1892-1967
Silent film actress Edith Storey was born on this day in New York City; all of her film work would have ties to the area and she never worked permanently in Hollywood; and her career ended early with her voluntary retirement in 1921. She began her acting career locally as a child and had a younger brother, Richard, who followed her into the profession for a time. She was in at least two Broadway productions between the years 1903 and 1905. She started her film career out as a youngster at the Vitagrpah studio, making her film debut in 1908 in the Florence Turner film Francesca di Rimini; or, The Two Brothers. She was just 16 years old at the time. By the next year, she was starring in little melodramatic shorts the studio was turning out. A stand-out among these titles was their 1909 production of Oliver Twist in which she played Oliver. She then began appearing in supporting roles in films directed by studio founder J. Stuart Blackton, eventually putting her the starring role in colonial period short Onawanda; or, An Indian's Devotion, released in September of 1909. In 1910, she moved over to Star Film the American production company associated with the Méliès family; despite that it was associated with the famous film trickster, the specialty of the company was westerns. Based out of Texas, she stayed with the studio through most of 1911. There she largely came under the direction of William F. Haddock and was paired in female leads with Francis Ford, when he was just starting out in films, in the male leads. Though most of these were in the western genre (a genre that Ford and his younger brother John, would become famous for), a few were straight-forward melodramas. Her first film for them was Cyclone Pete's Matrimony (April 1910) and her last was Bessie's Ride (July 1911), in between she made more than 50 films, all filmed in San Antonio. She then returned to Vitagraph, where they promptly put her into another western: Billy the Kid (August 1911). It is hardly surprising, as Storey had turned out to be an excellent rider and was willing to try semi-dangerous takes and wound up adept at stunt work in the process. After her return to Vitagraph, she mostly stuck to work in the short films that she had been so successful in from the start of her career, but she did make the occasional appearance in features. Red and White Roses (1913) and A Regiment of Two (1913), both co-directed by Ralph Ince, are two good examples. But it was her role in A Florida Enchantment that she is perhaps best known for today. It is considered to be the first film in the U.S. (possibly anywhere) to depict "gender bending" and it outraged censors at the time of it's release in September of 1914, it was shot on location in various locals in Florida--primarily in the St. Augustine area. By 1915, she had a few starring roles in features; The Island of Regeneration, directed by Harry Davenport during his "directing days" is a excellent example. By 1916, her career was comprised almost entirely of features, most with her in the starring role, paired with Spanish born Antonio Moreno and directed by George D. Baker or William Wolbert. Most of the film posters for these features also included her name, and sometimes her likeness as well. In 1918, for only the second time in her life, she changed studios and acted in several Tod Browning films for Metro, the first of which was The Eyes of Mystery. In all, she was the star of three of his films in 1918, including Revenge, the rare Browning western. Also in 1918, she was the star, along with Lew Cody, of The Treasure of the Sea, it was filmed on Santa Catalina Island in California, therefore representing one of the few films that she acted in actually made on the west coast (or rather out in the west coast). Major motion pictures had years before already begun to move west, and evidenced by the the fact that she live out her life in the New York area, one can assume that a reluctance to move to Hollywood figured at least in part to her retiring from the the business. She only acted in three films in the combined years of 1920 and 1921, with crime film The Greater Profit (1921) marking her last film. She was not 30 years of age at the time of her retirement. She moved to Northport, New York--which is located on Long Island--at some point in her life. She passed away there on the 9th of October in 1967 at the age of 75. She is interred at the Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium in Middle Village in Queens, New York.
Still from A Florida Enchantment (1914) when her character Miss Lillian Travers realizes that she is transforming into a man.
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