Centenary Celebration: Dorothy McNulty
By Jim Linz
Dorothy McNulty (1908-2003) was one of the few entertainers to be honored with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is better known as Penny Singleton, a stage name she adopted in 1938.
Born Mariana Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty, she began her show business career at age 8, singing and dancing as "Baby Dorothy" during intermis-sion at a Philadelphia silent movie theatre. After graduating from elementary school Dorothy joined a touring vaudeville act—The Kiddie Kabaret.
Although she briefly attended Columbia University, she left college to pursue a career in show business. McNulty made her Broadway debut in 1927, singing and dancing in Good News. This was followed by a more prominent role in the stage version of Follow Thru, where she introduced the standard "Button Up Your Overcoat."
McNulty made her film debut in the 1930 film version of Good News. Click the following link to view a clip of her performance of the title number: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmx_2pDmQbg
After a brief return to Broadway, McNulty’s film career went into high gear in 1936 after an appearance in After the Thin Man. In 1937, she married Lawrence Singleton. Although the marriage did not last, McNulty kept the name, adding "Penny" because of her penchant for saving large numbers of pennies.
Penny Singleton appeared in 11 films in 1938, including the first in a series of 28 Blondie and Dagwood films produced between 1938 and 1950.
Singleton is also remembered as the voice of Jane Jetson in the short-lived cartoon series.
For a more detailed remembrance of Penny Singleton, see the December 2003 issue of Trans-Lux.
This article originally appeared in Trans-Lux volume 26, number 1, Winter 2008.
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Created Thursday, November 27, 2008; Modified Thursday, November 27, 2008.
