1. Irene Manning's family loved to go on outdoor picnics where the featured activity was group singing.
13 Facts About Irene Manning
1. 2.
Irene Manning trained as an opera singer at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and performed with that city's Civic Music Association in 1935.
3.
Irene Manning performed with a four-woman USO show in England and the United States and recorded with Glenn Miller and his Army Air Force Band.
4.
Irene Manning's sides were some of the last records made by Glenn Miller, prior to his being lost on an ill-fated flight to Paris over the English Channel in December 1944.
5.
Irene Manning was credited as Hope Manning in her first films, as she broke in with the Republic Studios system in 1936.
6.
Irene Manning is probably best remembered as diva Fay Templeton in Yankee Doodle Dandy, opposite James Cagney.
7.
Irene Manning starred with Humphrey Bogart in The Big Shot and with Dennis Morgan in both The Desert Song and Shine On, Harvest Moon.
8.
In private, Irene Manning claimed that she was a better singer.
9.
The problem between MacDonald and MGM subsided, and Irene Manning's contract was dropped without any appearances in an MGM film.
10.
On Broadway, Irene Manning performed in The Day Before Spring and Susanna, Don't You Cry.
11.
Irene Manning appeared in The Dubarry, Castle in the Air and Serenade in London.
12.
Irene Manning remained in England and appeared on her own BBC TV show, An American in England, until 1951, when she returned to the United States for television and nightclub work.
13.
Irene Manning died on May 28,2004, from congestive heart failure at her home in San Carlos, California, at the age of 91.