She could act, sing and dance. She was born in Brooklyn. Her parents were Puerto Rican. She sang with Bing Crosby. She danced with Fred Astaire. She starred in a Lerner & Loewe Broadway musical. But she never gets a mention during Hispanic Heritage Month. Because I loved her movie work, I'm giving Olga San Juan a well-deserved shout-out here.
When I was a kid growing up in Los Angeles, local KTLA/Channel 5 was hooked up to the Parmount Pictures library and aired a lot of old Paramount movies, some of which I remember vividly but have yet to see on cable's TCM (Turner Classic Movies).
One such movie was 1947's VARIETY GIRL. It's basically a 90-minute promo for Paramount with its roster of stars appearing as themselves and letting their hair down in musical comedy sketches and songs. A top Paramount musical comedy star not in it is Betty Hutton and that's because Hutton was pregnant at the time. The fun movie has a paper-thin plot about a young Hollywood hopeful singer who winds up on the Paramount lot. She makes friends -- so she thinks -- with another Hollywood hopeful. This comically backstabbing blonde changed her named to "Amber LaVonne." To me, the main highlight of VARIETY GIRL is the very funny verbal sparring that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby do as themselves. It's their funniest appearance outside of their famous "Road" comedies -- plus it was shot after Crosby had huge box office success in GOING MY WAY and won the Oscar for Best Actor.
After Hope & Crosby, the funniest performance comes from vivacious Olga San Juan as the ambitious nitwit. As a kid -- and into my young adult years -- I'd watch her performance and belly laugh. She just tickled the heck out of me.
Astaire, my favorite entertainer, had announced he was retiring from films after BLUE SKIES. He was always good. However, he's extra sensational in BLUE SKIES as he must have planned to leave moviegoers with some superb work. His "Puttin' on the Ritz" number in BLUE SKIES is a knockout. Olga San Juan has a supporting role in BLUE SKIES. She sings with Bing Crosby. She's Fred Astaire's dance partner in the "Heat Wave" rhythm number, his last one in the film.
When I was working and living in New York in the 90s, I discovered that my wonderful longtime commercial agent also loved Olga San Juan in VARIETY GIRL. It was from Linda, my agent, that I learned Olga San Juan was married to Oscar-winning actor Edmond O'Brien and they had three kids. Linda also told me that Olga San Juan was in the original Broadway cast of the Lerner & Loewe hit musical, PAINT YOUR WAGON. Here's one of Olga's numbers from that 1951 show.
See if you can find Paramount's VARIETY GIRL and BLUE SKIES. Also look for her in the 1948 musical comedy from Universal, ONE TOUCH OF VENUS. It's based on a Broadway musical that starred Mary Martin as Venus the goddess of love. A statue of Venus comes to life and she's eager to make love to a mortal. Ava Gardner took on the Venus role. Her singing was dubbed. Olga's was not. Blonde Olga was cast opposite singer/actor Dick Haymes. Venus had her eye on a department store employee played by Robert Walker. Here's a clip with a hit song from the Broadway show.
There you have it. Some of my love for Puerto Rican actress, singer and dancer Olga San Juan.
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