Pearl Fay White (March 4, 1889 – August 4, 1938) was an American stage and film actress. She began her career on the stage at the age of six, and later moved on to
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, 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) ...
s appearing in a number of popular
serials.
Dubbed the "Queen of the Serials", White was noted for doing the majority of her own stunts, most notably in ''
The Perils of Pauline''. Often cast as a plucky onscreen heroine, White's roles directly contrasted those of the popularized archetypal
ingénue
The ''ingénue'' (, , ) is a stock character in literature, film and a role type in the theater, generally a girl or a young woman, who is endearingly innocent. ''Ingénue'' may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in such role ...
.
Early life
White was born in
Green Ridge,
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
, to Edgar White, a farmer, and Lizzie G. House. She had four brothers and sisters. The family later moved to
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...
.
At age 6, she made her stage debut as "Little Eva" in ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...
''.
When she was 13, White worked as a
bareback rider for the circus.
Career
She began performing with the Diemer Theater Company while in her second year of high school. Against the wishes of her father, White dropped out of school, and in 1907,
she went on the road with the Trousedale Stock Company, working evening shows while keeping her day job to help support her family. She was soon able to join the company full-time, touring through the American
Midwest.
White played minor roles for several years, when she was spotted by the
Powers Film Company in New York. She claimed she had also performed in Cuba for a time under the name Miss Mazee, singing American songs in a dance hall. Her travels as a singer also took her to South America.
In 1910, White had trouble with her throat, and her voice began to fail from the nightly theatrical performances. She made her debut in films that year, starring in a series of one-reel dramas and comedies for
Pat Powers 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 ...
. It was at Powers Films that White honed her skills at physical comedy and stunt work. She became a popular player with the company and caught the attention of
Pathé Frères
Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipme ...
.
In 1910, White was offered a role by Pathé Frères in ''The Girl From Arizona'', the
French company's first American film produced at their new studio in
Bound Brook, New Jersey. She then worked at
Lubin Studios
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.
History
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was formed in 1 ...
in 1911 and several other of the
independents, until the
Crystal Film Company in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
gave her top billing in a number of slapstick comedy shorts from 1912 to 1914. White then took a vacation in Europe. Upon her return, she signed with Eclectic Film Company, a subsidiary of Pathé in 1914.
Pathé director
Louis J. Gasnier
Louis Joseph Gasnier (September 15, 1875 – February 15, 1963) was a French-American film director, producer, screenwriter and stage actor. A cinema pioneer, Gasnier shepherded the early career of comedian Max Linder, co-directed the enormously ...
offered her the starring role in
film serial
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...
''
The Perils of Pauline'', based on a story by playwright
Charles W. Goddard. The film features the central character, Pauline, in a story involving considerable action, which the athletic Pearl White proved ideally suited for. ''The Perils of Pauline'' consisted of 20 two-reel episodes that were released weekly. The serial proved to be a hit with audiences and made White a major celebrity; she was soon earning $1,750 a week.
She followed this with an even bigger box office hit, ''
The Exploits of Elaine
''The Exploits of Elaine'' is a 1914 American film serial in the damsel in distress genre of '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1914).
''The Exploits of Elaine'' tells the story of a young woman named Elaine who, with the help of a detective, tries to ...
'' (1914–1915).
Over the next five years, White appeared in the popular serials ''The New Exploits of Elaine'' (1915), ''The Romance of Elaine'' (1915), ''The Iron Claw'' (1916), ''Pearl of the Army'' (1916–1917), ''The Fatal Ring'' (1917), ''The House of Hate'' (1918), ''The Lightning Raider'' (1919) and ''The Black Secret'' (1919–1920).
In these serials, White flew airplanes, raced cars, swam across rivers, and did other similar feats. She did much of her own stunt work until Pathé decided that they could not risk injuring one of their most popular stars. (She had already injured her spine during the filming of ''The Perils of Pauline'', an injury that caused her pain for the rest of her life.)
A male stunt double wearing a wig performed the majority of the more dangerous stunts in White's later films.
The public was largely unaware that White and other actors used stunt doubles, but in August 1922, the truth was revealed.
During the filming of White's final serial, ''Plunder'', John Stevenson, an actor who was doubling for White, was supposed to leap from the top of a bus on
72nd Street and
Columbus Avenue onto an elevated girder. He missed the girder and struck his head. Stevenson died of a fractured skull. After the filming of ''Plunder'' was complete, White traveled to Europe for another vacation.
By 1919, White had grown tired of film serials and signed with
Fox Film Corporation
The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...
with the ambition to appear in dramatic roles. Over the next two years White appeared in ten drama films for Fox but her popularity had begun to wane.
Later years
At the
Pathé movie studio she met Blanche Azurello and both travelled to France where White hoped to reboot her acting career.
Influenced by her French friends from Pathé, White was drawn to the
Montparnasse
Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...
Quarter of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. While living there, she made her last film for her friend,
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
-born director
Edward José
Edward José (5 July 1865 – 18 December 1930) was a Belgian film director and actor of the silent era. He directed 42 films between 1915 and 1925. He also performed in 12 films between 1910 and 1916.Montmartre
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
production ''Tu Perds la Boule''. In 1925, she accepted an offer to star with comedian
Max Wall in the "London Review" at the
Lyceum Theatre in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
, where she earned $3,000 a week. She then retired from performing.
By the time she retired from films in 1924, White had amassed a fortune of $2 million ($ million in ). A shrewd businesswoman, she invested in a successful Parisian nightclub, a
Biarritz resort hotel/casino, and a stable of 10 race horses. White divided her time between her townhouse in
Passy and a 54-acre estate near
Rambouillet.
She became involved with Theodore Cossika, a Greek businessman who shared her love of travel. Together, they purchased a home near
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
.
According to published reports after her death, White's friends claimed that she intended to make a comeback in sound films. White later told friends that after she made a test for sound films in 1929, she was told that her voice was unsuitable. White made occasional visits to the United States in 1924, 1927, and 1937. On her last visit, White told reporters she was not interested in making a comeback and mused that acting in silent films was more difficult than acting in the then-new "talkies". By this time, White had gained a substantial amount of weight. She told reporters she did not like to be photographed as she felt that photos made her face look fat, adding "Why should I have my picture taken when I can get paid for it?"
[Golden 2000 p.204]
Personal life
White was married twice and had no children. She married actor
Victor Sutherland on October 10, 1907. They divorced in 1914. In 1919, she married actor Wallace McCutcheon Jr., son of pioneering cinematographer and director
Wallace McCutcheon Sr. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1921.
Death
By 1937, White was dying of liver failure. The injury she sustained to her spine while filming ''The Perils of Pauline'' had continued to cause her pain, which she eased with drugs and alcohol. A year before her death, White got her affairs in order, purchased a plot in Cimetière de Passy (
Passy Cemetery) near her home and arranged her own funeral.
In early July 1938, she checked herself into the
American Hospital of Paris in the suburb of
Neuilly
Neuilly (, ) is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as we ...
, due to issues with her liver. She slipped into a coma on August 3, 1938, and died the following day of what was identified in her obituaries as a "liver ailment"
(likely
cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue rep ...
due to years of heavy drinking).
She was 49 years old. White was buried in Cimetière de Passy after a small, private funeral.
White left the majority of her fortune, including jewelry and property, to Theodore Cossika. She also bequeathed money to her father, nieces, and nephews, and willed $73,000 to charities.
Legacy
Pearl White's place in film history is important in both the evolution of cinema genres and the role of women. Like many silent films, many of White's films are now considered
lost. ''The Perils of Pauline'' is only known to exist in a reduced nine-reel version released in Europe in 1916, but ''The Exploits of Elaine'' survives in its entirety and was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
in 1994. In 2008 the condensed version of ''Perils of Pauline'' was also inducted into the Nation Film Registry. All of her films were made at studios on the East Coast, as White reportedly never visited
Hollywood. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Pearl White has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6838 Hollywood Blvd.
The 1947
Paramount Pictures film ''
The Perils of Pauline'', starring
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 11, 2007)
was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer.
Early life and education
Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 2 ...
, is a fictionalized biography of Pearl White.
Selected filmography
(''for extensive list of her films see the
Pearl White filmography'')
See also
Notes
Sources
*Davis, Lon. 2008. ''Silent Lives: 100 Biographies of the Silent Film Era''. Forward by
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...
. BearManor Media, Albany, Georgia.
*
*Johaneson, Bland, "Good-by, Boys, I'm Through," ''
Photoplay'', April 1924, p. 31. Retirement announcement.
*
External links
Pearl Whiteat the Women Film Pioneers Project
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{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Pearl
1889 births
1938 deaths
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from Missouri
Alcohol-related deaths in France
American child actresses
American expatriates in France
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
American stage actresses
American stunt performers
Burials at Passy Cemetery
Deaths from cirrhosis
Film serial actresses
People from Springfield, Missouri
People from Pettis County, Missouri
Vaudeville performers
Women film pioneers