Mabel Withee

Mabel Withee (c. 1897 – November 3, 1952) was an American actress on stage and in silent film.

Mabel Withee
Mabel Withee, from a 1919 publication.
Bornc. 1897
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedNovember 3, 1952 (aged 54-55)
Bayside, Queens, New York City, U.S.
OccupationActress
Spouse(s)Herman Leon Sarshik (m.1926–ann.1928)
Larry Puck (m.1928)
Children1

Early life

Withee was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Leonard Withee.[1]

Career
Lester Allen, Mabel Withee, and George White, from Scandals of 1919.

Withee's Broadway appearances were mainly in musical comedies and revues, including roles in Sinbad (1918-1919, with Al Jolson and Kitty Doner),[2] George White's Scandals (1919), Just a Minute (1919), The Rose Girl (1921, the first show at the Ambassador Theatre),[3] Sonny (1921), The Rose of Stanboul (1922),[4] The World We Live In (1922-1923), Lady Butterfly (1923), Dew Drop Inn (1923), Artists and Models (1924-1925), The Cocoanuts (1925-1926, with the Marx Brothers).[5][6] She also starred in Mary Ann (1927) on vaudeville.[7][8]

She acted in one silent film, Once to Every Man (1918).[9]

Theatre critic George Jean Nathan considered Withee to have "the most beautiful legs in the world".[10] She retired from show business in 1928, when she married her second husband.[11]

Personal life

Withee was "wooed" by Egyptian prince Mohammed Ali Ibrahim in 1922, but rejected his proposal of marriage.[12] She married real estate broker Herman Leon Sarshik in 1926.[1] She asked for the marriage to be annulled on the basis of fraud in 1928.[13] She married again, to producer Larry Puck, later that year, and through him was the sister-in-law of actress Eva Puck. She had one son, Emmett Puck. She died in 1952, in her mid-fifties, in Bayside, Queens.[11][14]

References
  1. "Mabel Withee to Marry". The New York Times. February 8, 1926. p. 23 – via ProQuest.
  2. "Sinbad". Dramatic Mirror of Motion Pictures and the Stage. 78: 5. March 2, 1918.
  3. Naden, Corinne J. (2011-02-01). The Golden Age of American Musical Theatre: 1943-1965. Scarecrow Press. p. 188. ISBN 9780810877344.
  4. "The Rose of Stamboul". Theatre Magazine. 35: 308. May 1922.
  5. Dietz, Dan (2019-04-10). The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 101–104, 50–52, 160–162, 293–296. ISBN 9781538112823.
  6. Green, Stanley (2011). Broadway Musicals: Show by Show. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781557837844.
  7. "Mabel Withee Will Headline at Palace". The Akron Beacon Journal. July 9, 1927. p. 3. Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Sings Comic Songs on Vaudeville Bill". The Evening Sun. July 10, 1928. p. 22. Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Youth" Theatre Magazine (November 1918): 317.
  10. "Discriminating Mr. Nathan Says that Mabel's Legs are Prettiest". The Des Moines Register. February 14, 1926. p. 52. Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Miss Withee, Played in Musical Comedies". The New York Times. November 4, 1952. p. 29 – via ProQuest.
  12. "How it Feels to be Wooed by a Real Sheik". The Des Moines Register. June 18, 1922. p. 49. Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Actress Seeks Annulment". The New York Times. February 22, 1928. p. 14 – via ProQuest.
  14. "Mrs. Mabel Puck, Ex-Broadway Star". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. November 4, 1952. p. 7. Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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