Born Today February 12: Margarita Fischer

1886-1975

The daughter of touring "minstrels," Margarita Fischer was born on this day in Missouri Valley, Iowa.  At one time she was more well known as the wife of director Harry A. Pollard, but during her career, she was most definitely a star and well known in her own right. Fischer started acting as a child on the stage and later became a bit of a sensation in live theater. She made her film debut in 1910 in the Selig short There, Little Girl, Don't Cry based on a James Whitecomb Riley poem. Having signed with Selig Polyscope, she would go on to appear in over a dozen films for them that year (many adventure and/or westerns). She even had her turn as a vamp in the Rudyard Kipling inspired The Vampire (November 1910). She continued her western adventures and series of short films at American Manufacturing Company (AMC). Many of these films were shot in Arizona and few survive, though a copy of Bertie's Bandit (1911) is known to be in the collection of MoMA. It was in these films that she started working with Pollard, whom she would wed in July of 1911. By 1912, she and Pollard both were appearing in films at IMP, with the Thomas Ince directed short The Trinity (1912) being a prime example of her work there; in it, she acts opposite King Baggot. It was also at IMP that Pollard began to hone his directing skills and his wife became a frequent player in his early films. Nothing Shall Be Hidden (1912) is one of their earliest collaborations in this regard.  1912 turned out to be a banner year for Fischer, she appeared in more than 35 films...to be sure they we all shorts, but still that's a lot of acting for just one year!  She capped the year off with the Christmas short The Old Folks' Christmas, which was released on the 23rd of December and was directed by George Loane Tucker.  It also finished up her stint at IMP; for 1913, she moved over to Rex Motion Pictures.  Her first film with them was the short mystery The Great Ganton Mystery (March 1913).  She wound up appearing in almost as many films in 1913 as she had the previous year, but in 1914, she returned to AMC to act in films directed by Pollard and it was in this year that she first made her appearance in a feature: Sweet Land of Liberty (March 1914) directed by, you guessed it...her husband. [The film not only survives, it is widely available for streaming.]  She there-after went straight back to acting in shorts, finishing the year having appeared in more films in a 12 month period than she had before.  In 1915 however, her film appearances slowed owed to her switching full time to feature length productions; all but one of which (The Lonesome Heart) were directed by Pollard.  Aside from a brief stint in 1917, Fischer was officially done with short film acting for good. She became a pretty big star of the screen, with box office draw in the late 1910's. And, while she mostly starred in films by her husband, there were exceptions. A list of other directors that she worked with during this period of her career includes: Lloyd Ingraham, Edward Sloman, Roy William Neill, and  George L. Cox. She appeared in multiple films by all of these directors; and, in fact, it was a Cox film that she appeared in that marked the beginning of the new decade: The Dangerous Talent (March 1920). After 1920, however, her acting slowed considerably. She made just two films in 1921, and skipping three years, she made only one film each for the years 1924, 1925 and 1927. After which she retired from acting altogether. Her last film was the 1927 large production of Uncle Tom's Cabin; it was a Universal partial silent and was, yes, directed by her Harry Pollard.  Fischer lost her husband in in 1934 and she never remarried. She did go on to live a long life herself, dying in Encinitas, CA on the 11th of March at the age of 89.  She in interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. 

Source: Scott G [Find a Grave]

Source: Scott G. (Find A Grave)

Wikipedia

 

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Born Today May 27: Julia Ward Howe

1819-1910

American writer and suffragette Julia Ward Howe was born on this day in New York City. She came by her writing skills honestly, as her mother (who died when Julia was just five years of age) was also a poet. Though raised a Episcopalian with a strict Calvinist father, Howe became a progressive Unitarian in adulthood. This is a good example of her philosophies and thought processes.  An avid student of languages, Howe wrote plays, poems and scolarly essays. Many works were published. However, despite all of her activism and studies in life, today she is remembered mostly for her abolitionist song Battle Hymn of the Republic (or "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory); the music that she based the song on was a powerful choice--John Brown's Body (also known as "John Brown's Song") was a marching song based on the abolitionist John Brown.  It is this song that ALL of her contributions to film and television are based on. The first of these is the only film to actually be based on the song; The Battle Hymn of the Republic was a Vitagraph short film dating from 1911 that dramatized the writing of the song, with Ralph Ince playing Abraham Lincoln and Maurice Costello playing Jesus Christ.  The only other film that was made during the silent era using this work, this time in the capacity of soundtrack materials, came in 1927. Uncle Tom's Cabin was a Universal partial silent (that was more widely released as a full silent) that used the song--amongst many others--utilizing the MovieTone sound system. The film was directed by Harry A. Pollard and marked the film debut of a ten year old Virginia Grey. Since the release of this film, the song has only been featured in soundtrack materials only.  The first full sound film in which it was featured came in D. W. Griffith's 1930 Abraham Lincoln (which, incidentally, also used the MovieTone system).  The song made it debut on television in a 1953 episode of "Death Valley Days" (Land of the Free). It has since been used in a whole host of different ways and genres of films; from How The West Was Won to Young Frankenstein, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid To Ask to The Seventh Sign. The same breadth of genres are seen in it's use on the small screen as well; from "Branded" to "The Monkeys", "M*A*S*H" to "The Rea & Stimpy Show".  In fact, it's most recent use came in the series "Watchmen" in 2019. After a VERY long and productive life, Howe passed away of pneumonia on the 17th of October in Portsmouth, Rhode Island at the age of 91. She is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA (Boston was her adopted home town and the city that she raised her family in). By all means, check out the links below and also take a gander at the "legacy" section of Wikipedia--impressive seems too slight a word! One very important accomplishment worth highlighting occurred two years before her death; on the 28th of January, 1908, Howe became the very first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

[Source: Sharon Lavash Hawkins-Find A Grave]

Wikipedia

National Women's History Museum

Poetry Foundation

Songwriters Hall of Fame

LSU Social Welfare History Project

IMDb

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Born Today March 3: Sanford Faulkner (Not So Silent Edition)

1806-1874

Sandford C. "Sandy" Faulkner (first name sometimes spelled "Sanford") was born on this day in Scott County, Kentucky.  He was an iconic figure in the early statehood of Arkansas.  His earliest childhood history is shrouded in mystery, due in part to his birth on what was then the frontier.  Some sources have even suggested that his first name was actually "Sanderson" and that the "C." in his middle name stood for "Clinton," but evidence doesn't support these claims (for example, the census and his own grave marker).  His family must have been wealthy, because they were able to establish two plantations on the western side of the Mississippi, and was said, for a time at least, to owed the largest number of slaves in the territory.  Faulkner joined the Confederate army via the Arkansas Militia during the Civil War; this lead to him later in life to be known as "Colonel Faulkner," though he never actually attained that rank.  He got involved the territorial and state politics, though not very successfully.  He was also a bank president at one point.  What he was known for was as a lively teller of tall tales and as an avid fiddler.  It is for his fiddle composition and tale entitled "The Arkansas Traveler" that he is known for today. It is this tune that has been used in various films over the decades.  The first of these came in 1927 in a partial sound film:  Uncle Tom's Cabin starring Margarita Fischer (it would be her last film). The music and sound effects were provided by MovieTone.  The first full mono film to use the tune, came in 1931 with the animated short And The Green Grass Grew All Around.  The first full length feature film to have the music as part of it's soundtrack dates from 1932, in the Barbara Stanwyck vehicle The Purchase Price, directed by William Wellman.  The most recent use of the tune came in 2013 with the Civil War reenactment documentary film The Battle of Pea Ridge.  Faulkner died in his home in Little Rock on August 4th at the age of 68.  He is buried in Little Rock's Mount Holly Cemetery.

For More:

IMDb

Encyclopedia Of Arkansas

Wikipedia

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