Volume II: Filmography

TURNER TWINS, The *

Actors (1914)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: The Turner twins, young boys, appeared in the 1914 Thanhouser release of A Can of Baked Beans.

Biographical Notes: The Turner twins, Fred and Allen (also spelled Alan in publicity), were the sons of J. Alan Turner, who was associated with Thanhouser, and the brothers of Thanhouser actress Alice Turner. Variety, May 11, 1912, carried this item: "The first 'kids' to appear at Hammerstein's under permit are there this week, in the Valeska Suratt act. They are the Turner twins, around six years of age. The father is Turner, the property man, well known to show people in New York. Miss Suratt secured permission from the mayor, after pleading for three days. A condition was made that the children should not turn around while on the stage, going directly across either way. The Suratt Act will play the Percy G. Williams theatres. The contract was arranged by Jack Levy...."

The following article appeared in Vanity Fair, circa 1912 (from an undated clipping in the Robinson Locke Collection): "Two of the most charming artists with Eddie Foy in Over the River are the Turner twins. They are in the 'Doll Number' with Lillian Lorraine. Their names are Fred and Allen Turner, but you can call either of them any name you like, as they both answer and look alike. They are fair with hair the color of corn in the sun, blue eyed, imitation noses and red lips.

"When the Vanity Fair man interviewed the twins, he said to Allen, just aged four, 'You make up your lips on the stage?' 'No,' corrected Allen, 'not on the stage, in the dressing room.' Turning to Fred, the Vanity Fair man asked him if he had any opinion to express on the state of the drama, but his mouth was so full of chewing gum that he could not answer. Allen further volunteered the information that he is going to imitate Eddie Foy when he is grown up. His repertoire at present consists of Eddie Foy's speech: 'She's a nice girl, but too domestic.'

"It is a good thing that we have a mayor in New York City like Judge Gaynor, who overrides the Gerry law, which is the bugbear of the stage children. Anyone who sees the Turner twins would know that they are happy, healthy, well cared for, and intelligent, and likely to make good citizens of the United States. Their sister, Alice, is a dramatic genius, who though only eight-and-a-half years of age, has already played one part sixteen-and-a-half pages long."

The New York Morning Telegraph, May 16, 1912, noted: "The youthful Turner twins, who appeared with Eddie Foy in Over the River earlier in this season, are securely launched upon their career, for they have no end of contracts waiting for their mother to sign as soon as they complete their present engagement with Valeska Suratt. The boys are as much alike as two boys could possibly be, and even their mother has difficulty in telling them apart at the distance of a few feet. Both have identical coloring in eyes and hair, are of the same build, and have lost the same number of teeth.

"'And they have both had about every disease that children are heir to,' said Mrs. Turner as she drew one of them into the dressing room of Hammerstein's last week after he had twisted Ralph Herz's imitation mustache askew just as the latter was making his entrance. 'I sometimes wonder how I manage them, they are so full of the old boy. But they love to get before an audience and have never balked yet. This one, however, got mad at Mr. Foy one day and told him to 'Go check his old job,' adding that he could get another. Allen and Fred are their names, though Allen answers to Fred and Fred to Allen with equal alacrity. The little turkey trot they do they picked up themselves, and this is by no means the extent of their ability. 'But I can't allow them to do anything more,' said their mother. 'I have not yet recovered from the experience I went through in order to obtain a permit for them to appear at all.'"

Columnist Gordon Trent, in The Morning Telegraph, January 25, 1914, took note of a change in their career: "The Turner twins have left musical comedy for motion pictures. They will make their debut in Thanhouser films in A Can of Baked Beans. Might almost be called a canned debut. As the Turner twins are boys, Bert Adler [Thanhouser's publicist] is already laying plans for their marriage to the Thanhouser Twins, who are girls. It would make a fine press story, y' know."

An article in The Moving Picture World, February 14, 1914, related: "TURNER TWINS IN THANHOUSER FILMS: The little tow-headed Turner twins have left the musical comedy stage for pictures. The little apples of Valeska Surratt's have joined the brigade of New Rochelle youngsters. With the Kidlet, the Twins, Marie Eline, Leland and Dorothy Benham, the yellow-topped Turners are in 'fast company' and on their youthful mettle all the time. Their debut comes in A Can of Baked Beans, a February Thanhouser. For the sake of readers who never 'caught' the Turners in a musical show, let it be said that they are boys, of course. Though 'of course' is added to impress that the original Thanhouser Twins are girls and the engagement of the Turner lads is in no way intended to interfere with them."

An article in The New York Star, August 8, 1914, stated that they were then seven years old and for Thanhouser had "played among other roles, those of the bad youngsters in A Can of Baked Beans."

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: A Can of Baked Beans (2-22-1914)

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