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Show By LTN CONNELLY CATHY LEWIS, who is Jane Stacy of CBS Radio Network's "My Friend Irma" show, was born in Spokane, Wash. Her flair for the I dramatic developed when her moth- er opened a costume and design I shop in Wenatchee, Wash., and the youngster became interested in the j colorful clothing and gleaming jew-! jew-! elry . . . Following one appearance at the Wenatchee apple blossom festival when she was seven, Cathy was hired by the Jensen Von Herberg chain of theaters as "The I Jazz Baby," singer and dancer . . . i According to Cathy, the ilight of her on-stage in long curls, ruffles and patent leather slippers, singing sing-ing the praises of Barney Google and his goo-goo-googly eye& put her family on the move. The move took them to St. Paul, Minn., where the erstwhile "Jv1 Baby" was enrolled in the Nativity parochial school . . . Here, and later at St. Joseph's Academy, her dramatic talent qualified her for leads in student productions and appearances with the St. Paul civic repertory group t . . Her sinking sink-ing talent won her an audition with Herbie Kay and a six-week contract con-tract on a radio revue originating at WCCO, CBS station in Minneapolis Minne-apolis . . . Before she had finished school, Cathy had appeared as' guest vocalist with Ben Pollack, 1 Herb Stern, Red Nichols, Johnny I Davis and Glen Gray . . . After' doing a guest spot with Kay Kyser in Chicago, Cathy decided to tryj her luck in Hollywood. She came to the West Coast in 1935, sang with Ray Noble's band, landed a leading role with the Ben Bard ' players and a screen contract with MGM, appeared in Pasadena Playhouse productions, free-lanced at Warner Brothers, and Universal, then joined the; west coast company of "The Man who came to Dinner," hoping to troupe her way to New York City . . . Instead, after six months, the company disbanded In San Francisco Fran-cisco . . . Cathy returned to Hollywood Holly-wood and took up radio acting . . . Today, she and her husband, CBS Radio Producer-Director-Actor Elliott Lewis, are identified as 1 "Mr. and Mrs. Radio" . . . They met in 1941 when they worked a radio show together and were married mar-ried on April 30, 1943, a union which required no name change for Cathy was named Lewis. |