Fay Tincher (April 17, 1884 – October 11, 1983) was an American comic actress in motion pictures of the
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
era.
Early years
Tincher was born in
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...
,
and was the daughter of George Tincher
[ and Elizabeth Tincher. She had three sisters, Mary, Ruth, and Julia. Her father was mayor of Topeka and the state printer. As a child, she studied dance, elocution, and music. When she was a teenager, she attended a dramatic school in Chicago and performed in light opera there.]
Early career
Although Tincher planned to perform in dramas, she ended up in comedy and later went into vaudeville, performing in Europe as well as in the United States.
Tincher began her career on stage. In 1908 she was touring in California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
with ''The Merry Go Round Company''. In August of that year she may have married fellow actor, Ned Buckley, on a dare. He was a Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
graduate and a resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...
. She visited her lawyer at the New York Life Insurance
New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company in the United States, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and is ranked #67 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United State ...
Building at 112-114 Broadway (Manhattan). She asked him to obtain a divorce if he learned that she was truly wed.
While performing on the Keith-Albee-Orpheum 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 ...
circuit, Tincher was approached by a man who commented about her resemblance to actress Mabel Normand
Amabel Ethelreid Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930), better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their K ...
. She did not know Normand because she had never seen a movie in 1913. The agent gave her his card and said he wanted director D.W. Griffith
David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...
to see her. The following day she came calling at Biograph Studios
Biograph Studios was an early film studio and laboratory complex, built in 1912 by the Biograph Company at 807 East 175th Street, in The Bronx, New York City, New York.
History
Early years
The first studio of the Biograph Company, formerly ...
. In her first role Griffith cast her in the role of a . Within three weeks she began to play comedy, at first slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...
, and later comedy drama.
Films
Tincher's film debut came in 1914. She played in ''Bill Manages A Fighter'' (1914), one of a series of ''Bill'' comedy shorts. It was made by the Komic Pictures Company of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. The performers worked out of the Reliance Studios. Directed by Edward Dillon, former ex-lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight boxe ...
fighter ''Hobo'' Dougherty was among the featured actors. In one scene Tincher encourages Dougherty ''to get knocked out'' on film. However she has trouble convincing the fight veteran that he is not really in a pugilistic contest.
By the end of 1915 Tincher worked for the Fine Arts Film Company. Aside from comic roles, she often depicted working class types such as a laundry girl in ''Laundry Liz'' (1916). Dillon directed and Anita Loos was the scenarist. The short movie was released by the Keystone Film Company. In ''Skirts'' (1916) Tincher plays an artist's model who becomes a victim of drugs. This was a new type of role for her. Tully Marshall plays the artist.
Griffith staged a presentation of comic bull fights, massive floats, theatrical comedy, and drama, in July 1915. The production was
called ''the Pageant of the Photoplay
''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...
''. Audiences were able to view directors carrying megaphones, the process of film development, and movies being put together in make-up rooms. Tincher played a dramatic part in a comedy on the final day of the event. A stage was assembled and four scenes were acted out.
In 1918 Tincher became head of her own company, Fay Tincher Productions. Her movies were released by the World Film Company
The World Film Company or World Film Corporation was an American film production and distribution company, organized in 1914 in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Short-lived but significant in American film history, World Film was created by financier and fil ...
.
In the ''Andy Gump'' comedy series (1923–1928) Tincher played ''Min'', who wears her hair bobbed, alongside Joe Murphy as her husband, Andy Gump. The series numbered around forty-five films and was produced by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
and Samuel Von Honkel.
American cartoonist Sidney Smith created the film characters.
Tincher's final motion picture was ''All Wet'' (1930). This is a two reel comedy short directed by Sam Newfield
Sam Newfield, born Samuel Neufeld, (December 6, 1899 - November 10, 1964), also known as Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, was an American B-movie Film director, director, one of the most prolific in American film history—he is credited with d ...
.
Inheritance
Tincher inherited $25,000 from the bequest of the will of Mrs. Julian Dick, who died from inhaling illuminating gas
The history of gaseous fuel, important for lighting, heating, and cooking purposes throughout most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, began with the development of analytical and pneumatic chemistry in the 18th century. T ...
on December 22, 1930. Dick's residence was at 116 East 36th Street in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Her husband, Captain Dick, was a member of the New York Cotton Exchange
The New York Cotton Exchange (NYCE) is a commodities exchange founded in 1870 by a group of one hundred cotton brokers and merchants in New York City. In 1998, the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) became the parent company of the New York Cotton ...
. He had been accidentally shot to death by a friend in 1922.
Personal life and death
In May 1915 Tincher won a bathing suit contest at Venice Beach, California, winning a first prize of $50. She wore a costume that was resembled her famous ''typewriter dress'', which she wore in movies. A crowd of approximately 75,000 attended the procession."Fay Cops Fifty"
''Motography'' (June 5, 1915): 935.
In 1918, she roomed with
scenario writer,
Maie B. Havey, in a small
bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas.
The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
. Tincher liked working in the fine art of
vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word comes from the Lati ...
.
Fay Tincher, at age 99, died of a heart attack in
Brooklyn, New York
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 ...
, in 1983.
Partial filmography
*''
The Battle of the Sexes'' (1914)
*''
The Quicksands'' (1914)
*''
Home, Sweet Home'' (1914)
*''
Nell's Eugenic Wedding
''Nell's Eugenic Wedding'' is a lost 1914 silent comedy of one reel directed by Edward Dillon. It is a primitive example by Anita Loos of what is called in modern terms a Gross-out film. Tod Browning, here just an actor, would later achieve reno ...
'' (1914)
*''
The Escape The Escape may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Escape'' (1914 film), American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith
* ''The Escape'' (1926 film), American silent film
* ''The Escape'' (1928 film), American film
* ''The Escape'' (1939 f ...
'' (1914)
*''
Sunshine Dad
''Sunshine Dad'' is a 1916 American silent comedy film produced by Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. It was directed by Edward Dillon, written by Tod Browning and 'Chet' Withey and starred stage comedian DeWolf ...
'' (1916)
*''
Excitement'' (1924)
*''
The Reckless Age'' (1924)
References
*''Janesville Daily Gazette'', "Fay Tincher To Star", August 8, 1916, Page 6.
*''Janesville Daily Gazette'', "News Notes From Movieland", Friday, July 26, 1918, Page 6.
*''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', "Fay Tincher Proud Winner", May 10, 1915, Page III1.
*''Los Angeles Times'', "Bullfighters Are Off Form", July 12, 1915, Page III1.
*''Los Angeles Times'', "Busy Fay", August 2, 1915, Page III4.
*''Los Angeles Times'', "Joins The Workers", June 25, 1916, Page III18.
*''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', "Notes Written On The Screen", September 27, 1914, Page X8.
*''The New York Times'', "Mrs. Dick Left $50,000", January 13, 1931, Page 20.
*''
Oakland Tribune'', "Am I Mrs. Or Miss? Is This Lady's Query", August 13, 1908, Page 1.
*''Oakland Tribune'', "Facts For Fans", August 17, 1924, Page 38.
External links
*
Fay Tincher at Women Film Pioneers Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tincher Fay
Actresses from Kansas
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
American stage actresses
Tincher family
Vaudeville performers
Actors from Topeka, Kansas
1884 births
1983 deaths
20th-century American actresses
Women film pioneers