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She was onstage from age three in her parents' vaudeville act; by age 12 she was performing solo. In 1925 she debuted on Broadway, then joined the rush to Hollywood in 1929 at the dawn of the sound era. She was fairly busy through the '30s as a comedic supporting actress, usually playing a floozie who was the heroine's friend; occasionally she had leads. In 1939 she retired from the screen, coming back for a few character roles in the '60s. In 1950-52 she was the original Alice Kramden opposite Jackie Gleason in TV's The Honeymooners, when that show was still just a segment of the variety series Cavalcade of Stars. Yet another victim of the McCarthy Era, she was named as a supposed Communist sympathizer in the unscrupulous publication Red Scare, and her career was ruined. She married actor Ralph Bell and was the mother of actor Brian Bell.