Both Casablanca and The Philadelphia Story were sponsored by an Illinois-based cosmetics company, makers of Lady Esther Face Cream. In its commercials, Lady Esther was portrayed by actress Bess Johnson. One of the few female announcers working in network radio at the time, Ms. Johnson stirred up quite a furor. In May 1938, Radio Guide magazine reported that some people believed that all radio commercials should be done by men. In the article "Should Radio Use Women Announcers," twelve writers gave the pros and cons of the female on-air voice. Regardless what the people thought of her as Lady Esther, it didn't discourage Ms. Johnson from making radio commercials. She later went on to make commercial announcements for Palmolive and other products.
Paul married Helen Wallin in 1941. No one in the family now knows when Bess and Paul divorced.
The best guess is the early 1930s. Their daughter Jane was born in 1927, and both Bess and Jane died in England. Linda Perry Tavernise visited her half-sister Jane in England in 1965. Jo Perry and Cindy Perry Tavernise met Jane's son David in London in 2012.
The picture below is the only surviving photo of Bess with Paul and his entire family. The photo was take at the Orr Lawson Perry family home in West Virginia. The expression on Bess' face suggest that in the West Virginia milieu she feels like a fish out of water. Among the photos of Bess in this site, however, is a glamour shot of Bess dedicated to Paul's sister Elizabeth and her husband Worth Harper (seen in group shot below).
Click photo for larger view
