Born Today September 11: Arthur White

1881-1924

British born actor of just a few silent shorts Arthur White (born William Arthur Stewart White) was born on this day in the United Kingdom.  His life and career would more than likely be lost to history if it had not been for his appearance in a now well know Edison short from 1903 (actually staged and shot in 1902 and bearing a large similarity to a UK picture from 1901 Fire!); and his life is pretty obscure even with this information.  White is one of three actors in the short known as Life Of An American Fireman dating from 1903 (this is the first of three films--the other two from 1904 & 1905 actual remakes--with this same title). White is credited with work on just one other motion picture in 1903, as Edwin S. Porter's production assistant on Uncle Tom's Cabin (the very first film adaptation of Beecher's novel). [Note: another adaptation also dates from 1903 made by Lubin].  It's unclear (as of this writing) what else White did in the film industry aside from acting.  It is obvious, that whatever his acting "career" consisted of, he also worked in other capacities for Edison's film studio.  He only has four more film acting credits to his name: two in 1910 (for Essanay) and two in 1913 (for Vitagraph).  From this information, it appears that he did indeed have acting experience outside that of appearing in the narrative film's infancy.  We do know that he eventually moved to Hollywood/Los Angeles, because he died there. This would suggest that he stayed for some time in the film industry; whom he worked for there and what he did, I can not uncover in research as of this writing. Hope springs eternal that more information will surface from records of the era. White passed away in Los Angeles on 27th of September, just weeks after his 43rd birthday. We do know that he was had three children from one marriage. We may know when and where he passed, but we do not know were he was interred or had ashes scattered. On another note: it is an interesting fact that one of the first actors to portray a firefighter in film was born on Sept. 11. A day when so many FDNY firefighters lost there lives to terror attacks 120 years after his birth and 98 years after the release of the film. Here's to the memory of all. 

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