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Anita Coleman was born Anita Thibodeaux in New Iberia, Louisiana. On her mother's side, she was a direct descendant of Jean Lafitte, the Privateer. Her father's mother came over to the United States from Bordeaux, France. By the time she was five years old, both of her parents had died so she went to live with her grandmother where she only spoke in French until she went to school. Anita never lost her knowledge of the French language and was comfortable speaking both languages with equal aplomb. In 1939, when she was 19 years old, she and a girlfriend were visiting Jackson, Mississippi, where they were invited to radio station WSLI to watch a live broadcast of a young and popular singing personality by the name of Jimmie Jackson. Jimmie noticed the charming young Anita through the studio's double-paned, sound-proof glass and, two weeks later, they were married. Soon, the couple returned to New York where he renewed his show on WHN in Manhattan. A few years later, just before the outbreak of WWII, they moved to Hollywood where Jimmie had contracted to do a new show on the Warner Brothers' radio station KFWB. They had one child, J.P. Sloane.
Due to simmering tension between Japan and the United States, an unofficial American air force was developed to support Nationalist China known as the AVG (American Volunteer Group) better known as The Flying Tigers. These citizen heroes came from all over the US and embarked on ships sailing to the orient from Los Angeles. From the very first "wave," these boys took advantage of being in Hollywood, and one of the favorite things to do was a visit to the Warner Brothers' radio station and watch the "Jimmie Jackson Show" live. Jimmie became very attached to the guys as did Anita and they would see each "wave" off at the dock wishing them "God's speed." Jimmie wrote a song entitled, "Flying China Blues" which was all about the Flying Tigers and their bravery. That song became the Flying Tiger's fighting song and the lovely Anita became the first "Sweetheart of the Flying Tigers."
As the years moved on, Jimmie and Anita maintained close relationships with many of the Tigers, and Jimmie became their "Keeper of the Archives." Much of that material was used when Bob Prescott and some of the other Tiger's opened the once famous "Hungry Tiger Restaurant." Although much of the material was never returned, their son still has several boxes of Tiger memorabilia, including a piece of the tail of a Flying Tiger P40 fighter plane that crash landed in Chicago during the war.
Anita and Jimmie had many friends in Hollywood that were in the entertainment business. One lighthearted story centers around Jimmie Durante. It seems when Durante did his first television show he used as his opening scene a house with a mailbox in front. After the show Durante called Anita and asked her if she caught the show and if so how did she like it? Anita assured Jimmy she did see the show and enjoyed it very much but asked why he had used his actual home address on the opening scene's mailbox? Durante was shocked and told her, in his inimitable patois, "I did-dent tink anybody would notice dat!"
Celebrated as "Television's Hollywood Hostess," Anita was able to use her vast circle of friends to get all the juicy Hollywood tidbits and gossip, not to mention guest appearances for her spot on the long running television show "Memory Lane", and also on "The Downtown Show".
Later in life, Anita moved back to Louisiana to a sleepy little town named Lockport where she married her childhood sweetheart, Mack Barrios, and settled down to a quiet life where her neighbors had no idea they were living next door to a former glamorous Hollywood Star!
