Helen Shipman

Helen Phyllis Shipman (February 5, 1899 – April 13, 1984) was an American actress, singer, and dancer who worked across Broadway, vaudeville, and film throughout the early twentieth century. Born in Pennsylvania, she performed on Broadway from 1916 to 1931 and appeared in numerous musical productions during that period.

Shipman's father, William H. Shipman, worked as a printer, and she had a sister who was married to a wealthy New York oil man. She began performing at the age of three, doing impressions of famous entertainers, and her first professional engagement was billed as "Baby Phyllis" at the Duquesne Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1908 she toured on the B. F. Keith show circuit in a production called Little Nemo. Following that tour, she relocated with her mother and older sister to New York City, though she continued to travel on the Keith circuit. During intervals between tours, she performed in variety shows at the Palace Theatre in New York City, where she sang songs written for her by lyricist Neville Fleeson. Those engagements brought her into contact with entertainers including Jimmy Durante and the Marx Brothers, and she was childhood friends with Ira and George Gershwin.

In 1915, Florenz Ziegfeld invited Shipman to co-star in his Midnight Frolic production staged on the rooftop of the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. Her first starring role on Broadway came in 1917 in the musical Oh, Boy!, followed by the Broadway musical comedy Oh Lady! Lady! She subsequently toured in the 1919 Broadway musical Irene, playing the title role and introducing the song "Alice Blue Gown" to audiences in cities including Cleveland and Chicago. Among her Broadway credits were the musical Robinson Crusoe, Jr., the play He Didn't Want to Do It, the musical Paradise Alley, and the musical Kosher Kitty Kelly. Her longest-running Broadway production was The Lady in Ermine, which ran for 232 performances at the Ambassador Theatre in 1922.

Shipman also built a career in film, appearing in at least fourteen movies. Her screen credits included 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. She had hoped to be cast in the role of Hannah in White Banners (1938), a wish she expressed to her sister, but the part went to actress Fay Bainter.

Shipman married actor Edward Pawley while he was working in Hollywood. Pawley had established himself on Broadway and was the first actor to portray Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry on the Broadway stage in 1928. After their marriage, Shipman stepped away from performing and directed her attention to interests including gardening, the arts, reading, and music. She was also an active member of the Rosicrucians. In 1951, when Pawley concluded his starring role as Steve Wilson on the radio program Big Town, the couple retired to Rappahannock County, Virginia. Shipman died there of heart failure on April 13, 1984, at the age of 85, and had no children.