Ilka Chase

Ilka Chase (April 8, 1905 – February 15, 1978)[1] was an American actress, radio host, and novelist.

Ilka Chase
Chase in Now, Voyager (1942)
Born	April 8, 1905 New York City, U.S.
Died	February 15, 1978 (aged 72) Mexico City, Mexico
Occupation	Actress, radio host, novelist
Years active	1923–1972
Spouse(s)	Louis Calhern ​ ​ (m. 1926; div. 1927)​ William Murray ​ ​ (m. 1935; div. 1946)​ Norton Sager Brown ​ ​ (m. 1946)​
Parent(s)	Edna Woolman Chase

Biography

Born in New York City and educated at convent and boarding schools in the United States, England, and France, Chase was the only child of Francis Dane Chase, a merchant mariner who became a dry goods salesman and then the general manager of New York's Hotel Colonial, and the former Edna Woolman Allaway, known as Edna Woolman Chase, an editor. Her mother, who became the editor-in-chief of Vogue, described Chase's father, whom she married in 1902, as "a lovable, good-looking, irresponsible young man from Boston. His father had been a banker, and depending on when you met them, the family had money."[2] After her parents' divorce, her father married artist Theodora Larsh (1887–1955). Her mother's second husband was engineer Richard Newton.

After graduating from France's Château de Groslay boarding school, Chase made her society debut in December 1923 at a large dinner and dance, held in her honor and hosted by her mother at the Cosmopolitan Club in New York City. The 250 guests included her mother's employer, Condé Nast, Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Frank Crowninshield, artist Abram Poole and his wife, Mercedes de Acosta, interior decorators Ruby Ross Goodnow and Nancy McClelland, artist Albert Sterner, future Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Carmel Snow, British nobleman and pilot Viscount Holmesdale, architect Harrie T. Lindeberg, and fashion designer Adrian.[3]

Stage

Chase (left) in the Broadway stage production Small Miracle (1934)

Chase's Broadway debut occurred in 1924 in The Red Falcon.[4] Her stage appearances included roles in Days Without End, Forsaking All Others, While Parents Sleep, Small Miracle, On to Fortune, Tampico, Co-Respondent Unknown, Keep Off the Grass, and In Bed We Cry, an adaptation of her novel of the same name. She was in the original Broadway cast of Clare Boothe Luce's play The Women (1938), and many years later appeared in Neil Simon's Broadway hit Barefoot in the Park.[5]

Films

Her films included Fast and Loose (1930), The Animal Kingdom (1932), Now, Voyager (1942), Once a Sinner (1950), and The Big Knife (1955). Her last motion picture was in Ocean's 11 (1960) as Mrs. Restes.

Radio

In the early 1940s, Chase was the hostess for Penthouse Party on CBS[6] and Luncheon Date With Ilka Chase, on NBC Red.[7] For several years, she hosted the radio program Luncheon at the Waldorf.

Television

Chase appeared as a panelist on several programs in the early years of television, including Celebrity Time (1949-50), Who Said That? (1950-55), and Masquerade Party (1952-56). She hosted the 1950-51 TV series Fashion Magic.

In 1957, Chase performed the role of the Stepmother in the television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews. In 1963, she made a rare television sitcom appearance as Aunt Pauline on The Patty Duke Show.

Chase was a regular in Trials of O'Brien on CBS in the mid-1960s.[8]

Personal life

Chase was married to:

• Louis Calhern (1895-1956), the stage and movie actor - Chase and he met while performing in summer stock with the George Cukor Company in Rochester, New York, married in June 1926, and divorced six months later, in February 1927.
• William Buckley Murray (1889-1949), a former music critic of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and onetime executive of NBC - he also had been a concert manager for the Baldwin Piano Company and became the head of radio and television at the William Morris Agency. In 1932, Chase and Murray adapted We Are No Longer Children, a play by French playwright Leopold Marchand. They married on 13 July 1935, in Greenwich, Connecticut, and divorced in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 4 December 1946.[9] By this marriage, she had one stepson, William Buckley Murray, Jr., a crime novelist and writer for The New Yorker, who was Murray's only child by his previous wife, Natalia Danesi, an opera singer and lover of Janet Flanner. Murray's third wife was interior decorator Florence Smolen.
• Norton Sager Brown (1904-1995), a physician - Chase and he divorced their spouses so they could be married on 7 December 1946, in Las Vegas, Nevada.[10] They remained married until her death in 1978. By this marriage, Chase had a stepson, James Brown.

Writings

Her novel In Bed We Cry appeared in 1943[11] and was adapted for the stage, with Chase in the leading role.

Her autobiography Past Imperfect (volume I), in which she wrote, "Those who never fail are those who never try," was published in 1942, and Free Admission (volume II) was published in 1948. She also wrote more than a dozen other books, including The Care and Feeding of Friends, a guide to lighthearted entertaining with over 80 recipes and 20 menus.

Death

Chase died in Mexico City, Mexico, aged 72. She is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.[12] Her epitaph reads: "I've finally gotten to the bottom of things."

Reference materials

Chase's personal papers, as well as those of her mother, are in the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library.[13]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1929	Paris Bound	Fanny Shipman	based on the 1927 play Paris Bound, in which Chase was a member of the cast
1929	Why Leave Home?	Ethel
1929	The Careless Age	Bunty
1929	Red Hot Rhythm	Mrs. Fioretta
1929	Rich People	Margery Mears
1929	South Sea Rose	Maid
1930	Let's Go Places	Mrs. Du Bonnet
1930	The Big Party
1930	Her Golden Calf	Comedienne
1930	Born Reckless	High Society Customer at Beretti's
1930	The Florodora Girl	Fanny
1930	On Your Back	Dixie Mason
1930	Fast and Loose	Millie Montgomery
1930	Free Love	Pauline
1931	Once a Sinner	Kitty King
1931	The Gay Diplomat	Madame Blinis
1932	The Animal Kingdom	Grace
1936	Soak the Rich	Mrs. Mabel Craig
1936	The Lady Consents	Susan
1939	Stronger Than Desire	Jo Brennan
1942	Now, Voyager	Lisa Vale
1943	No Time for Love	Hoppy Grant
1948	Miss Tatlock's Millions	Cassie Van Alen
1954	It Should Happen to You	Guest Panel #2
1954	Johnny Dark	Abbie Binns
1955	The Big Knife	Patty Benedict
1960	Ocean's 11	Mrs. Restes

References

1. Birth year of 1905 cited in 1910 U.S. Federal Census for New York City, accessed on ancestry.com on 5 April 2017. Birth year also cited on Chase's passport applications, the earliest being 1921, when she was 15, the age she states, giving her birthdate at 8 April 1905
2. Edna Woolman Chase and Ilka Chase, Always in Vogue (Doubleday, 1954), page 58
3. "Miss Ilka Chase Makes Her Debut", The New York Times, 18 December 1923, page 19, column 1
4. "Ilka Chase's 'Penthouse Party' New WHP Summer Program". Harrisburg Telegraph. June 7, 1941. p. 26. Retrieved May 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Ilka Chase at the Internet Broadway Database
6. "Ilka Chase 'Penthouse Party' Heard Half-Hour Earlier". Harrisburg Telegraph. June 21, 1941. p. 26. Retrieved May 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Burr, Eugene (February 14, 1942). "Program Reviews: 'Luncheon Date With Ilka Chase'" (PDF). Billboard. p. 8. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
8. "EX-Mother-in-Law Is OK!". The Berkshire Eagle. October 9, 1965. p. 19. Retrieved May 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Ilka Chase Married to William B. Murray", The New York Times, 14 July 1935, page 74
10. "Ilka Chase Wed in Nevada", The New York Times, 8 December 1946
11. Wylie, Philip (November 7, 1943). "Gleanings from the Crop of Fall Novels: Cafe Society Amours". New York Times. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
12. Wilson, Scott (19 August 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625997 – via Google Books.
13. "archives.nypl.org -- Ilka Chase papers". archives.nypl.org.

External links

• Ilka Chase at IMDb
• Ilka Chase at the Internet Broadway Database
• Ilka Chase at Find a Grave
• Ilka Chase papers, 1850-1977 bulk (1916-1977), held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Photographic portraits of Ilka Chase by Cecil Beaton, Arnold Genthe, Man Ray, and Edward Steichen, 1925-1930s, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts