Anna Laughlin

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.

Anna Laughlin
Born(1885-10-11)October 11, 1885
Sacramento, California
DiedMarch 6, 1937(1937-03-06) (aged 51)
New York City
Cause of deathSuicide by gas poisoning
OccupationActress

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. Briscoe, Johnson (1907). The Actors' Birthday Book. Moffat, Yard. p. 226.
  3. Everett, William A.; Laird, Paul R. (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 380. ISBN 9781442256699.
  4. Klein, Manuel; Swan, Mark; O'Dea, James J.; Caldwell, Anne (1907). The Top O' Th' World: A Musical Extravaganza in Two Acts. M. Witmark & Sons. p. 3.
  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 1900s Ends Her Life in N.Y." The Washington Post (April 6, 1937): 14.
  12. Maxine, David. "Dorothy's Oz book". Hungry Tiger Talk. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
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