Alyce McCormick

Before entering show business, McCormick served as the Omaha relief secretary for the VOA. She had begun missionary work at age four and grew into more responsibilities. She sang in prisons across North Carolina, New Jersey, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, and California. She preached, conducted testimony meetings, ministered to the needy, and kept books for the organization. In 1923, she became a showgirl at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, debuting in The Dancing Girl. Three weeks later she moved to a part in Betsy Ross, then was selected from 300 actresses for a role in Bal Tabourin. After that, a producer offered her three months of training and a starring role in a revue. She declined and returned to Omaha to resume VOA work. She also acted in films, including Bad Girl, Frankenstein, and The Spirit of Notre Dame.

A case of mistaken identity entangled her in 44 libel suits. In 1925, a Pennsylvania divorce case named a woman called Alice McCormick as co-respondent, and a wire story carried that name. A New York Mirror employee, thinking it was the actress, paired her file photo with the divorce story on December 1, 1925. Three syndicates then distributed the wrong pairing. The suits were settled out of court on March 19, 1926, with terms dictated personally by her. She had married Caryl H. Strauser in 1918, but filed for divorce months later; Strauser tried to shoot her and then killed himself. She died of pneumonia in Hollywood on January 5, 1932, at age 32.