June Marlowe

June Marlowe (born Gisela Valaria Goetten, November 6, 1903 – March 10, 1984) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. She was best known for her role as "Miss Crabtree" in the Our Gang shorts.

Career Marlowe was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Her mother was Austrian, and her father's parents were German. She was a prolific actress in silent films during the 1920s, appearing in films opposite John Barrymore and Rin Tin Tin. She began her acting career shortly after her 1923 graduation from Hollywood High School, and was signed to a contract by Warner Brothers in 1924.

In 1925, she became one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. In 1928, she was an actress under contract with Universal Studios.

Her career did well until the introduction of talkies. Marlowe did not make an easy transition, and by 1930 she was starting to drift away from acting.

By chance, she happened to meet director Robert F. McGowan one day in a Los Angeles department store. McGowan was searching for an actress to portray the schoolteacher in the Our Gang series of children's comedies. After producer Hal Roach suggested that brunette Marlowe don a blonde wig to match the hair of the lead kid in the series, Jackie Cooper, she was given the part of Miss Crabtree.

Marlowe and Cooper were paired together in three Our Gang films, Teacher's Pet, School's Out and Love Business. She also had a small role in 1931's Little Daddy. In addition to her work in Our Gang, Marlowe appeared in fellow Roach stars Laurel and Hardy's first feature film, Pardon Us.

Marlowe's Miss Crabtree character was used in only two more shorts, 1931's Shiver My Timbers and 1932's Readin' and Writin'. After Cooper left Our Gang in 1931, she appeared in MGM features.

Later years and death In an October 1931 notice, Washington's Evening Star newspaper announced that the Superior Court in Los Angeles "returned a verdict of $100 damages to Henry M. Oviatt against June Marlowe, film actress, and her brother, Armour Marlowe, as the outgrowth of a motor car collision," adding that their automobile had "collided with one containing Oviatt and Mrs. Nellie McLaren, who sued for $5,000 each, alleging injuries", and that "Mrs. McLaren was denied damages."

On July 2, 1933, Marlowe married Hollywood businessman Rodney Sprigg and retired from motion pictures to become a housewife.

In popular culture The name of schoolteacher Edna Krabappel, a cartoon character from the animated television series The Simpsons, was chosen by early Simpsons writers Wallace Wolodarsky and Jay Kogen in 1990 as a play on the fruit "crabapple" and as a reference to Miss Crabtree from the Our Gang shorts.

June Marlowe's Our Gang character Miss Crabtree was mentioned in "Buddy", a track on De La Soul's album 3 Feet High and Rising.

Filmography + Short subject Year Title Role Notes 1924 Killing Time 1925 Horace Greeley, Jr. Presumed lost 1930 Fast Work Herself 1930 Teacher's Pet Miss Crabtree 1930 School's Out Miss Crabtree 1931 Love Business Miss Crabtree 1931 Little Daddy Miss Crabtree 1931 Shiver My Timbers Miss Crabtree 1932 Readin' and Writin' Miss Crabtree Final appearance

+ Features Year Title Role Notes 1923 Fighting Blood Minor role Uncredited 1924 When a Man's a Man Kitty Reid Incomplete film 1924 The Tenth Woman Rose Ann Brainherd Lost film 1924 Find Your Man Carolina Blair 1924 A Lost Lady Constance Ogden Lost film 1925 The Man Without a Conscience Ann Sherman 1925 Tracked in the Snow Country Joan Hardy 1925 The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted Mary Paterson Lost film 1925 Below the Line May Barton 1925 The Clash of the Wolves May Barstowe Called Clash of the Wolves on the film 1925 The Pleasure Buyers Helen Ripley 1926 The Night Cry Mrs. John Martin 1926 Don Juan Trusia Uncredited 1926 The Old Soak Ina Heath Lost film 1926 Fangs of Justice Janet Morgan 1927 The Fourth Commandment Marjorie Miller Incomplete film 1927 Alias the Deacon Phyllis / Mrs. Nancy Blythe 1927 The Life of Riley Molly O'Rourke Lost film; also called Red Hot Riley 1927 Wild Beauty Helen Cunningham 1927 On the Stroke of Twelve Doris Bainbridge 1928 Their Hour Peggy Lost film 1928 Free Lips Ann Baldridge 1928 The Branded Man Louise 1928 The Foreign Legion Gabrielle Lost film 1928 The Grip of the Yukon Sheila O'Neil Lost film 1928 Code of the Air Helen Carson 1929 The Brandenburg Arch Frieda, seine Tochter German title: Durchs Brandenburger Tor. Solang noch Untern Linden... 1929 The Unusual Past of Thea Carter Thea Carter German title: Die seltsame Vergangenheit der Thea Carter 1930 The Lone Defender Dolores Valdez Serial film; edited into a shorter 1934 film 1931 Los Presidiarios Warden's daughter Uncredited 1931 Pardon Us Warden's daughter 1932 Devil on Deck Mary Moore Lost film