Top Models by Samuel Claesson - HTML preview

Suzanne Ames

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Suzanne Ames has the distinction of being the most obscure of our three models. She ' s so obscure that the public wasn't informed about her death until Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen reported it roughly a decade afterwards. She was born with the conspicuous name Suzann Louise Plotner on February 1, 1933 in Los Angeles, California to John and Mary Plotner. She had a half-sister named Linda who did some modeling, and three half-brothers. She - while not getting into detail- had a difficult childhood.

She graduated from Hollywood High School, getting her start in the industry was when she was hired as a technician. Her being seen by a nightclub owner led to her gig as a showgirl at the Moulin Rogue. The reason that Suzanne changed her surname to Ames was because it started with the letter " a " and thus gave her the front position in choruses that were alphabetical.

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Suzanne Ames in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) ->

Although most historians think that Suzanne Ames was a ballerina who joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in 1952, that was a different Suzanne Ames -her surname was Ainbinder- born in Chicago, Illinois. Suzanne Ames the model was just that. She loved modeling, and had no ambitions to be a triple-threat performer.

She was a Vargus Girl who began her career with parts in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), and The Las Vegas Story (1952) which were both successes. She was primarily a showgirl, as she was gorgeous and somewhat talented enough to be convincing on camera. Those whom she worked with found her professional and courteous.

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Suzanne Ames on Queen for a Day ->

Her closest bout with fame was in 1953 when she was crowned a T-Venus alongside five women that included Angie Dickinson, Sue Casey, Dawn Oney, Mary Ann Edwards, and Dona Cole. It was a contest hosted by NBC, who was searching for talent. It guaranteed her a year of work with the network where she would appear in various primetime television series.

It' s unfortunate, but most of her work was forgettable. She starred in Giant Football Roundup, Colgate Comedy Hour, The Harry Richman Show, The Bob Hope Show, and All Star Revue. According to her sister, she did commercials for Dove Soap as well. Sidney Skolsky said that " she [Suzanne] resembles Jane Russell."

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Her title as a T-Venus prompted an appearance in TV Guide, which caught the attention of mogul, tycoon, and filmmaker Howard Hughes. He had earned a reputation for hiring hundreds of women to RKO Studios, but not helping them further their careers. Suzanne was no exception to this. She accepted Hughes offer at $250 a week. He cast her in two films, The French Line (1954) and Son of Sinbad (1955). The latter film she appeared as one of several interchangeable women watching Lili St. Cyr upstage her. The greatest thing about it was that is gave Suzanne Ames her first onscreen dialogue. She can be heard saying in unison with the other women, "Farewell, Sinbad!" Suzanne would later say that Hughes was a " creep ". She was one of 623 applicants chosen to tour as "The Sinbadettes " along with Yvonne White, Dorothy Van Dyke, and Andre Cleve.

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Suzanne Ames ' greatest achievement in Hollywood was arguably her role on Jack Bailey ' s Queen for a Day. She joined the series in 1954 - while sharing an apartment with fellow model June Kirby- and stayed with them through 1962. She once said that she loved working with Jeanne Cagney, who was like a mentor to her.

Suzanne Ames in Guys and Dolls (1955)

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Suzanne Ames as a T-Venus ->

Although she wasn't in Guys and Dolls (1955) like June Kirby and Jann Darlyn, she did tour with the cast after Pat Sheehan left the tour to star in Man with the Gun (1955) alongside Robert Mitchum. She dyed her hair brown and traveled to several countries to help promote this box-office success. It became a life-altering experience when she had an uncomfortable flight with severe turbulence. The ordeal scared her, and she never did airplane travel again except once when she -using medication- flew to New York City with her daughter.

Suzanne appeared in Kismet (1955) as one of the women in the Caliph' s harem, but a lot of her scenes were deleted from the released version. It was no fault of her own though, as the deleted scenes were due to suggestive language in the script. Her daughter Shawn told me, "I had it on DVD, but my mother refused to watch it." That was another film where she starred alongside her friend June Kirby.

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In 1958, Suzanne was cast as a co-host to Byron Palmer in Yakity Yak on ABC. It was based on the game show of the same name in London, England. Unfortunately, it didn't prove popular in the United States of America, and it never aired. Other co-hosts who tested for it were Bobette Bentley, Colleen Drake, and Janan Hart. It is available to view at the University of California, Los Angeles ' Film and Television Archive for anyone interested in seeing it.

Hollywood' s last hoorah to the 1950s-era of filmmaking was the release of Bells Are Ringing (1960). It was the last film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the musical genre, and it was sort of a reunion of the models and contract players that decorated these lavish films for years. Suzanne, along with June Kirby, Lorraine Crawford, Sue Casey, and several others were in it. She married William Howard Fredrick, who owned Hollywood Ranch Market. They met while Suzanne was working at the juice bar their parttime. They had

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gone steady for years before marrying one another. They had two children named Shawn -who was named after June Kirby ' s daughter- and William. An interesting footnote is that Shawn later dated Jann Darlyn ' s son James Plate. These models were a close-knit group as anyone could see.

Suzanne Ames in Kismet (1955)

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Suzanne became a realtor after marrying William. According to her half-sister, she wanted to have a family and felt that it' s difficult -if not impossible- to be an actress simultaneously. She lived in Toluca Lake for decades where she raised her children. She was a very intelligent woman as well, much too intelligent to limit herself to showbusiness. She started several businesses, which were very successful.

After her husband died, Suzanne went into semiretirement. She continued operating her businesses and supporting herself. She was fiercely independent. Sadly, her health worsened after she fell and broke her leg. It' s possible that she had a stroke, but regardless her condition worsened within a year and she didn't wanna leave her home. She died on February 25, 2013 surrounded by her loved ones. She was interred beside her husband.

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Her daughter, Shawn, had this to say about her mother ' s career:

"She didn't care about it. There were a lot of things that

we didn't know about until decades later. I remember

watching The French Line (1954) on television, and

she walked by saying "I was in that" in such a casual

way. I am still surprised when I search her online and

find different movies that she did that I never heard

of. It wasn't an important part of her life."

She spoke of her mother' s colleagues on Queen for a Day as well:

"We had lavish gatherings at our house. As a child, I remember meeting several of her friends who she worked with. I met June Kirby, who was at the hospital when I was born. She 'd often fly to California to visit us. I dated Jann ' s [Darlyn] son in high school. Naida [Curtis] was another model my mother was close with, and she was my brother ' s godmother. Maxine Reeves

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was another woman we saw frequently. They were like family to us. My mother would even have reunions every several years. She didn't like Hollywood, but she loved the people she met there."

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