/Comedy, for Too Young to Kiss.

1954: awarded the Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting at the Venice Fest, for Executive Suite, in the same year she was voted Most Popular Female Star by Photoplay magazine.

1955: named the ninth most popular movie star in the annual Quigley Exhibitors Poll and second most popular female star, after Grace Kelly.

1960: received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1537 Vine Street for her contributions to the film industry.[53]
1985: received the Cannes Festival Distinguished Service Award.[46]
2007: received a special tribute during the Academy Awards as part of the annual memorial tribute.
Broadway credits
I couldn’t dance, and, Lord knows, I couldn’t sing, but I got by somehow. Richard Rodgers was always keeping them from firing me.

June Allyson, 1951, Interview
Date Production Role
September 24, 1938 – January 7, 1939 Sing Out the News Performer
November 17, 1939 – January 6, 1940 Very Warm for May June
April 4 – June 15, 1940 Higher and Higher Higher and Higher Specialty Girl
October 30, 1940 – January 3, 1942 Panama Hattie Dancing Girl
October 1, 1941 – July 4, 1942 Best Foot Forward Minerva
January 5, 1970 Forty Carats Ann Stanley

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1937 Swing for Sale Short subject
1937 Pixilated Short subject
1937 Ups and Downs June Daily Short subject
1937 Dime a Dance Harriet Short subject
1937 Dates and Nuts Wilma Brown, Herman’s girl Short subject
1938 Sing for Sweetie Sally Newton Short subject
1938 The Prisoner of Swing Princess Short subject
1938 The Knight Is Young June Short subject
1939 Rollin’ in Rhythm Short subject
1940 All Girl Revue Mayor Short subject
1943 Best Foot Forward Ethel
1943 Girl Crazy Specialty Singer
1943 Thousands Cheer Specialty Singer
1944 Two Girls and a Sailor Patsy Deyo
1944 Meet the People Annie
1944 Music for Millions Barbara Ainsworth
1945 Her Highness and the Bellboy Leslie Odell
1945 The Sailor Takes a Wife Mary Hill
1946 Two Sisters from Boston Martha Canford Chandler
1946 Till the Clouds Roll By Jane Witherspoon/Lou Ellen Carter Segments: Leave It to Jane and Oh, Boy!
1946 The Secret Heart Penny Addams
1947 High Barbaree Nancy Frazer
1947 Good News Connie Lane
1948 The Bride Goes Wild Martha Terryton
1948 The Three Musketeers Constance Bonacieux
1948 Words and Music Alisande La Carteloise
1949 Little Women Josephine “Jo” March
1949 The Stratton Story Ethel
1950 The Reformer and the Redhead Kathleen Maguire
1950 Right Cross Pat O’Malley
1951 Too Young to Kiss Cynthia Potter
1952 The Girl in White Dr. Emily Barringer
1953 Battle Circus Lt. Ruth McCara
1953 Remains to Be Seen Jody Revere
1954 The Glenn Miller Story Helen Burger Miller
1954 Executive Suite Mary Blemond Walling
1954 Woman’s World Katie Baxter Alternative title: A Woman’s World
1955 Strategic Air Command Sally Holland
1955 The Shrike Ann Downs
1955 The McConnell Story Pearl “Butch” Brown
1956 The Opposite Sex Kay Hilliard
1956 You Can’t Run Away from It Ellen “Ellie” Andrews
1957 Interlude Helen Banning Alternative title: Forbidden Interlude
1957 My Man Godfrey Irene Bullock
1959 A Stranger in My Arms Christina Beasley Alternative title: And Ride a Tiger
1972 They Only Kill Their Masters Mrs. Watkins
1978 Blackout Mrs. Grant
2001 A Girl, Three Guys, and a Gun Joey’s Grandma
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1959–1961 The DuPont Show with June Allyson Hostess 59 episodes
1960 Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre Stella Episode: “Cry Hope! Cry Hate!”
1962–1963 The Dick Powell Theatre Various roles 3 episodes
1963 Burke’s Law Jean Samson Episode: “Who Killed Beau Sparrow?”
1968 The Name of the Game Joanne Robins Segment: “High on a Rainbow”
1971 See the Man Run Helene Spencer Television film
1972 The ABC Comedy Hour Episode: “The Twentieth Century Folies”
1972 The Sixth Sense Mrs. Ruth Desmond Episode: “Witness Within”
1973 Letters from Three Lovers Monica Television film
1977 Switch Dr. Trampler Episode: “Eden’s Gate”
1977 Curse of the Black Widow Olga Television film
1978 Three on a Date Marge Emery Television film
1978 Vega$ Loretta Ochs Episode: “High Roller”
1978 The Love Boat Various roles 2 episodes
1979 The Incredible Hulk Dr. Kate Lowell Episode: “Brain Child”
1980 House Calls Florence Alexander Episode: “I’ll Be Suing You”
1982 The Kid with the Broken Halo Dorothea Powell Television film
1982 Simon & Simon Margaret Wells Episode: “The Last Time I Saw Michael”
1984 Hart to Hart Elizabeth Tisdale Episode: “Always, Elizabeth”
1984 Murder, She Wrote Katie Simmons Episode: “Hit, Run and Homicide”
1985 Misfits of Science Bessie Episode: “Steer Crazy”
1986 Crazy Like a Fox Neva Episode: “Hearing Is Believing”
1986 Airwolf Martha Stewart Episode: “Little Wolf”
1989 Wilfrid’s Special Christmas Miss Nancy Television special
1991 Pros and Cons Episode: “It’s the Pictures That Got Small”
1995 Burke’s Law Shelly Knox Episode: “Who Killed the Toy Maker?”
2001 These Old Broads Lady in Hotel Television film
Uncredited

Box office ranking
For a number of years exhibitors voted Allyson among the most popular stars in the country:

1949 – 16th (US)
1950 – 14th (US)
1954 – 11th (US)
1955 – 9th (US)
1956 – 15th (US)
1957 – 23rd (US)

Radio appearances
Year Program Episode/source
1946 Lux Radio Theatre Presenting Lily Mars
1950 Lux Radio Theatre Presenting Lily Mars
1950 Lux Radio Theatre Little Women
1950 Lux Radio Theatre The Bride Goes Wild
1950 Richard Diamond, Private Detective Mrs. X Can’t Find Mr. X
1951 Lux Radio Theatre The Reformer and the Redhead
1952 Stars in the Air The Bride Goes Wild[54]
1953 Lux Radio Theatre The Girl in White[55]
1953 Lux Radio Theatre Because of You

During her lifetime Allyson published an autobiography that has led to much confusion as her recollections did not correspond to the actual record, starting with her birth date and her family background. MGM was partly to blame as the studio PR machine created a “goody two-shoes” image of a young ingenue, which required some imaginative tailoring of her age, family circumstances, and her famous “tree limb” story.

The name “June Allyson” has been attributed to three different sources and June herself had a different memory of from where it came, but the use of a nickname and stage name had already begun in her teen years. On the Larry King interview, her recollection was that Broadway producer George Abbott had given her the name, while other sources have her first stage choreographer calling her that in exasperation, as he could not be bothered to remember her real one; at least that was the tale in her book. Probably, it made sense to her, as she liked “Allison”, her brother’s name, and simply tacked “June” onto it, and was reportedly using it before her Broadway debut.