Violet MacMillan (March 4, 1887 – December 29, 1953), was an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

productions,

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 ...

, and silent films.

Early career

MacMillan gained fame as the "Cinderella Girl"''New York Times'' Obituary. Dec. 30, 1953 in a contest to discover a woman with feet small enough to wear a petite golden slipper. She was hesitant but entered a Broadway show, and won. Her foot measured an 11½ children's size.

Theatrical actress

Soon she had a leading part in the original production of the musical, ''The Time, The Place and The Girl''. While engaged in this play, in the 1908 season, the actress had surgery at

Harper Hospital Harper University Hospital is one of eight hospitals and institutes that compose the Detroit Medical Center. Harper offers services in a broad range of clinical areas, including cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery, organ transplant, plastic surge ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. She completed a successful vaudeville tour in 1916. She participated in the stage production, ''The Wishing Slippers'', at

Universal City, California Universal City is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Approximately 415 acres (1.7 km) within and around the surrounding area is the property of Universal Picture ...

. Another play of note is ''In And Out of the Movies''. She performed in this ''vaudeville oddity'', in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, during the fall of 1917.

Silent films

In motion pictures Miss MacMillan joined the stock company of

The Oz Film Manufacturing Company The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was an independent film studio from 1914 to 1915. It was founded by L. Frank Baum (president), Louis F. Gottschalk (vice president), Harry Marston Haldeman (secretary), and Clarence R. Rundel (treasurer) as an ...

and debuted in the film versions of ''

His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz ''His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz'' is a 1914 American silent fantasy adventure film directed by J. Farrell MacDonald, and written and produced by L. Frank Baum. It stars Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Vivian Reed, Todd Wright, Pierre Coud ...

'' (as

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of its ...

), ''

The Patchwork Girl of Oz ''The Patchwork Girl of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum is a children's novel, the seventh in the Oz series. Characters include the Woozy, Ojo "the Unlucky", Unc Nunkie, Dr. Pipt, Scraps (the patchwork girl), and others. The book was first published o ...

'' (as

Ojo Ojo may refer to: *Ōjō, a Japanese Buddhist term referring to rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha *Ojo, a curious red bear cub who has a wild imagination and is good friends with Treelo on ''Bear in the Big Blue House'' * ''Ojo'' (comi ...

), and ''

The Magic Cloak of Oz ''The Magic Cloak of Oz'' is a 1914 film directed by J. Farrell MacDonald. It was written by L. Frank Baum and produced by Baum and composer Louis F. Gottschalk. The film is an adaptation of Baum's 1905 novel, '' Queen Zixi of Ix''. Produ ...

'' (as King Bud of Noland), all made in 1914, and the lost series of

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...

-written and produced shorts, ''

Violet's Dreams ''Violet's Dreams'' was a series of short films written and produced by L.Frank Baum with The Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1915 and starring Violet MacMillan. The films are not known to survive. Each film depicted MacMillan entering a differ ...

'', in which she played a girl named Claribel who had fairy-tale adventures in her dreams. She was an actress for

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 ...

. She made twenty-six motion pictures, ending with the role of Violet Bronson in ''

The Mystery Mind ''The Mystery Mind'' is a 1920 American crime drama silent black and white film serial directed by Will S. Davis and written by John W. Grey and Arthur B. Reeve. An homonym novel is based on this film, also written by Grey. In the story a var ...

'' (1920), a 15-chapter serial about a Satanic cult in lost Atlantis. Among her co-stars in films were

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

, Blanche Ring,

Trixie Friganza Trixie Friganza (born Delia O'Callaghan; November 29, 1870February 27, 1955) was an American actress. She began her career as an operetta soubrette, working her way from the chorus to starring in musical comedies to having her own feature act o ...

, and

Julian Eltinge Julian Eltinge (May 14, 1881 – March 7, 1941), born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage and film actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notic ...

. Violet retired from show business in 1922.

Personal life and death

As Mrs. John H. Folger, she was the wife of an industrial executive, who became her press agent in entertainment. She was a member of

Zonta International Zonta International is an international service organization with the mission of advancing the status of women. Alan Axelrod, ''International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders'', New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1997, p. 271. ...

, the Grand Rapids Club, a non-profit organization working to advance the status of women through service and advocacy worldwide. She also served as president of the Grand Rapids Club from 1930-1932. Violet MacMillan, at age 66, died at her home in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

in 1953.

References

* ''Daily News'' (

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...

), "Orpheum", Monday, November 11, 1917, Page 10. * ''

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 ...

'', "Violet MacMillan", December 2, 1914, Page III4. * ''Los Angeles Times'', "Camera Clicks", December 17, 1916, Page III21. * ''

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 ...

'', "Violet MacMillan Has Recovered", December 26, 1908, Page 3. * ''The New York Times'', "Cinderella Girl Dies", December 30, 1953, Page 23. * Zonta Club of Grand Rapids Archives, Grand Rapids Public Library.

Sources

British Film Institute listing for MacMillan

External links

* *
Find a Grave entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macmillan, Violet 1887 births 1953 deaths American film actresses American silent film actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Grand Rapids, Michigan Vaudeville performers 20th-century American actresses