Clara Whipple

Clara Whipple (née Clara or Clarissa or Clarise Brimmer Whipple; 7 November 1887 Saint Louis – 6 November 1932 Manhattan, New York)[1] was an American actress who flourished in theatre from 1913 to 1915 and in silent film from 1915 to 1919. She was also a silent film scenario writer.[2]

Clara Brimmer Whipple
Clara Whipple in 1908
Born
Clarissa Brimmer Whipple

(1887-11-07)November 7, 1887
Saint Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedNovember 6, 1932(1932-11-06) (aged 44)
Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Other namesClara Whipple Young
OccupationStage and silent film actress
Stage and silent film scenario writer
Years active1912–1919
EraSilent film
EmployerStage
    Pitt Theatre, Pittsburgh
Silent film
    Connes-Till Film Company
    Equitable Motion Picture Corporation
    Triumph Film Corporation
    World Film Corporation
Known for
The Reapers (1916), leading role
Spouse(s)James Young
(1919–1921)
Charles J. Dewey
(1928–1932)
Parent(s)Frances (Fanny) Bell Mitchell
    (maiden; 1868–1941)
Thomas Hearne Bailey Whipple
    (1858–1942)

Career

Education

Sometime before 1910, Whipple had attended school in Germany, on the wooded isle of Nönnenwerth, at Trier, and at Eschweiler. Hildegard zur Bonsen (born 1889; Prussia) of Göttingen was her classmate and friend at all three locations.[3] Whipple's biography states that she was educated at a convent in Germany and a finishing school in Switzerland.[2] A 1915 article in the Saint Louis Star and Times stated that Whipple left Saint Louis "early in life to go to a school in Ohio" (Ursuline Convent) "and later went to Ladycliff, on the Hudson." The article continued: "She then went to Nonnenwerth, a convent on an island in the Rhine, near Honnef." "Later she went to Switzerland." "She completed her education in the Women's College at Trier, in Germany."[4][5]

Stage

Whipple, from 1913 to 1915, was a stage actress in Pittsburgh, where her father and mother had been living. Her father, Thomas Hearne Bailey Whipple, was a publicist and advertising executive with Westinghouse. Whipple debuted in Pittsburgh June 1913 with the Harry Davis Players[lower-alpha 1] at the Grand Opera House in a production of The Christian, by Hall Caine.

Whipple subsequently, that same year, joined the Pitt Players, a stock company of the Pitt Theatre Company, founded in 1913, managed by William Moore Patch. At its founding, the Pitt Players were billed as "The Most Expensive and Evenly Balanced Stock Company in America."[6] Patch's mission was to offer new and original plays, as well as encourage native, and above all, Pittsburgh playwrights.[7]

Film
The Prima Donna's Husband poster (1916)

Whipple, from 1915 to 1919, was a silent film actress. She co-starred in the film The Prima Donna's Husband (1916), a crime drama directed by William A. Brady, Julius Steger (es), and Joseph A. Golden (pt). The screenplay was written by Edna Riley, who adapted it from a play by Wildbrandt. The film, five reels, was released by Triumph Films. The film also featured Kathryn Brown Decker (née Browne; 1883–1919) and Holbrook Blinn.[8][9]

Whipple was the leading lady in The Reapers (1916), starring opposite John B. Mason. The drama exemplified the biblical truth that, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," from the Old Testament. The movie instructs about a high moral truth without preaching. Whipple was cast with Willard Mack and Gerda Holmes (née Gerda Helen Elfrida Henius; 1891–1943) in His One Big Chance (1916), a film directed by John Ince.

The Heart of a Hero (1916) was adapted from the Clyde Fitch play entitled Nathan Hale. Robert Warwick played the role of Hale, and Gail Kane performed the part of Alice Adams, his girlfriend. The theme of the American Revolution was made more true-to-life with the inclusion of Charles Jackson as Thomas Jefferson. Whipple played the Widow Chichester.

Whipple, Decker, and Blinn teamed again to make a powerful photodrama, Would You Forgive (1919). In Pettigrew's Girl (1919), her last film, she portrays Piggy, a chorus girl friend of heroine Daisy Heath. The leading lady was Ethel Clayton.

Family

Parents

Clara Brimmer Whipple was born November 7, 1887, in Saint Louis, Missouri, to the marriage of Thomas Hearne Bailey Whipple (1858–1942) and Frances (Fanny) Bell Mitchell (maiden; 1868–1941), who married January 25, 1887, in Columbia, Tennessee.[10] With her parents, Clara Whipple, in 1900, lived in Cleveland, and in 1910, in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh T.H.B. Whipple had, for about 30 years, been a publicist with Westinghouse. In 1926, he became an instructor of business communication at Duquesne University. Clara's parents, T.H.B. and Frances, separated in 1907. T.H.B. filed for divorce in June 1914 in Pittsburgh.[11] Clara's first and middle names are drawn from those of her great grandmother Clarissa Whipple (née Brimmer; 1783–1835)[12] and her aunt, Clarissa Brimmer Whipple (1850–1914), who was twice married, first on February 6, 1881, in Manhattan, New York, to Frederick H. Prentiss (born 1856) (divorced between 1897 and 1900), then on March 2, 1900, in Pittsburgh to Burcham Harding (1852–1930).[13]

Clara Whipple's father, T.H.B. Whipple, remarried May 4, 1923, to Laura Evangeline Williamson (maiden; 1884–1978). From that marriage, Clara gained a half-sister, Frances Jane Whipple (born 1925), who in 1943, married Joseph John Kerchner (1920–2000).

Marriages

On April 10, 1919, Whipple married motion picture director James Young, Jr., at the Mission Inn, Riverside, California.[14] For Young, it was his third of four marriages. Whipple, at the time, was a well-regarded silent film scenario writer. James Young, from 1910 to 1917, had been married to the movie actress Clara Kimball Young – his second marriage. Clara Whipple retired from the screen after marrying James Young. She returned to movies as Clara Young in 1920, despite objections by Clara Kimball Young concerning the use of the Young name.[15]

Whipple separated from Young in June 1920 and divorced him in October 1921. The couple had a home at 2000 Holly Drive, Los Angeles, California. Young settled money and real estate amounting to $40,000 on Whipple.[16]

In September 1922 Young sought to reverse the annulment with a cross-complaint filed by his attorneys. Depositions mentioned misconduct by Whipple with other men. Jack Pickford, Thomas J. Moore, Texas Guinan, and Doris Pawn were named in Young's preliminary moves.[17] On October 12, 1922, a day before Whipple became entitled to her divorce decree, Young filed a $50,000 slander suit against her. The legal action came in response to Whipple's accusations that Young threatened her, pointed guns at her, and offered her $2,000 to return his Ku Klux Klan membership paper and bundles of correspondence he had received from women.[18] A month later, in early December 1922, James Young became seriously ill of auto-intoxication in December 1922.[19]

Clara Whipple married again, to Charles J. Dewey (born 1883). They were married in Omaha in September 1928.[20]

Death

Clara Whipple Dewey died November 6, 1932, in Manhattan, New York, a little more than two months after her brother, "Jamie" Whipple (né James Cameron Mitchell Whipple; 1892–1980), became Production Manager for NBC in Chicago.[21] The cause of death was "Carcinoma of the Liver." Her residence at the time of her death was 180 Claremont Avenue, where her brother James lived, in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan – less than 2 blocks north of the where Juilliard had been located from 1910 to 1969.

Extended family

Armide Whipple (née Armide Nana Edith Whipple; 1920–2001) – Clara Whipple's niece, daughter of Jamie Whipple and Armide Whipple (née Armide Ana Cecile Marie Ayraud; 1901–1976) – was a jazz and big band vocalist with the orchestras of Jimmie Grier (né James Wilford Grier; 1902–1959), Chico Marx,[22] Les Brown, and Ben Pollack. She sang under the stagename "Kim Kimberly."[23] She was briefly married, from about 1939 to about 1943, to big band trumpeter Bobby Clark (né Robert Charles Clark, Jr.; 1916–1981).

Other litigation

Adelbert George Volck, who worked in the film industry, rented Whipple's Holly Drive home. She brought a suit against Volck in September 1923, charging him with damaging household furnishings, in particular her tapestries and draperies. The court had to decide whether the tapestries and draperies were imported, and therefore valuable, as Whipple contended.

Whipple filed suit for the collection of a promissory note from motion picture producer Dale Hanshaw[lower-alpha 2] in October 1925. She asked for $566.50, the same amount she claimed to have advanced Hanshaw, in various sums, around June 18, 1923. At the time of the court action, Hanshaw had made only a single payment of $50. He had given Whipple a radio as security, which she sold, and applied the proceeds to the payment of the note. $56 of the amount Whipple requested was for interest.[24][25]

Extant productions and works

As writer

Stage acting

The Harry Davis Players

  1. The Christian (1913)
    By Hall Caine
    The Grande Opera House
    (June 1913)
    Pittsburgh
  2. Doctour
    The Grand Opera House
    Pittsburgh

The Pitt Players

Double bill (5 & 6)
Frederick Esmelton (director)
  1. Sister Beatrice (1913)
    By Maurice Maeterlinck
  2. Don (1913)
    By Rudolf Besier
    Pitt Theater[lower-alpha 3]
    (opened September 6, 1913)
    Pittsburgh
  3. Sauce for the Goose (1913)
    Pitt Theater[7]
    William Moore Patch (1887–1930)
        Managing director of the theatre
    Pittsburgh
    (opened December 1, 1913)

Other productions

  1. The Dragon's Claw (1913–1914)
    Henry Miller
    Pittsburgh
  2. The Dragon's Claw (1913)
    By Austin Strong (1881–1952)
    (son of artist American artist Joseph Dwight Strong)
    New Amsterdam Theatre
    Manhattan
    (opened September 14, 1913)

Silent film acting

Mutual Film Corporation

  1. Our Mutual Girl (serial) (1914)
    1. Chapter 34: "Lily's Mother"
    2. Chapter 35: "The Baby's Mother"
    3. Chapter 37: "The Baby's Mother"

    By Carolyn Wells

    (released September 14, 1914)[26]

Connes-Till Film Company, Toronto[27][28]
B C Feature Film Company (distributor)
George Brownridge (general manager)

  1. The Faithful Servant (1915)
    Paul Bern (writer)
  2. The Moreland Mystery (1915)
    Paul Bern (writer)
  3. A Soul's Affinity (1915)
    Paul Bern (writer)
  4. His Awakening (1915)
    Tom McKnight (director)
    Paul Bern (writer)
  5. Motto on the Wall (1915)
    Paul Bern (writer)
  6. The Better Man (1915)
    Paul Bern (writer)
  7. Canada in Peace and War (1915)
    Paul Bern (writer)
  8. On the King's Highway (1915)[lower-alpha 4]
    Paul Bern (writer)

Equitable Motion Picture Corporation (production company)

  1. The Fisher Girl (1915); aka The Daughter of the Sea
    Charles M. Seay (director)
    (released November 22, 1915)
    (this film was Whipple's debut with Equitable)
  2. Blue Grass (1915)
    An adaptation of the 1906 play
    By Paul Armstrong (1869–1915)
    Charles M. Seay (director)
    OCLC 913643389
  3. The Bludgeon (it) (1915)
    Webster Cullison (it) (director)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)
    (released October 18, 1915)
    OCLC 20759041
  4. The Question (1916)
    Harry Handworth (director)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)
    (released February 21, 1916)
  5. His One Big Chance (1916)
    John Ince (director)
  6. The Man Who Dared God (1917)
    Phillips Smalley & Lois Weber (directors)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)

Other films

  1. The Prima Donna's Husband (it) (1916)
    Based on the play by Wildbrandt
    Screen version by Edna Goldsmith Riley (1880–1962) Julius Steger (es) & Joseph A. Golden (pt) (directors)
    Triumph Film Corporation (production company)
    A & W Film Corporation (distributor)[lower-alpha 5]
  2. The Reapers (1916)
    Burton L. King (director)
    Whipple co-starred with John Mason
    Triumph Film Corporation (production company)[lower-alpha 6]
    Equitable Motion Pictures Corporation,
       releasing through World Film Corporation
    (released April 3, 1916)
  3. Sudden Riches (1916)
    Émile Chautard (director)
    World Film Corporation; Peerless (production company)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)
  4. The Revolt (1916)
    Barry O'Neil (it) (director)
    World Film Corporation (production company)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)
  5. The Stolen Triumph (it) (1916)
    David H. Thompson (director)
    Scenario by Julius Steger (es) & Maxwell Karger
    Rolfe-Metro Corporation (B.A. Rolfe)
  6. The Gilded Cage (1916)
    Harley Knoles (director)
    World Film Corporation (production company)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)
  7. The Heart of a Hero (1916)
    Émile Chautard (director)
    Peerless Productions (production company)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)
  8. Viviette (1918)
    Walter Edwards (director)
    Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (production company)
    Paramount Pictures
  9. Would You Forgive? aka Her Sister's Guilt Alternative (1916)
    H.S. Thomas (director)
    Holbrook Blinn (actor)
    Gilbert Murray (actor)
    Clara Whipple (actress)
    Triumph Film Corporation (production company)
  10. Would You Forgive? (1917)
    Julius Steger (es) (producer & director) Holbrook Blinn (actor)
    Clara Whipple (actress)
    Kathryn Brown-Decker (née Browne; 1883–1919)
    Triumph Film Corporation (production company)[lower-alpha 6]
  11. Will You Be Staying for Supper? (1919)
    Kenneth S. Webb, director
  12. Pettigrew's Girl (1919)
    George Melford (director)
    Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (production company)
    Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (distributor)

Lost film

Equitable Motion Picture Corporation

  1. Birth of Character
    Working titles:
        The Making of a Man
        The Transmutation
        Life's Crucible[29][30][31][32]
    By Marc Edmund Jones
    Isadore Bernstein (director)
    William Courtleigh Jr. (lead actor)
    World Film Corporation (distributor)
    (released around August 1915)
    The Birth of Character at the American Film Institute Catalog


Notes and references

Notes
  1. Harry Davis (1860–1940).
  2. Dale Hanshaw (né Richard Lansdale Hinshaw; 1896–1938) was a son of Harry Hanshaw (1866–1944), who was an uncle of Annette Hanshaw, a jazz vocalist. Lansdale Hanshaw was married and divorced, 1917 to 1923 with Jane Loring, briefly married with actress Lucile Dorrington, and, 1928 to 1930 with actress Ethlyne Clair. Lansdale, in the late 1920s, enjoyed popularity as a film director and producer. But after distress from repeated misfortunes following the Crash of 1929, and their inability to recover during the Great Depression – Lansdale and his wife, actress Miriam de Will (1892–1938), carried out a double suicide pact on April 4, 1938, leaving a note and dying of carbon monoxide poisoning in their sedan with their pet terrier.
  3. The Pitt Theatre (aka the new Pitt Theatre) was, erected by Thomas Kenyon (1860–1922) in 1912 as the Kenyon Opera House. The name changed in 1913 to the Pitt Theater under the management of William Moore Patch (1887–1930). The theater was located at the corner of Penn Avenue and Seventh Street, Pittsburgh. Operating as the Barry Theater from 1936, the building was demolished 1951 in favor of a parking lot.
  4. The Connes-Till Film Company was founded in 1914 at the initiative of Edward H. Robbins, who was born in Philadelphia
  5. A. & W. Film Corporation was incorporated in New York in 1916 with capital of $10,000. The founding directors were Abraham Press, Ernest V. Reiss, and William G. Keir. ("New Grist of Companies," Motography, Vol. 16, No. 1, July 1, 1916, pg. 44)
  6. Triumph Film Corporation was a subsidiary of the Equitable Motion Picture Corporation; Joseph A. Golden (pt) was president

Inline citations
  1. "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795–1949" (database), FamilySearch, March 20, 2015, "Clara Whipple Dewey," DOD – November 6, 1932; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York City Municipal Archives; FHL microfilm 2,070,053
    Note: Located by inputting parents' names: "Thomas Whipple" and "Frances Mitchell"
    Death Certificate No. 23,845
    (registration/login, free, may be required)
  2. Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual (entry: "Whipple, Clara Brimmer"), Lillian R. Gale (née Lillian Regina Gale; 1885–1972) (ed.), Motion Picture News, Inc. (publisher); OCLC 49486935
    Vol. 14, No. 16, Sect. 2, October 21, 1916, pg. 88
    Vol. 2, No. 1, April 12, 1917, pg. 110
    (6th ed.), 1920, pg. 284
    (7th ed.), 1921, pg. 244
  3. "Guests from Germany". Pittsburgh Daily Post. November 13, 1910. p. 14. Retrieved November 22, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Clara Whipple, Native St. Louisan, Film Star". The St. Louis Star. September 15, 1915. p. 5. Retrieved November 23, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Clara Whipple" (biographical profile), Moving Picture World, September 4, 1915, pg. 1657
  6. "Advertisement: The Pitt Players: The Chaperon". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. September 14, 1913. p. 11. Retrieved November 24, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Pittsburgh in Stages: Two Hundred Years of Theater, by Lynne Conner, University of Pittsburgh Press (2007), pg. 82; OCLC 608491170
    Note: Lynne Thompson Conner, PhD (born 1958; married to Peter John Deklerk), is a playwright, historian and former newspaper critic of theatre and dance; she has been, since 1987, affiliated in various capacities with the University of Pittsburgh
  8. "Mr. Steger's Pictures". The New York Times. May 21, 1916. p. 28. Retrieved May 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "The Prima Donna's Husband" (film review), by Margaret I. MacDonald, Moving Picture World, July 1, 1916, pg. 101
  10. "Miss Fannie Mitchell". Pulaski Citizen. 29 (3). January 20, 1887. p. 3. Retrieved November 26, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "News of the Courts". Pittsburgh Daily Post. June 28, 1914. p. 6. Retrieved November 24, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Physicians of Essex County," Entry: "Whipple, George S.," The Essex Institute, Historical Collections (Quarterly), Vol. 84, No. 1948 (1948), pg. 341
  13. Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada – 1914–1915 Entry: "Harding; Clara B. Whipple," John William Leonard (ed.), American Commonwealth Company (January 31, 1914), pg. 361; OCLC 654801679
  14. "Married at Riverside". Los Angeles Times. Riverside. April 11, 1919. p. 21. Retrieved November 24, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Kingsley, Grace (December 14, 1920). "Flashes: Clara Young in Films". Los Angeles Times. p. 4. Retrieved May 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Second Wife Divorces Young". Los Angeles Times. October 12, 1921. p. 21. Retrieved May 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Screen Stars Named In Suit,". Los Angeles Times. September 18, 1922. p. 17. Retrieved May 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com. and p. 21
  18. "Young To Seek Damages – Film Director to Sue Wife for Slander on Eve of Day She Was Granted Divorce". Los Angeles Times. October 12, 1922. p. 25. Retrieved May 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Zobel, Myron (December 10, 1922). "Stanlaws Finds Flaws in Women". Oakland Tribune. p. 37. Retrieved November 22, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Omaha Area Marriages" (URL section "D-De"), Entry: "Dewey, Charles J.; 45; md. Clara Whipple Young; 34; Sep 1928 68691," Greater Omaha Genealogical Society at WordPress (gogsmembers.wordpress.com/about/), posted online April 26, 2008 (retrieved November 21, 2017)
  21. Steinhauser, Silas Hathaway (August 29, 1932). "'Jamie' Whipple Made NBC Chief". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 12. Retrieved November 22, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. The Jazz Discography (online), Tom Lord (né Thomas D. Lord; born 1940) (ed.), Chilliwack, British Columbia: Lord Music Reference Inc.
    Musician search: "Kim Kimberley" (sic – "Kimberley"), Chico Marx – Big Bands of Hollywood (discography cat. no. M2636.20)
    OCLC 690104143, 48027258, ISSN 1700-439X (retrieved November 29, 2017; subscription required; accessible online and in hard copy at many libraries)
  23. The Big Band Almanac (revised ed.; paperback), by Leo Walker (né Leo Edward Walker; 1910–1995), Da Capo Press (1989); OCLC 260169281, 723503126, 859544737
    (references to Armide Whipple on pps. 162, 163, & 343; with photo on pg. 163)
  24. "Court to Say If Tapestries Are Imported". Los Angeles Times. September 19, 1923. p. 30. Retrieved May 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. "Beauty Sues to Collect Note of Film Producer". Los Angeles Times. October 21, 1925. p. 35. Retrieved May 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. "Our Mutual Girl" (film promo), Reel Life (published by the Mutual Film Corporation), Vol. 4, No. 25, September 5, 1914, pg. 8 (233)
  27. Paul Bern: The Life and Famous Death of the MGM Director and Husband of Harlow, by E.J. Fleming, McFarland & Company (2009), pps. 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 316, 317; OCLC 276292205
  28. Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895–1939, by Peter Morris (1937–2011), (1978, 1992), McGill-Queen's University Press, pg. 52; OCLC 902578747
  29. "Human Cargoes Promises Thrills," Moving Picture World, Vol. 25, No. 7, August 14, 1915, p. 1138
  30. "Life's Crucible (Equitable)," (illustrated) Moving Picture World, Vol. 25, No. 8, August 21, 1915, p. 1332
  31. "Claridge Films Gets Courtleigh," Motography, Vol. 15, No. 14, April 1, 1916, pps. 454, 470, 736, 758, 778, 951, 1007, 1066, 1109, 1180, 1235, 1291, 1350, 1407
  32. "Claridge Films, Inc.," Moving Picture World, Vol. 28, No. 1, April 1, 1916, pps. 19, 84, 160, 167

General references
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