Meet Bobbe Arnst, Manistee's own Leona Christoffersen

By MARK FEDDER

Manistee County Historical Museum

PART 1 of 3

Today, if you were to ask someone who Bobbe Arnst is, chances are your inquiry would be met with a shrug of the shoulders or a sideways nod. Likewise, 50 years ago, the same question would have probably, for most people, provoked the same reaction.

But if you were to have cited Bobbe Arnst in the late 1920s and early 1930s, you might have been hard pressed to find someone who didn't, at the very least, recognize her name.

To the majority of the general public, she was probably best known as a wife of Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller. To others, she was known as a dancer, a singer, a Broadway performer, a film actress, and later in life - a charming, eccentric, woman who lived in the Florida woods and worked at a local bath house. However, growing up in the early 1900s, Bobbe Arnst was simply known as Leona Christoffersen, "A clever little Manistee girl who used to ride a bicycle down Maple Street almost every day."

When Leona Christoffersen was born on Oct. 11, 1903, her family already had deep roots in Manistee. Immigrating to the United States from Denmark in the late 1880s, Leona's father, Soren Christoffersen, arrived in Manistee in his late teens where he found work as a machine operator. Leona's mother, Mathea Edwardsen, was the daughter of Captain Christ Edwardsen, a well-known, pioneer resident of the county and a much-lauded ship captain. He was also a grocer who had both his shop and residence at 250 Fifth Avenue, where Mathea worked as a clerk.

As the years went by, Soren took over Captain Edwardsen's grocery store and residence on Fifth Avenue and later became involved in local politics, serving on the city commission for numerous years. Soren and Mathea eventually separated and she moved to Detroit and later to Chicago. Growing up in the early 1900s, Leona remained in Manistee and, according to the Manistee News Advocate, "she showed signs of talent in dancing and performed on local stages in many programs."

In 1922, Mathea, acting as Leona's manager, took her daughter on auditions in Chicago, where she got her "foot in the door," so to speak, which led to small parts in various plays and skits.

Realizing that the name Leona Christoffersen might not seem like the typical moniker of an actress and dancer, Leona took her mother's last name (now remarried and going by Arnst) and changed her first name to Bobbe, thus becoming Bobbe Arnst.

In 1924 Bobbe went on a concert tour of the South with popular musician Frank Silver and his dance orchestra. A short time after that she performed a four-month gig in New York City with the "Greenwich Village Follies of 1924" and followed that up working with jazz musician Ted Lewis, which allowed her the opportunity to travel across the United States and later to London.

After more bit parts singing and dancing with traveling orchestras and vaudeville acts, by the late spring/early summer of 1927, Leona won a notable part in the musical comedy, "A La Carte," which quickly became a popular production and attracted the attention of many critics.

When the play toured Boston, a brief newspaper article made mention that Florenz Ziegfield, Jr., uber-producer of Broadway musicals, specifically came to see Bobbe perform. It's safe to assume that Ziegfield saw something in Bobbe as he originally hired her to become one of his chorus girls. However she soon won a role in his newest musical titled, "Rosalie".

With music in part by George Gershwin and lyrics in part by Ira Gershwin, the romantic musical told the story of a princess and a military officer who fall in love. In the play, Bobbe played the supporting role of Mary, who has her own romantic quandary to deal with.

Once Bobbe was cast in the play, the Manistee News Advocate published a "tongue in cheek" article that described her flourishing success. Portions of that article, which was printed on Jan. 31, 1928, follows:

"A clever little Manistee girl who used to ride a bicycle down Maple Street almost every day, is helping Flo Ziegeld, famous theatrical producer, keep the hungry wolves away from the door.

"Miss Leona Christoffersen, whose professional name is Bobbe Arnst, came upon poor Ziggy sitting disconsolate in his New York office. She smiled in her dainty characteristic manner and told him to cheer up. She assured him she would dance for him in his next theatrical venture. Ziggy perked up, hastily drew a contract blank out of his desk and today the name Bobbe Arnst appears in good sized letters in New York headlines as one of the principal supporters of Marilyn Miller and Jack Donahue in the new box office success, "'Rosalie'".

As a way to get the cast prepared for larger crowds, the play first opened in Boston in December 1927. It was there that Bobbe became the first person to officially sing the song "How Long Has This Been Going?" which was originally written for another Ziegfield play, "Funny Face," but had subsequently been replaced with a different song.

After the play was performed in Boston it moved to Broadway and, according to critics, the song became the major musical number in the production. A brief review of the play in New York columnist Eleanor Clarage's nationwide column "Main Street Meditations," published on March 15, 1928, mentions Bobbe's performance:

"Incidentally, the cleverest work in the show is done by the young and impish Bobbe Arnst, who stops the performance when she comes, sits down on the edge of a garden wall and sings, ‘How Long Has This Been Going On?’ This and the masterful clowning of Jack Donahue, make it a red letter show."

Since Bobbe debuted the song 85 years ago, it has since been covered by a number of artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Cher, Van Morrison, and many others.

By the middle of 1928, Bobbe was appearing on the vaudeville circuit with well-known Broadway comedian Eddie Cantor as well as touring the country with a Broadway revue company. She also became a spokesmodel for Bluejay foot pads, whose products specialized in the prevention of foot infections namely corns and bunyons. The marketing campaign featured a picture of Bobbe, beautifully striking a pose with a tag line that read, "A corn is a tragedy - especially to a dancer. But Bluejay provides a happy ending."

The following year marked another key highlight in the career of Bobbe Arnst as it became her major foray into motion pictures, which only further cemented her status as a star on the rise…or as the Manistee News Advocate summarized:

"The little girl who used to wear a middy blouse and tennis slippers, whose thistle down lightness and airy grace were evident in her early dancing attempts on the green lawn of her northside home, whose twinkling toes entertained many a Manistee audience before her mother took her to Chicago to find that place for her which all who knew anything about the terpsichorean art said awaited her there...Little Leona Christoffersen has arrived!"

In Part 2 of the series we will take a look at Bobbe's film career as well as her marriage to Tarzan actor, Johnny Weissmuller.