She was the lovely and charming schoolteacher, "Miss Crabtree," in the Our Gang-Little Rascals movies of the early '30's. She did, in fact, charm her way into the hearts of her students, especially that of young Jackie Cooper.
Even before that, June Marlowe was a popular leading lady in silent films. She'd made her first on screen appearance in 1923, when a director who'd spotted her cast her in some short films to see how she would photograph.
Within a few years she was playing large parts in films at Warner Brothers, Universal and other studios. She appeared with some of the biggest names of the era: the celebrated actor John Barrymore, the great comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and many others.
All of that happened long ago. June is gone now; she died on March 10, 1984. But she has not been forgotten. The Little Rascals shorts have achieved a kind of immortality on television and home video. This immortality has touched June as well, giving her the opportunity to charm viewers many decades after these films were made.
This lovely starlet was born Gisela Goetten in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on November 6, 1903. She was raised a Catholic; and, at her confirmation, she took the first name of a relative--Valeria--as her own middle name.
Gisela's parents were meat market owner John P. Goetten and Hedwig "Hattie" Himsl. She was the oldest of five children: Gisela, Louis, Alona, Armor, and Gerald.
Gisela seems to have enjoyed a reasonably happy childhood. An old friend of hers thought her mother was a bit strict. In all fairness, though, most children manage to get their way a fair amount of the time, and likely Gisela was no exception.
Gisela grew up in the days before radio and television, which cause people to be the audience and rarely the participants. She did enjoy the movies--and she liked to imitate screen vamp Theda Bara. But Gisela and her family mainly created their own entertainment. In those days people found their own amusements in the home. They sang together, danced and played musical instruments by their fireside and indulged themselves in the pleasure of accomplishment. Or they practiced some craft that took their minds from the everyday routine as well as giving them the pleasure of achievement.
The Goetten family enjoyed such pleasures. Louis sang; Gisela read stories and the funny papers aloud to her family, and held them spellbound. John Goetten liked to participate in harness races around Lake George in St. Cloud. A friend of Gisela's recalled that he won many races there. Gisela herself became very fond of horses, and over the years she would often ride for pleasure at stables.
On one occasion, the Goetten children decided to set up their own zoo. The menagerie ended up including turtles, gophers and the family dog, Trix, who was pressed into service as a leopard. Friends and neighbors handed over their pennies to see the exhibit. In the end, the animals were released unharmed, and Gisela and her siblings took their coins and headed for the candy store.
On another occasion, lively young Gisela decided to start a newspaper: the "Avon Gazette"--named for Avon, Minnesota, where her family spent their summers. She neatly printed it by hand. The paper covered such important stories as: the birth of a calf at a neighbor's farm, and some relatives' visit in a brand new Model T Ford.
The Goettens sometimes visited the 'big city'--Minneapolis. "Minneapolis seemed so large," Louis Goetten recalled, "and the Glass Block [a department store] seemed like a row of skyscrapers." Gisela held that St. Cloud was the "most handsome city in the world." Nevertheless, at the end of the teens, the Goettens decided to move to Minneapolis.
Years later, Louis recalled some of their old haunts there. "I am sorry good old West High is gone," he said. "The candy store across the street was sort of a hangout. I think it was called Shebat's. We often went to the Lagoon and Calhoun theaters." As young Gisela sat enjoying the movies at those theaters, she probably never dreamed that soon she herself would be appearing on theater screens.
The Goettens moved to the West Coast at the beginning of the '20's. The move was made primarily for John Goetten's health. He would eventually open a large flower market in the movie capital.
The family settled down in Los Angeles. Gisela enrolled in Hollywood High School where she reportedly concentrated on art, planning on an art career.
During these school years she appeared in several plays. It was in one of
these, entitled MY IDEAL, that director Malcolm St. Clair noticed Gisela.
Louis recalled:
He had a relative in the same play and came to see her. In those days famous Hollywood personalities would attend school functions. HHS was an important part of the community. (Fay Wray was in my drama- tics class and was discovered in a school play.) St. Clair was impressed with June's work; he came back stage and invited June to come to the FBO studios for an interview. Mother and June made an appointment with St. Clair. Instead of a screen test she would appear in actual scenes in the FIGHTING BLOOD series, "So we can see how you photograph."
Gisela was somewhat shy, but she accepted the offer.
Then, newspaperman and screenwriter Harry Carr saw Gisela on screen and
became enthusiastic. He told producer Sol Lesser about her. Another meeting
followed, this time with Gisela being introduced to Lesser and director
Edward Cline. Lesser and Cline were preparing the film version of Harold
Bell Wright's bestseller WHEN A MAN'S A MAN for First National. Production
was scheduled to start soon.
Lesser was pleased with Gisela. She was slender and had a perfect complexion. Her eyes were large, dark and expressive. Her hair was dark brown and naturally waved.
After a screen test had been made, Gisela was cast in the role of lovely western girl "Kitty Reid." The film was shot outdoors in Prescott, Arizona, and gave Gisela the opportunity to flaunt her talent as a horseback rider. She also got more screen time than the movie's leading lady, Marguerite De La Motte, and the Los Angeles Examiner remarked that she had stolen the picture.
It was for this film that she was renamed "June Marlowe." Lesser decided that it would be a good name for Gisela as she reminded him of the famous stage actress Julia Marlowe. So Gisela Goetten of Minnesota became June Marlowe of Hollywood.
Writer Harry Carr entered the picture again, this time, recommending June to Jack Warner of Warner Brothers. Warner was favorably impressed with June, and signed her to a contract. Her first film for Warners was FIND YOUR MAN (1924), with Rin-Tin-Tin, "The Wonder Dog." It was an outdoor film, the kind she most enjoyed making.
Rin-Tin-Tin was a German Shepherd who, in the '20's and early '30's, was Hollywood's most famous animal star. He received many thousands of fan letters! "Rinty" (and his doubles) starred as an intelligent, courageous canine--mainly at Warners--in many pictures. He had allegedly been a German attack dog, found in a dugout during World War I. He was beloved by moviegoers but hated by his colleagues: he could be ill-tempered and vicious, and would attack people without warning. But he was friendly with June, who had a way with animals. Perhaps for that reason, more "Rinty" films would follow for her.
June quickly gained confidence before the silent camera. Once on her way, she was not troubled by doubts. In fact, in a 1925 issue of "Photoplay" she was quoted as saying of herself: "I'm going to be a star."
Warners promoted June as "The Most Beautiful Girl on the Screen," and "the girl with the soulful eyes." She did indeed project a kind of pure and soulful beauty with her large, dark eyes and natural warmth. June's studios would almost always cast her in ingenue roles. Great acting ability was not required; beauty and charm were. She met these requirements very well indeed.
She had the title role in the drama THE TENTH WOMAN (1924), and an important part in A LOST LADY (1925), based on Willa Cather's famous novel. More films followed, including TRACKED IN THE SNOW COUNTRY (1925), another Rin-Tin-Tin picture, shot near Truckee, California during winter.
That same year she became a Wampas Baby Star. Each year, the Wampas, an advertising and publicity organization, chose thirteen young hopefuls whose talent and beauty had attracted their attention. Wampas Stars in the past included Joan Crawford and Clara Bow.
June won the role of "Trusia" in DON JUAN (1926) with John Barrymore. She was happy to have this important film to her credit. It was a silent picture but Warner Brothers hired the New York Philharmonic to record a score for it using the Vitaphone system. The film attracted a great deal of attention, and proved to be a precursor of talking films. A family member recalled that June enjoyed working with the famous Barrymore, but added: "She really would enjoy working with most anyone, because she was that kind of a gal."
She was the heroine in the Rin-Tin-Tin pictures BELOW THE LINE (1925) and CLASH OF THE WOLVES (1925). In the latter, rising star Charles Farrell played his first lead. He and June became friends off screen.
June's brother Louis had also entered the picture business, as "Louis Marlowe." He later recalled: "When I started at Warners in 1925, I gave my name as Louis Goetten. After the first week the head of the prop department handed me a check made out to Louis Marlowe. He explained: 'We can't remember Goooten, Goyten, etc., etc., so here you are Louis Marlowe. We know you're June's brother.' So that was that."
In the Rin-Tin-Tin picture THE NIGHT CRY (1926), Louis got to work with his sister as property man. They enjoyed working together. Also, according to the film's press book, June set out to give her young brother a little publicity:
Louis Marlowe, brother of June Marlowe...worked with his sister's company for the first time in this picture....
"He is the best 'prop' man I have ever worked with," declares June with a positive nod of her beautiful little head.
Some comments about the prop department's work, attributed to June, appeared in the press book. Apparently she never gave the subject much thought until "Louis became a prop man and I became more interested in such things."
Louis later said of June: "She gave me great help in my work at Warner Brothers. Although she was a Warner star, she took pride in
my promotions from property man [to] assistant director, unit manager and director. I can't imagine a sweeter, more wonderful person
in the world."
He also said: "It was always my hope to direct June in a film--but that was not to be. Although I directed films from 1935 to 1969, it
never became my joy to direct her."
Like the other "Rinty" pictures, NIGHT CRY was filmed mostly on location: in this case, at a sheep ranch in Northern California. A letter, supposedly written there by June, was quoted in the book THE RIN-TIN-TIN STORY, by James W. English. Whether the letter was written by June or a studio publicist, it accurately reflects her love of the outdoors. An excerpt:
To those of us who have been raised in the city, this location in the northern sheep country is a great treat. The first day I was here, I hiked over the low, rolling hills, stopping to rest under the giant oaks, when I reached the top of the range and looked over into the next valley--what a view!...Hundreds and hundreds of white sheep, interspersed with the occasional black ones. I missed lunch daydreaming.
June's last film under her Warner contract was the comedy THE LIFE OF RILEY (1927) for First National.
Then Universal signed June to a contract, and announced that it regarded the young actress as having a great future in pictures. June appeared with Jean Hersholt in two pictures, THE OLD SOAK (1926) and ALIAS THE DEACON (1927). While working together on these pictures, she and Hersholt became good friends. June appeared in three more films for universal and five films for independent producers during 1927 and 1928.
Universal decided to send June to their studios in Germany to make several pictures. She was accompanied on this trip by her mother, "Hattie" Goetten. The trip allowed June to take advantage of her ability to speak German. "Her German was perfect," said Louis, "which endeared her to the German public...She appeared on many radio shows, and always spoke German." The Germans were surprised that an American could speak their language so perfectly.
Louis also recalled: "At the completion of the shooting, June and our mother toured Europe and visited [relatives], and enjoyed a sojourn in Haslach, Upper Austria where our mother was born. The pair had great times together."
On her return to Hollywood in 1930, June appeared in her first talking pictures. They were the comedy short FAST WORK, with Charley Chase; and the cliffhanging serial THE LONE DEFENDER.
In LONE DEFENDER she was reunited with Rin-Tin-Tin, only this time, not with Warners but with little Mascot Pictures. At this time, major producers were not making her any offers; they now preferred actors and actresses with stage training. So June found herself working for smaller companies like Mascot and the Hal Roach Studios.
LONE DEFENDER is one of the few June Marlowe films that have remained somewhat accessible to film buffs. Unfortunately, it is not one of her best. Louis Goetten summed up the film thusly: "THE LONE DEFENDER was made on a shoestring budget; hence, it was shot wild (silent), and sound was dubbed in later...it was a miserable job--but good enough for a 'B' serial."
In 1930 June got her best-remembered role, that of the lovely and lovable schoolteacher Miss Crabtree in Roach's Little Rascals movies. The part came to her by chance: one day, while shopping in a Los Angeles department store, June ran into the Rascals' director, Robert McGowan. He told her that he was looking for someone to play Our Gang's teacher. Would June be interested?
June was not one to push herself forward in seeking roles. Louis observed: "In all the years June spent in pictures, she never sought roles. What she did came to her without effort. Had she been more interested she might have had a more distinguished career."
Since her return from Europe, June would as soon go horseback riding as capture parts in pictures. But she thought that it would be fun to work with the Rascals at Roach's studio. McGowan took her to Roach, who suggested she wear a blond wig to match series star Jackie Cooper's fair hair. The results were pleasing indeed, and the Rascals had their new teacher.
June's charms would help to place her six Little Rascals films among the series' best. Her first appearance took place in the
outstanding TEACHER'S PET (1930). The story has the Rascals dreading the arrival of their new teacher, Miss Crabtree. They feel that
a teacher with a name like "Crabtree" must be "an old battle ax." The kids, lead by Jackie Cooper, decide to play
nasty tricks on her. On the way to school, Jackie meets the lovely Miss Crabtree and, not realizing who she is, tells her about the plan.
When Miss Crabtree appears before her class that morning at school, Jackie does a huge double take and cringes as his various schemes
are exposed. In the end, ashamed, he sits under a tree in the schoolyard and begins to cry. But Miss Crabtree comes to him to offer her
forgiveness.
TEACHER'S PET was so good it led to a number of follow-ups or sequels. Miss Crabtree returned in SCHOOL'S OUT (1930), and the very funny LOVE BUSINESS (1931).
June enjoyed playing Miss Crabtree and became good friends with the young Cooper, off screen as well as on. He has frequently recalled the very real fondness he felt for her. After shooting, June would drop him off at his home and he was pleased and proud to ride beside her in her shiny new Lincoln phaeton.
She had no idea at the time that her work in these little films would continue to charm audiences for decades to come. Today the popularity of these shorts has kept them alive in television reruns and on home video, delighting new generations of viewers.
June was perfect for her part. She was young and decidedly pretty. Her sincere fondness for the children, her warmth and friendliness, her kindness and good manners all made her liked and respected by the Rascals as well as by young viewers.
The Rascals liked their teacher because she would always talk to them and really listen to them. Miss Crabtree, for her part, was tolerant and patient no matter what mischief her young pupils were up to. She also taught them some important lessons.
Jackie Cooper left Roach in 1931 to accept an offer from Paramount and June's role in the series changed somewhat. In LITTLE DADDY (1931) she appears only at the end of the film.
She finished her part in the series with SHIVER MY TIMBERS (1931) and READIN' AND WRITIN' (1932).
June appeared in one other Hal Roach-MGM film: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's first full-length feature, PARDON US (1931). As the daughter of the prison warden, June is on screen for only a few minutes and has perhaps a dozen words in all to say. Originally, her part was larger. A scene which was filmed and deleted had Stan and Ollie rescuing her from a burning building.
June reportedly did one other feature, DEVIL ON DECK (1932), for a minor studio. Then, at nearly 30 years of age, she chose to relinquish her youthful roles. June retired from films in 1932.
A visitor to the PARDON US set was Hollywood businessman Rodney S. Sprigg. It's plain that Rodney admired the solitary actress in the picture's cast. For on July 2, 1932, he and June were married.
Rodney had a large moving and storage business on Cosmo Street in Hollywood, and specialized in handling assignments for movie people. Among his clients were many who had moved to Hollywood from Europe, including Max Reinhardt and Erich Korngold. Being a member of the Lakeside Golf Club, he golfed and played cards with friends like George O'Brien, Bing Crosby, Guy Kibbee and John Wayne.
The couple lived for a time in San Diego. Later, they moved to Hollywood. Rodney was a widower with twin sons. He and June had no children.
June and Rodney traveled extensively here and abroad and visited family and friends around the world. But a favorite spot remained their ranch in California, "Boulder Creek." Here June passed many pleasant days in the outdoors horseback riding.
She seems never to have thought about making another picture. Instead, she enjoyed gardening, charitable work and travel, and rarely saw anyone from the film industry--that is, anyone who was not a member of her family. For June's other brothers and her sister also had Hollywood careers. Armor worked in studio property departments; Alona and Gerald both had short acting careers.
Various sources credit June with three films made after 1932. She does not appear in them--but a June Marlowe does. Louis recalled that around 1934, another June Marlowe appeared on the scene. She was a buxom blonde who "caused considerable trouble by cashing checks without funds and charging purchases, giving June's address. She gave me as a reference on several occasions. One time the Hollywood police came to the Warner studio to ask me about this second June Marlowe. After a few years she disappeared, and we never heard of her again."
In later years, June noted that her Little Rascals films were reappearing on television. With renewed interest in the comedies during the 1960's, she was asked by a publisher to write children's stories. June enthusiastically embarked on this endeavor and completed one or two stories, about characters with names like "Beesy" and "Furry." But she was then stricken with Parkinson's disease, and became too ill to finish this last project.
She did make one final trip to her beloved old home, St. Cloud, in 1974. Then, in 1982, her husband, Rodney, died. Two years later, just days before she was to join Louis at "Leisure World" in Laguna Hills, June's condition worsened and she died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California. The end came on March 10, 1984. She was eighty years old.
In 1985, Louis wrote: "June now rests in our family plot in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery--next to the Mission, with her parents, and where we all will be sooner or later. It's a beautiful spot." Louis passed away on January 18, 1991. He was buried alongside June. The double marker over their graves reads, in part: "Beloved Sister--Beloved Brother."
June is not a major figure in the history of the movies. But her performances in the Little Rascals comedies made a lasting impression on generations of fans and have won her admirers young and old. The late Hal Roach recalled that his studio was receiving mail addressed to "Miss Crabtree" years after June had left. Many people remember the character, even if they don't know the name of the actress who played her.
Why did the character make that impression? She has an impressive array of attractive qualities. She is pretty, of course. Then there is her affectionate way with the Gang kids, her graciousness with all people, her compassion, patience, warm smile, gentle manner; in essence--her inner beauty. These are the qualities that attract the Rascals--and some viewers--to her.
How great a difference separated June Crabtree and June Marlowe? Not so great a one, perhaps. A relative and old friend said of the actress: "She was a very beautiful person--a beautiful gal." June's brother Louis said he couldn't "imagine a sweeter, more wonderful person in the world." One thing is certain: June's loveliness and charm will continue to win new admirers whenever these films are shown.