Lillian Yarbo

Lillian "Billie" Yarbo (March 17, 1905 – June 12, 1996) was an American stage and screen actress, dancer, and singer.

Early life
Born Lillian Yarbough in Washington, DC, Billie eventually made her way to New York, as did both her mother and at least one sister—though exactly when this happened and whether they made this pilgrimage all at once or separately and at different times, remains unclear.

Stage
The 'Real' Billie By her early 20s, Yarbo, credited prior to October 1928 as Yarbough, was a rising star, both in Harlem night spots and on the Broadway stage. Writing in The New Yorker, reviewing the Miller and Lyles musical, Keep Shufflin', a young Charles Brackett alerted readers: "There is a Miss Billie Yarbough, who must have been designed by Covarrubias and must be seen." With a style sometimes likened to that of her contemporary, Josephine Baker, Yarbo was embraced by audiences and critics alike, beginning in the late 1920s and continuing until her 1936 screen debut. As for her vocal stylings, just a few, fleeting, onscreen remnants exist (see relevant excerpt from The Family Next Door in External links). That said, Yarbo clearly did not lack for confidence, having once told trumpeter Buck Clayton, "To hell with Billie Holiday! Come down and listen to me, the real Billie."

Screen
Twenty-Four Sheet' Lil Yarbo appeared in at least two films in 1936 and one in 1937 before receiving glowing notices—and her first onscreen credit—the following year in the otherwise indifferently received Warren William vehicle, Wives Under Suspicion. For that and her equally acclaimed performance in Frank Capra's hugely successful adaptation of Kaufman and Hart's You Can't Take It With You (which, by virtue of the film's panoramic, full-cast billboard, also inspired a new nickname),  Yarbo was judged 1938's best Negro comedic actress by Pittsburgh Courier film critic Earl J. Morris. In 1939, she was awarded that same distinction by the short-lived Sepia Theatrical Writers Guild. Indeed, even prior to 1938, the then-as-yet thoroughly anonymous Yarbo—as Claire Trevor's maid in Alfred Werker's much-rewritten Big Town Girl —caught the eye of one discerning reviewer. "... and a Negro lassie—inexcusably omitted from the cast list [emphasis added]—renders yeoman service and considerable comedy as the 'countess' ' maid."

Awards and critical plaudits notwithstanding, and despite the sentiments ascribed to director King Vidor as early as 1937 (following Yarbo's sophomore screen turn, appearing uncredited with Barbara Stanwyck in Vidor's Stella Dallas), she continued to be routinely cast in bit parts, primarily as a maid, cook or otherwise low-skilled worker, often uncredited, appearing in at least 50 films between 1936 and 1949.

In the fall of 1943, amid an already setback-laden half-decade, a potentially career-altering opportunity—being cast in a straight dramatic role opposite Canada Lee in what might well have become the definitive screen adaptation of Richard Wright's Native Son—failed to materialize when Orson Welles, who had directed Lee in the original Broadway production, proved unavailable. Adding injury to insult, just weeks later, a near-fatal car crash put Yarbo out of commission for the first half of 1944. She appeared in just one film that year, and over the next five—ending her screen career much as it had begun—averaged exactly two films a year, uncredited in all but one.

Later career
On November 13, 1948, roughly four months after finishing work on what would prove to be her final film (and roughly 13 years since last having performed onstage), Yarbo returned to live performance. Perhaps inspired by having made, roughly two months prior, "one of her rare visits to a night spot," Yarbo, backed by Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, performed at a benefit event staged at Club Congo (formerly Club Alabam) by the Alpha Phi Alpha House Campaign Committee to "provide a much-needed housing [sic] and scholarship for 'forgotten' students."

On May 19, 1949, The California Eagle's Gertrude Gipson reported that "C. P. Johnson on along with a six-piece combo, and Billy Yarbo, who has returned to dancing, will open at the Fairbanks in Alaska around the first." Whether or not this actually came to pass is unclear, but if so, it would appear to be Yarbo's last documented public performance.

Similarly unclear is the matter of whether, during that same period, Yarbo had occasion to see some very nice notices greeting her penultimate screen performance (and final credited one), portraying "a giggling, singing, four-times-married little maid" in Warner Bros.' long-shelved Night Unto Night (1949), one more instance of Yarbo being one of the few reasons to watch—precisely as had been the case in her first credited role —in an otherwise "sleep-induc[ing]" picture: "Other characters include one who talks like someone out of a bad play, a couple of doctors, the heroine's sexy sister, and, fortunately, Lillian Yarbo as Josephine, the maid of all work, who provides the only bright spot in the generally murky atmosphere."

Personal life
In 2006, NYU Professor of Media Studies Cathrine Kellison, speaking on the DVD commentary track of You Can't Take It With You (1938), briefly addressed Yarbo's known history: "Now Lillian Yarbo, here... she's... it's troubling how little information there is about her as a person. She was in probably 40, 50 films. Many of them, her name was not listed; she was uncredited." Kellison, who would die in 2009 with online newspaper archives still slim, did not live long enough to learn of Yarbo's illustrious pre-Hollywood heyday.

Yet taking into account the full scope of her career, it is curious that the close press coverage of Yarbo halted in the fall of 1949. After over two decades, it could be surmised that this was requested by Yarbo herself. One reason why she might have desired less attention appeared in a 1928 interview which, despite its condescending tone, portrays Yarbo as someone who did not aspire to fame and who—somewhat akin to her celebrated not-quite-namesake —genuinely valued her privacy.

Having finally secured that privacy, and adroitly handled her finances, Yarbo appears to have spent the remainder of her life in relative comfort in Seattle, Washington, where she died on June 12, 1996.

Stage work
Partial listing of stage work (as Billie Yarbo, except where otherwise noted):

Filmography

 * Rainbow on the River (1936) as Seline (uncredited)
 * Stella Dallas (1937) as Gladys (uncredited)
 * Big Town Girl (1937) as Scarlett (uncredited)
 * Wives Under Suspicion (1938) as Creola
 * Penrod's Double Trouble (1938) as Mrs. Washington (uncredited)
 * You Can't Take It With You (1938) as Rheba
 * Up the River (1938) as Black Prisoner (uncredited)
 * There's That Woman Again (1938) as Ladies Room Attendant (uncredited)
 * Kentucky (1938) as Magnolia (uncredited)
 * Persons in Hiding (1939) as Beauty Parlor Maid
 * Cafe Society (1939) as Mattie Harriett (uncredited)
 * Society Lawyer (1939) as Sadie, Judy's Maid (uncredited)
 * The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) as Mary, Claire's Maid (uncredited)
 * The Family Next Door (1939) as Blossom
 * Boy Friend (1939) as Delphinie (uncredited)
 * The Jones Family in Hollywood (1939) as Maid (uncredited)
 * The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939) as Maid (uncredited)
 * Way Down South (1939) as Janie
 * Destry Rides Again (1939) as Clara
 * Honeymoon Deferred (1940) as Janet's Maid (uncredited)
 * Lillian Russell (1940) as Maid (uncredited)
 * Lucky Cisco Kid (1940) as Queenie (uncredited)
 * They Drive By Night (1940) as Chloe (uncredited)
 * The Return of Frank James (1940) as Eleanor's Maid (uncredited)
 * Sandy Gets Her Man (1940) as Hattie, the Maid (uncredited)
 * Meet the Missus (1940) as Maid (uncredited)
 * Buy Me That Town (1941) as Nancy
 * International Lady (1941) as Prissy (uncredited)
 * Henry Aldrich for President (1941) as Lucinda
 * Moon Over Her Shoulder (1941) as Juline, the Maid (uncredited)
 * Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942) as Daisy, Belle's Maid
 * The Great Man's Lady (1942) as Mandy
 * Footlight Serenade (1942) as Estelle's Maid (uncredited)
 * Between Us Girls (1942) as Phoebe, the Maid
 * Presenting Lily Mars (1942) as Rosa, Isobel's Maid (uncredited)
 * Redhead from Manhattan (1943) as Polly (uncredited)
 * Swing Shift Maisie (1943) as Myrtlee
 * Whistling in Brooklyn (1943) as Maid (uncredited)
 * Music for Millions (1944) as Jessie (uncredited)
 * The Naughty Nineties (1945) as Effie, Bonita's Cook (uncredited)
 * Saratoga Trunk (1945) as Hotel Maid (uncredited)
 * The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945) as Mary, Freddie's Cook (uncredited)
 * Faithful in My Fashion (1946) as Celia (uncredited)
 * No Leave, No Love (1946) as Maid (uncredited)
 * The Time, the Place and the Girl (1946) as Jeannie, Elaine's Maid (uncredited)
 * My Brother Talks to Horses (1947) as Psyche
 * A Date with Judy (1948) as Nightingale (uncredited)
 * Night Unto Night (1949) as Josephine (uncredited)
 * Look for the Silver Lining (1949) as Violet (uncredited)