Today is the birthday of the actress, Alice White. She first toiled behind the silver screen as a script girl but one of her employers, a fellow by the name of Charlie Chaplin, decided she would do better in front of it. Beginning in 1927 she starred in several features and became a fan favorite. The critics however, were less impressed, one describing her as a "Second string Clara Bow". But she was popular enough to appear on a cover of Film Fun painted by the one and only Enoch Bolles. It appeared in 1929 and was among the first of 13 covers he painted which featured a leading lady of cinema. All were claimed to be "specially posed" for the magazine and while Alice grew up just 25 miles from Enoch's home in New Jersey, it's highly unlikely she ever spent a second in his studio. In fact several covers were clearly reworked from publicity photos. The one exception may have been a painting of Lupe Velez that also appeared in 1929. Enoch's daughter Teresa once told me that Lupe actually posed in person for her cover at Enoch's New York studio. Enoch also painted portrait poses of starlets for other movie magazines but by 1932 he was back to painting the Bolles girl full time. She had her fans too!
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