Cherryvale, a stepchild to Independence and Coffeyville population-wise in Montgomery County, takes a back seat to no one when it comes to celebrities.
The town of 3,000 was the birthplace of Louise Brooks and Vivian Vance, actresses whose careers spanned decades in movies and television.
They were among Kansas-born entertainers Eric Monder, a lecturer at Bethany College in Lindborg, writer and documentary filmmaker, discussed during “The Stars of Kansas” at Iola Public Library Thursday evening.
Brooks, known for her striking good looks, was successful in silent films, but her career fell apart when talkies arrived, Monder said.
“Her career ended at the height of her beauty and fame with sound,” he said.
Brooks’ last role was a minor part in a John Wayne western in the 1930s.
Vance is remembered for her role as Ethel Mertz in the “I Love Lucy” television series.
She, too, was blessed with good looks, Monder said, but was ordered to gain weight to look older for the TV role, in no small measure so she wouldn’t upstage Lucille Ball.
MONDER LED off his discussion by noting that he could find no record of entertainment celebrities from Iola other than Vicki
Lasseter and Johnny Adams.
Lasseter, born here Feb. 19, 1960, was the February 1981 Playboy Playmate. Adams, who lived in Iola as a boy and was called the “Iola Mite,” began his stellar career as a jockey at Riverside Park.
Monder said Kansas had a rich history of artistic and cultural achievements. He launched an hour-long lecture, accentuated liberally with film clips, by noting Buster Keaton’s birth in Piqua.
A clip of the 1917 film “Coney Island” showed Keaton, as well as Fatty Arbuckle, who was born in Smith Center. The two silent film comedians met in New York City, his birthplace, said Monder, which gave emphasis for him to choose “Coney Island” to show.
With 19 Keaton festivals under Iola film fanciers’ belts, he repeated some facts that have passed this way before, including that Keaton’s career, like Brooks’, was not as successful when talkies arrived. Bouts with alcoholism didn’t help.
Then Keaton made a comeback in the 1960s, Monder said, with moviegoers “saying, hey this guy is pretty good.”
Monder, a Keaton festival presenter, said he is working on a documentary about “Ten Girls to Go,” a 1962 Keaton film that never was released.
