Portland Hoffa

Portland Hoffa (January 25, 1905 – December 26, 1990) was an American comedian, radio host, actress, and dancer. The daughter of an itinerant optometrist, she was named after Portland, Oregon, the city in which she was born. She began her career performing as a dancer in numerous Broadway productions in the 1920s, before meeting her first husband, comedian Fred Allen. They were married in 1927, and Hoffa began performing characters with Allen in comic radio programs, often portraying a dimwitted female counterpart in fast-paced, witty skits. She gained particular notice from audiences for her distinctive, high-pitched voice. to Frederick Hoffa and Mary Hoffa (née Keesey). Additionally, she had two younger sisters, Lastone and Doctor Fredericka known as Fredericka.

1922–1956: Performing career

In New York, Hoffa performed as a dancer in vaudeville and Broadway stage productions, and met Fred Allen while performing in The Passing Show in 1922 and joined him in his vaudeville routines (centered on his clever jokes spun off his weakness as a juggler). The couple married in 1927 at St. Malachy's Church in Manhattan before Allen began his long-running radio work in 1932. Because Allen was a devout Roman Catholic, Hoffa converted to Catholicism before the two married.

A frequent performer opposite Allen, Hoffa became familiar for her distinctive high-pitched voice, her brief routines involving jokes bounced off or from her mother, and, later, strolling Allen's Alley with her husband, after asking him what his question of the week for the Alley denizens would be. Allen himself likened Hoffa's voice to "two slate pencils mating or a clarinet reed calling for help."

Although Hoffa performed under her real name on her husband's show, the character she portrayed as "Portland Hoffa" in the radio broadcasts was not Allen's wife; instead, she depicted an enthusiastic girl of indeterminate age, around thirteen years old. One of Allen's sponsors loathed the character played by Hoffa, and kept urging Allen to drop her from the show. Allen ignored these requests for as long as he could, then finally—in an angry outburst at a sales meeting—told the executive that the broadcasts were bearable only due to Hoffa's presence, and that if she were removed from the program then Allen would quit.

Allen's declining health was the main reason he ceased hosting his own show after 1949, but Hoffa often joined him as a semi-regular on Tallulah Bankhead's radio variety show, The Big Show (1950–52). She also appeared as the "mystery guest" on one episode of television's What's My Line, on which Allen had become a panelist from 1954 until his death in early 1956. Hoffa and Allen had also appeared in such films as Is Everybody Listening? (1947) and the Jack Benny vehicle Buck Benny Rides Again (1940).

1957–1990: Later years Allen died in 1956. In 1959, Hoffa married bandleader Joe Rines, who later worked as an advertising executive. Hoffa and Rines lived long enough to celebrate a silver wedding anniversary. In 1965, she compiled a large volume of her first husband's correspondence, which was edited into and published as Fred Allen's Letters. Rines died in 1986.

Death Twice widowed, Hoffa died of natural causes in Los Angeles on December 26, 1990, aged 85. She is interred with her first husband Fred Allen at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. Hoffa has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1640 Vine Street.

Take Your Choice Herself Unaired gameshow pilot

Omnibus Herself Episode: "Treadmill to Oblivion"

What's My Line? Herself Season 6, episode 25

A 1960s Radio Broadcast Addition: Chase and Sandborn 101st Anniversary Herself Television film

Radio credits Year Title Role Notes 1932–1949The Fred Allen Show Series regular

Stage credits Year Title Role Notes 1921 The Mimic World Performer Century Promenade Theatre 1922 Make It Snappy Performer Winter Garden Theatre 1922 The Passing Show of 1922 Performer Winter Garden Theatre 1924 Marjorie Performer Shubert Theatre; 44th Street Theatre 1925 Tell Me More Performer Gaiety Theatre 1926–1927 George White's Scandals Performer Apollo Theatre 1929–1930 The Little Show Performer Apollo Theatre 1930–1931 Three's a Crowd Performer Selwyn Theatre