Mitzi Green

Mitzi Green also known as Mitze Green was born Elizabeth Keno in The Bronx on October 22 1920 At age 3 she began appearing in her parents vaudeville act In the early 1930s she starred in several popular films with Paramount Pictures including Tom Sawyer 1930 and Huckleberry Finn 1931 She became known as Little Mitzi and she was the first child star to sign for a multipicture contract with Paramount Green had a natural talent for comedy and mimicry and audiences were impressed by her uncanny imitations of Greta Garbo and George Arliss She was also a gifted singer performing two songs in Girl Crazy 1932 But her career as Little Mitzi would not last Green matured quickly and at age 14 she was cast in an adult role in Transatlantic MerryGoRound 1934 which marked the end of her career as a child star Green left Hollywood and spent the next several years performing on Broadway and in night clubs She starred in the original Broadway production of Rogers and Harts Babes in Arms where she introduced the classic song My Funny Valentine During this time she appeared in only one film Santa Fe Trail 1940 in which she had a bit part Greens career as an adult star in Hollywood began in 1952 when she reemerged on screen in Lost in Alaska 1952 opposite Abbott and Costello She also appeared in Bloodhounds of Broadway 1952 and the sitcom So This Is Hollywood 1955 in which she played a perceptive stunt woman After many years of retirement Green died of cancer on May 24 1969 in Huntington Beach California She was 48 She is buried in Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Mission Hills California