Durelle Alexander


Durelle Alexander was a child performer who appeared in "Hollywood Junior Follies" and several silent "Our Gang" comedies throughout the 1920s.
As an adult, she had a singing career with several big bands on radio and on tour.

Early life

Alexander was born Frances Durelle Alexander in Greenville, Texas. In 1924 at the age of 6, she went with her mother to Hollywood, CA, and made appearances in several silent 'Our Gang' comedies and "Hollywood Junior Follies". She made her stage debut at age 3. A few years later, when she was 12, she moved with her mother to New York City and began singing with orchestras. By the age of 14, she signed a contract with Paul Whiteman.
Alexander attended North Dallas High School.

Career

By 1935, Alexander was appearing as a featured vocalist on Whiteman's radio show Paul Whiteman's Musical Varieties and Kraft Music Hall on NBC. Throughout this period, she would appear in several Radio Guide magazine articles. By September 1936, she made the cover. She later toured with the prominent big bands of Paul Whiteman, Eddy Duchin, Smith Ballew, and Archie Bleyer.
The first known recording with Alexander singing was "Animal Crackers In My Soup" with Smith Ballew and his Orchestra, recorded in July 1935. In 1936, she toured with Paul Whiteman in Billy Roses' Annual Texas Centennial.

Marriage

While appearing with Whiteman in "Billy Rose's Casa Manana", a centennial celebration of Fort Worth, Texas, she met Edmund Van Zandt, grandson of the city's founders.
Alexander and Van Zandt were married in 1939, and during their 33 years of marriage,, they reared three children and lived in Venezuela, London, England, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.
Alexander continued to perform and moderate public affairs television programs. In 1975, she married a widowed family friend, Col. Harry Taylor Eidson, and they moved to Austin to be near their children and grandchildren.
After she began traveling with her husband on overseas trips, Alexander became interested in painting. Her works in oil and watercolors were displayed at an exhibit in Dallas, Texas, in 1965, and in 1966 she had a one-woman show in Fort Worth, Texas.

Death

In May 1994, Alexander died. Memorial services were held on Memorial Day in Austin, Texas.

Known recordings