Lillian Lorraine (1892/1894 – April 17, 1955) was an American stage and screen actress of the 1910s and 1920s, and a prominent Ziegfeld Girl in the Broadway revues Ziegfeld Follies during the 1910s.
Lillian Lorraine | |
|---|---|
 in Munsey's Magazine, 1920 | |
| Born | Lillian (sometimes spelled Ealallean) Jacques 1892/1894 |
| Died | April 17, 1955 New York City, NY, U.S. |
| Resting place | Saint Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx County, New York City, NY, U.S. |
| Other names | Mary Ann Brennan Lillian O'Brien |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1906–1922 |
| Spouse |
Frederick M. Gresheimer
(m. 1913; ann. 1913) |
| Partner | Jack O'Brien (1946-55) |
Early years
edit
Lorraine was born in Utah, most likely as Lillian (sometimes transcribed as Ealallean) Jacques (her publicity claimed she was born on New Year's Day in San Francisco, California) to Mollie and Charles Jacques (or De Jacques). Her father was a miner whose roots were in St. Louis. Her mother's maiden name may have been Mary Ann Brennan.[1] The U.S. census of 1900 shows that she and her parents resided in Leadville, Colorado, at her maternal step-grandfather's hotel, and gives her birthdate as January 1894, her name as Lillian Jacques, and her place of birth as Utah.
Career
editShe began her career on stage in 1906, aged 12 or 14. The following year, she appeared as a minor performer in a Shubert production, The Tourists. It was in that show that she was discovered by Florenz Ziegfeld. At some point she had become known as Lillian (or Lillie) Lorraine. He spent the next several years promoting her career, rocketing her into an ascendance which made her one of the most popular attractions in his Follies.[2] In 1909, Ziegfeld pulled the teenaged Lorraine from the chorus line in that year's production of Miss Innocence to spotlight her as a solo performer who became celebrated for introducing the song "By the Light of the Silvery Moon".[3]
Lorraine starred in many annual productions of The Ziegfeld Follies as well as the 1912 Broadway musical Over the River. She ventured into motion pictures with limited success, appearing in about ten films between 1912 and 1922, including the serial Neal of the Navy with William Courtleigh, Jr.[citation needed] Although the affair she'd had with Ziegfeld was over by the end of the 1910s, her box-office drawing power kept her in a number of his productions of the period. Lorraine's fame began waning in the 1920s and she worked for a period in vaudeville.[citation needed]
Personal life
editLorraine's personal life earned her more notoriety than either her talent or her beauty, and she was a staple in newspapers of the day with accounts of her latest turbulent romance or feuds with rival stars such as Fanny Brice and Sophie Tucker.[citation needed]
In his book Scandals and Follies, author Lee Davis writes that, "By 1911, [Ziegfeld] was insanely in love with Lillian Lorraine and would remain so, to one degree or another, for the rest of his life, despite her erratic, irresponsible, often senseless behavior, her multiple marriages [sic] to other men, his own two marriages and his need for all his adult life to sleep with the best of the beauties he hired."[4] The relationship, both professional and romantic, between Ziegfeld and Lorraine, reportedly led to the demise of his relationship with Anna Held.[citation needed] Lorraine and Ziegfeld's relationship was turbulent and emotionally complex, but their passion was such that Ziegfeld's second wife, actress Billie Burke, confessed that Lorraine was the only one of Ziegfeld's past sexual entanglements that aroused her jealousy.[3]
Marriages
editLorraine married Frederick M. Gresheimer, on March 27, 1912, after they met on a beach.[5] Ten days later, Lorraine announced that the marriage had been a mistake and that the couple was "incompatible" due to her career.[6] The marriage was later found to be invalid because Gresheimer had not divorced his first wife. Lorraine and Gresheimer remarried in May 1913. Three months later, Lorraine filed to have the marriage annulled after claiming that Gresheimer misrepresented himself.[7]
Around 1946, she reportedly wed Jack O'Brien, an accountant. According to Lorraine's biographer, Nils Hanson, no record of any such marriage exists, and the marriage was likely common-law.[8]
Final years and death
editLorraine disappeared from public view in 1941, sometimes going by her mother's purported maiden name, Mary Ann Brennan.[1] She died on April 17, 1955, in New York City. She was widely believed to have been 63 years old at the time of her death but may have been 61.[9] Her funeral, which was held at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, was attended by Jack O'Brien and two friends. She initially was buried in a pauper's grave in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. Her body later was exhumed and moved to a friend's family plot in Saint Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx.[10]
Broadway credits
edit| Date | Production | Role |
|---|---|---|
| November 30, 1908 - May 1, 1909 | Miss Innocence | Angele |
| June 14 - August 7, 1909 | Ziegfeld Follies of 1909 | Performer |
| June 20 - September 3, 1910 | Ziegfeld Follies of 1910 | Performer |
| June 26 - September 2, 1911 | Ziegfeld Follies of 1911 | Performer |
| January 8 - April 20, 1912 | Over the River | Myrtle Mirabeau |
| October 21, 1912 - January 4, 1913 | Ziegfeld Follies of 1912 | Performer |
| January 10 - May 30, 1914 | The Whirl of the World | Fifi, Cleopatra II |
| November 19, 1917 - February 23, 1918 | Odds and Ends of 1917 | Performer |
| Jun 18, 1918 - Closing date unknown | Ziegfeld Follies of 1918 | Performer |
| July 1918 - Closing date unknown | Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic | Performer |
| November 3, 1919 - January 3, 1920 | The Little Blue Devil | Paulette Divine |
| March 8 - May 1920 | Ziegfeld Girls of 1920 | Performer |
| January 13 - May 13, 1922 | The Blue Kitten | Totoche |
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | The Immigrant's Violin | Lora - Albert's Sweetheart | Short film |
| 1912 | Dublin Dan | The Old Hag | Short film |
| 1912 | The Face at the Window | Short film | |
| 1913 | The Detective's Santa Claus | Miss Steele | Short film |
| 1913 | The Old Parlor | Short film | |
| 1915 | Neal of the Navy | Annette Illington | Lost serial |
| 1915 | Should a Wife Forgive? | La Belle Rose | print held by Library of Congress[11] |
| 1917 | The Prima Donna's Special | The Prima Donna | Short film Alternative title: The Hazards of Helen (#118): The Prima Donna's Special |
| 1918 | Playing the Game | Lost film | |
| 1922 | Lonesome Corners | Martha Forrest | Lost film |
In popular culture
edit- The first biography of Lorraine, Lillian Lorraine: The Life and Times of a Ziegfeld Diva by Nils Hanson, was published in October 2011 by McFarland Press.
- Lorraine was portrayed by Valerie Perrine in the 1978 film Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women (Columbia Pictures).
- Lorraine is mentioned as an acquaintance of characters in Jennifer Egan's 2017 novel Manhattan Beach (New York: Scribner Press).
Footnotes
edit- ^ a b c (Hanson 2011, p. 186)
- ^ (Hanson 2011, pp. 18–19)
- ^ a b Lorraine and Ziegfeld, musicals101.com; accessed October 24, 2014.
- ^ (Hanson 2011, p. 63)
- ^ "Actress Lillian Lorraine Weds Man Who Taught Her How To Swin Like a Tadpole". The Evening News. March 27, 1912. p. 3. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
- ^ "Actress Quits Husband". The Milwaukee Sentinel. April 5, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved January 19, 2013.[dead link]
- ^ "Wants Marriage Annulled". Evening Tribune. July 19, 1913. p. 1. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
- ^ (Hanson 2011, pp. 186, 186)
- ^ "Lillian Lorraine; Won Fame as Ziegfeld Star". Youngstown Vindicator. April 21, 1955. p. 36. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
- ^ (Hanson 2011, pp. 186–190)
- ^ Lorraine, Lillian (September 14, 1915). "Should A Wife Forgive?" – via memory.loc.gov.
References
edit- Hanson, Nils (September 1, 2011), Lillian Lorraine, The Life and Times of a Ziegfeld Diva, MacFarland & Company, ISBN 978-0786464074
External links
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