Portland Hoffa
Hoffa in 1940
Born	(1905-01-25)January 25, 1905 Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Died	December 26, 1990(1990-12-26) (aged 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupations	Actress comedian dancer radio host
Spouses	Fred Allen ​ ​ (m. 1927; died 1956)​ Joe Rines ​ ​ (m. 1959; died 1986)​
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Portland Hoffa (January 25, 1905 – December 26, 1990) was an Americancomedian, radio host, actress, and dancer. The daughter of an itinerant optometrist, she was named afterPortland, Oregon, the city in which she was born. She began her career performing as a dancer in numerousBroadway productions in the 1920s, before meeting her first husband, comedianFred Allen. They were married in 1927, and Hoffa began performing characters with Allen in comic radio programs, often portraying a dimwitted female counterpart in fast-paced, witty skits.^[1][2] She gained particular notice from audiences for her distinctive, high-pitched voice.^[3]

Allen hosted several highly successful network radio shows in the 1930s and 1940s, in which Hoffa was a frequent participant. She remained married to him until his death in 1956, after which she married bandleader Joe Rines. Rines later worked as an advertising executive. Hoffa helped compile her first husband's correspondence, which was published asFred Allen's Letters in 1965. She died in 1990 inLos Angeles of natural causes, aged 85.

Hoffa was born January 25, 1905, inPortland, Oregon^[4][5][a] to Frederick Hoffa and Mary Hoffa (née Keesey).^[5][7] As with most of her other siblings, including sister Lebanon and brother Harlem, she was named after the city in which she was born.^[6] Additionally, she had two younger sisters, Lastone and Doctor Fredericka known as Fredericka.^[7] Her father, an itinerantoptometrist, was a native ofWashington state ofGerman descent,^[7] while her mother was fromPennsylvania.^[7] Her father wasJewish, while her mother was aPresbyterian.^[8] By the time Hoffa was 15 years old, she and her family had relocated toNew York City and were residing inManhattan.^[7][9]

In New York, Hoffa performed as a dancer invaudeville andBroadway stage productions, and metFred Allen while performing inThe Passing Show in 1922 and joined him in his vaudeville routines (centered on his clever jokes spun off his weakness as a juggler). The couple married in 1927 atSt. Malachy's Church in Manhattan^[10] before Allen began his long-running radio work in 1932. Because Allen was a devoutRoman Catholic, Hoffa converted to Catholicism before the two married.^[8]

A frequent performer opposite Allen, Hoffa became familiar for her distinctive high-pitched voice,^[11] her brief routines involving jokes bounced off or from her mother, and, later, strolling Allen's Alley with her husband, after asking him what his question of the week for the Alley denizens would be. Allen himself likened Hoffa's voice to "two slate pencils mating or aclarinetreed calling for help."^[12]

Although Hoffa performed under her real name on her husband's show, the character she portrayed as "Portland Hoffa" in the radio broadcasts was not Allen's wife; instead, she depicted an enthusiastic girl of indeterminate age, around thirteen years old. One of Allen's sponsors loathed the character played by Hoffa, and kept urging Allen to drop her from the show. Allen ignored these requests for as long as he could, then finally—in an angry outburst at a sales meeting—told the executive that the broadcasts were bearable only due to Hoffa's presence, and that if she were removed from the program then Allen would quit.^{[citation needed]}

Allen's declining health was the main reason he ceased hosting his own show after 1949, but Hoffa often joined him as a semi-regular onTallulah Bankhead's radio variety show,The Big Show (1950–52). She also appeared as the "mystery guest" on one episode of television'sWhat's My Line, on which Allen had become a panelist from 1954 until his death in early 1956. Hoffa and Allen had also appeared in such films asIs Everybody Listening? (1947) and theJack Benny vehicleBuck Benny Rides Again (1940).^{[citation needed]}

Allen died in 1956. In 1959, Hoffa married bandleader Joe Rines, who later worked as an advertising executive. Hoffa and Rines lived long enough to celebrate asilver wedding anniversary, allowing Hoffa an unusual second such anniversary in one lifetime.^{[citation needed]} In 1965, she compiled a large volume of her first husband's correspondence, which was edited into and published asFred Allen's Letters. Rines died in 1986.

Twice widowed and childless, Hoffa died of natural causes inLos Angeles on December 26, 1990,^[13] aged 85.^[3] She was survived by her two younger sisters, Lastone Hershkowitz of New York and Los Angeles, and Frederika Bond ofBellingham, Washington.^[3] She is interred with her first husbandFred Allen at theGate of Heaven Cemetery inHawthorne, New York. Hoffa has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 1640Vine Street.^[13]

• Fred Allen,Much Ado About Me (Boston:Little, Brown, 1956).
• Frank Buxton and Bill Owen,The Big Broadcast: 1920–1950 (New York: Flare Books/Avon, 1972).

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPortland Hoffa.

• Portland Hoffa Radio Career with Fred Allen
• Portland Hoffa atIMDb
• Portland Hoffa at theInternet Broadway Database
• Portland Hoffa atFind a Grave

• 1905 births
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• 20th-century American actresses
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• 20th-century Roman Catholics
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• American musical theatre actresses
• American people of German-Jewish descent
• American radio actresses
• American Roman Catholics
• American vaudeville performers
• American women comedians
• Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York)
• Catholics from New York (state)
• Jews from Oregon
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