Sybil Jason
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sybil Jacon was a South African-born, American child film actress who, in the late 1930s, was presented as a rival to Shirley Temple.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she began playing the piano at age two and, a year later, began making public appearances doing impersonations of Maurice Chevalier. She was introduced to the theatre-going public of London by way of her uncle, Harry Jacobson, a then-popular London orchestra leader and also pianist for Gracie Fields. The apex of her career came with a concert performance with Frances Day at London's Palace Theatre. Her theatre work led to appearances on radio and phonograph records as well as a supporting role in the film Barnacle Bill.
Irving Asher, the head of Warner Bros.' London studio, saw Jason's performance in Barnacle Bill and arranged for her to make a screen test for the studio. The test was a success, resulting in Warner Bros. signing her to a contract. Her American film debut came as the lead in Little Big Shot, directed by Michael Curtiz and co-starring Glenda Farrell, Robert Armstrong, and Edward Everett Horton.
Jason followed this with supporting roles opposite some of Warner Bros. most popular stars, including Kay Francis in I Found Stella Parish, Al Jolson in The Singing Kid, Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart in The Great O'Malley, and again with Kay Francis in Comet Over Broadway. Warners also starred her in The Captain's Kid, and four Vitaphone two-reelers filmed in Technicolor: Changing of the Guard, A Day at Santa Anita, Little Pioneer, and The Littlest Diplomat.
Jason never became the major rival to Shirley Temple that Warner Bros. had hoped, and her film career ended after playing two supporting roles at 20th-Century Fox. These films — The Little Princess and The Blue Bird — were supported Temple, who became her lifelong friend.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 2.148 |
Birthday | 1927-11-23 |
Place of Birth | Cape Town, South Africa |
Also Known As | Sybil Jacobson, |
1937
The Great O'Malley
6.7/8
His role in the plight of an unemployed man (Humphrey Bogart) and his disabled daughter profoundly affects an intractable Irish policeman (Pat O'Brien...
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The Great O'Malley
1935
Little Big Shot
6/2
A con man and his partner inherit a dead gangster's precocious daughter.
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Little Big Shot
1936
The Singing Kid
4/1
Neurotic Broadway star Al Jackson faces professional ruin when he loses his voice. While recuperating in the country, he falls in love with farm girl...
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The Singing Kid
1938
Comet Over Broadway
5/2
Story of a rising stage star and the trouble she causes by her ambition.
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Comet Over Broadway
1935
I Found Stella Parish
7/5
A blackmailer preys on an actress who is trying to protect her daughter from her past.
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I Found Stella Parish
1940
The Blue Bird
5.8/39
An ungrateful girl and her little brother are transported in their dreams by a fairy to a wonderland, tasked with finding the mythical blue bird of ha...
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The Blue Bird
1936
The Captain's Kid
6/2
In this children's adventure, the children of a small town are enthralled by the tales of the town drunk.
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The Captain's Kid
1937
A Day at Santa Anita
5/1
Orphaned horse-trainer's little daughter has reciprocated bond with horse, which needs her presence to win races.
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A Day at Santa Anita
1937
The Littlest Diplomat
2.5/2
Young Sybil visits her grandfather, a British Colonel stationed at a garrison in India, and she helps negotiate a diplomatic truce between him and the...
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The Littlest Diplomat
1944
Musical Movieland
6/1
A group of tourists is given a tour of a movie studio lot. They see the various permanent sets that are used for different types of movies, and they a...
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Musical Movieland
1935
Dance Band
2/1
Life gets complicated for bandleader Buddy when he falls for his greatest rival – the leader of an all-girl dance band!
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Dance Band
1936
Changing of the Guard
1/1
On New Year's Eve, a girl is told a story by her grandfather about his days in a military regiment; then, the girl dreams she's at the Changing of the...
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Changing of the Guard
1939
Woman Doctor
1/1
Woman Doctor is a 1939 American drama film
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Woman Doctor
1935
Barnacle Bill
0/0
A conflicted sailor tries to balance his family life with his time at sea.
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Barnacle Bill
1937
Little Pioneer
5/1
In 1880 South Africa, young Betsy has an adventure involving Zulu Tribesmen, Dutch Settlers, The Vortrekkers, and her older brother's romance of Katie...
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Little Pioneer
1935
A Dream Comes True
5.5/1
A promotional short to hype the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935).
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A Dream Comes True
1939
The Little Princess
6.69/105
A little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.
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