Helen Shipman - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Helen Shipman was the daughter of William H. and Annie L. (Mitchell) Shipman of Pennsylvania. Her full name was Helen Phyllis Shipman. Helen's mother was a stage actress of some note in her youth, and her father was a printer who died in 1925. Helen began performing at the age of three doing impressions of famous adult stars. Her first professional job was as "Baby Phyllis" at the Duquesne Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She later (in 1908) toured on the B. F. Keith show circuit in a play titled Little Nemo. After that tour, she moved with her mother and older sister to New York City to advance her career, however, she continued to tour on the B.F. Keith show circuit. Between tours, she worked in variety shows at the Palace Theatre in NYC where she sang songs composed for her by the well-known lyricist, Neville Fleeson. It was in these shows that she got to know other entertainers such as Jimmy Durante and the Marx Brothers. She was childhood friends with Ira and George Gershwin, the latter of which became enamored with her. Nelson Eddy was also one of her suitors when she was a teenager in New York.

In 1915, Shipman was invited by Florenz Ziegfeld to co-star in his new Midnight Frolic production on the rooftop of the New Amsterdam Hotel in New York City. She had her first starring role on Broadway in the musical Oh, Boy! in 1917, and followed that with another Broadway musical comedy, Oh Lady! Lady!. She then took the 1919 Broadway musical, Irene, on tour playing the title role and introducing the song "My Sweet Little Alice Bluegown" to audiences in places like Cleveland and Chicago. Her longest running Broadway play was The Lady In Ermine which ran for 232 performances at the Ambassador Theatre in 1922. She also starred in many other Broadway plays. Helen also performed in at least 14 movies including Christopher Bean (1933) with Beulah Bondi and Marie Dressler, Naughty Marietta (1935) with Nelson Eddy and Frank Morgan, San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald, and Small Town Girl (1936) with Robert Taylor and James Stewart.