Recently while out and about in Toronto, I stumbled upon the following image of Jinx Falkenburg in a Sports store.

1940s Vintage Photo of Jinx Falkenburg Sitting with Bowling Ball and Soft Drink — Source: Corbis Images

I asked the sales lady who the woman was and she proclaimed that it was the famous Jinx! “Famous Jinx I asked?” “Yes she said the Famous Jinx from the 1930s and 40s!” I scratched my head and ran off to the internet and discovered that I DID know who Jinx Falkenburg was! Well..sort of. You see I discovered that she stared in “Cover girl” a movie I have seen at least a million times but apparently never paid much attention to after the movie was over. How terrible of me! Like really terrible 🙁 Sorry vintage movie buffs everywhere.

Jinx is amazing!

Let’s Learn All about Jinx Falkenburg- The 1930’s and 1940’s “Did It All” Girl

Born in Barcelona, Spain, to American parents, her father Eugene “Genie” Lincoln Falkenburg was an engineer for Westinghouse. Thinking the name would bring good luck, she was nicknamed Jinx by her mother Marguerite “Mickey” Crooks Falkenburg, an accomplished athlete and tennis player (Brazil women’s champion in 1927), and the name stuck (Source: Wikipedia).

She was an Actress:

Tahiti Nights-1944

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg in the classic movie Tahiti Nights. Jinx is dresses in a sarong hawaiian dress with tropical hair flowers in her 1940s hairstyle. — Source: Flickr-Vintage Stars

Nine Girls-1944

I LOVE her outfit in the picture! Her shoes are outstanding, just outstanding.

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg in the classic movie Nine Girls in 1944. Jix is wearing a peasant top and a cute 1940s skirt with 1940s shoes and 1940s hairstyle. Super 1940s fashion! — Source: Flickr-Vintage Stars

Jinx Falkenburg and Evelyn Keyes find a pleasant way to pass the time between their scenes in Nine Girls.

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg and Evelyn Keyes finding a pleasant way to pass the time between their scenes in Nine Girls. They are wearing 1940s fashions - 1940s playsuit & 1940s top and shorts. — (Source: A Certain Cinema)

Interested in seeing the movie? You can see it all for FREE below. OMG the 1940s hairstyles are incredible in this movie!

Cover Girl-1944

One of my most favourite movies of all time! The 1940s fashions…drool!

1940s Vintage Movie Poster for Cover Girl in 1944 featuring Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly and Jink Falkenburg.

Cover Girl, 1944 screenshot. L-R: Eve Arden, Jinx Falkenburg, Otto Kruger, Anita Colby.

Jinx is the third “woman”model” who comes into the scene below.

Two Senoritas from Chicago-1943

Other Movies:

She was also an Expert Swimmer

While living in Santiago, Chile where she spent her early years she first received media attention at age two when the New York Sun ran a full-page picture and story of her exploits as a “baby swimmer.” (Source: Wikipedia).

Bowler (as seen in the first picture I posted)

Further Reading: Vintage Bowling Advertising & 1940s & 1950s Vintage Bowling Fun

Tennis Star

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg posing for a picture while playing tennis. — Source: farm3.staticflickr.com

Jinx the Tennis Star in 1949.

Further Reading: Vintage Tennis Outfits Inspiration 1920s-1950s

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg tennis star in 1949 posing for a photo in 1940s tennis outfit.

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenberg in a two piece outfit laying amongst tennis balls holding a tennis racket. — Source: Flickr-Glen.H

Jinx was also a Famous Model

One of the highest-paid and most ubiquitous cover-girl models in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s.

A revolution in Chile caused the family to return to the United States and the family moved to Los Angeles, California. She attended Hollywood High School but left in 1935 at the age of 16 to pursue a career in acting and modeling.

In 1937 her modeling career took off when she met celebrity fashion photographer Paul Hesse,whose Sunset Strip studio was a gathering place for advertising moguls and motion picture industry celebrities. Calling her “the most charming, most vital personality I have ever had the pleasure to photograph”, he took her picture for the August 1937 cover of The American Magazine, triggering similar offers from 60 other publications.

Falkenburg eventually wound up on over 200 magazine covers and in some 1,500 commercial advertisements in the 1930s and 1940s. She was considered to be one of the most beautiful women of that era, known for her All-American girl athletic good looks. The New Yorker magazine said she “possessed one of the most photogenic faces and frames in the Western world.” The New York World Telegram claimed her face was seen more often and in more places than any other woman in the country. And a headline story in the January 27, 1941 Life Magazine said Jinx Falkenburg “is the leading candidate for America’s No. 1 Girl for 1941.” (Source: Wikipedia).

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg with a 1940s hairstyle with hair clips by her ears posing for a modeling photo. — Source: Old arts and Photographs of the world

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg the model in a 1940s hairstyle with a big bow on her head.

1940s vintage advertisment for “Max Factor Hollywood” featuring Jinx Falkenburg.

Her biggest breakthrough as a model came in 1940 when she was picked by New York-based Liebmann Brewery, maker of Rheingold Beer, to be the first “Miss Rheingold.”

Liz Note: I love a good beer so I support this move completely 🙂

1940s vintage ad for Rheingold Beer featuring Jinx Falkenburg in stunning 1940s fashions. — Source: Photobucket

Jinx also was a big supporter of the USO during the war and traveled extensively entertaining troops.

Photo Note: India-Burma-China, November 1944. Harry Brown, Betty Yeaton, soldier, Jinx Falkenberg, Pat O’Brien, Ruth and Jimmy Dodd.

1940s vintage photo of Jinx Falkenburg in a two piece tropical outfit with a hair flower in her hair posing for a photo for USO effort. India-Burma-China, November 1944. Harry Brown, Betty Yeaton, soldier, Jinx Falkenberg, Pat O'Brien, Ruth and Jimmy Dodd. — Source:Flickr- califboy101

In her personal life she married a journalist and influential publicist Tex McCrary in 1945.

1940s Vintage Polaroid Ad featuring Jinx Falkenburg and Tex McCrary — This ad is too funny!

In 1947, McCrary and Falkenburg had their first network TV show, Jinx and Tex at Home, broadcast Sunday nights on NBC. The program combined film and live interviews of celebrities in their residences (Source: Wikipedia). It was a huge hit and started the ball in motion for other endeavors together.

They separated in 1980 sadly but remained friends till his death in 2003, one month before Jinx passed away (August 27th, 2003).

And there you have it, a brief overview of a woman that really “Did it all”. I think she is fantastic and I really enjoyed learning about her life of which I did not post all here (so please go and investigate more yourself).

FURTHER READING: Vintage Women’s History 1920s-1960s

Liz 🙂

Do you remember the wonder, romance and innocence of the golden age of cinema? Deanna Durbin, born Edna Mae Durbin, was one of the most successful and beloved stars of the era. A Canadian born singer and actress, Deanna became one of the highest-paid female stars in the world in the 1930s and ’40s.

In this article, we will explore the incredible life and career of Deanna Durbin (thru vintage photos), from her upbringing in poverty in Winnipeg to her turn as a beloved movie star.

So, let’s go back in time and learn about the life of the incredible Deanna Durbin – Canada’s movie star sweetheart.

Deanna Durbin-A Canadian Born Movie Star

Deanna was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (Yay Canada!) December 4, 1921 and her real name is actually “Edna Mae Durbin”. At the age of one she moved with her family to Hollywood where as she got a bit older it became very obvious that she had a talent for singing. Many lessons later she was discovered by an MGM casting director looking for someone to portray the opera star Ernestine Schumann-Heink as a child. At the age of 13 she signed with MGM and was placed in a one reel short called “Every Sunday” with a newly signed singer as well, Judy Garland. Deanna sang classical music while Judy sang Swing.

Here is the collaboration from the short.

This short from what I have read was actually an extended screen test for the two girls as MGM was unsure if they wanted two females singers on their roaster. They both passed with flying colours but by the time that this decision was made to keep Deanna her contract option had elapsed. MGM lost her to Universal Studios who placed her in her first feature-length movie in 1936 “Three Smart Girls“. The huge success of this movie apparently saved Universal from Bankruptcy and ushered in an eight-year era of successful Deanna Musicals.

Many of her movies had the same kind of theme “Depression fairy tales in which Ms. Durbin won over or defeated silly rich people with the help of butlers, cooks and chauffeurs, who often risked their jobs to aid her”. Her characters also tended to find a way to help the struggling grown-ups in her life.

By 1946, Deanna had starred in 17 movies and her salary of $323,477 from Universal made her the second-highest-paid woman in America, just $5,000 behind Bette Davis. Wow!

Vintage Photo of Deanna Durbin on the cover of a movie magazine in a 1940s hat.

Deanna Durbin vintage screen shot from one of her movies. Deanna is sporting a beautiful 1940s hairstyle and 1940s Jacket and Dress.

Durbin eventually tried to assume a more sophisticated movie persona in such vehicles as the World War II story of refugee children from China, The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943), directed in part by Jean Renoir, the film noir Christmas Holiday (1944), directed by Robert Siodmak, and the whodunit Lady on a Train (1945), but her substantial fan base preferred her in light musical confections (Wikipedia).

By 1948, Deanna would eventually retire (after a total of 21 movies) and marry her third husband Charles David (At age 19 she married to her first husband and it lasted two years, she then married her second husband in 1945 and divorced followed in 1949, they had one daughter together). Deanna then retired to a French Farmhouse where she lived a life out of the spotlight till her death a few days ago.

Why such an early retirement?

Durbin made it known that she did not like the Hollywood studio system. She emphasized that she never identified herself with the public image that the media created around her. She spoke of the Deanna “persona” in the third person, and considered the film character Deanna Durbin a by-product of her youth and not her true self (Private letter to the film historian and critic William K. Everson in the late 1970s).

So this was Deanna Durbin, a very talented actress who decided that a “normal life” was her real destiny. As a fan of her movies I have to say that I sure am glad that she did grace us with her presence on the screen and left us with a large library of 21 movies and even a record with Decca Records for us to enjoy for many more years.

Here are some more pictures of the beautiful and talented Deanna Durbin.