Julia Eliza Bruns (1895 – December 24, 1927) was an American stage and

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 ...

actress and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

. Bruns came to prominence for her work as a model. Her image was illustrated by artist

James Montgomery Flagg James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877 – May 27, 1960) was an American artist, comics artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters, particularly his 1 ...

in 1917. She appeared on numerous magazine covers and Sunday feature pages. Once called "America's most beautiful girl", she eventually succumbed to alcoholism and drug addiction and died at age 32.

Career

Stage

Her first acting role was in 1913 in the play ''The American Maid'', written by

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dist ...

, followed by a part in ''Help Wanted'' by

Oliver Morosco Oliver Morosco (June 20, 1875 – August 25, 1945) was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, film producer, and theater owner. He owned the Morosco Photoplay Company. He brought many of his theater actors to the screen. Frank A. Garb ...

. For a number of years she appeared on stage in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Bruns was a passenger in a

Baldwin Red Devil The Baldwin Red Devil was a series of early pusher configuration aircraft employing steel tube construction. The aircraft were designed by Thomas Scott Baldwin. Development After building several aircraft, Baldwin had C. and A. Wittemann of ...

flown by

Tony Jannus Antony Habersack Jannus, more familiarly known as Tony Jannus (July 22, 1889 – October 12, 1916), was an early American pilot whose aerial exploits were widely publicized in aviation's pre-World War I period. He flew the first airplane from ...

, a contestant in a ''

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 d ...

'' derby, on October 12, 1913. The plane ascended nearly 4,000 feet and flew for twenty minutes above the air at Oakwood Heights, Staten Island. In November 1916, she was among the players in the

Willard Mack Willard Mack (September 18, 1873 – November 18, 1934) was a Canadian-American actor, director, and playwright. Life and career He was born Charles Willard McLaughlin in Morrisburg, Ontario. At an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New ...

theatrical drama ''Her Market Value''. It was produced at the Olympic Theatre in

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. The play had a cast of fifty. Bruns appeared in the comedy, ''

The Squab Farm ''The Squab Farm'' was a musical comedy about the film industry staged on Broadway in 1918. It was written by Fanny Hatton and Frederic Hatton, and staged at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway. It starred several former film directors as well as actre ...

'' (1918). The play was staged at the Bijou Theatre on

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 ...

, and it was

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lif ...

's first stage role. When Bankhead was rebuked for whistling in the communal dressing room, unknowingly breaking one of the theater's oldest superstitions, Bruns took pity on her and invited to share her dressing room. Bruns was involved in an accident at the ''Loews 7th Avenue Theatre'' 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 ...

, in 1918. The theatre closed for several days due to the incident. It reopened on October 7, with a presentation of ''The Blue Pearl''. She returned to New York in January 1920 after appearing as a

vamp The VaMP driverless car was one of the first truly autonomous cars Dynamic Vision for Perc ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, in ''Business Before Pleasure'' and ''Potash and Perlmutter'' (1915). In the latter she played the role of a typist. Bruns starred in ''Beware of Dogs'' (1920) at the

Broadhurst Theatre The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street (Manhattan), 44th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed ...

. The comedy showcased the talents of

William Hodge William Thomas Hodge (November 1, 1874 – January 30, 1932) was an American actor, playwright, and theatrical producer. He was born to Thomas Hodge and Mary Anderson. He appeared in the original 1904 Broadway hit play ''Mrs. Wiggs of the Ca ...

. He wrote the play in addition to being among its featured performers.

Films

She made three motion pictures in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. They are ''No Place For Father'' (1913), ''At First Sight'' (1917), and ''Quand on aime'' (1919). The first movie was directed by

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 released by

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 ...

located in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. Playing the role of ''Nell'' in ''At First Sight'', Bruns worked with actress

Mae Murray Mae Murray (born Marie Adrienne Koenig; May 10, 1885 – March 23, 1965) was an American actress, dancer, film producer, and screenwriter. Murray rose to fame during the silent film era and was known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips" and "Th ...

and actor Sam Hardy. Her final film was made in France and paired her with actor Paul Guide and director Henry Houry.

Drug addiction and legal issues

In 1926, Bruns wrote a series of articles about her life as a

drug addict Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

and her effort to find a cure. She was jailed in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for theft of jewels worth $1,000 in September 1925. Bruns refused to accompany officers to jail unless her

chow chow The Chow Chow is a spitz-type of dog breed originally from northern China. The Chow Chow is a sturdily built dog, square in profile, with a broad skull and small, triangular, erect ears with rounded tips. The breed is known for a very dense ...

, ''Babe'', and ''Von Hindenburg'', a

German shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...

, came with her. Inside her cell, she kept her dogs and an autographed picture of

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

. She was given a cigarette and began to talk freely with detectives. Bruns admitted stealing the jewels to obtain money to purchase

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

Death

Bruns died of

alcohol poisoning Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main ps ...

in a furnished room at 109 East 105th Street, in

, in 1927. She was discovered dying early on the evening of December 24 by automobile agency manager Charles H. Brile. Dr. Donato Bracco of 341 East 116th Street was notified but arrived after Bruns had died.

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruns, Julia 1895 births 1927 deaths Alcohol-related deaths in New York City Female models from Missouri American stage actresses American silent film actresses Actresses from St. Louis 20th-century American actresses