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Marguerite Snow

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Marguerite Snow
Born(1889-09-09)September 9, 1889
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
DiedFebruary 17, 1958(1958-02-17) (aged 68)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active1911 - 1925
Spouse(s)James Cruze (1913-1923)
Neely Edwards (1925-1958)

Marguerite Snow (September 9, 1889 – February 17, 1958) was an American silent film and stage actress.

Early life and education

Snow was born in Savannah, Georgia. Her father, Billie Snow, was a comedian and a minstrel. She was educated in Denver, Colorado at the Loretta Heights Academy.

Silent Film Leading Lady

Snow became an actress at an early age. She played many parts while still a child, but her real stage career did not begin until she was sixteen years old. Her first engagement was with James O'Neill. Her formal stage debut was in 1907 in the play Monte Cristo. She played in The College Widow, Mrs. Temple's Telegram, as Elsa in The Devil, and at the Bijou Theater, Wheeling, where as leading lady of the stock company she played ten different parts. One of her theatrical efforts was a Broadway production.[citation needed]

Snow gained prominence in silent films, beginning in 1911, made by the Kinemacolor Company, the Thanhouser Film Company in New Rochelle, New York, and the old Metro Pictures studio before it became MGM. In 1911 she starred in films like The Moth and The Buddhist Priestess. Some of her later feature pictures are Baseball and Bloomers (1911), A Niagara Honeymoon (1912), The Caged Bird (1913), The Silent Voice (1915), A Corner in Cotton (1916), Broadway Jones (1917), The Veiled Woman (1922), and Kit Carson Over The Great Divide (1925). In Broadway Jones Snow played a pretty stenographer at the Jones' gun factory as the movie's leading lady. This was the first Artcraft photoplay of George M. Cohan. She never made a movie after the introduction of sound to films.

Marriages

The actress was married twice. Her first wedding was in January 1913 to James Bosen, a director, whose professional name was James Cruze. He was affiliated with Famous Players-Lasky and was one of the best-known directors in motion pictures. During divorce proceedings in October 1923, Snow testified that her husband frequently beat her. A public beating was responsible for their separation. The couple were at a party in 1921 when the actress requested that James take one of her women friends home. The ensuing quarrel ended with Cruze beating his wife about her face and body. She was knocked to the floor and one of her teeth was dislodged. The couple had one daughter, Julie Jane. Cruze later married silent film actress Betty Compson. After divorcing Cruze, Snow married Neely Edwards, a film comedian, on December 25, 1925. Edwards became master of ceremonies of the local company of The Drunkard. This play ran continuously in Hollywood, California, from 1933 until the late 1950s.

In 1933 Snow's daughter, Julie Jane Cruze, was given nine pieces of property by her father at a time when he feared he might die of a heart ailment. The properties were located in Flintridge, California and La Canada, California. Julie Jane shared some of the $150,000 in income derived from the bequest with her mother, who was destitute and was living in a trailer. The daughter filed a cross complaint in October 1938 to block a suit by James Cruze to quiet title to the property and return it to him. Julie Jane stated that her father originally gave her the property to avoid losing it to creditors.

Death after surgery

In 1957 Snow underwent a kidney operation. Complications occurred, and she died, aged 68, at the Motion Picture Country Home in 1958 in Los Angeles, California. The Edwards' residence was at 1930 Stewart Street, Santa Monica, California. Funeral arrangements were carried out by Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Partial filmography

References

  • Photoplay Magazine, Notes of the Players, "Marguerite Snow", February, 1912, p. 43
  • Fort Wayne, Indiana News, "Movie Actress Has Lots of Admirers", May 16, 1913, p. 7
  • The Frederick, Maryland Post, "Theaters", Monday, September 10, 1917, p. 6
  • Los Angeles Times, "Cruze's Ex-Wife Called Destitute", October 29, 1938, p. A9
  • Los Angeles Times, "Marguerite Snow, Star of Silents, Dies", February 18, 1958, p. 4
  • Los Angeles Times, "Marguerite Snow's Rites Set Today", February 20, 1958, p. B26
  • The New York Times, "Marguerite Snow", February 18, 1958, p. 27
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