1884-1933
Famous speakeasy queen, who was famous for her club door greeting "Hello sucker" and sometime actress Texas Guinan was born Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan on this day Waco, Texas--hence her popular nickname. There she grew up on a ranch and acquired all the skills that any ordinary cowboy would learn; so despite formal operatic schooling on a two-year scholarship in Chicago (and getting a all-round higher education at the same time), she immediately went to work in a performance wild west show. Before being dubbed "Texas" she used the nickname/stage name Marie Guinan and was known as such during her first marriage while living in Boston. After her first divorce, she headed for New York to take up a career as a singer. Somewhere along the way, she acquired the nickname Texas--though when and where are hard to pen down owed to her own ever changing and embellished biographer narrative. It is worth noting that she may have only been legally married once, despite that her obituary mentioned three marriages. This would otherwise be a footnote if it were not for her companionship with influential Photoplay editor Julian Johnson, who has been listed in multiple sources as her second husband--though there is no evidence that they were ever wed, never mind divorced. In fact, he seems as much (maybe more) responsible for her later outlandish persona than she was. She arrived in New York from Boston sometime in 1904 and immediately found work as chorus girl. Over the next six years she appeared in a large variety of performance venues and styles, from vaudeville to operatic musicals. By 1913, she was popular enough to headline touring acts, which only increased her fame. Ever the self promoter, she found herself in the enviable situation of being able to capitalize on her name. She was actually one of the first women in the country to license her name to a weight lose plan. Many came after her, but almost none preceded her. It was also the first time that she was accused of fraud...though, it most certainly was not the last! Of course, by the end of her extremely colorful life, fraud with the least of it. Guinan began her film career in 1917 with an appearance in the Triangle Film production The Stainless Barrier, directed by Thomas N. Heffron (whose career was completely in the silent era). The principle portion of her film career came in the years 1918 and 1919, though she would continue to make occasional appearances on the silver screen right up until the year of her death. By far, her most prolific year in films was 1919, when she appeared in some 20+ short westerns--sometimes basically as herself. She did have a role in one feature that year, when she acted in the World Film marriage melodrama The Love Defender, starring sometime "vamp" June Elvidge. It was one of just a small number of features in which she acted. Her only starring roles in silent features came in two independently produced 50 minute long westerns The Stampede and I Am the Woman, directed by Francis Ford and released in October of 1921. After 1921, she was no longer actively in the film business; the short Code of Texas Storm in 1921 was one of her last films before becoming "Queen of the Night Clubs" in the New York prohibition night life that grew up in the swinging 20's. She only made three more film appearances in the 1920's, with two of those basically consisting of cameos. In 1929, she had her highest profile starring role in a film when she took top billing as the character "Texas Malone" in the thinly veiled autobiographical Queen of the Night Clubs, a full talkie by Warner Bros., directed by Brian Foy (who would go on to have LONG career as a producer at Warner's) and premiered in New York on 24th of March in 1929. She spent most of the 1920's in the "hostess" business, having some extremely hard to prove ownership of speakeasies in which she sang and entertained. Even when she was under active investigation, she and partners were not only presenting more sophisticated floor shows, they were recruiting talent to work in locations from New York to Miami--among them Barbara Stanwyck. She, and a host of others, were eventually put on trial in the late 1920's and she was personally acquitted in 1929. After the stock market crash of 1929 it became clear that the heydays of speakeasies were over--despite that prohibition was still in effect. She attempted to immigrate to and work in Europe; but she was on list of undesirables in the UK and French labor laws were unfriendly to foreigners, especially in the Paris entertainment world--so she decided to take to the road domestically and in Canada. While in Chicago she had the misfortune to stay at a hotel there that had an outbreak of amoebic infestation in tainted water caused by transmission at the Chicago World's Fair. She did not get sick right away and continued to tour--falling ill in Vancouver during a stint her road show was doing there. After getting sick, she did not last long, passing away there on the 5th of November 1933; she was 49 years of age. She had already made an appearance in the film Broadway Thru a Keyhole (1933), which premiered just three days before her death--it would sadly be her last. She was returned to New York, where a a HUGE funeral, with more that 7,500 in attendance, was held. She was laid to rest in a elaborate free-standing mausoluem at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens. Her death came 1 month to the day before the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. If you are curious how her last name was pronounced, or if you were wondering if her name at all has any connection to the character of Guinan (Whoopie Goldberg) of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fame, the answer is yes. Ten-Forward "bar keep" Guinan was indeed named for this colorful lady. It's hardly surprising that she has had other characters based on her through the years--one of which was played by Mae West (how could she not?!), who knew Guinan personally.
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| [Source: Bill Heneage (Find a Grave)] |
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| [Source: TomDuse (Find a Grave)] |
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