Irene Ware

Irene Ahlberg was born November 6, 1910 in Pelham, NY. Several references state she was crowned Miss America of 1926. Not so, she was named Miss Greater NY in 1929, and then Miss United States for the Miss Universe competition. However, this is not the Miss Universe you have come to know and love/hate. This "Miss Universe" was the Galveston, Tex., International Beauty Contest. Virtually ignored by the U. S. press, the Galveston tournament was big news elsewhere in the world. In Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Rio de Janeiro, editors reported on just what Miss France, Miss Spain, Miss Austria, Miss Brazil were doing, wearing, saying at each instant of the final ceremony. For the record, Austria won and Irene took second, and it was reported as "Irene Ahlberg, a Manhattan stenographer, 18 and blond, won $1,000 and second honors".

I'm guessing she took that $1000 to help the move to show business. From late 1929 through early 1932 Irene appeared in several of Earl Carroll's Vanities broadway productions. Hollywood and a name change to Irene Ware came in 1932 when she signed a contract with Fox. Her first credited film was as the mysterious Princess Nadji, in Chandu the Magician(1932). In the film she was menaced by Bela Lugosi and would find herself in similar circumstances in 1935's The Raven, also starring Lugosi. Irene never reached true stardom, though she worked in a few films featuring leading actors of the day. Most of the 29 films she appeared in from 1932 to 1940 were what we would call "programmers or B-movies". A
side note - In Federal Agent (1936), she starred with William Boyd in his final non-Hopalong Cassidy vehicle.

Irene was married to film writer John Meehan. She died on March 11, 1993 in Santa Ana, California.

Click on the images for a larger view.

Screen Shots from Chandu The Magician

Publicity still from The Raven

Screen shots from Murder At Glen Athol (1936)

Publicity still from Whispering Smith Speaks (1935)

Publicity still

Irene Ware - What do you think - Allure?

June Vlasek (Lang)

Born Winifred June Vlasek on May 5, 1915 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June, who changed her last name to Lang after five of her 40 films, originally trained as a dancer. She made her film debut with Fox in 1932 and her most well known role during that period was in the Chandu the Magician. She then began to be seen fairly frequently in B-movies, usually in a secondary, but prominent role. In 1934, she appeared with Laurel and Hardy in Bonnie Scotland (1935), with Warner Baxter and Fredric March in The Road to Glory (1936), and as Shirley Temple's mother in Wee Willie Winkie (1937). She also co-starred with fellow Fox player Lynn Bari in Meet the Girls (1938), a short-lived attempt to promote a series of "smart girl/dumb girl" comedies.

A comfortable, if not totally successful career was unfortunately cut short after the 1940 marriage to her second husband, convicted mobster John Roselli. Fox released her from her contract that year so as not to be associated in any way with the "criminal element". Although she divorced Roselli a year later, she found it difficult to secure work. It should be noted that at the time of the marriage, June was not aware that Roselli was a mafia boss; he had passed himself off as an aspiring movie producer. By 1943, she was playing unbilled bits in films like Flesh and Fantasy (1943) and Up in Arms (1944). June Lang's last film was Lighthouse (1947).

June died at age 90 in Valley Village, California.


Two June Lang images from Movies magazine - January 1934. They are included in an article bylined by June where she discusses the importance of a good complexion.

Studio promotion still

June Lang - What do you think - Allure?