Joan Lowell (born Helen Wagner; November 23, 1902 – November 7, 1967) was a movie actress 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 from

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. Lowell published a sensational autobiography, ''Cradle of the Deep'', in 1929, which turned out to be fictionalized.

Early life

According to the ''Cradle of the Deep'', Lowell's mother was hailing from Boston's

Lowell family The Lowell family is one of the Boston Brahmin families of New England, known for both intellectual and commercial achievements. The family had emigrated to Boston from England in 1639, led by the patriarch Percival Lowle (1571–1665). The surn ...

, and her father was the son of a landowner from

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

and a Turkish woman. Lowell feared that her father, Captain Nicholas Wagner (Preacher Nick), had died on December 24, 1924. Newspapers reported that his ship, the ''Oceanic Vance'', sank off the coast of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Two weeks overdue in Los Angeles, California, the schooner was sighted in January 1925, fifteen miles (24 km) northwest of San Diego. The ''Oceanic Vance'' had lost her

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

, the schooner ''Westerner'', on Christmas Eve, 1924. Actually, Joan Lowell was born in

. She studied in the Garfield Junior High School in Berkeley. She attended the Munson School for Private Secretaries in San Francisco, where she obtained stenographer's skills. Her father was a ship captain who sailed on the '' Minnie A. Caine'' and reportedly took his wife and daughter, then thirteen, for a trip with him. She changed her name from Helen Wagner after taking acting lessons to help her get into the movie industry.Erickson, Hal
''A Van Beuren Production: A History of the 619 Cartoons, 875 Live Action Shorts, Four Feature Films and One Serial of Amedee Van Beuren''
Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2020.

Movie actress

Lowell received her dramatic training from Gwendolen Logan Seiler and became an extra at

Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...

at the age of 17. She played bit parts in motion pictures also as an extra. One of her first efforts was the role of ''Madge Barlow'' in the movie ''

Loving Lies ''Loving Lies'' is a 1924 silent American silent drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Evelyn Brent and Monte Blue. Plot As described in a film magazine review, just after Ellen Craig has married Dan Stover, captain of a tug boa ...

'' (1924). She was featured with

Monte Blue Gerard Montgomery Blue (January 11, 1887 – February 18, 1963) was an American film actor who began his career as a romantic lead in the silent era; and for decades after the advent of sound, he continued to perform as a supporting player ...

in ''Cap'n Dan'' and in the

Thompson Buchanan Thompson Buchanan (June 21, 1877 - October 15, 1937) was an American writer. While a journalist he began writing novels, and then turned to plays, with 1909's ''A Woman's Way'' starring Grace George being his first hit. He began writing for mov ...

theater production of ''The Cub'' (1915). After completing a leading part in ''Branded a Thief'' (1924), about Mexican frontier life, Lowell was chosen as the "Queen of the

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

" for 1924 in

Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

. She was selected by Senor De Los Rios, a noted

bullfighter A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

from Spain. Her last screen role was in '' Adventure Girl'' (1934), a film directed by

Herman C. Raymaker Herman C. Raymaker (22 January 1893 – 6 March 1944) was an American film director and actor. He directed 51 films between 1917 in film, 1917 and 1934 in film, 1934. His last two films as director were ''Trailing the Killer'' (1932) and ''Jo ...

and loosely based on her fictionalized autobiography. In 1935, Lowell sued

Van Beuren Studios The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936. History In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...

and Amedee J. Van Beuren for an accounting of the profits. Van Beuren promptly made a counterclaim for $300,000, damages allegedly sustained because of Lowell's "inexpert" performance in the picture.

Autobiographer

In 1929, Joan Lowell wrote an autobiography, ''Cradle of the Deep'', published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, in which she claimed that her seafaring father took her aboard his ship, the '' Minnie A. Caine'', at the age of three months when she was suffering from

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

and nursed her back to health. She also claimed that she lived on the ship, with its all-male crew, until she was 17, during which time she became skilled in the art of seamanship and once harpooned a whale by herself. She claimed that the ship ultimately burned and sank off Australia, and that she swam three miles to safety with a family of kittens clinging by their claws to her back. In fact, the autobiography was a fabrication; Lowell had been on the ship, which remained safely in California, for only 15 months. The book was a sensational best seller until it was exposed as pure invention. The ''Cradle of the Deep'' was later parodied by

Corey Ford Corey Ford (April 29, 1902 – July 27, 1969) was an American humorist, writer, outdoorsman, and screenwriter. He was friendly with several members of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City and occasionally lunched there. Early years Ford was ...

in his book ''Salt Water Taffy'', in which Lowell abandons the sinking ship (which had previously sunk several times before, "very badly") and swims to safety with her manuscript. Later in 1929, Lowell's book about growing up at sea was exposed as a fabrication when her former neighbors in Berkeley were interviewed by the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

''.

had to reclassify her book as fiction and offer a refund for returns. Despite all newspaper revelations and ensuing controversy, the book continued to sell well. In an interview, Lowell commented on the fabrication charges as follows: "Eighty per cent of it was true and the rest I colored up. I made some changes to protect people and the rest to make it better reading. That's an author's privilege."

Author and reporter

She married playwright

on October 16, 1927. The couple resided on a farm three miles (5 km) from

New Hope, Pennsylvania New Hope is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The population was 2,612 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. New Hope is located approximately north of Philadelphia, and lies on the west bank of the Delaw ...

. They separated in October 1929. Lowell continued to live in the smaller of two old stone houses on the property. She named the home Joan's Ark. Lowell liked the country, her horses, and books, while Buchanan preferred city life. Lowell became a newspaper reporter in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 1930s. She was assaulted by booking agent Morris Levine, who was sentenced to fourteen months in the House of Correction in January 1932. Lowell worked for

WOR (AM) WOR (710 AM) is a 50,000-watt class A clear-channel AM radio station owned by iHeartMedia and licensed to New York, New York. The station airs a mix of local and syndicated talk radio shows, primarily from co-owned Premiere Networks, includi ...

radio station in New York City in 1934.

Move to Brazil

Joan Lowell married a sea captain, Leek Bowen, in 1936. He took her to the countryside of Brazil to carve out a coffee plantation. Together they owned a farm called "The Anchorage" in the city of

Anápolis Anápolis (, ) is a Brazilian city in the State of Goiás. It is located between two capitals, the federal capital Brasília and state capital Goiânia. It is the third most populous city in the state, with 391,772 inhabitants according to an es ...

, a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian municipality of the State of

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

. Working as a real estate agent, she also sold lands to Hollywood actors and actresses as

Janet Gaynor Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American film, stage, and television actress. Gaynor began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (later ...

and

Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in '' South Pacific'' (194 ...

in Anápolis. She was called "Dona Joana" by the locals and after a long time in Anápolis she made a remarkable trip, crossing the National road " Belém Brasilia" from South to North, driving a Volkswagen. That great adventure was reported in a National magazine during the 1960s. She chronicled their adventures in a book, ''Promised Land'' (1952). Joan Lowell died in Brasilia, Brazil, in 1967. The local Jan Magalinski InstituteInstituto de Patrimônio Histórico e Cultural Professor Jan Magalinski, Anápolis, GO, Brazil preserves her archives and researches her history at Anapolis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowell, Joan 1902 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from California American film actresses American silent film actresses