introduction
In 1926, director Willard Mack was casting a play                                    entitled "The noose" and he decided to give a chorus girl                                      named Ruby Stevens the chance of a lifetime and expand                                     her part.
This is the story of how Ruby went on to become                                      one of the greatest Hollywood stars of all times.........................Barbara Stanwyck............
Biography:
Ruby Stevens was born in Brooklyn July 16, 1907 - the fifth child of Byron and  Catherine McGee Stevens.
Orphaned at  four , she was looked after by her  sister Millie - a showgirl  who paid foster  homes for keeping her and her three years older only brother, Malcolm. Her two older sisters, Maude and Mabel were already married and had their own  families.
Young  Ruby was strongly drawn to things she would love all her life, the Westerns. Her idol was Pearl  White, the heroine of the "Perils of Pauline"
At 14 Ruby graduated from grammar school and took  her first job and soon after she got a job as floor-show chorine  at a nightclub, "The Strand Roof"  over the Strand  Theatre on Times Square.
She then went to work for Willard Mack, in a play called  "The Noose"  as a chorus girl. Before the play opening on Broadway Ruby's part was upgraded and she was given an important dramatic scene in the third act. She was very good in it and when the play opened on Broadway, on October 20, 1926, it was a success.
Mack and theatrical impresario David Belasco also decided to change Ruby's name and picked her new one from an old program's  ttitle page that read" Jane Standwyck in 'Barbara Frietchie'   The two men pondered the names for a few moments and almost in unison came up with a name that would become one of the most well-known names in show business.
Exit Ruby Stevens. Enter Barbara Stanwyck
Malcolm Stevens and Ruby Stevens
Malcolm became an actor under the name "Bert Stevens", little Ruby an actress under the name Barbara Stanwyck.
(Right) Barbara Stanwyck, Rex Cherryman and  Ann Shoemaker in "The Noose"  that became one of the biggest hit of the Broadway season.
Barbara's performance earned her rave reviews  from all critics.
While playing in "The Noose"Barbara was summoned by producer Bob Kane to make a screen test. She landed a small part  (fifth billing as a dancer) in what can be considered her first film,
"Broadway Nights" a silent film starring Lois Wilson and Sam Hardy . (for years Miss Standwyck did her best to ignore its existence. It also was the  film debut of another actress who became famous, Sylvia Sydney))
"The Noose" closed in June of 1927 and Barbara auditioned for a new play "Burlesque" . She got the lead opposite Hal Skelly.
"Burlesque " opened on September 1, 1927, and was an overwhelming success.  Barbara got again rave reviews.  One of the coworkers in the play, Oscar Levant introduced Barbara to one of his friends,  a vaudeville star, twice divorced and  known ladies'
man,  an impish man with a shock of red hair named Frank  Fay.
                                Frank Fay and Barbara Stanwyck were married on August 26, 1928 and soon after their marriage  both were offered work in Hollywood, Frank  to appear in the Warner Brothers 'extravaganza "Show of Shows" and Barbara   to star in United Artists 'film version of  Channing Pollock's play " The Sign on the Door"  . They went to Hollywood  in the fall of 1929  in  the private railroad car of Joe Schenck, head of United Artists.
Hal Skelly & Barbara Stanwyck in "Burlesque"
Barbara Stanwyck in "Burlesque"
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