When Al Jolson, billed as the World's Greatest Entertainer, deserted his studio, he insisted his musical star wife go with him. Her luminous career came to a screeching halt.

Ethel Hilda Keeler was born August 25, 1909, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. When she was three, her parents, older brother and younger sister moved to the east side of New York City, known as Yorkville. Ruby's father was an iceman, delivering ice door to door, and her mother was determined to have her children in show business. When Ethel was twelve, her parents, who themselves won many contests in ballroom dancing, enrolled her in the Jack Blue School of Rhythm and Taps.

At sixteen, Ruby found work as a scantilly clad chorine for famous prohibition hostess Texas Guinan who was known to often greet her roomful of patrons by shouting "Hello suckers!". Keeler soon landed roles in numerous Broadway productions. While appearing in The Sidewalks of New York, the press named Ruby the girl with "The Best Legs in New York." During the show's run, she met producer Florenz Ziegfeld and singer Al Jolson. Ruby landed a great part in a Ziegfeld production, Show Girl, and was becoming a Broadway star. Ruby was 18, and Al was 28 years her senior when they married in 1928. During one of her performances, her famous, arrogant husband, sitting in the first row, stood up and loudly sang along with her. She was next slated to be in Whoopee, but Jolson insisted she quit during rehearsals, and took her to Hollywood to join his studio, Warner Brothers. There, after a few minor unbilled movie parts, Ruby made her debut.

Life imitated art when, in the film 42nd Street, Warner Baxter told Ruby before she performed on stage, "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" That is exactly what five-foot-four tall Ruby did. With a solid, realistic script, great stars, high production values, newcomer Dick Powell, and Busby Berkeley's magical choreography, 42nd Steet was a huge hit. Keeler continued to tap dance and sing in Warner Brothers' most famous musicals, usually choreographed by Berkeley, and she co-starred seven times with Dick Powell. Ruby's films include Gold Diggers of 1933 ( 1933 ) , Footlight Parade ( 1933 ) , Flirtation Walk ( 1933 ) , Dames ( 1934 ) , Go Into Your Dance ( 1935 ) co-starring husband Al Jolson, Shipmates Forever ( 1935 ) , and Colleen ( 1936 ) .

In 1937, Keeler made Ready, Willing and Able, in which she danced with Al Dixon upon the keys of a gigantic typewriter. This was Ruby's personal favorite musical movie sequence. She could not have guessed it would be her last. Her domineering, controlling husband Al Jolson had a dispute with Warners, and walked out on his contract. Jolson was a very powerful entertainer who, in 1927, had been the star of The Jazz Singer, in which he sang six songs and utterred one line of dialogue, "You ain't seen nothing yet", putting an end to silent films. He insisted that Ruby follow him and leave Warner Brothers as well. She never made another musical. Jealous Jolson never let Keeler leave the house alone.

In 1938 Ruby made Mother Carey's Chickens, and in 1940 divorced Jolson on grounds of extreme cruelty. In 1941, Ruby starred in Sweetheart of the Campus. She then retired from film, and married real estate magnate John Homer Lowe, with whom she had four children.

In 1946, The Jolson Story, starring lypsinching Larry Parks, became one of the highest grossing movie musicals of all time, and was so popular that an equally successful sequel, Jolson Sings Again, was produced. Yet, Ruby forbade the use of her name, and her character in the films, portrayed by Evelyn Keyes, was named Julie Benson.

Ruby stated later in life, "I couldn't act. I had that terrible singing voice, and now I can see I wasn't the greatest tap dancer in the world either." Ruby was right, but her charm, spunk, and sweetness made audiences love her.

In 1969, Ruby's husband died. That same year she made a cameo appearance in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, but her part was later cut from the film. In 1970, Ruby made an appearance in The Phynx, but the film was never released.

In 1971, Keeler was asked to return to Broadway in a revival of the1927 musical No, No Nanette. She would never have considered going back to the theatre, except that the show was to be choreographed by her old pal Busby Berkeley. Ruby made one of Broadway's most heralded comebacks.

Ruby Keeler passed away from cancer February 28, 1993, at her home in Rancho Mirage, California.

Sources The Busby Berkeley Book by Tony Thomas and Jim Terry; Encyclopedia of Film Stars by Douglas Jarvis; Ruby Keeler websites

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Mae West is one of a hundred performers featured in an exhibition of glamorous stars who contributed to movie musicals. They appear in Steve Starr's collection of gorgeous Art Deco photo frames at the Harold Washington Library Center, 8th floor, through March 1, 2005. Admission is free.

The exhibition, like his column, is named STARRLIGHT.

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Steve Starr is the author of 'Picture Perfect'-Deco Photo Frames 1926-1946. A designer and an artist, he is the owner of Steve Starr Studios, specializing in original Art Deco photo frames, jewelry and furnishings.

Visit the glamorous studio at 2779 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago where adorning the walls is Starr's collection of over 950 gorgeous frames filled with photos of Hollywoods most elegant stars.

You may email Steve at SSSChicago@Ameritech.net

Photo of Steve Starr June 25, 2002, by Albert Aguilar.