Winnie Lightner (September , â€" March , ) was an American stage and
motion picture actress. Perhaps best known as the gold-digging Mabel
in Gold Diggers of Broadway (), Lightner was often typecast as a
wise-cracking gold-digger and was known for her talents as a comedian
and singer. She is also noted for introducing the song "Singin' in the
Bathtub" in the motion picture The Show of Shows.Born Winifred
Josephine Reeves was born in Greenport, Suffolk County, New York (on
Long Island) but was raised in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen by her aunt
and uncle, Margaret and Andrew Hansen,[citation needed] and known as
Winifred Hanson.She had a successful career in vaudeville and finally
made it to Broadway, where she performed in George White's Scandals of
, , and , in the musical revue Gay Paree in and ', and in Harry
Delmar's Revels of .She was the first movie performer in history ever
to be censored for what she said or sang on screen rather than for
anything she did visually.[citation needed] In , she made a Vitaphone
short in which she sang "We Love It", "God Help a Sailor on a Night
Like This", "That Brand New Model of Mine", and "We've Got a Lot to
Learn." A censorship board in Pennsylvania held the release of the
film because of the content of Lightner's songs. According to film
historian Alexander Walker, "Warners asked the censors to merely pass
judgment on the visuals â€" the censors refused."
motion picture actress. Perhaps best known as the gold-digging Mabel
in Gold Diggers of Broadway (), Lightner was often typecast as a
wise-cracking gold-digger and was known for her talents as a comedian
and singer. She is also noted for introducing the song "Singin' in the
Bathtub" in the motion picture The Show of Shows.Born Winifred
Josephine Reeves was born in Greenport, Suffolk County, New York (on
Long Island) but was raised in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen by her aunt
and uncle, Margaret and Andrew Hansen,[citation needed] and known as
Winifred Hanson.She had a successful career in vaudeville and finally
made it to Broadway, where she performed in George White's Scandals of
, , and , in the musical revue Gay Paree in and ', and in Harry
Delmar's Revels of .She was the first movie performer in history ever
to be censored for what she said or sang on screen rather than for
anything she did visually.[citation needed] In , she made a Vitaphone
short in which she sang "We Love It", "God Help a Sailor on a Night
Like This", "That Brand New Model of Mine", and "We've Got a Lot to
Learn." A censorship board in Pennsylvania held the release of the
film because of the content of Lightner's songs. According to film
historian Alexander Walker, "Warners asked the censors to merely pass
judgment on the visuals â€" the censors refused."
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