Vertical File Biographies

This is an individual biography from the vertical file of biographical information, primarily newspaper clippings, created by the Kansas State Histocial Society Library and Archives division. This is a concise version--there may be more information in this or other sources.

Max Showalter

Max Showalter came from Caldwell, Kansas, where his mother was an organist and played accompanying music in the local theatre for silent movies. She took Max along whenever she could and he became hooked on show business.

After high school, he went to California and became an apprentice at the Pasadena Playhouse. He was in a musical there called, “Knights Of Song” which Oscar Hammerstein saw and decided to take both the show and Showalter to New York. The musical flopped, but Max spent 12 very successful years there.

After Broadway success, Showalter returned to California and had a long series of character roles in musicals and comedy movies. He appeared for a while under the stage name Casey Adams, which was given him by executives at Twentieth Century Fox. After leaving Fox, he decided he wanted his real name back and again became Max Showalter.

Although he played in countless television series, he never had a show of his own and never wanted one. Showalter felt that by playing the same character week after week, you lost the challenge that an actor must have.

He was a very talented composer and writer. He wrote “With A Song in My Heart,” “Vicki,” and the score for a review produced in England entitled, “How Now, Brown Cow.”

He toured for many years in the musical “Hello Dolly” with Betty Grable, but is best remembered for his role in the movie, Sixteen Candles.

Mr. Showalter once owned the Beverly Hills mansion of Carol Lombard. It was the house where she and Clark Gable married. He later bought and remodeled a brownstone house on New York’s lower east side and made it his home for a number of years. In later life, Max bought a home in Connecticut where he enjoyed gardening and involvement in the arts. He was also an accomplished miniature oil painter. Showalter never married and died in 2000 at age 83.

Sources:
“Versatile Kansan In Vegas Show,” Kansas City Star, 9 March 1966.

“Kansas Native Has Starring Role In ’Dolly’ On Broadway,” Earl Wilson, Wichita Eagle- Beacon, 16 April 1967.

“Actor Decorates Old Townhouse For Bicentennial,” Wichita Eagle, 12 July 1974.

The vertical file is on forty-three microfilm reels arranged alphabetically by name. These reels are available through interlibrary loan, or you may contact the reference staff . Please note that many of the clippings had yellowed and it may be impossible to produce a readable photocopy.

Completion of this biography was made possible by volunteer Frank Sotrines.