![]() She wore her own white overalls for the test - that outfit would later be used in the commercials, which began in 1963 and ran through 1974, with 30 different commercials airing each year the character was also prominent in the brand's print advertisements. Withers would later recall she was the 103rd actress to audition for the part. The idea of a female plumber was an unusual jokey effort to sell the Comet cleanser used in sinks and bathtubs. A lifelong Presbyterian, she commented: “I always took my troubles to the good Lord, and I never failed to get an answer.Actress Jane Withers, whose Josephine the Plumber character in the long-running series of television commercials for Procter & Gamble’s PG Comet cleanser redefined the depiction of working women in advertising and marketing, passed away at the age of 95.Ī New Television Heroine: From the beginning of television, advertisements depicted women strictly as housewives and mothers with an acute preoccupation on cooking, cleaning and frilly self-indulgences - working women, either white-collar or blue-collar, were nowhere to be seen on the small screen. In 1985, she married Thomas Pierson, a travel agency executive.Īn interviewer in 1974 asked Withers how she managed to escape the troubles that plagued many child stars in adulthood. She had two more children with second husband Kenneth Errair, one of the Four Freshmen singing group, who died in 1968. She recovered after spending five months in a hospital. She returned to Hollywood and was paralyzed with arthritis. The marriage produced three children and ended after seven years. In 1947, Withers left Hollywood to live with her first husband, producer-oil man William Moss, in Midland, Texas. Her most notable credits were “Giant” (1956) and “Captain Newman, M.D.” (1963). Withers’ film appearances as an adult were sporadic, partly because of three marriages and five children. In 1988, she reported that she owned 12,000 dolls and 2,500 teddy bears which were boxed and crated in a 27,000-square-foot warehouse. He kind of dibble-dabbled in real estate in a marvelous way.”ĭuring her childhood, she started collecting dolls and teddy bears, and she continued throughout her lifetime. She explained in 1974: “Fortunately, my dad had a great love of California land. Unlike other child stars, her earnings did not disappear. At her peak, she was earning $2,500 a week and $50,000 a year in endorsements. Her popularity led to Jane Withers dolls and other merchandise. When she won her first starring role, he sent her two large bouquets and a note saying, “I know you’re going to knock them dead in ‘Ginger’ and you’re going to have a fantastic career.” ![]() He coached her and afterward praised her professionalism. Fields chose her for a scene in which she played hopscotch in front of his store, frustrating his exit. Fields in “It’s a Gift” (1934) belies the legend - encouraged by Fields himself - that the comedian hated children. Jane played bit roles in movies and supplied voices for the Willie Whopper and the Looney Tunes cartoons. Her mother had greater ambitions, and she persuaded her husband to move the family to Hollywood. Born April 12, 1926, in Atlanta, she had appeared as Dixie’s Dainty Dewdrop on local radio by the age of 3. She said in a later Times interview that she felt the original Josephine character was “too smart-alecky, too brash,” but she thought “any lady who was going to become a plumber” would take pride in her work and care about her customers.įame started early for Jane Withers. ![]() The main advantage, she said, was that unlike the Broadway offers she was getting, the job didn’t interfere with her home life in Hollywood. ![]() “I got five figures for eight of those commercials, and I’m doing four more.” “Oh, the money is nice, all right,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1963. Her biggest prominence came from portraying “Josephine” in TV commercials for Comet cleanser for 12 years. Withers proved less of a draw as a teenager, and her career dwindled.Īs an adult, she appeared in a few films and on television. “I wasn’t allowed to shoot in Westwood until Shirley left the studio,” she said. While the Temple films were made on Fox’s modern Westwood lot, Withers made hers at the old studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Among the titles: “Ginger,” “Paddy O’Day,” “Little Miss Nobody,” “Wild and Wooly” and “Arizona Wildcat.” Explore Facebook rolls out new feature that allows users to request prayersĮven though B pictures were aimed for the bottom half of double bills, a theater owners poll named Withers one of the top money-making stars in 19. Atlanta-born actor Jane Withers, on a movie she made with Shirley Templeįor four years, Fox ground out three or four Withers films annually at budgets far lower than the Temple specials.
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