Betty Luster was an American television actress, singer and dancer, whose career was active in the 1940s and 1950s. The role for which she is best remembered today was at one time her most obscure: her portrayal of Mr. B Natural in the short film of the same name, made famous after its inclusion in a 1991 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Career
Betty Luster was the winner of the first Miss Lake Mowhawk contest in 1937. Her earliest known stage performances were as a showgirl with the Dorchester Hale dance troupe in London in October 1938. She made a series of appearances on BBC television in 1939. Later she was a dancing girl in the 1940 Broadway production of Irving Berlin's Louisiana Purchase. and she was a chorus girl at the Beachcomber in Miami Beach in 1946 and/or 1947. In the late 1940s, she performed on the operatic stage in Philadelphia. Luster served as co-hostess of the 1950 CBSgame showSing It Again, a progenitor to Name That Tune, wherein contestants would attempt to identify songs from just a few notes. Her other television appearance was as a regular on the 1951 NBCvariety showSeven at Eleven. Luster again appeared on Broadway as "Sebena" in a production of The Wayward Saint. The show ran at the Cort Theatre from February 17 to March 6, 1955.
''Mr. B Natural''
In 1956, Luster took the title role in a film sponsored by the musical instrument manufacturer C.G. Conn to promote to schoolchildren an interest in music. Mr. B Natural told the story of a "hep pixie" who helps junior high school student Buzz Turner awaken the "spirit of music" inside of him, through the purchase and practice on a Conn brand trumpet. The short remained an obscure classroom reel until 1991 when it was brought to the attention of HBO, which was seeking content for its new cable network, Comedy Central. Mr. B Natural was licensed for use by Best Brains' movie-spoofing vehicle Mystery Science Theater 3000, and was broadcast nationally on November 30, 1991 accompanying the feature War of the Colossal Beast. Due to this exposure, the short, and the Mr. B Natural character, have become recognized as kitsch icons. Mr. B Natural is Luster's last known role. Luster retired from dancing after her marriage to Edmund Astley "Ned" Prentis, III and she "joined him at becoming an expert in big-game fishing, big-game hunting and world-class croquet."
