Silent Stars: Where Are They Now … 1932 Edition – Part 2

This is Part 2 of an article showing what the silent stars featured in the 1917 Kromo Gravure Trading Card set were up to at the precise moment in time covered in a 1932 Motion Picture Magazine article, Stars Who Have Vanished by Jack Grant. As I dug into Part 1 I found myself getting a kick out of using the NewspaperArchive.com database to search out the obituaries of these old time stars in order to either confirm or deny the 1932 reportage or at least just find out how their stories ended. While I didn't really get rolling with that format until midway through the first post I'll be starting out using it in this follow-up piece.

18 stars are included in this entry simply because I covered 18 in the first part. At this rate there's likely at least another two, possibly three parts to come in this series. Oddly there was sparse coverage of the first few stars mentioned here, but then the available info picks up some going forward. If you don't know the story of Corinne Griffith please be sure to get at least that far in!

The format of these is as follows: Name is linked to star’s IMDb page in case you want some more info about their careers. Text immediately following the name is from the original 1932 Motion Picture Magazine article. Any text following that inside parenthesis is mine. A 1917 Kromo Gravure card picturing the star follows each bit of text.

Part 2: Davis-Hansen:

Mildred Davis - Retired when she wed Harold Lloyd. Has three children. (Pretty much stayed retired until her 1969 death. Married to Lloyd 46 years.)

Priscilla Dean - Once one of the daredevil women stars, she now plays occasionally in independent pictures. (Last film credit, 1932. Died in 1987, age 91.)

Carter De Haven - Famous comedian of silent days now plays mainly in vaudeville. (Died in 1977, age 90. Father of actress Gloria DeHaven.)

William Desmond - He-man hero of many a silent, he now plays anything that comes along--when it does. Alternates between stage and screen. (Kept showing up in anything that came along until just prior to his death in 1949, age 70.)

Dorothy DeVore - Popular leading lady of silent films retired when she married A.W. Mather. Said to be living on an estate in Oregon. (Other than a bit part in 1939's Miracle on Main Street seems to have disappeared. Died in 1976, age 76.)

Elinor Fair - Divorced from Bill Boyd and staging a comeback in independent pictures. (Starred with Harry Carey in Western The Night Rider later in 1932. By 1936 newspapers reported that the former $2,500 a week actress had declared herself destitute. According to a 1936 A.P. report she was found by police ill and dazed in front of a Hollywood apartment. Taken by the police to the hospital she later regained her senses before leaving without doctor's permission. When asked for her address Fair reportedly replied, "It doesn't matter anyway, the rent will be up at noon." Later coverage mentions that her past husbands have helped her out with money and that she's received several hundred dollars from the Motion Picture Relief Association. In 1938 she joined with seven other fallen stars in petitioning the Governor of California for a law mandating all movie actors be compelled to save 10% of their earnings to protect themselves from future troubles. A 1944 report states that Jack White was granted an annulment after charging that his wife, Fair, was habitually intoxicated [The IMDb doesn't even list this union. I found another report from 1941 disclosing that they were married August 13 of that year]. Died in 1957, age 53.)

William Farnum - Ill health forced Bill, once one of the highest stars, to remain idle for several years. He recently returned to the screen, and has just been on location with the Douglas Fairbanks company in Tahiti. (That location shoot would have been for 1932's Mr. Robinson Crusoe. Character actor until just prior to his death in 1953 at age 76. Farnum's U.P. obituary noted he was "once filmland's handsomest and highest paid matinee idol. The same article said Farnum built his wealth to over $2 million before losing it in the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Born to stage parents, Farnum shared the stage by age 10 with Edwin Booth.)

Geraldine Farrar - Has been very active on the concert stage and in grand opera since she left pictures. Refuses a talkie comeback. (And she never did. In fact, in an excellent article by Gordon M. Ely [that last name might not be correct, he signed his column in illegible script], "One Career Ended Gracefully," published in the weeks following Farrar's death, he discusses how content that former opera star was in retirement at her home, Fair Haven. Before bothering to check I'd always wondered why an opera singer never wound up in talkies, but that's made clear now that I dug in a little--she never had to. She retired from opera in 1922 and just took part in special concerts for the next 10 years. In 1938 her autobiography, Such Sweet Compulsion, was published. Farrar died in 1967, age 85.)

Elsie Ferguson - Returned to the stage and is playing leading roles. (That was all pretty much done by the time this article was published. Ferguson was already 49 years old in 1932 and would only return for one future Broadway engagement in Outrageous Fortune at the 48th Street theater for 77 performances beginning in late 1943. Married her fourth and final husband, Victor A.S. Egan, a wealthy former British Naval Officer, in 1934. Her obituary mentions that they spent six months out of every year at his villa in the South of France until his death in 1956. Ferguson died in 1961, age 78.)

Pauline Frederick - After several years away from the screen, the actress famous for problem dramas has come back. Divides time between Broadway and Hollywood. (And continued to divide it with a leisurely but steady work schedule until her death caused by an asthma attack in 1938, age 55. Her United Press obituary claims that Frederick had trouble finding work after a failed attempt at her own production company. This also led the actress to declare bankruptcy in 1930. Asthma troubles contributed to keeping her from a more active career during the last couple of years of her life.)

Louise Glaum - With her husband, Zack Harris, the once-famous screen siren is operating a small picture theatre at National City, just this side of the Mexican border near Tiajuana. In good weeks, they are said to clear fifty dollars or so. Louise is reported to be looking extremely well and happy. (I couldn't find reference to the picture theater, but she did operate several traditional theaters in California throughout the 1930's. She was active in many clubs including the Matinee Music Club, where she was President from several years. She died in 1970, age 82. Every paper seemed to publish the same bare boned 6-line obituary distributed by the A.P. in 1970--one paper even just referred to her as Louise Harris in the headline. Seemed to have outlived her legacy as one of the great silent vamps when she passed.)

Kitty Gordon - Retired, and said to be living in England, where she married and divorced a title. (Stayed retired, having appeared in her last film in 1919. Returned to America and died on Long Island in 1974, age 96. According to her A.P. obit left no known survivors. Was widow of Ralph Ranlet [Raulet on IMDb], who was a member of the NYSE. Survived two other husbands [the IMDb lists a fourth, naming Raulet as her third] and a daughter, who died in 1945. The IMDb lists her daughter as a Vera Beresford, by Gordon's second husband, actor Harry Beresford. Vera was born 1901 and appeared in three late 1910's films herself, one with her mother and two featuring Pauline Frederick.)

Evelyn Greeley - Former leading lady of Carlyle Blackwell. Now retired, and said to carry the name of Mrs. John B. Smiley. (Stayed retired having appeared in her last film in 1922. Smiley was the first of three husbands. Died in 1975, age 86.)

Corinne Griffith - Now in London, with her husband, Walter Morsoco, and makes her features for British Paramount. Has been tangoing with the Prince of Wales. (Lilly Christine, where Griffith starred with Frankenstein actor Colin Clive, would have premiered sometime around the release of this issue of Motion Picture Magazine. That was it for Griffith on film until a part in 1962's Paradise Alley. Divorced Morosco in 1934. Wrote 11 books including Papa's Delicate Condition (later a film starring Jackie Gleason) and composed the lyrics to "Hail to the Redskins" while married to Washington Redskins owner George Marshall. Managed some infamy after her 1966 divorce when she claimed to not actually be Corinne Griffith--according to newspaper coverage of that period Griffith claimed to only be "approximately 51" when her husband, Danny Scholl, 44, sued for divorce based upon her lying about her age. Griffith would have been 71, assuming she really was Corinne Griffith--she claimed she was not, that she was a stand-in for the original Griffith who died sometime in the 1930's. At that time she took over Griffith's career and identity and appeared in some talkies herself. She also claimed that she later married Walter Morosco herself sometime after the real Griffith had died. Despite contradictions from a childhood friend, Griffith would win the case when the judge ruled that Scholl was after her money. Money? Yes, Corinne Griffith amassed a fortune in real estate said to be over $150 million dollars at the time of her death in 1979 at age 84. While her 1966 divorce proceedings seem well covered by the press at the time [and shouldn't they be, how bizarre!], they're not mentioned in her 1979 obituaries, in fact very little of circumstance is added through that coverage. Um, somebody should do a book here. Oh wait, I see Anthony Slide in Silent Players mentions that Thomas Tryon's Fedora was based on her story ... guess what I just bought!)

Texas Guinan - Perhaps you've heard. The former Western heroine has something to do with a night-club. (And at the time of publication it was bleeding money, or at least Tex was. Appeared in one more film, Broadway Thru a Keyhole, the year of her death 1933, at age 49 from a case of amoebic dysentery.)

Elaine Hammerstein - One of the big silent stars. Married a well-to-do insurance man and retired. Living in Hollywood. (If the name is familiar that's because she was Oscar Hammerstein's granddaughter. Stayed retired. Her and her husband, James W. Kays, died in a 1948 car crash. She was 51. The August 20, 1948 Long Beach Telegram reports that Hammerstein left $60,000 to her mother, while her husband left a $20,000 estate to be split among his three sisters.)

Juanita Hansen - Having received damages for the disfiguring burns she received several years ago in a New York hotel, she has announced she will attempt to stage a comeback in films. (Also dealt with addition throughout her life. Did appear in Monogram's 1933 Sensation Hunters after publication of this article, but that was it. Eventually cleaned up and formed the Juanita Hansen Foundation to lecture about the dangers of drugs. Died in 1961, age 66. Obituary coverage was as sparse as Louise Glaum's [above]. In fact, the most interesting thing I noticed was an adjacent article covering Marion Davies' funeral. Davies had died four days earlier.)

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