Fannie Bourke, also known as Fan Bourke or Fannie Burke, (July 12, 1886 – March 9, 1959) was an American stage and film actress, suffragist, and motion picture exhibitor. She worked on Broadway and appeared in silent films from the 1910s until the early 1930s.

Biography

Fannie Bourke was born on July 12, 1886, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. She began her career as a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

performer, pianist, and dancer, and was known for singing "dialect songs" and impersonating "every possible nationality." She appeared on Broadway in the play ''Mere Man'' in 1912. Bourke became a

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

player for

Thanhouser Company The Thanhouser Company (later the Thanhouser Film Corporation) was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser, his wife Gertrude and his brother-in-law Lloyd Lonergan. It operated in New York City until 1920, ...

in late 1913. She appeared frequently in Thanhouser productions between 1914 and 1915, including ''

A Dog's Love ''A Dog's Love'' is a 1914 American short silent fantasy drama film with subtitles, directed by Jack Harvey on his directorial debut. It stars Shep the Dog, Helen Badgley, and Arthur Bauer. The film is about a dog who loses his best friend, ...

'' and ''Percy's First Holiday''. After leaving Thanhouser, Bourke worked as an actress for

Arrow Film Corporation Arrow Film Corporation was an American film production and distribution company during the silent era from 1915 to 1926. An independent company it operated alongside the established studios. Originally formed to supply films for Pathé Exchang ...

. In late 1915, Bourke took over a failing 500-seat movie theatre, The Princess, in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

(where Thanhouser had its studio); she transformed it into a "votes for women" movie theatre, with a lobby decorated in

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

banners. In addition to showing

Mutual Film Mutual Film Corporation was an early American film conglomerate that produced some of Charlie Chaplin's greatest comedies. Founded in 1912, it was absorbed by Film Booking Offices of America, which evolved into RKO Pictures. Founding Mutual's ...

pictures, including Thanhouser films in which she appeared, Bourke performed every Wednesday. She hired another former Thanhouser actress, Julia Miller, to play the piano at the theatre. She also hosted events for the local

women's clubs The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a par ...

. In 1916, Bourke married Charles Mather. Bourke later appeared in ''

The Love Expert ''The Love Expert'' is a surviving 1920 American silent romantic comedy film directed by David Kirkland and produced by and starring Constance Talmadge. It was an early distribution release by the First National Exhibitor's Company. Plot As desc ...

'' (1920) and ''Lummox'' (1930), her only known sound film role. She continued appearing on Broadway through the 1920s and early 1930s. Bourke's last stage appearance was in the musical revue ''

As Thousands Cheer ''As Thousands Cheer'' is a revue with a book by Moss Hart and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, first performed in 1933. The revue contained satirical sketches and witty or poignant musical numbers, several of which became standards, including ...

''. She died on March 9, 1959, in

Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourke, Fannie 1886 births 1959 deaths American silent film actresses Vaudeville performers Actresses from Brooklyn 20th-century American actresses