Anna Laughlin

Anna Laughlin
Anna Laughlin, from a 1902 publication
Born (1885-10-11)October 11, 1885
Sacramento, California
Died March 6, 1937(1937-03-06) (aged 51)
New York City
Cause of death Suicide by gas poisoning
Occupation Actress

Anna Laughlin (October 11, 1885 – March 6, 1937) was an American actress on stage and in silent films. In 1902, she became the first actress to play Dorothy Gale.

Early life

Anna Laughlin was born in Sacramento, California. She began appearing on stage as a "child elocutionist",[1] and then in vaudeville and touring companies.[2]

Career

Laughlin went to New York as a young teenager, and was in Broadway shows by 1900's The Belle of Bohemia. In 1902, at age 16, she played Dorothy Gale in a musical production of The Wizard of Oz that started in Chicago and ran on Broadway through 1904.[3] Other shows featuring Laughlin included His Majesty (1906), The Top o' th' World (1907),[4] Mama's Boy (1912), When Claudia Smiles (1914). She also had a solo variety show in 1909. "Miss Laughlin is such a demure, pretty, and winsome little body that her appearance alone is sufficient to please the most hardened playgoer or vaudeville attendant," commented a New York reviewer, "but when combined with her truly artistic singing, it is a treat that none can fail to enjoy."[5] In widowhood she had a brief comeback on Broadway in 1925, in The Fall Guy.[6]

Laughlin appeared in more than a dozen silent films, all made between 1913 and 1915, including The Rebellious Pupil (1913, a short), Northern Lights (1914), The Greyhound (1914), The Amazing Mr. Fellman (1915), and What Happened to Father (1915), and The Crown Prince's Double (1916).[7]

Personal life

Laughlin married Evan "Van" Monroe, a jeweler, in 1904.[8] They had a daughter, Lucy Monroe (1906-1987),[9] who became a noted singer.[10] Laughlin was widowed by 1925 and died by suicide from gas poisoning in 1937, in New York. She was 51 years old.[11]

In 2011, Anna Laughlin's personal copy of The Wizard of Oz was auctioned on eBay.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Benefit Entertainment Given to Little Anna Laughlin, the Child Elocutionist" Sacramento Record-Union (August 5, 1892): 4. via Newspapers.com
  2. ↑ Johnson Briscoe, The Actors' Birthday Book (Moffat, Yard 1907): 226.
  3. ↑ William A. Everett, Paul R. Laird, Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical (Rowman & Littlefield 2015): 380. ISBN 9781442256699
  4. ↑ Manuel Klein, Mark Swan, James J. O'Dea, Anne Caldwell, The Top o' th' World (M. Witmark & Sons 1907).
  5. ↑ "New Vaudeville Acts: Anna Laughlin" New York Dramatic Mirror (November 6, 1909): 18.
  6. ↑ "Anna Laughlin Has No Illusions About the Stage" New York Times (September 6, 1925): 54.
  7. ↑ "Anna Laughlin Joins Reliance" The Moving Picture World (October 11, 1913): 134.
  8. ↑ "Wizard of Oz Player Weds" New York Times (July 13, 1904).
  9. ↑ Gertrude Marks, "Anna Laughlin's Little Girl" Daily Boston Globe (January 19, 1936): 8.
  10. ↑ Burt A. Folkart, "Obituaries: Lucy Monroe; Singer Noted for 'Star-Spangled Banner'" Los Angeles Times (October 17, 1987).
  11. ↑ "Anna Laughlin, Broadway Idol Of 1900's Ends Her Life in N.Y." The Washington Post (April 6, 1937): 14.
  12. ↑ "Dorothy's Oz Book" Hungry Tiger Talk (April 22, 2011).
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