{{Short description|American actress}} '''Rosaline Greenberg''' (December 3, 1905 – December 17, 1987), known as '''Rosaline Greene''', was an American actress called "the girl with the most beautiful speaking voice on the air".{{r|ota|page1=236}} By November 1935, she had portrayed more characters than any other woman on the radio.<ref name="bs" />
==Early years== Greene was born in Hempstead, New York to Polish Jewish emigrants Israel Greenberg and Celia Horowitz.<ref>''1910 United States Federal Census''</ref><ref>''California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997''</ref> Greene's home town was Bay Shore, New York.<ref name="bs">{{cite news |last1=Haller |first1=Harry |title=Ether Waves |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98957719/the-baltimore-sun/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=July 14, 1935 |page=Section 1 - 11|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> She was an honor graduate of the New York State College for Teachers.<ref name="tu" /> Following her graduation, she taught at Hamilton Range School.<ref name="bde">{{cite news |last1=Ranson |first1=Jo |title=Radio Dial Log |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99002961/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=May 25, 1936 |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Career== ===WGY Players=== Greene's professional debut as an actress came on radio when she was an 18-year-old college student.<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |last=Frederick |first=Christine |date=March 1925 |title=Meet Some of the Atlantic Coast's Popular Broadcasters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xsE5AQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=PA46 |magazine=Wireless Age: The Radio Magazine |location= |page=46 |publisher= |access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref> She was selected to be a member of the WGY Players although she "had never been on a stage and could not 'project'".<ref name="hb">{{cite book |last1=Barnouw |first1=Erik |title=A History of Broadcasting in the United States: Volume 1: A Tower of Babel: To 1933 |date=1966 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-802003-5 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKFvnNl9vOEC&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=PA136 |access-date=April 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> That company presented a full-length production of Eugene Walter's ''The Wolf'' on August 3, 1922, and in September the group began performing a new play on WGY each Friday night, averaging 2.5 hours in length.<ref name="hb" /> By April 1924, WGY plays were extended via network connections to audiences in Washington, D. C., and New York City (over WRC and WJZ, respectively). Greene was the troupe's leading lady, earning $5 per week.{{r|hb|page1=137}}
One of Greene's performances on WGY led to a theatrical opportunity in New York City. Max Marcin heard the Players' presentation of his play ''Silence'' with Greene in the leading role and "was so impressed by Miss Greene's interpretation of the part that after an interview she was engaged to understudy the leading lady in the New York company."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Binns |first=Jack |date=January 17, 1925 |title=The Air Way to Fame |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b9ccAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=RA3-PA44 |magazine=Collier's |location= |page=44 |publisher= |access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref>
===Other radio=== After Greene left WGY, she worked at WOR radio where, in addition to her acting, she formed the Rosaline Greene Players and directed the ensemble of "college graduates, young and experienced professionals" as they acted on radio.<ref name="tu" /> On network radio, Greene was mistress of ceremonies on ''The Hour of Charm''.{{r|ota|page1=331}} On ''Maxwell House Show Boat'', she acted the role of Mary Lou, and Muriel Wilson sang Mary Lou's songs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meyers |first1=Cynthia B. |title=A Word from Our Sponsor: Admen, Advertising, and the Golden Age of Radio |date=2013 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-8232-5376-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpKUDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=PT252 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Greene portrayed Joyce Carraway on ''Stories of the Black Chamber''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cox |first1=Jim |title=Radio Crime Fighters: More Than 300 Programs from the Golden Age |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-1227-0 |page=242 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLzwCQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=PA242 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and Peggy on ''Peggy's Doctor''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hover |first=Helen |date=April 1935 |title=Radio's Step Child |url=https://otrr.org/FILES/Magz_pdf/Radio%20Stars/Radio%20Stars%203504.pdf#page=33 |magazine=Radio Stars |location= |page=42 |publisher= |access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref> Other radio programs on which Greene performed included ''Grand Central Station'',<ref>{{cite news |title=New vehicle chosen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98958436/the-cincinnati-enquirer/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=August 22, 1937 |page=19|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''Ziegfeld Follies'',<ref name="ht">{{cite news |title=Rosaline Greene returns to radio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98957020/rosaline-greene/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |work=Harrisburg Telegraph |date=January 16, 1937 |page=19|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''Portia Faces Life''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cox |first1=Jim |title=The Great Radio Soap Operas |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0414-5 |page=179 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d7nwCQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=PA179 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and ''The Eveready Hour''.<ref name="ota">{{cite book |last1=Dunning |first1=John |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-984045-8 |page=236 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=PA613 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Her debut on ''The Eveready Hour'' was in the title role of a production of ''Joan of Arc'' on November 13, 1928.<ref name="tu">{{cite news |title=Eveready depicts Joan of Arc life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98955543/times-union/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |work=Times Union |date=November 13, 1928 |location=New York, Brooklyn |page=7 A|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Personal life== Greene married radio broadcaster Joseph Maurice Barnett, a widower, in 1936 in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reminiscences of Rosaline Greene : 1951 |url=https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/catalog/cul:msbcc2ft00 |website=Digital Collections |publisher=Columbia University Libraries |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402185645/https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/catalog/cul:msbcc2ft00 |archive-date=April 2, 2022 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref name="bde" /><ref>''New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907–2018''</ref> He was later a talent agent for famed impresario Sol Hurok. They had a daughter, Liana, and sons Alan and Nick, as well as a son from his first marriage, Joseph. After his retirement in 1963, they moved to Los Angeles, where he died in 1978 and she died in 1987.<ref>{{cite news |title=Services Held for Pioneer Broadcaster Joseph Barrett |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/384174596/?article=85620eb9-b14d-4dbc-bc7f-7f9f5104702c&focus=0.27292293,0.09714965,0.5005459,0.19911659&xid=3355 |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=March 13, 1978 |page=57}}</ref>
==Recognition== In 1926, while Greene was a member of the WGY Players, she won a contest at the Radio World's Fair at Madison Square Garden to be designated possessor of "The Perfect Radio Voice".<ref>{{cite magazine |last= |first= |date=October 1926 |title=Well, we have the second best radio voice anyway |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNJQLopsEawC&dq=%22Rosaline+Greene%22&pg=RA9-PA30 |magazine=Equity |location= |page=30 |publisher= |access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Polesie |first=Herbert |date=January 1933 |title=She Plays 1,000 Roles |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Digest/1933/Radio-Digest-1933-01.pdf#page=33 |magazine=Radio Digest |location= |page= |publisher= |access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Rosaline}} Category:1905 births Category:1987 deaths Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:Jews from New York (state) Category:Jewish American actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from New York (state) Category:American radio actresses Category:American soap opera actresses Category:People from Bay Shore, New York Category:University at Albany alumni Category:20th-century American Jews