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Texas Guinan

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Texas Guinan
Born
Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan

(1884-01-12)January 12, 1884
Waco, Texas, U.S.
DiedNovember 5, 1933(1933-11-05) (aged 49)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s)Actress, producer, entrepreneur
Years active1906–1933
SpouseJohn J. Moynahan (1904–1906; divorced)

Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan (January 12, 1884 – November 5, 1933) was an American actress, producer and entrepreneur. Born in Texas to Irish immigrant parents, she decided at an early age to become an entertainer. After becoming a star on the New York stage, the repercussions of her involvement in a weight loss scam motivated her to switch careers to the film business. Spending several years in California appearing in numerous productions, she eventually formed her own company.

She is most remembered for the speakeasy clubs she managed during Prohibition. Her clubs catered to the rich and famous, as well as to aspiring talent. After being arrested and indicted during a law enforcement sweep of speakeasy clubs, she was acquitted during her trial.

Personal life and early career

Guinan was one of four siblings born in Waco, Texas, to immigrants Michael and Bessie (née Duffy) Guinan, who had immigrated separately as adults, meeting and marrying in Colorado[FN 1]. Both parents were of Irish ancestry. They initially operated a wholesale grocery business. Relocating to Texas, they ran a horse and cattle ranch. As a child, she was nicknamed "Mamie", and attended parochial school at the Loretta Convent in Waco, Texas . Growing up on a ranch provided her with basic cowboy skills, and she honed her marksmanship at a local shooting gallery. In 1898, her parents were successful in securing her a two-year scholarship to the American Conservatory of Music offered by Chicago businessman Marshall Field.[1] After developing her soprano vocal talents, and finishing her studies, she joined a touring acting troupe that featured American "Wild West" entertainment.[2]

By 1904 using the name Marie Guinan, she married newspaper cartoonist John Moynahan on December 2. Two years later, Moynahan took a job in Boston. The couple eventually divorced, and Guinan moved to New York to pursue a career as a singer in the entertainment business.[3][2][4] For years, she claimed she had been born with the name Texas, and never let facts stand in the way of her narrative. In a full-page 1910 interview in The San Francisco Call, she stated her father "was the first white child seen in Waco", although he had been a married adult when he arrived, and white settlers had been there since the early to mid-19th century.[5][4]

Theatre critic and Photoplay editor Julian Johnson was her companion for a decade, and was influential in the creation of her public persona. Many erroneously believed them to be married.[6][7] Her 1933 obituaries mention Johnson as her second husband, and millionaire George E. Townley as a third husband. Lacking any verification that the latter two marriages took place, Moynahan is now believed to have been her only husband.[2][8]

Johnson's connection is thought to have led to a poem carrying her byline being printed in Photoplay.[7][9] An alleged connection to the U.S. Senator from Texas, Joseph Weldon Bailey, evolved over time from a nonspecific tie to her family, to Guinan's being the senator's niece. The niece relationship seems implausible, since her parents were born and raised in a different country than either Senator Bailey or his wife. Mentions of him coincide with the timeline of her association with Julian Johnson. While he was editor at Photoplay, an article written by then-staff journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns remarked that Guinan, " ... bore a distinct resemblance to her uncle, Senator Joe Bailey of Texas."[10]

Vaudeville and stage productions

Initially finding work as a chorus girl, she adopted the stage name Texas Guinan to give herself an edge in the competitive marketplaces of vaudeville and New York theatre productions.[11] Within a year, she had the female lead in a stage production of Simple Simon Simple, during which she accidentally shot herself on stage with a loaded gun.[12] In 1908, she received favorable notices for her performance in The Gibson Girl Review.[13] That same year, she placed an advertisement in newspapers offering $1,000 to any songwriter who provided her with a song of equal popularity to the Gus Edwards–penned "That's What the Rose Said to Me"[14] She appeared as a soprano vocalist in many productions, including The Gay Musician, The Hoyden and The Lone Star.[15]

She had achieved a degree of national stardom by 1910. John P. Slocum managed her when she appeared in his multiyear touring production of The Kissing Girl.[4] When Ned Wayburn rolled out his production of The Passing Show on a national tour in 1913, Guinan was one of the headliners. Coinciding with the publicity for the tour, Guinan licensed her name and image to be used by W. C. Cunningham for a weight-loss plan. The advertisements that appeared in media across the country claimed Guinan had lost 70 pounds on the plan.[16] Investigative journalism by the Chicago Tribune alleged that Guinan knowingly acted as a shill in perpetrating a fraud upon the public. A subsequent investigation by the postal service revealed it to be a swindle. United States Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson quickly acted to prohibit Guinan from receiving mail through the postal service.[17] Although she continued on the stage, the incident damaged her career, and was a motivating factor in expanding her repertoire by trying her hand in the California film business.[18]

Guinan appeared as Zaza in the variety show Hop-o'-My-Thumb, based on a French fairytale of the same name. The show opened at the Manhattan Opera House November 26, 1913, and closed January 1, 1914.[19] She toured the United States with the Whirl of the World musical comedy in 1915. The tour coincided with her unverified account of being casually approached in Berlin by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who engaged her in conversation as she sat alone reading a book.[20][21]

She appeared in the musical Gay Paree that opened at the Shubert Theatre on August 18, 1925 and closed on January 30, 1926.[22] Guinan was part of the cast of the musical Padlocks of 1927, also at the Shubert.[23]

Films

In a film career that began in 1917 and continued through 1933, she was part of the vanguard of women filmmakers in the United States. Her later claims of being in France in 1917 entertaining the troops, and being decorated with a bronze medal by France field marshall Joseph Joffre, has been proven false by the timeline and California location of her prolific film-making.[24][25] Triangle Film Corporation, founded in 1915 by Harry Aitken and Roy Aitken, featured Guinan in four two-reel shorts between 1917 and 1918, The Fuel of Life, The Stainless Barrier, The Gun Woman and The Love Brokers. Unlike the musical genre she was known for on stage, she was now moving towards the Western movie genre, and on her dressing room door appeared a map of the state of Texas, rather than her name. Triangle began billing her as "the female Bill Hart" in reference to the industry's first Western star who at that time topped fandom popularity polls.[26]

Advertisement for Frohman Amusement Corp featuring Texas Guinan

Frohman Brothers were Broadway producers. In 1915, brother Daniel Frohman and partner William L. Sherrill formed the Frohman Amusement Corporation, a motion picture business.[27] They made more than a dozen films with Guinan in 1918, including The Boss of the Rancho and The Heart of Texas.

During her years with Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft, she began to expand towards the production end of film-making, as a unit department head on the films Outwitted, The Lady of the Law, The Girl of the Rancho, The Desert Vulture, and at least five other productions. She created Texas Guinan Productions in 1921 to produce Code of the West, Spitfire and Texas of the Mounted.[28] After I Am the Woman and The Stampede for Victor Kremer Film Features, she returned to New York.[29]

Guinan was again seen on the screen with two sound pictures, playing slightly fictionalized versions of herself as a speakeasy proprietress in Queen of the Night Clubs (1929) and then Broadway Thru a Keyhole (1933, written by Walter Winchell) shortly before her death.[28]

Queen of the night clubs

The 1920 Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution put Prohibition into effect, making sales or transport of alcoholic beverages illegal. While it ruined legitimate businesses, people continued drinking alcohol. Those who transported and sold it were known as "bootleggers". Thus began the establishment of the speakeasy private clubs, a cultural phenomenon in which Guinan excelled. Her introduction into the business was when speakeasy partners Emil Gervasini and John Levi of the Beaux Arts club hired Guinan in 1923 as a singer, for which she was paid $50,000.[30][31]

I never take a drink and I never sell a drink. I am paid to put on an act and I put on an act. I once gave [U.S. Attorney General] Buckner a certified check for $100,000 to give anyone who has ever seen me take a drink or sell a drink. That check is still good, so's my offer.

Texas Guinan, December 1927[30]

Guinan's give-and-take dialogue with the customers inspired producer Nils Granlund to put together a full floor show with Guinan presiding as emcee for Ziegfeld Follies chorus girls. Bootleg huckster Larry Fay struck a deal with them to feature the show at his El Fey Club on West 47th Street in Manhattan. There, she became known for her catchphrase, "Hello, Sucker! Come on in and leave your wallet on the bar." In return for being the draw to attract wealthy and powerful clientele, Guinan received 50% of the profits. Ruby Keeler, Barbara Stanwyck and George Raft were discovered by talent scouts while working as dancers at the club.[32][33][34] After being shut down by the police, she opened the Texas Guinan Club at 117 West 48th Street, also closed by the police. She and Fay later opened the Del-Fey Club in Miami the same year. By her own account, they once took in $700,000 in less than a year.[30][35]

When Guinan returned to New York in January 1926, as hostess of the 300 Club at 151 W. 54th Street, the opening night's event was the marriage ceremony for actress Wilda Bennett and Argentine dancer Abraham "Peppy" de Albrew. Other celebrities who visited her club were Al Jolson, Scottish operatic soprano Mary Garden, Jack Dempsey, American operatic soprano Geraldine Farrar, and the Prince of Wales.[30][36]

In July 1926, the 300 Club was raided by the police, who seized bottles of liquor and arrested two people for "violation of the section of the penal code forbidding suggestive dances".[37] The last week of June 1928, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt ordered a raid of speakeasy clubs in New York. Guinan, Helen Morgan (hostess of Chez Helen Morgan), Nils Granlund, and 104 others were arrested, and indicted by a federal grand jury. Guinan, Morgan and Granlund faced two years in prison, with a $10,000 maximum fine, if convicted. The others indicted were employees and patrons, who faced lesser penalties. At her April 1929 trial, Guinan was acquitted.[38]

Final years and death

During the Great Depression, she took her show on the road. She attempted to move to Europe, but Scotland Yard threatened to board her ship if she tried to land in England, where she was on their list of "barred aliens". The show was banned from France under labor technicalities. Guinan had a contract with a Paris club, but French employment laws dissuaded non-citizens from working in France. She turned this to her advantage by launching the satirical revue Too Hot for Paris upon her return to the States.[39][40]

While on the road with Too Hot for Paris, she contracted amoebic dysentery in Chicago, Illinois, during the epidemic outbreak at the Congress Hotel during the run of the Chicago World's Fair. The epidemic was traced to tainted water. She fell ill in Vancouver, British Columbia, and died there on November 5, 1933, age 49, exactly one month before Prohibition was repealed; 7,500 people attended her funeral. Bandleader Paul Whiteman was a pallbearer along with two of her former lawyers and writer Heywood Broun.[41]

Guinan is interred at the Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. Her family donated a tabernacle in her name to St. Patrick's Church in Vancouver in recognition of Father Louis Forget's attentions during her last hours. When the original church was demolished in 2004, the tabernacle was preserved for the new church built on the site. She was survived by both of her parents. Her father was 81 years old at his death on May 14, 1935, and her mother died at age 101 in 1959. The newspaper obituary listed his place of birth as Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, and his profession as a wholesale grocer. Her brothers Tommy and William P., as well as her sister Mrs. George C. Smith, also survived her.[42]

Legacy

Actress portrayals of Guinan
Fictional characters based on Guinan
Misc

Filmography

Acting credits of Texas Guinan
Year Title Production Notes Ref(s)
1917 The Fuel of Life Triangle Film Corporation [53]
1917 The Stainless Barrier Triangle Film Corporation [28]
1918 The Gun Woman Triangle Film Corporation [54]
1918 The Love Brokers Triangle Film Corporation [55]
1918 Getaway Kate Astra Films [56]
1918 The Hell Cat Goldwyn Pictures [57]
1919 The Boss of the Rancho Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 The Call of Bob White Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 The Dangerous Little Devil Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 The Dead Man's Hand Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 The Girl of Hell's Agony Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 The Heart of Texas Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 Just Bill Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 Little Miss Deputy Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 Malamute Meg Frohman Amusement Corp. [57]
1919 The Sacrifice Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 The She Wolf Frohman Amusement Corp. [58]
1919 Some Gal Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 South of Santa Fe Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 The Spirit of Cabin Mine Frohman Amusement Corp. [28]
1919 Letters of Fire Melody Productions [28]
1919 The Love Defender World Film Company [59]
1919 Texas Guinan and Jack Hane [28]
1919 My Lady Robin Hood Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft [28]
1919 Outwitted Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1919 The Lady of the Law Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1919 The Girl of the Rancho Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1919 The Desert Vulture Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1919 Fighting the Vigilantes Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1920 The Moonshine Feud Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1920 The Night Rider Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1920 Not Guilty Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1920 The White Squaw Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft also unit department head [28]
1920 The Wildcat Bull's Eye Productions/Reelcraft [28][60]
1921 Code of the West Texas Guinan Productions [28]
1921 Spitfire Texas Guinan Productions [61]
1921 Texas of the Mounted Texas Guinan Productions [28]
1921 I Am the Woman Victor Kremer Film Features [62]
1921 The Stampede Victor Kremer Film Features [28]
1924 Night Life of New York Famous Players-Lasky [63]
1929 Queen of the Night Clubs Warner Bros. [64]
1929 Glorifying the American Girl Paramount Famous Lansky Corp. Uncredited as herself [28]
1933 Broadway Through a Keyhole Twentieth Century Pictures Written by Walter Winchell [65]

Written by Texas Guinan

  • "How to Keep Your Husband Out of My Night Club," Liberty, April 30, 1932, p. 50.
  • "Oh, Professor!," College Humor, June 1932, p. 24.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Sources conflict as to point of origin. Some say both parents immigrated from Dublin, Ireland. Some say one or both of them had been born in Canada to immigrants from Ireland

References

  1. ^ Shirley 1989, pp. 1–3.
  2. ^ a b c Cottrell, Debbie Mauldin (June 15, 2010). "Mary Louise (Texas) Guinan". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  3. ^ Shirley 1989, pp. 4–5.
  4. ^ a b c Anthony, Walter (December 11, 1910). "Miss Guinan says she's a lonesome star from Texas". The San Francisco Call. p. 39. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  5. ^ Conger, Roger N. (June 15, 2010). "Waco, Tx". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  6. ^ Cullen, Hackman & McNeilly 2007, p. 465.
  7. ^ a b Slide 2010, p. 52.
  8. ^ "Death Beckons "Texas" Guinan". Los Angeles Times. November 6, 1933. p. 2. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Guinan, Texas (April 1915). "Modern Cinderella". Photoplay Magazine: 128. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ "Texas Guinan Visits Pres. Taft". The Ogden Standard. November 12, 1909. p. 6, col. 5. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; St Johns, Adela Rogers. "Guinan of the Guns". Photoplay (Jul – Dec 1919). Photoplay Magazine Publishing Company: 59–60 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ Sizer 2008, p. 82.
  12. ^ "Theatrical Chatter". The Buffalo Enquirer. December 13, 1907. p. 2, col. 4. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Actress Shoots Herself". Green Bay Press-Gazette. October 12, 1907. p. 2. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Poli's Promises Big Attractions: Texas Guinan and "The Gibson Girl Review"". Hartford Courant. October 17, 1908. p. 6. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "$1.000 for a Song That Will Make a Hit". The Pittsburgh Press. January 19, 1908. p. 35. col. 2. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Miss Texas Guinan". The Salt Lake Tribune. November 18, 1909. p. 2. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  16. ^ "Famous Actress Loses 70 Lbs. Of Fat". Omaha Daily Bee. August 31, 1913. p. 10-B. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  17. ^ "Actress Quack Plays "Fat Lady" To Get The Money". Chicago Tribune. December 17, 1913. p. 15. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Mails Are Closed To Texas Guinan Under Fraud Order". Chicago Tribune. January 20, 1914. p. 13. col. 7. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Shirley 1989, p. 3.
  19. ^ "Hop o' My Thumb". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  20. ^ "Playbill for Whirl of the World". The Bismarck Tribune. March 27, 2015. p. 3. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Actress Has A Chat With German Kaiser". Democrat and Chronicle. April 4, 1915. p. 25. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Gay Paree". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  23. ^ "Padlocks of 1927". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  24. ^ Hoefling 2010, p. 71.
  25. ^ Troesser, John. "Texas Guinan". Texas Escapes. Blueprints For Travel, LLC. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  26. ^ "Name Not Enough So She Added Face". The Bourbon News. December 25, 1917. p. 3, col. 4. Retrieved April 3, 2018.; "Fourth of July at the Lyceum". The Ogden Standard. July 3, 1919. p. 5, col. 3. Retrieved April 3, 2018.; "The Motion Picture Hall of Fame". Motion Picture Magazine. Chicago: Brewster Publications: 7. July 1918. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  27. ^ "The Right To Use The Name of Frohman". Theatre Magazine. 27: 394. 1918. ISSN 0749-8829.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af "Texas Guinan – Women Film Pioneers Project". wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  29. ^ Shirley 1989, p. 44.
  30. ^ a b c d Dorman, Marjorie (December 18, 1927). "Texas Guinan Tells How She Makes $100,000 A Year, Never Takes A Drink, And Says Folks Don't Go To Night Clubs To Imbibe Booze". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 27. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ Hoefling 2010, pp. 70–71.
  32. ^ Corcoran, Michael (May 1988). "Texas Guinan". Texas Monthly. Emmis Communications: 112.
  33. ^ Sizer 2008, p. 95.
  34. ^ Hoefling 2010, pp. 72–74.
  35. ^ "Texas Guinan Again Clashes With Law Over Rum Selling". The Pittsburgh Press. June 10, 1925. p. 12. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.;"Texas Guinan, Laughing At Padlocks, "Arrives"". The Miami News. November 25, 1925. p. 21, col. 5. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ "Wilda Bennett Weds Her Dancing Partner". Asbury Park Press. January 20, 1926. p. 1. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ "Police, Dry Agent Raid Night Club Of Texas Guinan". Palladium-Item. July 3, 1926. p. 11. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ Love, Sam (July 31, 1928). "Broadways Favorites - Texas Guinan Must Face Charge - 107 Of Them Indicted". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 1, col. 2. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; Saunders, Hortense (August 12, 1928). "Crape For Broadway Nightclubs?". Messenger-Inquirer. p. 18. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Prohibition Rounders And Texas Guinan". Chicago Tribune. April 13, 1929. p. 12. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ "Texas Guinan Defies British To Bar Her When She Tries To Land Land". Democrat and Chronicle. May 23, 1931. p. 1, col. 6. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.; "Texas Can't Alight to See Paris, France Rules". Macon Chronicle-Herald. May 29, 1931. p. 1, col. 3. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ "Texas Guinan, Night Club Queen, Dies". Chicago Tribne. November 6, 1933. pp. 1, 6. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ Sizer 2008, p. 103.
  42. ^ "Michael Guinan". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 15, 1935. p. 19, col. 5. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  43. ^ "Broadway Nights, 1927". silenthollywood.com. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  44. ^ "Incendiary Blonde". AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  45. ^ "The George Raft Story". AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  46. ^ "Splendor in the Grass". AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 3, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  47. ^ Shirley 1989, p. 119.
  48. ^ a b c Wallace 2012, p. 75.
  49. ^ Erickson 2017, p. 198.
  50. ^ Tucker 2011, p. 105.
  51. ^ Nachman 2016.
  52. ^ Collins 2018.
  53. ^ "Tex Guinan In Apollo Drama". The Tacoma Times. December 6, 1917. p. 6, col. 3. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  54. ^ "Gun Woman". LOC American Silent Feature Film Database. 1918. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  55. ^ "The Love Brokers". AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  56. ^ Yaeger, Lynn (January 12, 2017). "Celebrating Texas Guinan, the Original "Nasty Woman"". Vogue. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  57. ^ a b Sizer 2008, p. 88.
  58. ^ "The She Wolf". LOC Silent Filml Database. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  59. ^ Shirley 1989, p. 20.
  60. ^ "Bijou theater advertisement". The Lake County Times. July 3, 1920. p. 2, col. 6. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  61. ^ Shirley 1989, p. 43.
  62. ^ "I Am The Woman". AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  63. ^ Shirley 1989, p. 48.
  64. ^ "Queen of the Nightclubs". AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  65. ^ "Seeing the Movies with John Alden". Star Tribune. December 24, 1933. p. 20, col. 3. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.

Sources

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