Betty Noyes

Elizabeth Noyes Hand (October 11, 1912 – December 24, 1987) was a singer and actress best known for dubbing two of Debbie Reynolds' numbers in the 1952 film Singin' in the Rain. Today, this is a well-known example of dubbing in a movie musical: While Reynolds's character was the "ghost singer" dubbing for another character, her singing voice was actually dubbed by Noyes.

Betty Noyes
Betty Noyes in Cinderella (1965)
Born
Elizabeth Noyes

(1912-10-11)October 11, 1912
Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedDecember 24, 1987(1987-12-24) (aged 75)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active1938–1968
Spouse(s)Milton Hand
ChildrenTwo daughters, Susan and Deborah

She is also known for singing the song "Baby Mine" in the Disney film Dumbo (1941), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. However, she was not given screen credit for this performance. (None of the voice actors for Dumbo were credited on screen.)

Known career

Noyes began her career in 1938 in The Debutantes, a trio of young women in the Ted Fio Rito big band. They made the original recording of "My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii." As a member of The Debutantes (with Marjorie Briggs, Dottie Hill and Dorothy Compton), she contributed vocals for Candy Candido and the Debutantes.[1]

In 1947, she was in a quartet called "The Girlfriends," a regular feature on several NBC Radio programs, including The Bill Goodwin Show, The Carnation Contented Hour, and with Bing Crosby. Norma Zimmer, Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady," was also in the group. Noyes and other members of the quartet became "First Call" studio singers and can be heard on many movie musicals for two decades, including The Wizard of Oz (1939), White Christmas (1954), and The Sound of Music (1965).

She also appeared on-camera in several movies and television series, including regular appearances on The Dinah Shore Show and an episode of I Love Lucy titled "Lucy Goes to Scotland." She appeared as a mother who sings a brief solo in the 1965 television movie Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella,[2] along with fellow dubber Bill Lee. On-screen movie credits include I Married an Angel (1942), the Don Knotts comedy The Love God? (1969), and Abbott and Costello's Jack and the Beanstalk (1952). Her other singing credits include recordings with Ken Darby and Jack Halloren, and singing and voice work for the "Ice Follies."

Personal life

Betty Noyes was married to Milton Hand, a football and PE coach at Los Angeles City College. They had two daughters, Susan and Deborah. The family lived in Studio City, CA, and she and her husband eventually retired to Balboa Island, CA. Betty's name has sometimes been incorrectly reported as Betty Royce, including in Debbie Reynolds's own autobiography.[3][4]

Noyes died on December 24, 1987, at the age of 75, in Los Angeles, CA. As of early January 2016, the cause of her death was not widely known.

Confirmed work
  • Dumbo (1941) uncredited as singer of "Baby Mine"
  • I Married an Angel (1942) uncredited specialty bit in Paris Honeymoon sequence
  • Singin' in the Rain (1952) uncredited as the singing voice of Debbie Reynolds on "Would You"[5] and "You Are My Lucky Star."[3]
  • Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) singing voice of Ruta Kilmonis (later known as Ruta Lee)
  • I Love Lucy (1 episode, 1956) as Townsperson in "Lucy Goes to Scotland"
  • Cinderella (1965) as Mother

Selected list of known vocal performances
In film
In music

Sources
  1. "Ted FioRito (CD)". www.collateralworks.com. Vintage Music Productions. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  2. "Cinderella (TV Movie 1965) - IMDb". imdb.com. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  3. Reynolds, D.; Columbia, D.P. (1989). Debbie: My Life. Pocket Books. p. 97. ISBN 9780671687922. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  4. "A Voice in 'Singin' ' - Los Angeles Times". articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  5. Kermode, Mark (18 March 2007). "The 50 greatest film soundtracks: 11. Singin' In The Rain". The Observer. London. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
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