America Chedister (October 21, 1895 – November 1, 1975),

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...

America Cooney, was an American actress and singer in

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. Born in

St. Clair Township, Benton County, Iowa Saint Clair Township is one of twenty townships in Benton County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2000 census, its population was 461. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, Saint Clair Township covers an area of 35.82 square m ...

, Chedister was the daughter of Thomas Cooney and his wife Frances McFadden. Her stage name came from her maternal grandmother, America Susannah Chidester. She was discovered by

Edward H. Griffith Edward H. Griffith (August 23, 1888 – March 3, 1975)F ...

while working as a

showgirl A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer's physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing, toplessness, or nudity. History Showgirls date back to the late 180 ...

, and they married. Edward H Griffith 1920

Chedister's film career ran between 1921 and 1926. In 1922 she appeared in ''The Sea Riders'', a moving picture written and directed by her husband, set in a

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

fishing village. In 1923 at the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, she originated the part of Mrs. DePuyster Fish in the musical comedy ''

Jack and Jill "Jack and Jill" (sometimes "Jack and Gill", particularly in earlier versions) is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index classifies the commonest tune and its variations as number 10266, although it has been set to severa ...

''. In 1929, Edward Griffith bought a one-acre plot in a new area of

Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...

, called

Three Arch Bay Three Arch Bay also known as Tre Bay was founded by the President of the community Colin Sweeney. private gated community located at the southern end of Laguna Beach, California. The community features some oceanfront homes with swimming pools b ...

, and by 1932 had built one of the first houses there as a beach getaway. Called "The Lugger", the building included

porthole A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicles ...

windows and stairs salvaged from ships. The Map Room came from a ship called the ''Mary Dollar'', and the Griffiths built a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

between the house and the sea, as well as two separate guesthouses. The property was used for entertaining many guests, who included

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

and

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...

, and in retirement the Griffiths lived there until their deaths. The property is now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

.Dianne Russell
"The Griffith Three Arch Bay property added to National Register of Historic Places"
''Stu News Laguna'', March 19, 2021, accessed 8 October 2023 Three Arch Bay Photo Taken by pilot Don Ramey Logan

Three Arch Bay Photo Taken by pilot Don Ramey Logan

Chedister died at Laguna Beach in November 1975 and was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park,

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

. In her will, she left money to the recently-created Laguna Beach library, which was used to build a picture book room. A portrait of Chedister by

Arnold Genthe Arnold Genthe (8 January 1869 – 9 August 1942) was a German-American photographer, best known for his photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialite ...

dating from November 1921 is in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

."Chedister, America, Miss, portrait photograph"

, accessed 8 October 2023

Films

*''

Dawn of the East ''Dawn of the East'' is a lost 1921 American silent drama film directed by Edward H. Griffith and written by E. Lloyd Sheldon. The film stars Alice Brady, Kenneth Harlan, Michio Itō, America Chedister, Betty Carpenter, and Harriet Ross. The ...

'' (1921) as Mariya"Chedister, America" in Richard P. Krafsur, Kenneth White Munden, ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States'' (1971), p. 1,013 *''

Scrambled Wives ''Scrambled Wives'' is a lost 1921 American silent comedy film produced by and starring Marguerite Clark. It was directed by Edward H. Griffith and released through Associated First National. This film had one color sequence, presumably a 1-stri ...

'' (1921) as Mrs. Halsey *''

A Stage Romance ''A Stage Romance'' is a 1922 American silent historical drama film directed by Herbert Brenon and starring William Farnum, Peggy Shaw, and Holmes Herbert.Solomon, p. 276 It is an adaptation of the play ''Kean'' by Alexandre Dumas about the adv ...

'' (1922) as Lady Anne Boyle *''

Enemies of Women ''Enemies of Women'' is a 1923 American silent film, silent romantic drama film directed by Alan Crosland and starring Lionel Barrymore, Alma Rubens, Gladys Hulette, Pedro de Cordoba (actor), Pedro de Cordoba, and Paul Panzer. The film was prod ...

'' (1923) as French Beauty *''

Atta Boy ''Atta Boy'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Edward H. Griffith and starring Monty Banks, Virginia Bradford and Ernest Wood.Munden p.29 Cast * Monty Banks as Monty Milde * Virginia Bradford as The Girl * Ernest Wood as Crave ...

'' (1926) as Fashionable Woman

Notes

External links

*
"America Chedister"

Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...

"America Chedister"

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's pr ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chedister, America 1895 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American actresses American musical theatre actresses American silent film actresses People from Benton County, Iowa People from Laguna Beach, California