Betty Luster

Infobox actor
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name = Betty Luster


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birthdate = 1922cite journal | author=Picture Post| title=A Glamour Girl's Day| journal=Picture Post| year=22 Oct 1938| issue=138|quote =22nd October 1938: 16 year old American dancer Betty Luster, a showgirl with the Dorchester Hale dance troupe, shopping at a market in London. It is therefore likely she was born sometime in the first ten months of 1922, but it is possible she was born in November or December of 1921.]
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yearsactive = 1938-1957
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notable role = Mr. B Natural

Betty Luster (born 1922) is an American television actress, singer and dancer, whose career was active in the 1940s and 1950s. The role for which she is best remembered today was at one time her most obscure: She portrayed Mr. B Natural in the short film of the same name, made famous after its inclusion in a 1991 episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

Career

Betty Luster's earliest known performances were as a showgirl with the Dorchester Hale dance troupe in London in October 1938, when she was sixteen years old.

She was a dancing girl in the 1940 Broadway production of Irving Berlin's "Louisiana Purchase". [Citation | last = Internet Broadway Database | first = | title = Louisiana Purchase | url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=13260 | access-date = 2007-05-29]

She was a chorus girl at the Beachcomber in Miami Beach in 1946 and/or 1947.Citation | last = Life | first = | author-link = | title = Life Tours the Nightclubs at Miami Beach | journal = Life | volume = | pages = | date = March 3, 1947 | year = 1947]

She performed on the operatic stage in Philadelphia in the late 1940s. [Citation | last =Hamilton | first =Frank | author-link = | title =Opera in Philadelphia: Performance Chronology 1925-1949 | date = | year =2006 | url =http://www.frankhamilton.org/ph/ph1.pdf | accessdate = 2007-05-27 ]

Luster's first television role was as co-hostess of the 1950 CBS game show "Sing It Again", a progenitor to "Name That Tune", wherein contestants would attempt to identify songs from just a few notes. Her other television appearance was as a regular on the 1951 NBC variety show "Seven at Eleven".

Luster again appeared on Broadway as "Sebena" in a production of "The Wayward Saint". [Citation | last = Internet Broadway Database | first = | title = The Wayward Saint | url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2502 | access-date = 2007-05-27] The show ran at the Cort Theatre from February 17 to March 6, 1955.

"Mr. B Natural"

In 1956, Luster took the title role in a film sponsored by the musical instrument manufacturer C. G. Conn to promote to schoolchildren an interest in music. "Mr. B Natural" told the story of a "hep pixie"cite book | last = Prelinger | first = Rick | authorlink = Rick Prelinger | title = The Field Guide to Sponsored Films | publisher = National Film Preservation Foundation | year = 2006 | pages = p.65 | url =http://www.filmpreservation.org/projects/sponsored.pdf | doi = | isbn = 0-9747099-3-X |format=PDF] who helps junior high school student Buzz Turner awaken the "spirit of music" inside of him, through the purchase and practice on a Conn brand trumpet.

The short remained an obscure classroom reel until 1991 when it was brought to the attention of HBO, which was seeking content for its new cable network, Comedy Central. [cite web | last = Prelinger | first = Rick | authorlink = Rick Prelinger | title = An Informal History of Prelinger Archives | work = | publisher = | date = 2001-01-04 | url =http://www.panix.com/~footage/shorthistory1.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-05-28 ] "Mr. B Natural" was licensed for use by Best Brains' movie-spoofing vehicle "Mystery Science Theater 3000", and was broadcast nationally on November 30, 1991 accompanying the feature "War of the Colossal Beast". Due to this exposure, the short, and the Mr. B Natural character, have become recognized as kitsch icons.

Mr. B Natural is Betty Luster's last known role.

Magazine appearances

"Picture Post" photographed Luster for the October 22, 1938 essay "A Glamour Girl's Day" while she was a showgirl with the Dorchester Hale dance troupe in London.

Luster appears in a photograph for "Life" magazine's March 3, 1947 issue, with the essay, "Life Tours the Nightclubs at Miami Beach".

Luster was interviewed in the July 26, 1952 edition of "TV Digest" and shared the cover with Julius La Rosa.

An article on Luster appeared in the August, 1953 issue of "TV Fan". [Citation | last =Forme Productions | first = | author-link = | title =StarFinder Magalog Listings | journal =StarFinder Magalog | volume = | issue = | pages = p. 160 | date =2001-01-13 | year =2001 | url =http://www.formeprod.com/magalog.pdf | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2007-05-28 ]

Notes and references

External links

*imdb name|id=0527297
*ibdb name|id=111026|name=Betty Luster

Images
*"Picture Post" photos, October 22, 1938, at jamd.com: [http://www.jamd.com/search?text=3396039 1] [http://www.jamd.com/search?text=3396039 2] [http://www.jamd.com/search?text=3395972 3] :Additionally, the girl at the right in each of these may be Luster: [http://www.jamd.com/search?text=3395973 4] [http://www.jamd.com/search?text=3396045 5]
* [http://www.imdb.com/gallery/hh/0822756/HH/0822756/stantonLuster.jpgIMDb] Photo of Luster with "Seven at Eleven" costar Jack Stanton
* [http://images.nypl.org/?id=TH-31446&t=w New York Public Library] image of Luster from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection

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SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actress, singer
DATE OF BIRTH=1922
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