Maxine Ann Doyle was born in San Francisco, California. She went to work for Fanchon and Marco, producers of stage productions, when she was 12. She was discovered a year earlier while waiting for her sister (Bernice Doyle) who was working for them at the time. She became their lead singer and dancer and traveled all over America with one of their unit productions in the early 1930’s. Later on, she became Mistress of Ceremonies at the Earle Theater in Washington D. C. where she became known as the “Thank You Girl.” The Earle Theater was owned by Warner Bros. who then brought Maxine to Hollywood under contract. She did a bit part in “Babbitt”, had the lead with Joe E. Brown in “Six Day Bike Rider”, and was loaned to M-G-M for the female lead in "Student Tour”, which was one of their big musicals of that year. She appeared in almost forty films between 1933 and 1946. She met Director William Witney on the set of “ SOS Coast Guard” in 1937. They were married in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 5th 1938. Maxine spent most of her remaining career in westerns, chiefly for Republic, with whom she was under contract from 1943 to 1944 - a gesture, it was said, to her husband who was serving in the Marine Corps during WWII. They had one child, the one who produced this video (John Doyle Witney / AKA Jay Dee)
During her time working at Warner's Earle Theater and traveling with Fanchon & Marco she collected over 300 autographed pictures. You can view the collection at: williamwitney.com/maxineautographgallery.html
For more information on Maxine Doyle visit her web page at Williamwitney.com/maxinedoyle.html or imdb.com/name/nm0236445/
