June, with her parents

Shortly after leaving Warners, June received and accepted an offer from Universal.  That studio announced that it regarded her as having a great future in pictures.  It also proclaimed that the former "Wampas Baby Star" had grown up: she'd pinned up her long hair and was wearing evening clothes to play a chorus girl in her first Universal picture, THE OLD SOAK (1925).  The role was definitely a change of pace for June.  She'd played so many old-fashioned girls that she hardly felt at home in front of the camera in modern clothes. The "Baby Star" reached middle age in THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT (1926).  June's part in that film required her to simulate a transition from youth to late middle age.  But her roles in other Universal pictures were more typical.  June was the ingenue in such films as WILD BEAUTY (1927), THE FOREIGN LEGION and GRIP OF THE YUKON (both 1928).  THE FOREIGN LEGION was a big-budget "Special."  Ads for the film promised "Mad Passion in the Exotic East--Sex--Soldiers--Passion--Strife"!

Wild Beauty (1927)

June during her radio days in Germany

On loan from Universal, June made seven pictures for First National, Samuel Bischoff Productions and other independent companies.  She escaped from her typecasting and played a nightclub hostess in James Ormont's FREE LIPS (1926).  But June must have experienced deja vu while working with Silverstreak, an imitation Rin-Tin-Tin, in Bischoff's FANGS OF JUSTICE (1926) and CODE OF THE AIR (1928).  The latter film was an aviation adventure/dog story with sci-fi elements!  Her other independents included the comedy THE LIFE OF RILEY (1927) and the dramas THEIR HOUR and THE BRANDED MAN (both 1928).  At Universal and elsewhere, June was kept busy. In late 1928, Universal sent June to their studios in Germany to make two pictures there.  Her mother, "Hattie" Goetten, accompanied her on the trip.  June appeared in DURCHS BRANDENBURGER TOR and DIE SELTSAME VERGANGENHEIT DER THEA CARTER (both 1929).  The latter film gave June an atypical part, that of a former cabaret dancer trying to bury her past.  Regarding German films, she later remarked, " It seems like they all have unhappy endings.  But then, perhaps that is more true to life than our pictures in this country."  (The St. Cloud Daily Times, April 29, 1929). 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."  Louis also recalled: "At the completion of 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."  Reportedly, June visited every country in Europe, and dined with King Boris of Bulgaria at the Esplanade Hotel in Prague.  She visited a number of castles and took special interest in their furnishings.

On her return to the United States in April of 1929, June and her mother stopped in her hometown, St. Cloud, for a week.  June wanted to see the city again and visit friends and relatives there.  She appeared at St. Cloud's largest theater, the Sherman, following a showing of her 1928 film, ON THE STROKE OF TWELVE.  The house was filled with her friends and admirers.  June also addressed a school group, visited with the mayor and toured the city, expressing surprise at how it had changed and grown.  Local newspapers covered the festivities.

When June went back to Hollywood in May, she found that things had changed there, too.

Read the newspaper article about June's Hometown Visit

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"Radio Days" photograph from the collection of Don Spears

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