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Annette Westbay

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Annette Westbay
Grainy, black and white halftone photograph taken at bust length of woman looking off to the side
Annette Westbay in a 1921 publicity photo for The Passion Flower
Born1896
Warsaw, Poland
Died1960 (aged 63–64)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • playwright

Annette Westbay (1896–1960) was an American actress and playwright[1] who was active in the early 20th-century. Born in Poland, she was adopted by an American couple and began to perform in theater productions in the 1910s. She wrote plays, sometimes in collaboration with her husband, George Scarborough.

Early life

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Westbay was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1896.[2] Her mother was the Polish pianist Melanie Wienzkowska, and her father was a revolutionary. Her family were forced to flee the country due to political persecution. Shortly after they left Poland, Westbay's father died.

After her father's death, Westbay and her mother lived in the United States while her mother performed around the country. Westbay's mother later died, and she was then adopted by Henry E. Westbay, a New York dentist, and his wife.[3][4][5]

Career

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By age 14, Westbay was considered talented at singing and piano playing, and had written for magazines, including Munsey's.[3] She graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.[6]

In 1916, she started acting in stage productions,[7] playing the part of the maid in His Majesty, Bunker Bean.[8] In 1920, she acted the part of Acacia in an American production of the play The Passion Flower.[9][10][11]

Around 1921, she married playwright George Scarborough.[12][13] In 1922, Scarborough's play The Mad Dog was produced, and afterwards he had a "nervous breakdown". Due to his health, Westbay and Scarborough moved from the eastern United States to Nevada. They later settled in Las Vegas for at least a few years.[13][14]

Westbay and Scarborough wrote Don Quixote, Jr., and in 1925, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to the story.[15] The work was adapted into the 1926 film, The Boob.[16] Westbay and Scarborough wrote the play The Heaven Tappers, which premiered in 1926 at the San Francisco Columbia theatre.[14] Westbay was cast in the play for a 1927 production at the Lyceum theatre.[17] In March 1927, the play was produced on Broadway.[12]

Westbay acted in other theatrical plays, including as Katchen in Forbidden,[18] as The Princess in the first showing of Her Friend the King,[19] as Tecla in Bad Babies,[20] and in The Awful Truth.[21]

Westbay died in 1960.[2]

Plays

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  • The Heaven Tappers, co-written by George Scarborough[22]
  • Madame Alias (c. 1927), co-written by Florence Hopkins[23]
  • The Girl I Loved, co-written by George Scarborough; adapted from poem by James Whitcomb Riley[24]
  • Cuckoo (1925), co-written by George Scarborough[25]

References

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  1. ^ "In Spotlight's Rays". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 19 December 1926. pp. 3–7. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Westbay, Annette 1896–1960". viaf.org. Archived from the original on 2021-11-24. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  3. ^ a b "Musical Progidy Is This Little Countess". Asbury Park Press. 22 June 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Brilliant Young Actress: Annette Westbay Is Daughter of a Celebrated Pianiste". The Brooklyn Citizen. 4 April 1920. p. 17. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Like Parents, Like Daughters". New York Tribune. 19 September 1920. p. 10. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Queries Answered". Theatre Magazine. Vol. 24, no. 185. December 1916. p. 398.
  7. ^ "The Playworld". Wisconsin State Journal. 28 May 1916. p. 5. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  8. ^ "'Bunker Bean' A Bright Comedy". The Daily Times. 12 May 1916. p. 4. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  9. ^ "At the Central Theater". Music News. Vol. 12, no. 27. July 2, 1920. p. 26. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Two Sides of the Footlights". The Independent. Vol. 44, no. 15. November 20, 1920s. p. 2. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. ^ "The Passion Flower". The Drama. 11 (1): 22. October 1920.
  12. ^ a b "Broadway Openings and Closings". The Billboard. 39 (11): 10–11. 12 March 1927.
  13. ^ a b "The Theatre and Its People". The Windsor Star. 18 March 1927. p. 26. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Nevadans' Play well Received". Reno Gazette-Journal. 29 November 1926. p. 4. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  15. ^ "Metro Buys "Tongo"". The Moving Picture World. April 25, 1925. p. 813. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  16. ^ Wellman, Jr., William (2015). Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel. ISBN 978-1-101-87028-0.
  17. ^ "Lyceum, "The Heaven Tappers"". The Morning Call. 25 February 1927. p. 16. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  18. ^ "Forbidden". Variety. January 1920. pp. 17, 26.
  19. ^ "Columbia". San Francisco News Letter. May 6, 1922. p. 16. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  20. ^ "Review: "Bad Babies"". Hollywood Filmograph. Hollywood Filmograph, inc. August 25, 1929. p. 33. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  21. ^ "The Awful Truth". Variety: 15. May 1922. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  22. ^ "Theatre Arts Magazine". Vol. 11. 1927. p. 334. Retrieved 14 November 2020. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  23. ^ "Gossip of the Rialto". New York Times. 3 April 1927. p. X1. ProQuest 104193483. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  24. ^ "Catalog of Copyright Entries". 20 (10). Library of Congress. 1923: 41327. Retrieved 14 November 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ^ "Premier of New Majestic Farce This Afternoon". The Los Angeles Times. 8 March 1925. pp. 3–22. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
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