Biography
Reportedly a great-niece of novelist Vicente Blasco Ibanez of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse fame, brunette Ruth Hall had been an extra prior to playing
Zeppo Marx's girlfriend in
Monkey Business (1931). The comedy earned her a berth as one of the 1932 Wampas Baby Stars and a host of leading lady chores opposite silver screen cowboys such as
John Wayne (with whom she also did the serial
The Three Musketeers in 1933),
Ken Maynard, and
Tom Mix. Hall recalled being termed "the girl" on these cheaply made program Westerns. "The Girl," she told Western historian Jon Tuska, "had to play her scene right because there were no second takes and, horrors, of course no retakes. The main stars were coached but not the girls." It may have been arduous work, especially on dusty locations with few if any conveniences -- especially for The Girl -- but the always game Hall would remain a favorite of both Wayne and
Ken Maynard, who felt the loss when she left films to marry one of the industry's best cinematographers,
Lee Garmes, a union that would last a lifetime. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide