Kyle MacDonnell

Ruth Kyle MacDonnell (c. 1922 - September 28, 2004) was an American model, singer, and actress. She was featured as a "Television Ingenue" on the front page of Life magazine's May 31, 1948, issue.[1]

Early years

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George B. MacDonnell of Larned, Kansas, she graduated from Larned High School[2] and Kansas State College and did post-graduate study at Ward-Belmont College,[3] where she was a member of the Glee Club.[4]

Career

In September 1945, MacDonnell was named Miss Nashville Air Transport Command, making her the group's "official sweetheart and pin-up girl".[5] A contemporary newspaper account of the event reported that thousands of people were turned away from the "jam-packed" War Memorial Auditorium in which MacDonnell was selected over 26 other contestants.[5] The win gained national attention for MacDonnell and worldwide distribution of her photograph to ATC stations.[6]

Winning led to MacDonnell's becoming a professional model for Harry Conover's agency. Conover had crowned her in the Miss ATC contest, and when he met her again at that fall's Army-Notre Dame football game, he offered her a job, which she accepted.[7] She was featured in a full-page cover photograph on the May 5, 1946, issue of Parade magazine, a nationally distributed Sunday newspaper supplement. A paragraph inside the magazine referred to her as "already one of the top-ranking photographer's models."[8]

Warner Bros. signed MacDonnell to a film contract in 1947.[9] She appeared in the film Taxi (1953).[10] She also performed in night clubs, including the Hotel Plaza's Persian Room in New York City[11] and the Carousel in Pittsburgh.[12]

MacDonnell was named Miss Television 1948,[13] the year in which an article in Life described her on-air persona as being "a cross between professional stage presence and conversational intimacy, between American girlishness and blond sexiness."[1] She had her own 15-minute weekly variety program, For Your Pleasure, on NBC in 1948.[1] In September of that year, MacDonnell and the Norman Paris Trio were shifted from For Your Pleasure to the new half-hour Girl About Town, which ended in June 1949. She also was a host of Hold That Camera[14]: 466  and a panelist on Celebrity Time.[14]

MacDonnell's Broadway credits include Park Avenue,[9] Make Mine Manhattan (1948) and Touch and Go (1949).[15] Also on stage, she performed in Twin Beds' national touring company in 1953.

In January 1952, MacDonnell began her first radio show. WOR in New York carried The Kyle MacDonnell Show, a 15-minute disc jockey program, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings.[16]

She retired from show business in 1959 after her marriage.[13]

Personal life

In 1942, MacDonnell married Norris J. McGaw in Larned, Kansas.[2] After a divorce from him, she married Charles K. Laitus in 1948, but they divorced. On July 19, 1950, she married Richard H. Gordon,[17] a theater writer and producer.[10] They divorced in October 1954.[17] In 1959, she married William H. Vernon, a banker[13] who died in 1995.[10]

Death

On September 28, 2004, MacDonnell died at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at age 82.[13]

Papers

MacDonnell's papers are housed at the Kansas Historical Society.[17]

References
  1. "Television Find". Life. May 31, 1948. pp. 83–84. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  2. "MacDonnell-McGaw". The Manhattan Mercury. Kansas, Manhattan. February 2, 1942. p. 2. Retrieved 18 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "girl about town" (PDF). Radio Album. 1 (4): 30–31. Winter 1949. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  4. "Ward-Belmont Singers Offer Good Program". The Tennessean. Tennessee, Nashville. December 12, 1938. p. 12. Retrieved 18 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Holder, Bill (September 12, 1945). "Kyle MacDonnell Named ATC Sweetheart". The Tennessean. Tennessee, Nashville. p. 1. Retrieved 19 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Kyle MacDonnell Named Queen Of ATC In Glamorous Pageant". The Tennessean. Tennessee, Nashville. September 12, 1945. p. 2. Retrieved 19 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Screen Test Waits, but Where Is WAC?". Republican and Herald. Pennsylvania, Pottsville. United Press. December 15, 1945. p. 8. Retrieved 19 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "The Face on the Cover". Detroit Free Press. Michigan, Detroit. Parade. May 5, 1946. p. 66. Retrieved 19 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Warner Bros. Signs Former Model". The St. Louis Star and Times. Missouri, St. Louis. May 12, 1947. p. 7. Retrieved 20 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Small-screen celebrity". The Santa Fe New Mexican. New Mexico, Santa Fe. October 1, 2004. p. 9. Retrieved 21 August 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Persian Room, Hotel Plaza, New York" (PDF). Billboard. December 30, 1950. p. 23. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  12. "Pitt's Spots Find Television Talent Puts 'Em in Black" (PDF). Billboard. May 19, 1951. p. 40. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  13. "Actress Kyle MacDonnell dies at age 82". United Press International. October 1, 2004. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  14. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  15. "Kyle MacDonnell". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  16. "(untitled brief)" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 28, 1952. p. 64. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  17. "Misc. Coll. MacDonnell, Ruth Kyle". Kansas Historical Society. Kansas Historical Society. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
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