My Own Story: As Told to Mildred Harrington (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from My Own Story: As Told to Mildred Harrington
...)
Excerpt from My Own Story: As Told to Mildred Harrington
The Publishers express regret that this volume could not have appeared before the death of Marie Dressler who saw and approved the greater part of the manuscript but who was too ill either to read or give her approval of the final proofs.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
The Life Story of an Ugly Duckling: An Autobiographical Fragment in Seven Parts; Illustrated With Many Pleasing Scenes From Former Triumphs and From Private Life (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from The Life Story of an Ugly Duckling: An Autob...)
Excerpt from The Life Story of an Ugly Duckling: An Autobiographical Fragment in Seven Parts; Illustrated With Many Pleasing Scenes From Former Triumphs and From Private Life
My discovery that my appearance wasn't in a class with the blue ribbon winners was deduced from study of the parlor plush album - a big book filled with photographs of my sister, who was five years Older, and Of my Cousin, whom my mother was raising. Likenesses Of these two girls posed in every conceivable position, with every possible background, blossomed from all the pages. In summer they stood near a latticed summer house with chains of roses and smirks Of satisfaction. Winter surprised them in little fur tippets and muffs. One of these pictures depicted the two little beauties standing with the rope Of a sled in their hands. Only the front sleigh runners were visible.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Marie Dressler was an American stage and screen actress. She performed comedic roles that allowed her to improvise to get laughs.
Background
Marie Dressler was born on November 9, 1871, in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, the younger of the two daughters of Alexander Rudolph and Annie (Henderson) Koerber. She was named Leila. Her father, a German by birth, who had served with the British army in the Crimea and had later emigrated to Canada, was a music teacher of uncertain temperament and roving disposition. Although he was presumably well-born, he made barely a living for his small family, whom he moved from town to town in Canada and the United States.
Education
Dressler received little schooling.
Career
In 1886, at the age of fourteen, according to her own story, Marie declared herself to be eighteen and joined a dramatic road company managed by the brother of Emma Nevada. When she went on the stage she took the name of an aunt, Marie Dressler, because of her father's objection to her carrying his name to the stage. She remained only briefly with the Nevada Company. After similar connections with the Robert Grau and the Deshon opera companies she joined the George Baker Opera Company for a three-year engagement. Her equipment consisted mainly in a good natural singing voice and a determination to succeed. The grueling training she received with the Baker company, which called for an appearance in a new opera every week, she considered the best of her career. Leaving the opera company at the end of her engagement, she went to Chicago, where she appeared with Eddie Foy in Little Robinson Crusoe.
Later she played the Tartar in The Tar and the Tartar until it closed on the road. She then made her way to New York. Her first appearance there was as Cunigonde in Maurice Barrymore's The Robber of the Rhine, a romantic comedy with music, which opened at the Fifth Avenue Theatre on May 28, 1892. The play was a failure, and to keep going she sang nightly at the Atlantic Garden on the Bowery and at Koster and Bial's.
In 1893 her fortunes turned and she was given an opportunity to play the Duchess in support of Lillian Russell in The Princess Nicotine, which opened at the Casino in November. In 1894 she played for a time in Girofle-Girofla at the Bijou, and in 1895 she was cast in a revival of 1492 and Madeleine, or The Magic Kiss. In December 1895 she was with Leo Ditrichstein in A Stag Party at the Garden Theatre.
Her first personal success came when Dressler played the part of Flo Honeydew in The Lady Slavey, which opened in Washington in 1896 and had a long run. Then she appeared with Joe Weber, after the Weber and Fields combination had broken up, and played at Weber's Music Hall. She toured with Weber in 1906 and in 1907 she went to London, where she met with great success, appearing first at the Palace Theatre in October 1907. In 1909 she tried to carry too purely American humor to the London stage and the venture was a failure. She returned to the United States, toured for a time, then found a role which she termed her "nearest approach to immortality. " It was the part of Tillie Blobbs, "a boarding house drudge, " in Tillie's Nightmare. As Tillie she sang the song, "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl, " which was long associated with her name. The play, presented by Lew Fields, toured for a time and then opened in New York at the Herald Square Theatre in May 1910. It had a phenomenal run, both in New York and on the road.
After this success, she tried to put on a show called Marie Dressler's Merry Gambol. It proved disappointing, and after its run had ended she went to Los Angeles for a rest. While there she was persuaded by Mack Sennett to take a part in a motion picture. She agreed, and the result was Tillie's Punctured Romance, a successful comedy filmed in 1914, in which she appeared with Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. It was later followed by Tillie Wakes Up and Tillie's Tomato Surprise.
After the outbreak of the First World War, Miss Dressler left the stage (she was then playing in vaudeville) to help in the war effort. With the same energy that she had put into many roles in the theatre, she made speeches, sold liberty bonds, and entertained men in service. The war over, she tried to return to the stage, but it was difficult. She appeared in a revival of Tillie's Nightmare and in a few other shows, but for the most part she found little to do.
Finally in 1927 she was given an opportunity to do a bit part in another motion picture. This was the beginning of her real career in pictures, a career in which she was ultimately to find herself and to reap the benefits of a long life of struggle. In her earlier years she had had certain handicaps: her size and native vigor had marked her for hoydenish parts in which she had had to make herself ridiculous.
In the films, at an age past fifty, she came into her own. She had become a master of her art, and she had achieved a mellowness which her age and great-hearted nature had brought to her. In 1930 she was cast in Anna Christie, Min and Bill, One Romantic Night, and Let Us Be Gay. Her last pictures, Tugboat Annie, in which she had the title role, Christopher Bean, a version of the stage play by Sidney Howard, and Dinner at Eight, were filmed in 1933. She died the following year, having suffered for some time from cancer, and was buried in Glendale, California.