Henny Backus (born Henrietta Kaye, March 21, 1911 â€" December 9,
2004) was a Broadway showgirl in the 1930s whose stage credits include
Orson Welles's Horse Eats Hat. She was the wife of actor and comedian
Jim Backus.Henrietta Kaye was born in Brooklyn on March 21, 1911. She
studied sculpture at Cooper Union, but she preferred working in the
theater and appeared in Broadway musicals during the 1930s.[citation
needed] She had the role of Bee in the Broadway play Chrysalis (1932).
Working as Henriette Kaye, she was a member of the Federal Theatre
Project. Described by The New York Times as "a leggy redhead with a
droll sense of humor", she appeared in Orson Welles's Project 891
production Horse Eats Hat (1936), a surrealistic farce co-starring
Welles, Joseph Cotten, Hiram Sherman and Arlene Francis.:182 Her
husband, Nat Karson, designed the sets and costumes.:182Kaye married
actor and comedian Jim Backus in 1943. The couple co-starred in the
1960s television series Blondie, and they performed together once on
Gilligan's Island, in the sitcom's second-season episode "Gilligan's
Mother-In-Law" (1965). She appeared too with her husband in a
season-five episode of The Love Boat.Henny and Jim Backus co-authored
several humorous books, including What Are You Doing After the Orgy?
(1962), Only When I Laugh (1965), Backus Strikes Back (1984), and
Forgive Us Our Digressions (1988). Henny also wrote Care for the
Caretaker (1999), documenting her husband's battle with Parkinson's
disease and offering practical solutions for those facing such
dilemmas.
2004) was a Broadway showgirl in the 1930s whose stage credits include
Orson Welles's Horse Eats Hat. She was the wife of actor and comedian
Jim Backus.Henrietta Kaye was born in Brooklyn on March 21, 1911. She
studied sculpture at Cooper Union, but she preferred working in the
theater and appeared in Broadway musicals during the 1930s.[citation
needed] She had the role of Bee in the Broadway play Chrysalis (1932).
Working as Henriette Kaye, she was a member of the Federal Theatre
Project. Described by The New York Times as "a leggy redhead with a
droll sense of humor", she appeared in Orson Welles's Project 891
production Horse Eats Hat (1936), a surrealistic farce co-starring
Welles, Joseph Cotten, Hiram Sherman and Arlene Francis.:182 Her
husband, Nat Karson, designed the sets and costumes.:182Kaye married
actor and comedian Jim Backus in 1943. The couple co-starred in the
1960s television series Blondie, and they performed together once on
Gilligan's Island, in the sitcom's second-season episode "Gilligan's
Mother-In-Law" (1965). She appeared too with her husband in a
season-five episode of The Love Boat.Henny and Jim Backus co-authored
several humorous books, including What Are You Doing After the Orgy?
(1962), Only When I Laugh (1965), Backus Strikes Back (1984), and
Forgive Us Our Digressions (1988). Henny also wrote Care for the
Caretaker (1999), documenting her husband's battle with Parkinson's
disease and offering practical solutions for those facing such
dilemmas.
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