Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg ; February 26, 1921 – March 12, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures , appearing primarily in musicals and became one of the studio's most valuable stars. She was noted for her energetic performance style.
111-578: Raised in Detroit during the Great Depression by a single mother who worked as a bootlegger , Hutton began performing as a singer from a young age, entertaining patrons of her mother's speakeasy . While performing in local nightclubs, she was discovered by orchestra leader Vincent Lopez , who hired her as a singer in his band. In 1940, Hutton was cast in the Broadway productions Two for
222-509: A CBS sitcom, The Betty Hutton Show . Hutton hired the still-blacklisted and future film composer Jerry Fielding to direct her series. They had met over the years in Las Vegas when he was blacklisted from TV and radio and could get no other work, and her Hollywood career was also fading. It was Fielding's first network job since losing his post as musical director of Groucho Marx 's You Bet Your Life in 1953 after hostile questioning by
333-658: A Tony Award for the role). Hutton's rehearsal of the song "Little Girls" was featured on Good Morning America . Hutton's Broadway comeback was also included in a profile on CBS News Sunday Morning about her life, her struggle with pills, and her recovery. A ninth-grade drop-out, Hutton went back to school and earned a master's degree in psychology from Salve Regina University in 1986. During her time at university, Hutton became friends with fellow student and singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh , and attended several early concerts of Hersh's band, Throwing Muses . Hersh later wrote
444-556: A 1978 televised reunion with her two daughters. Hutton began living in a shared home with her divorced daughter and grandchildren in California, but returned to the East Coast for a three-week return to the stage. In 1980, she took over the role of Miss Hannigan during the original Broadway production of Annie while Alice Ghostley was on vacation. Ghostley replaced the original Miss Hannigan actress, Dorothy Loudon (who won
555-509: A Dream " speech in Washington, D.C., two months later. While the civil rights movement gained significant federal civil rights laws in 1964 and 1965, longstanding inequities resulted in confrontations between the police and inner-city black youth who wanted change. I have a dream this afternoon that my four little children, that my four little children will not come up in the same young days that I came up within, but they will be judged on
666-407: A cohesive community, who gradually were superseded as the dominant population after more Anglo-American settlers arrived in the early 19th century with American westward migration. Living along the shores of Lake St. Clair and south to Monroe and downriver suburbs, the ethnic French Canadians of Detroit, also known as Muskrat French in reference to the fur trade, remain a subculture in the region in
777-464: A direct relationship between unfair housing practices and educational segregation, as the composition of students in the schools followed segregated neighborhoods. The District Court held all levels of government accountable for the segregation in its ruling. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed some of the decision, holding that it was the state's responsibility to integrate across the segregated metropolitan area. The U.S. Supreme Court took up
888-612: A federally subsidized, extensive highway and freeway system around Detroit, and pent-up demand for new housing stimulated suburbanization ; highways made commuting by car for higher-income residents easier. However, this construction had negative implications for many lower-income urban residents. Highways were constructed through and completely demolished neighborhoods of poor residents and black communities who had less political power to oppose them. The neighborhoods were mostly low income, considered blighted, or made up of older housing where investment had been lacking due to racial redlining, so
999-471: A job as a cook and housekeeper at a rectory in Portsmouth, Rhode Island . She made national headlines when it was revealed she was practically penniless and working in a rectory. Speaking on her conversion to Catholicism, Hutton stated that she had been fascinated by the religion since childhood, though she was raised irreligious by her mother, who was an atheist . After an aborted comeback in 1974, she
1110-634: A live-action feature in the Max Fleischer cartoon I Don't Want to Make History (1936). In 1940, he was one of the first bandleaders to work in Soundies movie musicals. He made additional Soundies in 1944. Noted musicians who played in his band included Artie Shaw , Xavier Cugat , Jimmy Dorsey , Tommy Dorsey , Bob Effros , Mike Mosiello , Fred Lowery , Joe Tarto and Glenn Miller . He also featured singers Keller Sisters and Lynch , Betty Hutton , and Marion Hutton . Lopez's longtime drummer
1221-540: A majority of black people in Detroit resorted to living in all-black neighborhoods such as Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. At this time, white people still made up about 90.4% of the city's population. White residents attacked black homes: breaking windows, starting fires, and detonating bombs. In the 1940s the world's "first urban depressed freeway" ever built, the Davison , was constructed. During World War II ,
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#17327827649781332-604: A million copies worldwide and reached number six in the U.S. charts. Hutton's relationship with Paramount began to disintegrate when DeSylva left the studio due to illness (he died in 1950). "After he left I started doing scripts that I knew weren't good for me." Hutton made Dream Girl (1948) with MacDonald Carey , which she later said, "almost ruined me." She did Red, Hot and Blue (1949) with Victor Mature , which she also disliked. Hutton acted in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Next, she
1443-538: A mixed-use office and retail complex, opened in 1977. This group of skyscrapers was an attempt to keep businesses in downtown. Young also gave city support to other large developments to attract middle and upper-class residents back to the city. Despite the Renaissance Center and other projects, the downtown area continued to lose businesses to the automobile-dependent suburbs. Major stores and hotels closed, and many large office buildings went vacant. Young
1554-478: A now elderly mother. The TCM interview first aired on July 18, 2000. The program was rerun as a memorial on the evening of her death in 2007, and again on July 11, 2008, April 14, 2009, January 26, 2010, and as recently as March 18, 2017. as part of TCM's memorial tribute for Robert Osborne. Hutton lived in Palm Springs until her death on March 12, 2007 at the age of 86 from complications of colon cancer . She
1665-617: A production company. She left Paramount in August. Hutton transitioned to radio work, and appeared in Las Vegas , where she had a great success performing in live theater productions. She had the rights to a screenplay about Sophie Tucker , but was unable to raise funds. In 1954, TV producer Max Liebman , of comedian Sid Caesar 's Your Show of Shows , fashioned his first "Color Spectacular" as an original musical written especially for Hutton, Satins and Spurs . Hutton's last completed film
1776-541: A reconfiguration of downtown's main intersection as a new park, was opened in 2004. The park has been cited as one of the best public spaces in the United States. In 2001, the first portion of the International Riverfront redevelopment was completed as a part of the city's 300th-anniversary celebration. Vincent Lopez Vincent Lopez (December 30, 1895 – September 20, 1975)
1887-621: A remake of The Fleet's In , in which she portrayed Dean's girlfriend, Hetty Button. She made Somebody Loves Me (1952), a biography of singer Blossom Seeley , with Ralph Meeker . Hutton then clashed with Paramount. The New York Times reported that the dispute resulted from her insistence that her husband at the time, choreographer Charles O'Curran, direct her in a film. In April 1952, Hutton returned to Broadway, performing in Betty Hutton and Her All-Star International Show . In July 1952, she announced that her husband and she would form
1998-568: A rented workshop on Mack Avenue. During this growth period, Detroit expanded its borders by annexing all or part of several surrounding villages and townships. In 1903, Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company . Ford's manufacturing—and those of automotive pioneers William C. Durant , Horace and John Dodge, James and William Packard, and Walter Chrysler —established the Big Three automakers and cemented Detroit's status in
2109-563: A riverfront revitalization project. Detroit is an increasingly popular tourist destination which caters to about 16 million visitors per year. In 2015, Detroit was given a name called " City of Design " by UNESCO , the first and only U.S. city to receive that designation. Detroit is named after the Detroit River , connecting Lake Huron with Lake Erie . The name comes from the French word détroit meaning ' strait ' as
2220-597: A saloon scene, caught a Hutton slap on the back that looped him over the bar and into a heap on the other side. "When they work with me," crows Betty, "they gotta get insurance policies." Two for the Show was produced by Buddy DeSylva , who then cast Hutton in Panama Hattie (1940–1942). This was a major hit, running for 501 performances. It starred Ethel Merman ; despite rumors through the years that Merman demanded from envy that Hutton's musical numbers be reduced from
2331-475: A state of urban decay which has continued to the present, as a result of industrial restructuring, the loss of jobs in the auto industry, and rapid suburbanization . Since reaching a peak of 1.85 million at the 1950 census , Detroit's population has declined by more than 65 percent. In 2013, Detroit became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy , but successfully exited in December 2014. Detroit
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#17327827649782442-471: A teenager, and at 15 attempted to find stage work in New York City; her efforts proved unsuccessful, after which she returned to Detroit. In 1938, Hutton was discovered by orchestra leader Vincent Lopez while she was performing as a singer in local Detroit nightclubs. Lopez recruited her as a member in his band, and she began touring with them as a singer, billed as Betty Jane. During her tenure with
2553-762: Is a port on the Detroit River, one of the four major straits that connect the Great Lakes system to the St. Lawrence Seaway . The city anchors the third-largest regional economy in the Midwest and the 16th-largest in the United States. It is also best known as the center of the U.S. automotive industry , and the " Big Three " auto manufacturers— General Motors , Ford , and Stellantis North America ( Chrysler )—are all headquartered in Metro Detroit. It houses
2664-597: Is buried at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California . For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Betty Hutton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6259 Hollywood Boulevard . For several years, film exhibitors voted Hutton among the leading stars in the country: Detroit Detroit ( / d ɪ ˈ t r ɔɪ t / dih- TROYT , locally also / ˈ d iː t r ɔɪ t / DEE -troyt )
2775-541: Is quoted as saying, "Thank God for Michigan!" George Armstrong Custer led the Michigan Brigade during the Civil War and called them the "Wolverines". The city's tensions over race, and nationally, the draft led to the Detroit race riot of 1863 , in which violence erupted, leaving some dead and over 200 Black residents homeless. This prompted the establishment of a full-time police force in 1865. During
2886-575: Is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan . It is the largest U.S. city on the Canadian border and the county seat of Wayne County . Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 census , making it the 26th-most populous city in the United States. The Metro Detroit area, home to 4.3 million people, is the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area and
2997-572: The Chicago Tribune , it was the 3rd most costly riot in the United States. On August 18, 1970, the NAACP filed suit against Michigan state officials, including Governor William Milliken , charging de facto public school segregation. The NAACP argued that although schools were not legally segregated, the city of Detroit and its surrounding counties had enacted policies to maintain racial segregation in public schools. The NAACP also suggested
3108-595: The Detroit Metropolitan Airport , one of the most important hub airports in the United States. Detroit and its neighboring Canadian city Windsor constitute the second-busiest international crossing in North America, after San Diego–Tijuana . Detroit's culture is marked with diversity, having both local and international influences. Detroit gave rise to the music genres of Motown and techno , and also played an important role in
3219-427: The Great Lakes region . The city's population rose to be the fourth-largest in the nation by 1920, after New York City , Chicago , and Philadelphia , with the expansion of the automotive industry in the early 20th century. One of its main features, the Detroit River , became the busiest commercial hub in the world—carrying over 65 million tons of shipping commerce each year. In the mid-20th century, Detroit entered
3330-801: The Great March on Detroit ) Longstanding tensions in Detroit culminated in the Twelfth Street riot in July 1967. Governor George W. Romney ordered the Michigan National Guard into Detroit, and President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in U.S. Army troops. The result was 43 dead, 467 injured, over 7,200 arrests, and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed, mostly in black residential and business areas. Thousands of small businesses closed permanently or relocated to safer neighborhoods. The affected district lay in ruins for decades. According to
3441-507: The House UnAmerican Activities Committee . The Betty Hutton Show ended after 30 episodes. Hutton continued headlining in Las Vegas and touring across the country. She returned to Broadway briefly in 1964 when she temporarily replaced a hospitalized Carol Burnett in the show Fade Out – Fade In . She guest-starred on shows such as The Greatest Show on Earth , Burke's Law , and Gunsmoke . By
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3552-610: The Potowatomi , Ojibwe and Huron, launched Pontiac's War in 1763 and laid siege to Fort Detroit but failed to capture it. In defeat, France ceded its territory in North America east of the Mississippi to Britain following the war. When Great Britain evicted France from Canada , it also removed one barrier to American colonists migrating west. British negotiations with the Iroquois would both prove critical and lead to
3663-869: The Royal Proclamation of 1763 , which limited settlements below the Great Lakes and west of the Alleghenies . Many colonists and pioneers in the Thirteen Colonies resented and then defied this restraint, later becoming supporters of the American Revolution . By 1773, after the addition of the Anglo-American settlers, the population of Detroit was 1,400. During the American Revolutionary War,
3774-574: The "Paris of the West" for its architecture, grand avenues in the Paris style, and for Washington Boulevard, recently electrified by Thomas Edison . The city had grown steadily from the 1830s with the rise of shipping, shipbuilding, and manufacturing industries. Strategically located along the Great Lakes waterway, Detroit emerged as a major port and transportation hub. In 1896, a thriving carriage trade prompted Henry Ford to build his first automobile in
3885-715: The "vice president" or "secretary", and Laura Smith Haviland the "superintendent". Numerous men from Detroit volunteered to fight for the Union during the Civil War, including the 24th Michigan Infantry Regiment . It was part of the Iron Brigade , which fought with distinction and suffered 82% casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. When the First Volunteer Infantry Regiment arrived to fortify Washington, D.C. , President Abraham Lincoln
3996-567: The 10 Best Films of 1942–1944. Critic James Agee noted that "the Hays office must have been raped in its sleep" to allow the film to be released. And although the Hays Office received many letters of protest because of the film's subject matter, it was Paramount's highest-grossing film of 1944, playing to standing room-only audiences in some theatres. She was next cast in Paramount's And
4107-466: The 14th-largest in the United States. A significant cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music, art, architecture and design, in addition to its historical automotive background. In 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and Alphonse de Tonty founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit . During the late 19th and early 20th century, it became an important industrial hub at the center of
4218-482: The 155 people on board, as well as two people on the ground. In 1993, Young retired as Detroit's longest-serving mayor, deciding not to seek a sixth term, with Dennis Archer succeeding him. Archer prioritized downtown development, easing tensions with its suburban neighbors. A referendum to allow casino gambling in the city passed in 1996; several temporary casino facilities opened in 1999, and permanent downtown casinos with hotels opened in 2007–08. Campus Martius ,
4329-565: The 1920s the city had become a stronghold of the KKK", whose members primarily opposed Catholic and Jewish immigrants but also practiced discrimination against Black Americans. Even after the decline of the KKK in the late 1920s, the Black Legion , a secret vigilante group, was active in the Detroit area in the 1930s. One-third of its estimated 20,000 to 30,000 members in Michigan were based in
4440-455: The 1940s. He began his radio programs by announcing "Hello everybody, Lopez speaking!" His theme song was "Nola", Felix Arndt 's novelty ragtime piece of 1915, and Lopez became so identified with it that he occasionally satirized it. (His 1939 movie short for Vitaphone , Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra , features the entire band singing "Down with Nola".) Lopez worked occasionally in feature films, notably The Big Broadcast (1932) and as
4551-573: The 1970s, and found employment in a Rhode Island rectory after becoming nearly destitute. She returned to the stage temporarily replacing Alice Ghostley in the original Broadway production of Annie in 1980. In her later life, Hutton attended Salve Regina University , where she earned a master's degree in psychology in 1986. After working as an acting instructor at Emerson College , Hutton returned to California in 1999 and resided in Palm Springs , where she died in 2007, aged 86. Hutton
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4662-455: The 21st century. The Great Fire of 1805 destroyed most of the Detroit settlement, which had primarily buildings made of wood. One stone fort, a river warehouse, and brick chimneys of former wooden homes were the sole structures to survive. Of the 600 Detroit residents in this area, none died in the fire. The legacy of the fire of 1805 lives on in many aspects of modern Detroit heritage. The cities motto, "Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus"
4773-650: The Air (1938), Three Kings and a Queen (1939), Public Jitterbug No. 1 (1939), and One for the Book (1940). In 1940, Hutton was cast in the Broadway production Two for the Show , which ran for 124 performances and received rave reviews. Hutton soon became known for her raucous performances onstage, summarized in a 1950 Time magazine article: During the show's run, hardworking, hard-cussing actress Hutton spared her fellow performers no more than she spared herself. She thrashed about so violently that once she catapulted off
4884-573: The American auto industry. Detroit manufacturers such as Packard and Hudson merged into other companies and eventually disappeared. At its peak population of 1,849,568, in the 1950 Census , the city was the fifth-largest in the United States. In this postwar era, the auto industry continued to create opportunities for many African Americans from the South, who continued with their Great Migration to Detroit and other northern and western cities to escape
4995-544: The Angels Sing (1944) with Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Lamour, and Here Come the Waves (1944) with Bing Crosby . Both were huge hits. DeSylva, one of Capitol's founders, also co-produced her next hit, the musical Incendiary Blonde (1945), where she played Texas Guinan . It was directed by veteran comedy director George Marshall and Hutton had replaced Lamour as Paramount's top female box-office attraction. Hutton
5106-530: The Detroit River carried 67,292,504 tons of shipping commerce through Detroit to locations all over the world. For comparison, London shipped 18,727,230 tons, and New York shipped 20,390,953 tons. The river was dubbed "the Greatest Commercial Artery on Earth" by The Detroit News in 1908. The prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933 resulted in the Detroit River becoming a major conduit for smuggling of illegal Canadian spirits. With
5217-737: The Iroquois League, with whom they were at war in the 1630s. The Huron and Neutral people held the north side of Lake Erie until the 1650s, when the Iroquois pushed them and the Erie people away from the lake and its beaver -rich feeder streams in the Beaver Wars of 1649–1655. By the 1670s, the war-weakened Iroquois laid claim to as far south as the Ohio River valley in northern Kentucky as hunting grounds, and had absorbed many other Iroquoian peoples after defeating them in war. For
5328-486: The Show and Panama Hattie , and attracted notice for her raucous and animated live performances. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1941 after being signed by Paramount Pictures, and concurrently recorded numerous singles for Capitol Records . Her breakthrough role came in Preston Sturges 's The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), and she went on to receive further notice for her lead role as Annie Oakley in
5439-623: The South. Whites, including ethnic Europeans, feared black competition for jobs and scarce housing. The federal government prohibited discrimination in defense work, but when in June 1943 Packard promoted three black people to work next to whites on its assembly lines, 25,000 white workers walked off the job. The 1943 Detroit race riot took place in June, three weeks after the Packard plant protest, beginning with an altercation at Belle Isle . A total of 34 people were killed, 25 of them black and most at
5550-460: The South; they were outnumbered by southern whites who also migrated to the city. Immigration brought southern and eastern Europeans of Catholic and Jewish faith; these new groups competed with native-born whites for jobs and housing in the booming city. Detroit was one of the major Midwest cities that was a site for the dramatic urban revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) beginning in 1915. "By
5661-701: The Taft Hotel called Shake the Maracas in which audience members competed for small prizes by playing maracas with the orchestra. In 1960 he published his autobiography Lopez Speaking . Vincent Lopez died at the Villa Maria nursing home in North Miami , Florida, on September 20, 1975. Lopez saw jazz and bandleading as a big business opportunity. Like rival Paul Whiteman had done a few years earlier with his United Orchestras, Inc, in 1924 he created
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#17327827649785772-422: The band, Hutton established a distinctive "whoop and holler" vocal style. Lopez, an adherent of numerology , used his numerology practice to rebrand her with the stage name Betty Hutton: "I tried to get a vibration that would make her a lot of money. It was a five-eight vibration. After that she did fine." Through her work with Lopez, Hutton was hired to appear in several musical shorts for Warner Bros. : Queens of
5883-473: The basis of the content of their character, not the color of their skin ... I have a dream this evening that one day we will recognize the words of Jefferson that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I have a dream ... —Martin Luther King Jr. (June 1963 Speech at
5994-576: The case February 27, 1974. The subsequent Milliken v. Bradley decision had nationwide influence. In a narrow decision, the Supreme Court found schools were a subject of local control, and suburbs could not be forced to aid with the desegregation of the city's school district. "Milliken was perhaps the greatest missed opportunity of that period", said Myron Orfield , professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School . "Had that gone
6105-469: The center of the flag of the city. From 1805 to 1847, Detroit was the capital of Michigan as a territory and as a state. William Hull , the United States commander at Detroit, surrendered without a fight to British troops and their Native American allies during the War of 1812 in the siege of Detroit , believing his forces were vastly outnumbered. The Battle of Frenchtown was part of a U.S. effort to retake
6216-706: The city was situated on a narrow passage of water linking the two lakes. The river was known as le détroit du Lac Érié in French, which means ' the strait of Lake Erie ' . In the historical context, the strait included the St. Clair River , Lake St. Clair , and the Detroit River. [REDACTED] Kingdom of France 1701–1760 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Great Britain 1760–1796 [REDACTED] United States 1796–1812 [REDACTED] United Kingdom 1812–1813 [REDACTED] United States 1813–present Paleo-Indians inhabited areas near Detroit as early as 11,000 years ago including
6327-726: The city's access to the Canada–US border made it a key stop for refugee slaves gaining freedom in the North along the Underground Railroad . Many went across the Detroit River to Canada to escape pursuit by slave catchers. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 African-American refugees settled in Canada. George DeBaptiste was considered to be the "president" of the Detroit Underground Railroad, William Lambert
6438-403: The city's population declined to less than 10 percent of the state's population. During the same time period, the sprawling metropolitan area grew to contain more than half of Michigan's population. The shift of population and jobs eroded Detroit's tax base. In June 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a major speech as part of a civil rights march in Detroit that foreshadowed his " I Have
6549-412: The city, and U.S. troops suffered their highest fatalities of any battle in the war. This battle is commemorated at River Raisin National Battlefield Park south of Detroit in Monroe County . Detroit was recaptured by the United States later that year. The settlement was incorporated as a city in 1815. As the city expanded, a radial geometric street plan developed by Chief Justice Augustus B. Woodward
6660-486: The city. It was defeated after numerous prosecutions following the kidnapping and murder in 1936 of Charles Poole, a Catholic organizer with the federal Works Progress Administration . Some 49 men of the Black Legion were convicted of numerous crimes, with many sentenced to life in prison for murder. By 1940, 80% of Detroit deeds contained restrictive covenants prohibiting African Americans from buying houses they could afford. These discriminatory tactics were successful as
6771-458: The company Vincent Lopez, Inc, with a stated goal of starting jazz orchestras and schools in major North American cities, and managing copyrights. By 1926 the endeavor became insolvent, and to avoid bankruptcy Lopez, Inc went into partnership with Eugene Geiger's Eldorado Finance Co. In 1927, he partnered with other major bandleaders Paul Whiteman , Ben Bernie , George Olson , Roger Kahn , Fred Rich , B. A. Rolfe , and Ernie Golden to launch
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#17327827649786882-426: The culture referred to as the Mound Builders . By the 17th century, the region was inhabited by Huron , Odawa , Potawatomi , and Iroquois peoples. The area is known by the Anishinaabe people as Waawiiyaataanong , translating to 'where the water curves around'. The first Europeans did not penetrate into the region and reach the straits of Detroit until French missionaries and traders worked their way around
6993-464: The development of jazz , hip-hop , rock , and punk . A globally unique stock of architectural monuments and historic places was the result of the city's rapid growth in its boom years. Since the 2000s, conservation efforts have managed to save many architectural pieces and achieve several large-scale revitalizations , including the restoration of several historic theaters and entertainment venues, high-rise renovations, new sports stadiums, and
7104-705: The early 1960s, Hutton's career had declined significantly, attributed to her chronic depression and addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs. Turner Classic Movies described her career downswing as "one of the grimmest declines in Hollywood history." Following the 1962 death of her mother in a house fire, and the collapse of her last marriage, Hutton's depression and substance abuse escalated. She divorced her fourth husband, jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli , when she discovered he had fallen in love with Edie Adams (who would become Candoli's second wife), and attempted suicide, causing her to lose custody of her youngest daughter, Carolyn, then sixteen years old. She declared bankruptcy
7215-449: The early 20th century as the world's automotive capital. The growth of the auto industry was reflected by changes in businesses throughout the Midwest and nation, with the development of garages to service vehicles and gas stations, as well as factories for parts and tires. Because of the booming auto industry, Detroit became the fourth-largest city in the nation by 1920, following New York City , Chicago , and Philadelphia . In 1907,
7326-416: The establishment of the United States as an independent country, Britain ceded Detroit and other territories in the region under the 1783 Treaty of Paris , which established the southern border with its remaining colonial provinces in British North America , later Upper Canada . However, the area remained under British control, and its forces did not withdraw until 1796, following the 1794 Jay Treaty . By
7437-629: The family relocated frequently to evade police, eventually settling in Detroit when she was eight years old. Recalling her childhood, Hutton said: "Mom just ran a joint on a small scale. We'd operate until the cops got wise. Then they'd move in and close us down, and we'd move somewhere else. Marion and I would entertain the customers by dancing and singing. We really lived that way until we were 12 and 14 years old... Things were really tough. At one time we were down to one can of beans." Hutton attended Foch Intermediate School in Detroit before dropping out in ninth grade. She sang in several local bands as
7548-412: The government encouraged retooling of the American automobile industry in support of the Allied powers , leading to Detroit's key role in the American Arsenal of Democracy . Jobs expanded so rapidly due to the defense buildup in World War II that 400,000 people migrated to the city from 1941 to 1943, including 50,000 blacks in the second wave of the Great Migration, and 350,000 whites, many of them from
7659-402: The hands of the white police force, while 433 were wounded (75% of them black), and property valued at $ 2 million (worth $ 30.4 million in 2020) was destroyed. Rioters moved through the city, and young whites traveled across town to attack more settled blacks in their neighborhood of Paradise Valley . Industrial mergers in the 1950s, especially in the automobile sector, increased oligopoly in
7770-489: The highways were presented as a kind of urban renewal. These neighborhoods (such as Black Bottom and Paradise Valley) were extremely important to the black communities of Detroit, providing spaces for independent black businesses and social/cultural organizations. Their destruction displaced residents with little consideration of the effects of breaking up functioning neighborhoods and businesses. In 1956, Detroit's last heavily used electric streetcar line , which traveled along
7881-417: The indigenous and loyalist raids of 1778 and the resultant 1779 decisive Sullivan Expedition reopened the Ohio Country to even more westward emigration, which began almost immediately. By 1778, its population reached 2,144 and it was the third-largest city in what was known as the Province of Quebec since the British takeover of former French colonial possessions. After the American Revolutionary War and
7992-504: The influence of union leaders in the city such as Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters and Walter Reuther of the UAW. Detroit, like many places in the United States, developed racial conflict and discrimination in the 20th century following the rapid demographic changes as hundreds of thousands of new workers were attracted to the industrial city. The Great Migration brought rural blacks from
8103-407: The influx of black Detroiters to white neighborhoods, believing that their presence would lead to neighborhood deterioration. This perpetuated a cyclical exclusionary process that marginalized the agency of black Detroiters by trapping them in the unhealthiest, least safe areas of the city. As in other major American cities in the postwar era, modernist planning ideology drove the construction of
8214-655: The largest European settlement between Montreal and New Orleans , both also French settlements, in the former colonies of New France and La Louisiane , respectively. During the French and Indian War (1754–63)—the North American front of the Seven Years' War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of France —British troops gained control of the settlement in 1760 and shortened its name to Detroit. Several regional Native American tribes, such as
8325-535: The late 19th century, wealthy industry and shipping magnates commissioned the design and construction of several Gilded Age mansions east and west of the current downtown, along the major avenues of the Woodward plan. Most notable among them was the David Whitney House at 4421 Woodward Avenue , and the grand avenue became a favored address for mansions. During this period, some referred to Detroit as
8436-417: The length of Woodward Avenue, was removed and replaced with gas-powered buses. It was the last line of what had once been a 534-mile network of electric streetcars. In 1941, at peak times, a streetcar ran on Woodward Avenue every 60 seconds. All of these changes in the area's transportation system favored low-density, auto-oriented development rather than high-density urban development. Industry also moved to
8547-491: The majority of the black community: with overall lower incomes and facing the backlash of discriminatory housing policies, the black community was limited to lower cost, lower quality housing in the city. The surge in the black population augmented the strain on housing scarcity. The livable areas available to the black community were limited, and as a result, families often crowded together in unsanitary, unsafe, and illegal quarters. Such discrimination became increasingly evident in
8658-605: The musical Annie Get Your Gun (1950), and for Cecil B. DeMille 's epic The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). She made her final feature film appearance in Spring Reunion (1957). After leaving Paramount, Hutton starred in her own series, The Betty Hutton Show , from 1959 until 1960. She continued to perform in stage productions, though her career faltered following a series of personal struggles, including chronic depression, alcoholism , and prescription drug addiction. Hutton largely abandoned her performing career by
8769-405: The next hundred years, virtually no British or French action was contemplated without consultation with the Iroquois or consideration of their likely response. On July 24, 1701, the French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac , with his lieutenant Alphonse de Tonty and more than a hundred other settlers, began constructing a small fort on the north bank of the Detroit River. Cadillac named
8880-411: The other way, it would have opened the door to fixing nearly all of Detroit's current problems." John Mogk, a professor of law and an expert in urban planning at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, says, Everybody thinks that it was the riots [in 1967] that caused the white families to leave. Some people were leaving at that time but, really, it was after Milliken that you saw mass flight to
8991-484: The policies of redlining implemented by banks and federal housing groups, which almost completely restricted the ability of blacks to improve their housing and encouraged white people to guard the racial divide that defined their neighborhoods. As a result, black people were often denied bank loans to obtain better housing, and interest rates and rents were unfairly inflated to prevent their moving into white neighborhoods. White residents and political leaders largely opposed
9102-604: The rapid growth of industrial workers in the auto factories, labor unions such as the American Federation of Labor and the United Auto Workers (UAW) fought to organize workers to gain them better working conditions and wages. They initiated strikes and other tactics in support of improvements such as the 8-hour day/40-hour work week , increased wages, greater benefits, and improved working conditions . The labor activism during those years increased
9213-494: The region losing the majority of funding for rapid transit. The city then moved forward with construction of the elevated downtown circulator portion of the system, which became known as the Detroit People Mover . The gasoline crises of 1973 and 1979 affected auto industry. Buyers chose smaller, more fuel-efficient cars made by foreign makers as the price of gas rose. Efforts to revive the city were stymied by
9324-427: The same year. In 1967, she was signed to make a comeback starring in two low-budget Westerns for Paramount, but was fired shortly after the projects began. After losing her singing voice in 1970, Hutton had a nervous breakdown and again attempted suicide. She regained control of her life through rehabilitation, and the mentorship of a Catholic priest, Father Peter Maguire. Hutton converted to Catholicism, and took
9435-593: The second lead in a Mary Martin film musical, Happy Go Lucky (1943). The response was positive, and Hutton was given co-star billing with Bob Hope in Let's Face It (1943). During that year, she made $ 1250 per week. In 1942, writer-director Preston Sturges cast Hutton in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek as a dopey but endearing small-town girl who gives local troops a happy send-off and wakes up married and pregnant, but with no memory of who her husband is. The film
9546-470: The settlement Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit , after Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain , Secretary of State of the Navy under Louis XIV . Sainte-Anne-de-Détroit was founded on July 26 and is the second-oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States. France offered free land to colonists to attract families to Detroit; when it reached a population of 800 in 1765, it became
9657-575: The show, more careful reports demonstrate that producer DeSylva chose to cut just one song of three, "They Ain't Done Right by Our Nell", due to Hutton's "always in overdrive" performance style. When DeSylva became a producer at Paramount Pictures , he offered Hutton a contract with the studio, and she relocated to Los Angeles. She was first cast in a featured role in The Fleet's In (1942), starring Paramount's number-one female star Dorothy Lamour , alongside Eddie Bracken and William Holden . The film
9768-484: The song "Elizabeth June" as a tribute to Hutton, and wrote about their relationship in further detail in her memoir, Rat Girl (2010). After completing her master's degree, Hutton worked as a drama instructor at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts . Hutton's last known performance, in any medium, was on Jukebox Saturday Night , which aired on PBS in 1983. She became estranged again from her daughters. Hutton
9879-438: The stage and onto a drummer in the orchestra pit. In a number that required her to maul Keenan Wynn , she once toed him into a dead faint, forced him to take to protective padding. Among her later victims: Bob Hope , whose teeth caps she sent scattering over a soundstage floor during a bit of jujitsu; Cinemactor Frank Faylen , whom she knocked out with a right to the jaw when the director demanded realism; Eddie Bracken , who, in
9990-498: The strict Jim Crow laws and racial discrimination policies of the South. Postwar Detroit was a prosperous industrial center of mass production. The auto industry comprised about 60% of all industry in the city, allowing space for a plethora of separate booming businesses including stove making, brewing, furniture building, oil refineries, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and more. The expansion of jobs created unique opportunities for black Americans, who saw novel high employment rates: there
10101-418: The struggles of the auto industry, as their sales and market share declined. Automakers laid off thousands of employees and closed plants in the city, further eroding the tax base. To counteract this, the city used eminent domain to build two large new auto assembly plants in the city. Young sought to revive the city by seeking to increase investment in the city's declining downtown. The Renaissance Center ,
10212-404: The suburbs, seeking large plots of land for single-story factories. By the 21st century, the metro Detroit area had developed as one of the most sprawling job markets in the United States; combined with poor public transport, this resulted in many new jobs being beyond the reach of urban low-income workers. In 1950, the city held about one-third of the state's population. Over the next 60 years,
10323-434: The suburbs. If the case had gone the other way, it is likely that Detroit would not have experienced the steep decline in its tax base that has occurred since then. In November 1973, the city elected Coleman Young as its first black mayor. After taking office, Young emphasized increasing racial diversity in the police department, which was predominantly white. Young also worked to improve Detroit's transportation system, but
10434-404: The tension between Young and his suburban counterparts over regional matters was problematic throughout his mayoral term. In 1976, the federal government offered $ 600 million (~$ 2.5 billion in 2023) for building a regional rapid transit system, under a single regional authority. But the inability of Detroit and its suburban neighbors to solve conflicts over transit planning resulted in
10545-403: The turn of the 19th century, white American settlers began pouring westwards. The region's then colonial economy was based on the lucrative fur trade , in which numerous Native American people had important roles as trappers and traders. Today the flag of Detroit reflects its both its French and English colonial heritage. Descendants of the earliest French and French-Canadian settlers formed
10656-677: Was a 103% increase in the number of blacks employed in postwar Detroit. Black Americans who immigrated to northern industrial cities from the south still faced intense racial discrimination in the employment sector. Racial discrimination kept the workforce and better jobs predominantly white, while many black Detroiters held lower-paying factory jobs. Despite changes in demographics as the city's black population expanded, Detroit's police force, fire department, and other city jobs continued to be held by predominantly white residents. This created an unbalanced racial power dynamic. Unequal opportunities in employment resulted in unequal housing opportunities for
10767-417: Was a small one, Spring Reunion (1957). It was a financial disappointment. She also became disillusioned with Capitol's management and moved to RCA Victor . In 1957, she appeared on a Dinah Shore show on NBC that also featured Boris Karloff ; the program has been preserved on a kinescope . Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz took a chance on Hutton in 1959, with their company Desilu Productions giving her
10878-498: Was an alcoholic . Hutton's formative years during the Great Depression were marked by poverty , with Hutton's mother supporting herself and her two children by working as an automobile upholsterer and running an illegal speakeasy out of her home in Lansing, Michigan . There, Hutton and her sister regularly performed songs to entertain customers of the speakeasy. Due to her mother's bootlegging of alcohol during prohibition ,
10989-631: Was an American bandleader, actor, and pianist. Lopez was born of Portuguese immigrant parents in Brooklyn , New York City, United States, and was leading his own dance band in New York City by 1916. On November 27, 1921, his band began broadcasting on the new medium of entertainment radio; the band's weekly 90-minute show on the Newark, New Jersey, station WJZ boosted the popularity of both himself and of radio. He became one of North America's most popular bandleaders, and would retain that status through
11100-656: Was billed above Fred Astaire in the 1950 musical Let's Dance . Hutton was one of several stars in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), an epic drama directed by Cecil B. DeMille about performers in a circus which won two Academy Awards : Best Picture and Best Story . Hutton portrayed a trapeze artist in the film, and trained extensively for the role for six months, allowing her to perform many of her own stunts. She made an unbilled cameo in Sailor Beware (1952) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis ,
11211-495: Was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 26, 1921, in Battle Creek, Michigan , the youngest of two daughters of Percy Thornburg, a railroad brakeman , and Mabel Thornburg (née Lum). When she was two years old, her father abandoned the family. They did not hear of him again until they received a telegram years later, informing them of his suicide . Betty and her older sister, Marion , were raised by their single mother, who
11322-498: Was coined by Father Gabriel Richard as he looked out at the ruins of the city in the fire's aftermath. The city seal, designed by J.O. Lewis in 1827, directly depicts the Great Fire of 1805. Two women stand in the foreground while on the left, the city burns in the background and a woman weeps over the destruction. The woman on the right consoles her by gesturing to a new city that will rise in its place. The city seal also forms
11433-587: Was criticized for being too focused on downtown development and not doing enough to lower the city's high crime rate and improve city services to residents. High unemployment was compounded by middle-class flight to the suburbs, and some residents leaving the state to find work. The result for the city was a higher proportion of poor in its population, reduced tax base, depressed property values, abandoned buildings, abandoned neighborhoods, and high crime rates. On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed near Detroit Metro airport, killing all but one of
11544-596: Was delayed by Hays Office objections and Sturges' prolific output, and was finally released early in 1944. The film made Hutton a major star; Sturges was nominated for a Best Writing Oscar, the film was named to the National Film Board's Top Ten films for the year, and the National Board of Review nominated the film for Best Picture of 1944, and awarded Betty Hutton the award for Best Acting for her performance. The New York Times named it as one of
11655-721: Was followed, featuring grand boulevards as in Paris . In 1817, Woodward went on to establish the Catholepistemiad , or University of Michigania in the city. Intended to be a centralized system of schools, libraries, and other cultural and scientific institutions for the Michigan Territory, the Catholepistemiad evolved into the modern University of Michigan. Prior to the American Civil War ,
11766-427: Was hospitalized with emotional exhaustion. Hutton appeared in an interview with Mike Douglas and made a brief guest appearance in 1975 on Baretta . In September 1978, Hutton was featured on The Phil Donahue Show , where she extensively discussed her life and career. She was then happily employed as hostess at a Newport, Rhode Island, jai alai arena. She also appeared on Good Morning America , which led to
11877-626: Was once engaged to the head of the Warner Bros. makeup department, makeup artist Perc Westmore , in 1942, but broke off the engagement, saying it was because he bored her. Hutton's first marriage was to camera manufacturer Ted Briskin in September 1945. The couple met in a nightclub and she described their meeting as "love at first sight." The couple had two daughters, Lindsay ( b. 1946) and Candice ( b. 1948), before their marriage ended in divorce in 1951. Hutton's second marriage in 1952
11988-568: Was one of many Paramount stars in Duffy's Tavern (1945), and was top billed in The Stork Club (1945) with Barry Fitzgerald , produced by DeSylva. Hutton went into Cross My Heart (1946) with Sonny Tufts , which she disliked. She did however enjoy the popular The Perils of Pauline (1947), directed by Marshall, where she sang a Frank Loesser song that was nominated for an Oscar : "I Wish I Didn't Love You So". The recording sold over
12099-514: Was popular and Hutton was an instant hit with the moviegoing public. Hutton was one of the many Paramount contract artists who appeared in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942). The same year, she was signed to the newly-formed Capitol Records and recorded a number of singles over the following several years, marking one of the label's earliest recording artists. Meanwhile, Paramount did not immediately promote her to major stardom, but gave
12210-523: Was the irreverent Mike Riley, who popularized the novelty hit "The Music Goes Round and Round". Lopez's flamboyant style of piano playing influenced such later musicians as Eddy Duchin and Liberace . In 1941, Lopez's Orchestra began a residency at the Taft Hotel in Manhattan that would last 25 years. In the early 1950s, Lopez along with Gloria Parker hosted a radio program broadcast from
12321-849: Was to choreographer Charles O'Curran. They divorced in 1955. He died in 1984. She married husband Alan W. Livingston in 1955, weeks after her divorce from O'Curran. They divorced in 1960. Her fourth and final marriage in 1960 was to jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli . They divorced in 1967. Hutton and Candoli had one child, Carolyn ( b. 1962). After the death of her mentor, Father Maguire, Hutton returned to California, moving to Palm Springs in 1999, after decades in New England . Hutton hoped to grow closer to her daughters and grandchildren, as she told Robert Osborne on TCM 's Private Screenings in April 2000, though her children remained distant. She told Osborne that she understood their hesitancy to accept
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