Louise Glaum
Encyclopedia
Louise Glaum was an American actress
. Best known for her role as a femme fatale
in silent era
motion picture
dramas
, she was credited with giving one of the best characterizations of a vamp in her early career.
Glaum began her acting
career on the stage
in Los Angeles
, her hometown, in 1907. After a few years, she went on the road with a touring company and performed as an ingenue
in the play
Why Girls Leave Home. She stayed on in Chicago
, where she appeared in a number of productions. After returning to Los Angeles in 1911 because of the death of her younger sister, Glaum found acting work at a movie studio
. She appeared in over 110 movies from 1912
to 1925
, her debut being in When the Heart Calls
.
After starring in Greater Than Love
(1921
), she retired from the screen and moved to New York
. In 1925, she sued for money owed her for movie work amounting to $103,000. The suit was ultimately dismissed by the court due to technicalities. Glaum made a final movie appearance in 1925. Under contract with Associated Exhibitors, she starred as the conniving other woman opposite Lionel Barrymore
in a drama directed
by Henri Diamant-Berger titled Fifty-Fifty
.
For over three years, Glaum headlined on the vaudeville
circuit in dramatic playlets. She presented a play in which she starred, Trial Marriage, in Los Angeles in 1928. Continuing to act on the stage, she opened and appeared in her own theatre in Los Angeles in the mid 1930s and became a drama instructor. Glaum was active in music clubs over the following decades. She served as president of the Matinee Musical Club for many years and was also state president of the California Federation of Music Clubs.
, the third of four daughters of John W. Glaum (July 9, 1856–July 7, 1934) and Lena Katherine Kuhn (December 30, 1863–July 1, 1946). Her sisters were Hattie Helen "Phyllis" Glaum (September 7, 1884–February 4, 1941); Lena K. Glaum (December 22, 1887–January 15, 1971); and Margaret Olive Glaum (October 11, 1896–June 18, 1911).
Her father was born as Johannes Wilhelm Glaum in Germany, emigrated
with his family to the U.S. in 1869, and lived in Indiana
, then Prince George's County, Maryland
, while her mother was born in New York
to German-born parents. John and Lena Glaum and family moved to Southern California
in the late 1890s, and lived in Pasadena
for several years before moving into Los Angeles
. Louise attended Berendo School on South Berendo Street in Pico Heights.
Glaum began her acting
career in stock
and stage
productions. She was in the cast of Crucifixus, a Passion play
, which opened on November 12, 1907, at the Gamut Auditorium, 1044 South Hope Street, in Los Angeles, before a good-sized audience. In early June 1908, she appeared in the Owen Davis
play
How Baxter Butted In, a melodrama
tic comedy
, at the Los Angeles Theatre on Spring Steet. The cast included Lulu Warrenton
and a number of others. Glaum then toured as an ingenue
with a road show in Why Girls Leave Home. She earned $25 a week and furnished her own gowns, which she made herself. After reaching Chicago
, she played ingenues in the Imperial Stock Company there for a year and a half, appearing in The Lion and the Mouse
and The Squaw Man
, among other plays. While performing in a summer stock
engagement in Toledo
, she created the ingenue role in Officer 666. Its playwright
, Augustin MacHugh, her stage director in Toledo, tried it out there before Broadway
ever saw the successful farce
.
Upon the death of her younger sister, Margaret, in June 1911, Glaum resigned and returned home to Los Angeles. On July 29, the Los Angeles Times
read, "Louise Glaum, ingenue, who made her professional start here a few years ago, is at home on a short visit. Of late she has been playing in Chicago."
Her mother wanted her to remain, but the desire to return to the stage possessed her. She compromised, however; while acting as the ingenue in a local theatre company, she began making the rounds of the movie studio
s.
role as Mary Gordon, the ranchman's daughter, in the Al Christie
directed
short
western
/comedy
When the Heart Calls
(1912
) at Nestor Studios
, the first studio actually located in Hollywood. She acted in straight comedy, never doing slapstick
, from the start, and played leads
exclusively. She starred
in the title role
of the Broncho Motion Picture Company's two-reel drama The Quakeress
(1913
) opposite Charles Ray and the ill-fated William Desmond Taylor
. The year Glaum arrived, Nestor was merged with the Universal Film Company
. A large number of episode
s in the Universal Ike series
of one-reel comedies are among her body of work in 1914
.
Signing with Thomas Ince
, her first role as a "vamp", and first starring role in the new five-reel feature
s, was as Mademoiselle Poppea in The Toast of Death
(1915
) opposite Harry Keenan
and Herschel Mayall
. It was directed by Thomas Ince at his Inceville Studio in Topanga Canyon.
Glaum played Milady de Winter
in The Three Musketeers
(1916
). She appeared in six westerns opposite William S. Hart
, including her roles as Dolly in Hell's Hinges
(1916), Trixie in The Aryan
(1916) and Poppy in The Return of Draw Egan
(1916). She played Leila Aradella in The Wolf Woman
(1916); and Marie Chaumontel in the war
drama Somewhere in France
(1916) opposite Howard C. Hickman
.
On February 20, 1916, she and director Harry J. Edwards (October 11, 1887–May 26, 1952) were married. They were divorced on March 17, 1919.
Glaum played the role as Lola Montrose in the drama A Strange Transgressor
(1917
). Then, totally opposite to dramatic type, she starred in the title role
as a gun slinging heroine, the female equivalent to Bill Hart
, in the Triangle Company
's western Golden Rule Kate
(1917).
She played Mary Thorne in the drama The Goddess of Lost Lake
(1918
), which she also co-produced
through her own production company
, the Louise Glaum Organization. It is the story of a young woman who is a quarter Native American
and decides to pretend she is a full-blooded Indian princess
when she visits her father's rustic cabin after completing college in the East
.
Glaum then began working with J. Parker Read Jr. Productions, which she later described as J. Parker Read, Jr.'s unit as a subsidiary
producing company for Thomas Ince. She signed a four year contract, with a salary starting at $2000 a week and increasing to $4000, and some of the features she starred in for that company were as Mignon in Sahara
(1919
), a big financial success that was written especially for the star by C. Gardner Sullivan
, with the production supervised by Allan Dwan
; and the dual role
s as Princess Sonia and as her daughter, Sonia, in the crime
/thriller The Lone Wolf's Daughter
(1919).
She played the roles as Adrienne Renault in the provocatively titled Sex
(1920
), the story of a New York cabaret star who uses her sex appeal
to end a marriage then leaves her lover for a wealthier prospect only to have her selfish way of life come back to haunt her; and the title role
in The Leopard Woman
(1920), a secret agent
adventure
set in Africa
. She then played the role as Natalie Storm in a romance
/drama titled Love
(1920).
Glaum was maintaining her own household in Los Angeles, when the 1920 census was enumerated, with a married couple, housekeeper and caretaker, and a gardener. After starring in the role as Grace Merrill in the drama Greater Than Love
(1921
), directed by Fred Niblo
, she retired from the screen and moved to New York.
On March 16, 1925, she filed suit in the Supreme Court of New York
against producer J. Parker Read, Jr., for $103,000 and asked for an attachment
against money owed him by various film distributor
s in New York City
. The complaint stated she was starred in several pictures under Read's direction, and on December 23, 1921, he made a promissory note
to her for the money, payable in four instalments. Nothing was paid, however, and in the Fall of 1923, according to Glaum, he went to Paris
without paying her. According to her attorney, Read's departure took the form of a flight and he had disguised himself as a stoker on a ship.
She then sued the estate of Thomas H. Ince, Read's partner, stating that Read was insolvent and asking for the $103,000 plus $290,000 for breach of contract
. The Appellate Division
, however, decided that she could not prosecute a suit in the state against the executors under the will of Ince on the grounds that the New York courts had no jurisdiction over the executors, who were appointed in California, in which state Ince was a resident at the time he died in November 1924. She then filed suit in California, but a copy of the contract was not attached. By the time that arrived, the time had elapsed in which she was legally entitled to make a claim against the Ince estate and the court dismissed the suit on technicalities.
She made one screen comeback. Signing a contract with Associated Exhibitors, she played the role as Nina Olmstead, the conniving other woman, in the Henri Diamant-Berger directed drama Fifty-Fifty
(1925
) opposite Hope Hampton
and Lionel Barrymore
.
circuit in the East. She did a tour of Loew's Theatres in two dramatic playlets. One of them was The Sins of Julia Boyd by Paul Girard Smith
. The other was The Web, which Glaum wrote herself. She was the only character in the one person show, putting over the argument of the piece chiefly by a telephone conversation.
On January 19, 1926, Glaum and movie theater
owner Zachary M. Harris (January 22, 1878–March 5, 1964) were married in New York City.
When she returned to Los Angeles, with her husband and business manager
, Zack Harris, to visit her family and friends, they decided to stage the play Trial Marriage at the Egan Theatre, 1320 South Figueroa Street
, with Glaum in the starring role. When asked by a reporter for the Times whether she would be doing any picture work, she said she had not thought of it, but acknowledged that she was interested in talking pictures
.
On November 16, 1928, Glaum opened in Trial Marriage, the story of a woman who wants to test the suitability of her prospective mate and herself to each other without the benefit of wedlock before they make it permanent. Although she received good reviews, the play did not fare so well.
She and Harris lived at 2282 Cambridge Street in Los Angeles, in 1930. Glaum continued to act on the stage and also became a drama instructor, opening and appearing in her own theatre in Los Angeles in the mid 1930s.
with a seating capacity of 400 located at 1122 West 24th Street near Hoover in the West Adams District
. The stated purpose was to provide drama with enlivening moments by way of scheduled plays of moment and actual integrity. Several New York plays were considered, and the intention was to present original manuscripts with motion picture possibilities, as well as tried plays from around the world. Both professionals and students were to be cast in productions, as well as some of the featured players of the past." Classes for students wanting to join the Union Square Players, and "learn by practical experience," began on January 21.
The little theatre generated a great deal of interest among local playwrights inasmuch as Glaum had received some 15 plays by January 27. One of the most intriguing was Eulalia Andreas's A Friendly Divorce, which went into rehearsal with Johnstone White directing. Noted stars were lured to perform. In March 1935, Glaum and Betty Blythe
, another star of the silent screen, starred in Angel Cake, which was written by Ansella Hunter, who had three plays staged by the Shuberts
.
In May, the Union Square Players presented the comedy Ask Herbert, which was written by Katherine Kavanaugh and declared in the Los Angeles Times to be "a riot of laughs" and "a fast-paced farce of Broadway caliber." Among the cast that Glaum assembled was Herbert Vigran
, who went to New York and made his debut on Broadway later that year.
In 1936, Glaum joined the Matinee Musical Club. A drama department was introduced as an innovation to the club and Glaum was appointed the director. Plans for three one-act plays to be presented in November at the club were discussed by the department members on August 7, at the department chairman's home in Beverly Hills
. She presented three one-act plays for the club on November 17, 1937, in the Creative Arts Center at 4950 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.
In late September 1939, Glaum took over a theatre at 11th Street and Broadway
in Downtown Los Angeles
, designating it the "Louise Glaum's Happy Hollow." Opening on Wednesday night, September 27, in the rural play Aaron Slick From Pumpkin Creek, which had a continuous run for three months in Long Beach
, specialties were offered between the acts.
Another rural play with specialties was presented at the Happy Hollow Playhouse on January 11, 1940, for the Matinee Musical Club, which had a Gay Nineties party at the theatre.
In September 1952, Glaum reopened the Beaux Arts Theatre, at the corner of West 8th Street and Beacon Avenue in Westlake
, as the Louise Glaum Playhouse, which was generally referred to as the Louise Glaum Beaux Arts Theatre. The initial attraction, which she produced, staged and directed, was a comedy farce titled O.K. By Me, which was written by Sheldon Sheppard. The play concluded a seven week run on November 22.
Louise Glaum died at age 82 of pneumonia
in Los Angeles. Her funeral service was held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 28, 1970, at Pierce Brothers Mortuary, 720 West Washington Boulevard. She is interred in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, along with her second husband, Zachary Harris, and others of her family. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
for her work in motion pictures at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard
, Hollywood.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Best known for her role as a femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
in silent era
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
motion picture
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
dramas
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, she was credited with giving one of the best characterizations of a vamp in her early career.
Glaum began her acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
career on the stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, her hometown, in 1907. After a few years, she went on the road with a touring company and performed as an ingenue
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...
in the play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
Why Girls Leave Home. She stayed on in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where she appeared in a number of productions. After returning to Los Angeles in 1911 because of the death of her younger sister, Glaum found acting work at a movie studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
. She appeared in over 110 movies from 1912
1912 in film
The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Mack Sennett, who had previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, formed a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel called Keystone Studios...
to 1925
1925 in film
-Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
, her debut being in When the Heart Calls
When the Heart Calls
When the Heart Calls is a 1912 silent era short western/comedy motion picture starring Lee Moran, Russell Bassett, Louise Glaum, and Victoria Forde....
.
After starring in Greater Than Love
Greater Than Love
Greater Than Love is a 1921 silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo.-Cast:* Louise Glaum - Grace Merrill* Patricia Palmer - Elsie Brown* Rose Cade - Maizie* Eve Southern - Clairice* Willie Mae Carson - Pinkie* Betty Francisco - Helen Wellington...
(1921
1921 in film
-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1921:U.S.A. unless stated*$10,000 Under a Pillow, silent film directed by Frank Moser*The Ace of Hearts, silent film directed by Wallace Worsley*Across the Divide, silent film directed by John Holloway...
), she retired from the screen and moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In 1925, she sued for money owed her for movie work amounting to $103,000. The suit was ultimately dismissed by the court due to technicalities. Glaum made a final movie appearance in 1925. Under contract with Associated Exhibitors, she starred as the conniving other woman opposite Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
in a drama directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Henri Diamant-Berger titled Fifty-Fifty
Fifty-Fifty (1925 film)
Fifty-Fifty is a 1925 silent era drama motion picture starring Hope Hampton, Lionel Barrymore, and Louise Glaum.Directed and produced by Henri Diamant-Berger for the production company Encore Pictures, Fifty-Fifty is a remake of a 1916 Norma Talmadge movie of the same title that was directed by...
.
For over three years, Glaum headlined on the vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit in dramatic playlets. She presented a play in which she starred, Trial Marriage, in Los Angeles in 1928. Continuing to act on the stage, she opened and appeared in her own theatre in Los Angeles in the mid 1930s and became a drama instructor. Glaum was active in music clubs over the following decades. She served as president of the Matinee Musical Club for many years and was also state president of the California Federation of Music Clubs.
Early life and stage career
She was born near Baltimore, MarylandBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, the third of four daughters of John W. Glaum (July 9, 1856–July 7, 1934) and Lena Katherine Kuhn (December 30, 1863–July 1, 1946). Her sisters were Hattie Helen "Phyllis" Glaum (September 7, 1884–February 4, 1941); Lena K. Glaum (December 22, 1887–January 15, 1971); and Margaret Olive Glaum (October 11, 1896–June 18, 1911).
Her father was born as Johannes Wilhelm Glaum in Germany, emigrated
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
with his family to the U.S. in 1869, and lived in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, then Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
, while her mother was born in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to German-born parents. John and Lena Glaum and family moved to Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
in the late 1890s, and lived in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
for several years before moving into Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Louise attended Berendo School on South Berendo Street in Pico Heights.
Glaum began her acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
career in stock
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
and stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
productions. She was in the cast of Crucifixus, a Passion play
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....
, which opened on November 12, 1907, at the Gamut Auditorium, 1044 South Hope Street, in Los Angeles, before a good-sized audience. In early June 1908, she appeared in the Owen Davis
Owen Davis
Owen Gould Davis, Sr. was an American dramatist. He received the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1923 play Icebound, and penned hundreds of plays and scripts for radio and film. Before the First World War, he also wrote racy sketches of New York high jinks and low life for the Police Gazette...
play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
How Baxter Butted In, a melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
tic comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, at the Los Angeles Theatre on Spring Steet. The cast included Lulu Warrenton
Lule Warrenton
Lule Warrenton was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 76 films between 1913 and 1922.She was born in Flint, Michigan and died in Laguna Beach, California.-Selected filmography:...
and a number of others. Glaum then toured as an ingenue
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...
with a road show in Why Girls Leave Home. She earned $25 a week and furnished her own gowns, which she made herself. After reaching Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, she played ingenues in the Imperial Stock Company there for a year and a half, appearing in The Lion and the Mouse
The Lion and the Mouse
The lion and the mouse is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 146 in the Perry Index. In the Renaissance the fable was provided with a sequel condemning social ambition.-The fable in literature:...
and The Squaw Man
The Squaw Man (play)
The Squaw Man is a 1905 western/drama stage play in four acts written by Edwin Milton Royle.It debuted on October 23, 1905, at the Wallack's Theatre, Broadway, starring William Faversham in the title role, as Captain James Wynnegate also known as Jim Carson. The doomed bad man, Cash Hawkins, was...
, among other plays. While performing in a summer stock
Summer stock theatre
Summer stock theatre is any theatre that presents stage productions only in the summer within the United States. The name combines both the seasonal time of year with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes...
engagement in Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, she created the ingenue role in Officer 666. Its playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, Augustin MacHugh, her stage director in Toledo, tried it out there before Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
ever saw the successful farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
.
Upon the death of her younger sister, Margaret, in June 1911, Glaum resigned and returned home to Los Angeles. On July 29, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
read, "Louise Glaum, ingenue, who made her professional start here a few years ago, is at home on a short visit. Of late she has been playing in Chicago."
Her mother wanted her to remain, but the desire to return to the stage possessed her. She compromised, however; while acting as the ingenue in a local theatre company, she began making the rounds of the movie studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
s.
Motion picture career
Glaum made her movie debut playing the ingenueIngenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...
role as Mary Gordon, the ranchman's daughter, in the Al Christie
Al Christie
Al Christie was a Canadian-born motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Career:Born Alfred Ernest Christie, in London, Ontario, Canada, he was one of a number of Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood who made their way to Hollywood, California, attracted by the newly developing motion...
directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
/comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
When the Heart Calls
When the Heart Calls
When the Heart Calls is a 1912 silent era short western/comedy motion picture starring Lee Moran, Russell Bassett, Louise Glaum, and Victoria Forde....
(1912
1912 in film
The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Mack Sennett, who had previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, formed a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel called Keystone Studios...
) at Nestor Studios
Nestor Studios
The Nestor Motion Picture Company was a motion picture studio/production company located in Bayonne, New Jersey, and Hollywood, California, which was owned and operated by David Horsley and his brother, William Horsley....
, the first studio actually located in Hollywood. She acted in straight comedy, never doing slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
, from the start, and played leads
Leading actor
A leading actor, leading actress, star, or simply lead, plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play. The word lead may also refer to the largest role in the piece and leading actor may refer to a person who typically plays such parts or an actor with a respected body of work...
exclusively. She starred
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
in the title role
Title role
The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins or Othello. The actor, singer or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role....
of the Broncho Motion Picture Company's two-reel drama The Quakeress
The Quakeress
The Quakeress is a 1913 silent era short costume drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, Charles Ray, and William Desmond Taylor.Directed by Raymond B. West for the Broncho Motion Picture Company, the screenplay was written by J. G...
(1913
1913 in film
The year 1913 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Squaw Man, the first Hollywood feature film, is made.* December 29, Charlie Chaplin signs a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.* D. W...
) opposite Charles Ray and the ill-fated William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor was an Irish-born American actor, successful film director of silent movies and a popular figure in the growing Hollywood film colony of the 1910s and early 1920s...
. The year Glaum arrived, Nestor was merged with the Universal Film Company
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. A large number of episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
s in the Universal Ike series
Film series
A film series is a collection of related films in succession. Their relationship is not fixed, but generally share a common diegetic world. Sometimes the work is conceived as a multiple-film work, for example the Three Colours series, but in most cases the success of the original film inspires...
of one-reel comedies are among her body of work in 1914
1914 in film
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.-Events:*The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City....
.
Signing with Thomas Ince
Thomas H. Ince
Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer of more than 100 films and pioneering studio mogul. Known as the "Father of the Western", he invented many mechanisms of professional movie production, introducing early Hollywood to the "assembly line"...
, her first role as a "vamp", and first starring role in the new five-reel feature
Feature length
Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...
s, was as Mademoiselle Poppea in The Toast of Death
The Toast of Death
The Toast of Death is a 1915 silent era drama/romance motion picture released by Mutual Film Corporation starring Louise Glaum, Harry Keenan, and Herschel Mayall....
(1915
1915 in film
The year 1915 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 8 : D.W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation premieres at Clune's Auditorium Los Angeles and breaks box office and film length records, running at a total length of 3 hrs 10 minutes.* June 18 : The Motion Picture Directors...
) opposite Harry Keenan
Harry Keenan
Harry George Keenan was an early American silent film actor.He starred in about 45 silent films mostly short between 1912 and 1916 in films such as The Highest Bid, with actresses such as Charlotte Burton.-External links:...
and Herschel Mayall
Herschel Mayall
Herschel Mayall was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in 112 films between 1912 and 1935.He was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and died in Detroit, Michigan from a cerebral hemorrhage....
. It was directed by Thomas Ince at his Inceville Studio in Topanga Canyon.
Glaum played Milady de Winter
Milady de Winter
Milady Clarick de Winter, often referred to as simply Milady, is a fictional character in the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. She acts as a spy for Cardinal Richelieu and is one of the chief antagonists of the story....
in The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers (film)
The Three Musketeers, the novel by author Alexandre Dumas, père, has been the subject of numerous films and cartoons:-Films:*The Three Musketeers, a 1903 French production about which virtually nothing is known...
(1916
1916 in film
The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 17 - release of A Daughter of the Gods, the first US production with a million dollar budget, with the first nude scene by a major star....
). She appeared in six westerns opposite William S. Hart
William S. Hart
William Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...
, including her roles as Dolly in Hell's Hinges
Hell's Hinges
Hell's Hinges is a 1916 American Western silent film starring William S. Hart and Clara Williams. Directed by Charles Swickard, William S. Hart and Clifford Smith, and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was written by C. Gardner Sullivan.-Plot:...
(1916), Trixie in The Aryan
The Aryan
The Aryan is an American silent era western motion picture starring William S. Hart, Gertrude Claire, Charles K. French, Louise Glaum, and Bessie Love....
(1916) and Poppy in The Return of Draw Egan
The Return of Draw Egan
The Return of Draw Egan is a 1916 silent era western drama motion picture starring William S. Hart, Louise Glaum, Margery Wilson, Robert McKim, and J.P. Lockney....
(1916). She played Leila Aradella in The Wolf Woman
The Wolf Woman
The Wolf Woman is a 1916 silent era drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, Howard C. Hickman, and Charles Ray.Directed by Raymond B. West and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was written by C. Gardner Sullivan.-Synopsis:...
(1916); and Marie Chaumontel in the war
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
drama Somewhere in France
Somewhere in France
Somewhere in France is a 1916 silent era war espionage drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum and Howard C. Hickman.Directed by Charles Giblyn and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was adapted by J. G...
(1916) opposite Howard C. Hickman
Howard C. Hickman
Howard C. Hickman was an accomplished stage leading man, who entered films through the auspices of producer Thomas H. Ince. He co-starred with his wife, actress Bessie Barriscale, in several productions before returning to the theatre...
.
On February 20, 1916, she and director Harry J. Edwards (October 11, 1887–May 26, 1952) were married. They were divorced on March 17, 1919.
Glaum played the role as Lola Montrose in the drama A Strange Transgressor
A Strange Transgressor
A Strange Transgressor is a 1917 silent era drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, J. Barney Sherry, and Colin Chase.Directed by Reginald Barker and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was adapted by J. G...
(1917
1917 in film
The year 1917 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Foundation of Universum Film AG , as a propaganda film company, in Berlin.*Technicolor System 1, a two-color process, is introduced...
). Then, totally opposite to dramatic type, she starred in the title role
Title role
The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins or Othello. The actor, singer or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role....
as a gun slinging heroine, the female equivalent to Bill Hart
William S. Hart
William Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...
, in the Triangle Company
Triangle Film Corporation
Triangle Film Corporation was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in the summer of 1915 in Culver City, California, and envisioned as a prestige studio based on the producing abilities of filmmakers D. W. Griffith, Thomas Ince and Mack Sennett...
's western Golden Rule Kate
Golden Rule Kate
Golden Rule Kate is a 1917 silent era western drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, William Conklin, Jack Richardson, Mildred Harris, and John Gilbert.Directed by Reginald Barker from a story written by Monte M...
(1917).
She played Mary Thorne in the drama The Goddess of Lost Lake
The Goddess of Lost Lake
The Goddess of Lost Lake is a 1918 silent era drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, Lawson Butt, and Hayward Mack.Directed by Wallace Worsley and produced by Louise Glaum and Robert Bunton through her production company, the Louise Glaum Organization, in association with Robert Brunton...
(1918
1918 in film
The year 1918 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Following litigation for anti-trust activities, the US Supreme Court orders the Motion Picture Patents Company to disband....
), which she also co-produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
through her own production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
, the Louise Glaum Organization. It is the story of a young woman who is a quarter Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and decides to pretend she is a full-blooded Indian princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
when she visits her father's rustic cabin after completing college in the East
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
.
Glaum then began working with J. Parker Read Jr. Productions, which she later described as J. Parker Read, Jr.'s unit as a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
producing company for Thomas Ince. She signed a four year contract, with a salary starting at $2000 a week and increasing to $4000, and some of the features she starred in for that company were as Mignon in Sahara
Sahara (1919 film)
Sahara is a 1919 American dramatic film written by C. Gardner Sullivan and directed by Arthur Rosson. The film starred Louise Glaum and told a story of love and betrayal in the Egyptian desert.-Plot:...
(1919
1919 in film
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists...
), a big financial success that was written especially for the star by C. Gardner Sullivan
C. Gardner Sullivan
C. Gardner Sullivan was an American screenwriter and motion picture producer. He was a prolific writer with more than 350 films among his credits. In 1924, the magazine Story World selected him on a list of the ten individuals who had contributed the most to the advancement of the motion picture...
, with the production supervised by Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:...
; and the dual role
Dual role
Dual role refers to one actor playing two or more roles, which may be deliberately scripted in a play or film, or merely be a by-product of a low budget. In a theatrical production where more than one actor plays multiple characters, it is sometimes referred to as an "Ironman" cast...
s as Princess Sonia and as her daughter, Sonia, in the crime
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
/thriller The Lone Wolf's Daughter
The Lone Wolf's Daughter (1919 film)
The Lone Wolf's Daughter is a 1919 silent era crime/drama/thriller motion picture starring Bertram Grassby, Louise Glaum, Edwin Stevens, and Thomas Holding.Directed by William P. S. Earle and produced by J...
(1919).
She played the roles as Adrienne Renault in the provocatively titled Sex
Sex (film)
Sex is a 1920 silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo, written by C. Gardner Sullivan, produced by J. Parker Read, and starring Louise Glaum. On its surface, the film was a morality story on the evils of marital infidelity. However, the film's producer, J. Parker Read, had made a series of...
(1920
1920 in film
The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 27 - The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks opens.-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1920:U.S.A. unless stated*The $1,000,000 Reward...
), the story of a New York cabaret star who uses her sex appeal
Sexual attraction
Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal refers to an individual's ability to attract the sexual or erotic interest of another person, and is a factor in sexual selection or mate choice. The attraction can be to the physical or other qualities or traits of a person, or to such qualities in the context...
to end a marriage then leaves her lover for a wealthier prospect only to have her selfish way of life come back to haunt her; and the title role
Title role
The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins or Othello. The actor, singer or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role....
in The Leopard Woman
The Leopard Woman
The Leopard Woman is a 1920 silent era adventure/romance/drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, House Peters, and Noble Johnson.Directed by Wesley Ruggles and produced by J. Parker Read, Jr., the screenplay was adapted by H. Tipton Steck and Stanley C...
(1920), a secret agent
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
adventure
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
set in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. She then played the role as Natalie Storm in a romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
/drama titled Love
Love (1920 film)
Love is a 1920 silent era romance drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum, James Kirkwood, and Joseph Kilgour.Directed by Wesley Ruggles and produced by J. Parker Read, Jr., the screenplay was adapted by Louis Joseph Vance based on a story by Carol Kapleau.The technical director was Harvey C....
(1920).
Glaum was maintaining her own household in Los Angeles, when the 1920 census was enumerated, with a married couple, housekeeper and caretaker, and a gardener. After starring in the role as Grace Merrill in the drama Greater Than Love
Greater Than Love
Greater Than Love is a 1921 silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo.-Cast:* Louise Glaum - Grace Merrill* Patricia Palmer - Elsie Brown* Rose Cade - Maizie* Eve Southern - Clairice* Willie Mae Carson - Pinkie* Betty Francisco - Helen Wellington...
(1921
1921 in film
-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1921:U.S.A. unless stated*$10,000 Under a Pillow, silent film directed by Frank Moser*The Ace of Hearts, silent film directed by Wallace Worsley*Across the Divide, silent film directed by John Holloway...
), directed by Fred Niblo
Fred Niblo
Fred Niblo was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer.-Biography:He was born Frederick Liedtke in York, Nebraska, to a French mother and a father who had served as a captain in the American Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg...
, she retired from the screen and moved to New York.
On March 16, 1925, she filed suit in the Supreme Court of New York
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...
against producer J. Parker Read, Jr., for $103,000 and asked for an attachment
Attachment (law)
Attachment is a legal process by which a court of law, at the request of a creditor, designates specific property owned by the debtor to be transferred to the creditor, or sold for the benefit of the creditor. A wide variety of legal mechanisms are employed by debtors to prevent the attachment of...
against money owed him by various film distributor
Film distributor
A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...
s in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The complaint stated she was starred in several pictures under Read's direction, and on December 23, 1921, he made a promissory note
Promissory note
A promissory note is a negotiable instrument, wherein one party makes an unconditional promise in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to the other , either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand of the payee, under specific terms.Referred to as a note payable in accounting, or...
to her for the money, payable in four instalments. Nothing was paid, however, and in the Fall of 1923, according to Glaum, he went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
without paying her. According to her attorney, Read's departure took the form of a flight and he had disguised himself as a stoker on a ship.
She then sued the estate of Thomas H. Ince, Read's partner, stating that Read was insolvent and asking for the $103,000 plus $290,000 for breach of contract
Breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party's performance....
. The Appellate Division
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division is the intermediate appellate court in New York State. The Appellate Division is composed of four departments .*The First Department covers the Bronx The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division is the intermediate...
, however, decided that she could not prosecute a suit in the state against the executors under the will of Ince on the grounds that the New York courts had no jurisdiction over the executors, who were appointed in California, in which state Ince was a resident at the time he died in November 1924. She then filed suit in California, but a copy of the contract was not attached. By the time that arrived, the time had elapsed in which she was legally entitled to make a claim against the Ince estate and the court dismissed the suit on technicalities.
She made one screen comeback. Signing a contract with Associated Exhibitors, she played the role as Nina Olmstead, the conniving other woman, in the Henri Diamant-Berger directed drama Fifty-Fifty
Fifty-Fifty (1925 film)
Fifty-Fifty is a 1925 silent era drama motion picture starring Hope Hampton, Lionel Barrymore, and Louise Glaum.Directed and produced by Henri Diamant-Berger for the production company Encore Pictures, Fifty-Fifty is a remake of a 1916 Norma Talmadge movie of the same title that was directed by...
(1925
1925 in film
-Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
) opposite Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton was an American silent motion picture actress, who was noted for her seemingly effortless incarnation of siren and flapper types in silent-picture roles during the 1920s....
and Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
.
Vaudeville and the stage
Glaum stayed away from Los Angeles for over three years as she headlined on the big-time vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit in the East. She did a tour of Loew's Theatres in two dramatic playlets. One of them was The Sins of Julia Boyd by Paul Girard Smith
Paul Girard Smith
Paul Girard Smith was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 90 films between 1926 and 1955.Smith started writing musical revues at the age of ten. He joined the Marines for World War I and while still in Germany wrote and directed the Sixth Marine Revue in the Rhine Occupation Area...
. The other was The Web, which Glaum wrote herself. She was the only character in the one person show, putting over the argument of the piece chiefly by a telephone conversation.
On January 19, 1926, Glaum and movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
owner Zachary M. Harris (January 22, 1878–March 5, 1964) were married in New York City.
When she returned to Los Angeles, with her husband and business manager
Business manager
In a general context, a business manager is a person who manages the work of others in order to run a business efficiently and make a large profit...
, Zack Harris, to visit her family and friends, they decided to stage the play Trial Marriage at the Egan Theatre, 1320 South Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street is a street in Los Angeles County, California named for General José Figueroa , governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835, who oversaw the secularization of the missions of California...
, with Glaum in the starring role. When asked by a reporter for the Times whether she would be doing any picture work, she said she had not thought of it, but acknowledged that she was interested in talking pictures
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
.
On November 16, 1928, Glaum opened in Trial Marriage, the story of a woman who wants to test the suitability of her prospective mate and herself to each other without the benefit of wedlock before they make it permanent. Although she received good reviews, the play did not fare so well.
She and Harris lived at 2282 Cambridge Street in Los Angeles, in 1930. Glaum continued to act on the stage and also became a drama instructor, opening and appearing in her own theatre in Los Angeles in the mid 1930s.
Glaum's theatres
On January 6, 1935, Glaum announced in the Los Angeles Times the opening of the Louise Glaum Little Theatre of Union Square, which was inside a remodeled and redecorated movie theaterMovie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
with a seating capacity of 400 located at 1122 West 24th Street near Hoover in the West Adams District
West Adams, Los Angeles, California
West Adams, also known as Historic West Adams, is a large district located in the center of Los Angeles, California, southwest of Downtown and west of USC...
. The stated purpose was to provide drama with enlivening moments by way of scheduled plays of moment and actual integrity. Several New York plays were considered, and the intention was to present original manuscripts with motion picture possibilities, as well as tried plays from around the world. Both professionals and students were to be cast in productions, as well as some of the featured players of the past." Classes for students wanting to join the Union Square Players, and "learn by practical experience," began on January 21.
The little theatre generated a great deal of interest among local playwrights inasmuch as Glaum had received some 15 plays by January 27. One of the most intriguing was Eulalia Andreas's A Friendly Divorce, which went into rehearsal with Johnstone White directing. Noted stars were lured to perform. In March 1935, Glaum and Betty Blythe
Betty Blythe
Betty Blythe was an American actress best known for her dramatic roles in exotic silent films such as The Queen of Sheba .-Career:...
, another star of the silent screen, starred in Angel Cake, which was written by Ansella Hunter, who had three plays staged by the Shuberts
The Shubert Organization
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of legitimate theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the Shubert brothers, Sam S. Shubert, Lee Shubert, and Jacob J. Shubert of Syracuse, New York in the late 19th century in upstate New York,...
.
In May, the Union Square Players presented the comedy Ask Herbert, which was written by Katherine Kavanaugh and declared in the Los Angeles Times to be "a riot of laughs" and "a fast-paced farce of Broadway caliber." Among the cast that Glaum assembled was Herbert Vigran
Herb Vigran
Herbert "Herb" Vigran was a well-known American character actor in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1980s. Over his 50-year career, he made over 350 television and film appearances.-Career:...
, who went to New York and made his debut on Broadway later that year.
In 1936, Glaum joined the Matinee Musical Club. A drama department was introduced as an innovation to the club and Glaum was appointed the director. Plans for three one-act plays to be presented in November at the club were discussed by the department members on August 7, at the department chairman's home in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
. She presented three one-act plays for the club on November 17, 1937, in the Creative Arts Center at 4950 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.
In late September 1939, Glaum took over a theatre at 11th Street and Broadway
Broadway (Los Angeles)
Broadway is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs from Lincoln Heights on the Eastside, through Chinatown, passing through Central Plaza and the Dragon Gate, the Los Angeles Civic Center, passing the Los Angeles Times building at First Street, and Broadway's historic commercial...
in Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
, designating it the "Louise Glaum's Happy Hollow." Opening on Wednesday night, September 27, in the rural play Aaron Slick From Pumpkin Creek, which had a continuous run for three months in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, specialties were offered between the acts.
Another rural play with specialties was presented at the Happy Hollow Playhouse on January 11, 1940, for the Matinee Musical Club, which had a Gay Nineties party at the theatre.
In September 1952, Glaum reopened the Beaux Arts Theatre, at the corner of West 8th Street and Beacon Avenue in Westlake
Westlake, Los Angeles, California
Westlake is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. It should not be confused with Westlake Village, an independent municipality in Los Angeles County near Thousand Oaks and close to the Ventura County line....
, as the Louise Glaum Playhouse, which was generally referred to as the Louise Glaum Beaux Arts Theatre. The initial attraction, which she produced, staged and directed, was a comedy farce titled O.K. By Me, which was written by Sheldon Sheppard. The play concluded a seven week run on November 22.
Later life
Glaum was also a busy clubwoman over the last three decades of her life. She served as president of the Matinee Musical Club for many years and also as state president of the California Federation of Music Clubs.Louise Glaum died at age 82 of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in Los Angeles. Her funeral service was held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 28, 1970, at Pierce Brothers Mortuary, 720 West Washington Boulevard. She is interred in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, along with her second husband, Zachary Harris, and others of her family. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
for her work in motion pictures at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
, Hollywood.
External links
- Louise Glaum at SilentLadies.com
- Louise Glaum Photos
- Louise Glaum at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Louise Glaum at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Literature on Louise Glaum