Ginger Jones (Alice Kramden #2 and Repertory Player) Dies at 94

[Zoneboy]

Link

Virginia Damon, known also by her stage name of Ginger Jones, died Friday, Aug. 6, at the age of 94. Ms. Damon moved from Princeton, N.J. to Westwood, Mass. in 2000 to be closer to her family, Lisa Damon, Barbara Cronmiller and her three beloved grandchildren, Christopher, Peter and Kevin. Ms. Damon taught Speech and Drama and improvisational theater for many years at Princeton Theological Seminary and before that had a successful career in radio, stage and television. Born in Kinderhook, Ill., Ms. Damon began performing at a very early age, running a dance and drama school at the age of 15. She attended Goodman School of Drama in Chicago and began her professional career in Chicago radio where she met her husband, Les Damon, who died in 1962. Ms. Damon starred in a variety of popular radio shows of the time such as The Carters of Elm Street, Portia Faces Life and The Romance of Helen Trent. Ms. Damon also starred as Mrs. Henderson in The Beulah Show with Ethel Waters. In 1952, Ms. Damon starred as Alice Cramden in the live Honeymooners tour with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. She was then a part of the Gleason Show repertory company of actors for many years. Throughout her career, Ms. Damon lived a strong commitment to helping others. As an actress, she did many shows throughout the United States for the armed services and for wounded soldiers. For a number of years, she also organized and ran major fundraisers for organizations such as Hunterdon County Medical Center and the YWCA of Princeton. In her later years, she volunteered for the Library for the Blind and served as a volunteer at Clark House @ Fox Hill Village, where she spent a very happy last few years. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Clark House Employee Fund, 30 Longwood Drive, Westwood, MA, 02090. Ms Damon will be buried alongside her family in Kinderhook, Ill. |

[catlover79]

[Benno123]

Thanks for this information, I was just wondering a couple of weeks ago what had happened to Gingr Jones and if she was still alive or not.

[Marvo301]

Virginia Damon (aka Ginger Jones)

[treky]

I never heard of her; I always thought Audrey Meadows was the 2nd Alice.

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by treky

I never heard of her; I always thought Audrey Meadows was the 2nd Alice.

Audrey was the 2nd actress to portray Alice on tv. Ginger Jones replaced Pert Kelton during a five-week promotional tour and Audrey Meadows soon replaced her. Here's more from Wikipedia.

CBS president William S. Paley convinced Gleason to leave the DuMont Network and bring his show to CBS. In July 1952, the cast of the retitled Jackie Gleason Show embarked on a highly successful five-week promotional tour across the United States, performing a variety of musical numbers and sketches (including the popular "Honeymooners"). Kelton was blacklisted as a suspected communist and replaced on the tour by Beulah actress Ginger Jones, who subsequently was also blacklisted (having earlier been named on the Red Channels blacklist) by CBS, which meant that a new Alice was needed.

Jones' replacement was Audrey Meadows, already known for her work in the 1951 musical Top Banana and on Bob and Ray's television show. Before receiving the role, Meadows had to overcome Gleason's reservations about her being too attractive to make a credible Alice. To accomplish this, she hired a photographer to come to her apartment early in the morning and take pictures of her with no make-up on, wearing a torn housecoat, and with her hair undone. When the pictures were delivered to Gleason, he looked at them and said, "That's our Alice." When it was explained to him who it was he said, "Any dame who has a sense of humor like that deserves the job." With the addition of Meadows the now-famous "Honeymooners" lineup of Gleason, Carney, Meadows, and Randolph was in place.