(This article first appeared in the October print edition of the Hendersonian.)
John Oscar Hambleton sought the spotlight as a kid but by the end of his life he was avoiding public attention like a case of leprosy.
He had plenty of paths to fame. In the end, though, he was best known for his work on Broadway and in Hollywood—where he rubbed shoulders with top talent.
The Evansville Courier & Press of Feb. 4, 1940, noted even as a child “it appeared he could do anything. He could write, dance, sing, paint, act, make speeches and had various other talents” such as playing music and designing costumes/stage sets.
He also had connections. His parents were close friends with Leigh and Jane Harris, publishers of The Gleaner, and he was pals with their daughter Francele. Leigh Harris and Jefferson Davis Hambleton were members of both the Elks and a regular coffee klatch at the Soaper Hotel.
The Gleaner of June 19, 1938, carried Francele Harris Armstrong’s first major story about the accomplishments of her childhood friend.
“His (older) sisters, Marian and Jeffie, both possessing unusual musical talents, drafted their brother into playing the drums and xylophone in the ‘Hambleton Trio’ before he was 12 years old.” That band played Saturday afternoon dances at the Elks Lodge and also played regularly at neighborhood dances and at the Atkinson Park pavilion.
“Neighbors were delighted with his ability at mimicry and song-and-dance ‘hi-de-ho.’ Townspeople knew him for his performances in amateur dramatics and musicals. And every girl in John’s crowd … sought after him for designs for dresses” for both parties and weddings.
J.D. Hambleton, by the way, gave W.C. Handy a job when he first lived here. That apparently forged a warm relationship. The Nov. 26, 1916, Gleaner noted the Hambleton Trio had scored a coup by booking Handy’s band to play a dance at the Elks Lodge Dec. 5.
The Dec. 16, 1916, Gleaner said the trio had again booked the Handy band. “The Handy orchestra, under the direction of Will Handy, hails from Memphis and is considered the best orchestra for dancing in this section of the country.”
Hambleton’s 22-year-old sister, violinist Jeffie, died March 13, 1918, from diphtheria complicated by heart trouble. The Hambleton Trio died with her. But McCleary “Mack” Mercer joined the Hambletons and they played a New Year’s Eve dance when the regularly scheduled band failed to arrive at the Elks, according to the Jan. 1, 1920, Gleaner.
That story also noted the Handy band, “at considerable expense,” was returning for a dance that night, “which to the dance-loving public here is sufficient guarantee of the success of this dance.”
He graduated Barret Manual Training High School in 1921 and by Aug. 21, 1921, Hambleton was part of a band of college students called the University Five, which had just played a dance at the pavilion. But it was his next band, the Kentucky Footwarmers, that gained a regional reputation and sparked my interest in Hambleton.
The Gleaner of June 13, 1923, carried the first mention of the Footwarmers, which were to play for a moonlight dance at Cairo on June 16. The Footwarmers also played dances at the pavilion July 4th and Aug. 23.
The final mention of the Footwarmers I found in The Gleaner came on June 17, 1925, which advertised a moonlight dance at Audubon Heights.
Hambleton had been active in all aspects of stage production while in high school and built on that success at the University of Kentucky. But his expertise was demonstrated long before that. Francele Armstrong wrote a Gleaner column June 30, 1955, reminiscing about Glen Oak, her old home at 502 Chestnut St., in which she, Hambleton and other friends used the upstairs hallway as a stage for elaborate theatricals.
The Dec. 23, 1923, Gleaner noted he was a cast member of the opening play at UK’s new theater; he also designed costumes for the play.
By early 1924 he was teaching a class in costume design while still a UK student.
At the Kentucky Federation of Women’s convention here in May of 1925, Hambleton gave them a talk on costumes. “There are two principles a well-dressed woman must keep in mind when buying a dress: First, its relation to her entire wardrobe, for accessories either make or break a costume, and second, she must study herself from an unprejudiced point of view. She should dress to her particular charm.”
A rave review in the Lexington Herald said: “The young comedian is a master at creating his own atmosphere.”
His acting at the university caught the eye of Margaret Anglin, who the Encyclopedia Brittanica called, “one of the most brilliant actresses of her day.” He joined Anglin’s company and played a role and designed costumes for “Electra,” which toured the summer of 1925.
While in New York City he played bit parts in “Hamlet,” starring Ethel Barrymore and Walter Hamden, but found acting wasn’t particularly lucrative.
So, he took a job with the American School of Fine and Applied Arts in New York City for two years and then taught design in Paris and Italy for two more years. During that period, he helped Rolls-Royce harmonize colors in its prestigious automobiles.
Upon his return to New York City, he began a career of advertising for major department stores. But the theater kept calling him.
The Gleaner of June 21, 1934, noted he had received his first big break when legendary playwrights/producers George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart gave him the contract to costume their upcoming production, which would be “Merrily We Roll Along.”
The comedy opened Sept. 29 on Broadway and ran through February. Kaufman continued to exclusively use Hambleton to costume his creations. Hambleton worked with other producers, also, but only when it didn’t interfere with Kaufman’s productions.
During the 1930s he vacationed in Henderson every summer and provided costumes and artistic direction for Frieda Klauder’s dance recitals.
The Evansville Press of May 27, 1938, carried a rewrite of gossip-monger Walter Winchell’s column and radio broadcast, “rumoring that Vera Zorina, beautiful dancing star of ‘Goldwyn Follies,’ will wed John Hambleton.”
(He went by three different names in his life: Oscar through the end of high school, at which point he changed the spelling to Oskar, and then began going by John O. Hambleton when he moved to New York City.)
Hambleton telephoned his mother to ensure she listened to Winchell’s broadcast. His mother expressed doubt Hambleton would ever marry. “He didn’t tell me anything definite when I spoke to him,” she said. “He just told me to listen in and laughed about the whole matter.”
Throughout his successful Broadway career Hambleton frequently received offers from Hollywood interests to work there. He finally relented to the lure of the silver screen.
The Gleaner of Sept. 14, 1941, carried a photo of Hambleton and actress Joan Crawford examining one of the gowns he had designed for her upcoming movie. UK’s Kentucky Kernal of Sept. 23 reported it was one of his first Hollywood designs.
He quickly became production coordinator for Universal-International and by 1948 was well established in Hollywood, particularly after he had partnered with Joan Fontaine and her husband to form a production company. The Internet Movie Database lists eight movies to his credit that year. Some stars of those movies included Fontaine, Robert Montgomery, Susan Haywood, Burt Lancaster and James Stewart.
Karl Kae Knecht’s column in the Evansville Press of Dec. 26, 1948, said Hambleton was tooling around Hollywood in a Mercury convertible. “A jaunt on the lots with John and you note that everybody seems to know him … which means something when you once realize the enormity of those studio lots.”
The Knecht column of March 27, 1949, bragged that Hambleton had designed the stage setting for the Academy Awards.
Armstrong’s column of May 10, 1955, said legendary director Elia Kazan had hired him to create a palette for his movie, “East of Eden,” which starred such luminaries as James Dean and Burl Ives. Hambleton directed how color was used in everything from landscapes to make-up.
A Hambleton letter quoted by Armstrong said, “The director, ‘Gadge’ Kazan, is the most wonderful, the kindest, most brilliant person I have ever worked with. There were not enough hours in the day to work with him.”
The Gleaner of July 26, 1956, reported Hambleton had designed and arranged décor for the wedding of Toni Wayne, the daughter of John Wayne. Hambleton wrote home to friends and family, “I do wish you all could have seen it. It was a work of love, for the Wayne family are close friends of mine.”
Hambleton moved back to Henderson in 1970 and was 80 years old when he died Oct. 26, 1984. His only survivors were two nieces and a nephew. His modest estate was worth $8,719, which would be worth about $27,000 today.
At Hambleton’s direction, The Gleaner ran a five-paragraph obituary that made no mention of the professional heights he had mastered.
But Gleaner columnist Judy Jenkins wasn’t happy about that; her Gleaner column commemorating Hambleton appeared Oct. 31.
She noted he had recently nursed some forsythia buds into blooming in his kitchen and taken them to a sick friend.
“The blossoms were better for her than a tonic…. Everyone who knew him can tell some such story of his kindnesses, and the way he’d get downright cantankerous if you gushed too much about them.”
And he didn’t want Henderson people to know the fame he had won in art, cinema and Broadway. He refused Judy’s repeated requests for an interview. “You can do that when I’m gone and don’t have to see it.
“I came back to Henderson to retire. Everything I did is ancient history, and no one cares about hearing anything about a decrepit old has-been.”
