Volume III: Biographies

 

TURNER, Alice *

Actress (1913-1914)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Alice Turner was a young actress with Thanhouser in 1913 and 1914.

Biographical Notes: Alice Turner, born circa 1904, the daughter of Thanhouser employee J. Alan Turner and sister of the Turner twins, was seen in at least three Thanhouser films.

The Moving Picture World, April 22, 1915, printed this sketch: "Little Alice Turner, daughter of J. Alan Turner, formerly technical director for Fox, is just 12 years of age, yet she may qualify as a veteran on the legitimate stage, in vaudeville and on the screen. Having had experience in all branches of the profession, Little Alice, with a fine decisiveness for one so young, has chosen acting in pictures. She likes to dance, swim, to ride and best of all, to act in front of the camera, so a bright career is being planned with just one aim in view - she is going to become a photoplay star.

"Not many girls of 12 can match the following record of activity: At the age of six appeared in a play with Andrew Mack and in two days learned a part of 17 'sides,' acted in pictures for the Biograph, Gem, IMP, Rex and Reliance companies and later played at the Academy of Music in The Bluebird, The Red Mill, and Aladdin's Lamp. An engagement with The Charity Girl in Chicago was followed by experience in posing for fashions and three seasons with the fashion shows at Grand Central Palace and Bamberger's in Newark. Then came a long tour on the Loew Circuit in a monologue; two years of schooling preparatory to another picture engagement, this time with the Thanhouser company. Gold, Her Big Brother, and Arty, the Artist, were the most important of the photoplays in which little Alice appeared in 1914.

"For the past six months the youthful actress has been in Kingston, Jamaica, with the Annette Kellermann company in A Daughter of the Gods, under the direction of Herbert Brenon. She was one of the mermaids, did a solo dance in the palace scene, and acted several small parts. More than that, Little Alice feels that she has had her first experience in direction, for she was entrusted with the task of arranging the turbans and sashes of more than one hundred natives used in a mob scene. Beauty, intelligence, and training are among the assets of this coming star."

Vanity Fair, circa 1912 (from an undated clipping in the Robinson Locke Collection), printed the following letter from Alice Turner: "Dear Mr. Editor: I saw your editorial of 'Suffer Little Children' in last week's Vanity Fair, and as I am quite a little stage child I thought I would answer and ask you please to publish this in your Vanity Fair, and I also want to thank you for your kindness in behalf of the little stage children. I don't see why we are classed with the poor little factory children, as our profession is art, and very educating and gives us a big start. To earn our own living in a pleasant way which we enjoy, by the time we are grown up we can command a salary equal to that of any man.

"I attend Public School No. 17, on West Forty-seventh Street, and I am in 4A class, and when I come home I study my lesson until four o'clock, and then I take a walk. And when I am playing in the theatre mama always goes back and forth and besides that she always dresses and makes me up. Oh! But it's such fun and I do love it. Tuesday, after school and Saturday morning I take my dancing lessons from Mme. E. Menzelio, of 22 East Sixteenth Street. I would almost die if I were not allowed to appear. I have posed for several moving pictures and it's great fun. We sometimes have to pose for only half an hour and get $5 and lunch and carfare for the day; the moving picture people treat us very nice. I have played a 16-page part and I got up in part in three days for a stock company. Our mayor has been very nice; he gave my little twin brothers a permit to appear in Over the River with Miss Lorraine. - Yours truly, LITTLE ALICE TURNER."

In December 1913, she was on stage in a benefit minstrel show at the 39th Street Theatre in New York City for The Stage Children's Fund. The New York Herald, December 29, 1913, told of the young actress' part: "For a real enthusiasm for stage life as it is to children, Alice Turner, about 10, is a great example. She not only made everybody enjoy her singing, but appeared to be having a fine time herself in the part of Si Johnson. There was no dancing that she missed, and she sang with a vim - and to the great jealousy of Grace Burns - then seated on Momma's knee. Possibly Alice was even more appreciated when she declared herself entirely and absolutely for suffrage."

At the Thanhouser employees' ball held in January 1914 Alice Turner performed songs and was described as a "girl comique." Occasionally she was seen on stage in comedy vaudeville roles at Loew's Theatre, New Rochelle, and elsewhere. In December 1914 she was seen on stage in the annual benefit for The Stage Children's Fund, held that year at the Maxine Elliott Theatre. Among the other children there were the Turner twins and Doris Farrington, also associated with Thanhouser. In November 1916 young Alice was in charge of "At the Summer Home," an exhibit at the bazaar held at the Hotel McAlpin to benefit the Stage Children's Fund.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1914: Her Big Brother (6-16-1914), Arty the Artist (8-30-1914), Gold (9-15-1914)

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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.