Winona Winter (1889 — April 27, 1940) was an American

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 ...

performer and silent-film actress.

Early life

Winona Winter was the daughter of minstrel songwriter William Banks Winter and Clara Demming Newman Winter. She had two younger brothers."Mrs. Banks Winter, Called Most Beautiful Woman of Alabama, Dies". ''Battle Creek Enquirer'' (October 13, 1922). Winter acted as a child, in ''The Little Tycoon'' (1895) in Detroit. In 1901, her skull was examined by

phrenologists Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...

in a published case study, which found her to be gifted, especially in humor and memory.

Career

In vaudeville Winter was best known for "

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

" parts,Will Rogers, Steven K. Gragert, M. Jane Johansson, eds.
''The Papers of Will Rogers: From vaudeville to Broadway : September 1908-August 1915''
(University of Oklahoma Press 2001): 459-460. as a singing comedian, and as a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

. She performed with

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

in Rochester in 1908, in New York in 1910, and in Chicago in 1912, and was associated with

Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...

's company in 1922. She was still performing on vaudeville in 1928, with an act she called "Broadway-o-grams", a selection of short character sketches and celebrity impersonations. Winter appeared in four Broadway musical productions: ''The Little Cherub'' (1906-1907), ''He Came from Milwaukee'' (1910), ''

The Fascinating Widow ''The Fascinating Widow'' is a 1910 musical comedy written by Otto Hauerbach as a vehicle for the female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The play premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then toured the United States for 10 months before appearin ...

'' (1911), and ''The Broadway Whirl'' (also called ''The Century Midnight Whirl'') (1921). She played "Sally" in the silent film ''

The Man from Mexico ''The Man from Mexico'' is a 1914 silent film produced by the Famous Players Film Company and Daniel Frohman. It starred John Barrymore in his second feature film and was remade in 1926 as '' Let's Get Married'' starring Richard Dix. The film was ...

'' (1914).

Personal life

Winter married Norman L. Sper, a sports announcer. They had a son, Norman L. Sper Jr., born in 1925. In 1940, Winter died in

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' ...

. Winter was 51."Mrs. Winona Winter Sper" ''New York Times'' (April 28, 1940): 40. via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

Winter is buried in

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a full-service cemetery, funeral home, crematory, and cultural events center which regularly hosts community events such as live music and summer movie screenings. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles ...

in California.

References

External links

*
Winona Winter's listing on IBDB.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Winona 1889 births 1940 deaths American actresses Vaudeville performers Ventriloquists