Betty Luster
Born(1922-04-27)April 27, 1922
DiedMay 25, 2011(2011-05-25) (aged 89)
West Palm Beach, Florida
Years active1938–1956

Betty Luster (April 27, 1922 – May 25, 2011)[1] was an American television actress, singer and dancer, whose career was active in the 1940s and 1950s. The role for which she is best remembered today was at one time her most obscure: her portrayal of Mr. B Natural in the short film of the same name, made famous after its inclusion in a 1991 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Career

Betty Luster was the winner of the first Miss Lake Mohawk contest in 1937.[2]

Her earliest known stage performances were as a showgirl with the Dorchester Hale dance troupe in London in October 1938.[3] She made a series of appearances on BBC television in 1939.[4]

Later she was a dancing girl in the 1940 Broadway production of Irving Berlin's Louisiana Purchase.[5] and she was a chorus girl at the Beachcomber in Miami Beach in 1946 and/or 1947.[6] In the late 1940s, she performed on the operatic stage in Philadelphia.[7]

Luster served as co-hostess of the 1950 CBS game show Sing It Again, a progenitor to Name That Tune, wherein contestants would attempt to identify songs from just a few notes. Her other television appearance was as a regular on the 1951 NBC variety show Seven at Eleven.

Luster again appeared on Broadway as "Sebena" in a production of The Wayward Saint.[8] The show ran at the Cort Theatre from February 17 to March 6, 1955.

In 1957, following her filming of Mr. B Natural in Chicago, she took a non-performing position on the production staff for CBS-TV's Name That Tune.[9]

Mr. B Natural was not quite Luster's last-known performing role. In August–September 1957 she performed alongside Groucho Marx in the play Time for Elizabeth at the Andover (NJ) Grist Mill Playhouse and then in Iverton, CT.[10] Luster retired from performing after her marriage to Edmund Astley "Ned" Prentis, III (b. New York City, September 12, 1923, d. Delray, FL, August 11, 1997)[4][11][12][13] and she "joined him at becoming an expert in big-game fishing, big-game hunting and world-class croquet."[11]

Mr. B Natural

In 1956, Luster took the title role in a film sponsored by the musical instrument manufacturer C.G. Conn to promote to schoolchildren an interest in music. Mr. B Natural told the story of a "hep pixie"[14] who helps junior high school student Buzz Turner awaken the "spirit of music" inside of him, through the purchase of and practice on a Conn brand trumpet.

The short remained an obscure classroom reel until 1991 when it was brought to the attention of HBO, which was seeking content for its new cable network, Comedy Central.[15] Mr. B Natural was licensed for use by Best Brains' movie-spoofing vehicle Mystery Science Theater 3000, and was broadcast nationally on November 30, 1991, preceding the feature War of the Colossal Beast. Due to this exposure, the short and the Mr. B Natural character have become recognized as kitsch icons.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Betty Prentis Obituary". legacy.com. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  2. ↑ Donovan, Gewn (2010), Images of America: Sparta, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, p. 110, ISBN 978-0-7385-7349-6
  3. ↑ "A Glamour Girl's Day", Picture Post (138), October 22, 1938, 22nd October 1938: 16-year-old American dancer Betty Luster, a showgirl with the Dorchester Hale dance troupe, shopping at a market in London. It is therefore likely she was born sometime in the first ten months of 1922, but it is possible she was born in November or December 1921.
  4. 1 2 "Television/radio age", Television/Radio Age, 27: 112, 1979, retrieved September 2, 2011, Betty Luster Prentis, Delray Beach Luster was for many years a well-known station programming consultant before her marriage to Ned Prentis. A former dancer, she was one of the first performers to appear on television in a series of programs on the BBC in 1939.
  5. ↑ Louisiana Purchase, Internet Broadway Database, retrieved May 29, 2007
  6. ↑ "Life Tours the Nightclubs at Miami Beach", Life, March 3, 1947
  7. ↑ Hamilton, Frank (2006), Opera in Philadelphia: Performance Chronology 1925–1949 (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2012, retrieved May 27, 2007
  8. ↑ The Wayward Saint, Internet Broadway Database, retrieved May 27, 2007
  9. ↑ Lyon, Herb. "Tower Ticker." Chicago Tribune, 20 February 1957.
  10. ↑ "Viewing Television with Herb Brown."Greenpoint (NY) Weekly Star, 12 July 1957.
  11. 1 2 Maas, Jane (September 16, 1985). "Jane Maas Perfects the Balancing Act of Career, Marriage and Home Life; "Put Your Career First," President of Muller Jordan Weiss Counsels Aspiring Women on the Move". Adweek. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Edmund A. "Ned" Prentis, III". United States Croquet Association.
  13. ↑ "Funeral Notices". The Palm Beach Post. August 22, 1997. p. 5B.
  14. ↑ Prelinger, Rick (2006), The Field Guide to Sponsored Films (PDF), National Film Preservation Foundation, p. 65, ISBN 0-9747099-3-X
  15. ↑ Prelinger, Rick (January 4, 2001), An Informal History of Prelinger Archives, archived from the original on June 8, 2007, retrieved May 28, 2007

Images

  • Picture Post photos, October 22, 1938, at Getty Images: 1 2 3 4
Additionally, the girl at the right in each of these may be Luster: 5 6
  • Life, February 1, 1947
  • IMDb Photo of Luster with Seven at Eleven costar Jack Stanton
  • New York Public Library image of Luster from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection
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