Dorothy Smoller Explained

Dorothy Smoller (c.1898 – 9 December 1926) was an actress and dancer known for the 1919 film Out of the Fog. She was also featured on the 1919 US Vogue cover in a photograph taken by photographer Adolph de Meyer.

Early life and career

[1] Early in her career, she was a dancer at the Palace and St. Francis hotels in San Francisco[2] and in 1914 she toured internationally, demonstrating the tango.[1] [3] [4] [5] [6] She then studied dance with Ruth St. Denis.[7] In 1915, she was engaged as a solo dancer at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition,[2] where she "danced a bacchanale with such grace that it created a sensation".[8] She then spent two years as a support dancer with Anna Pavlova[9] during her tour of South America and on her return to New York.[2] In 1919 and 1920, she had dancing roles in several plays and musicals, including See-Saw (produced by Henry W. Savage),[10] What's In a Name (produced by John Murray Anderson),[11] and Checkerboard,[2] [12] and also appeared in operetta in 1921, at the Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, and on tour.[2] In 1919, she appeared as a dancer in the film Out of the fog,[13] and was featured on the cover of the December 1919 issue of Vogue magazine, photographed by Adolphe de Meyer.[14] [15]

Illness and death

Smoller was diagnosed with severe pulmonary tuberculosis in 1923. She spent two years at the Cragmor Sanitarium in Colorado Springs to seek treatment, where she met Benjamin Strong, who was also suffering from tuberculosis. Against the advice of doctors, she went back to New York to resume her dancing career, but suffered a hemorrhage during rehearsal for the Broadway play "Howdy, King". She committed suicide on December 9, 1926, in her room at the Hotel Shelton, New York City, four days before the play's opening,[16] writing letters addressed to her mother, Mrs Rose Smoller, and to Benjamin Strong.[17] [18] The cause of death was suicide by drinking liquid shoe polish which contained potassium cyanide.[19] [20] A New York newspaper speculated[19] that another factor contributing to her suicide was her "failure to get work in the films .. Miss Smoller had a screen test at the Famous Players studio .. and .. was informed she "would be considered".[19]

Notes and References

  1. News: Dainty Los Angeles Girl Tangoing Around World . 17 February 2019 . The Los Angeles Times . 28 June 1914 . Dainty Dorothy Smoller, an exquisite little Los Angeles girl, not yet 17 years old, is tangoing around the world..
  2. News: Dances Into Wide Fame - California Girl Home With Success . 17 February 2019 . The San Francisco Examiner . 15 March 1921 . 14.
  3. News From All Quarters . The Japan Daily Mail . 1914 . 62 . 75 . 23 February 2019.
  4. Untitled . The North-China Herald and Supreme Court and Consular Gazette . 1914 . 113 . 721 . 23 February 2019.
  5. News From Fort McKinley, Philippines . Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times . 10 October 1914 . 56 . 460 . 23 February 2019.
  6. News: Girl Dances Before Royalty - Career Began In Oakland . 17 February 2019 . Oakland Tribune . 17 January 1915 . Oakland, California . 28.
  7. News: Modern Out, Ancient In, Fair Dancer's Repertory - Miss Dorothy Smoller to Show New-Old Art at Greek Theater . 23 February 2019 . Oakland Tribune . 22 July 1915 . 14.
  8. News: College Women Talk Usefulness . 23 February 2019 . San Francisco Chronicle . 25 July 1915 . 20.
  9. Book: Money . Keith . Anna Pavlova: her life and art . 1982 . Collins . 9780002163668 . 261 . 23 February 2019.
  10. News: Miss Dorothy Smoller "Arrives" as a Dancer in New Comedy, "See-Saw" . 17 February 2019 . El Paso Herald . El Paso, Texas . 13 December 1919 . 7.
  11. Village Follies Closing Set . The New York Clipper . 7 January 1920 . LXII . 48 . 5 . 23 February 2019.
  12. News: 'The Checkerboard', New Hatton Play, Is Only Mediocre . 23 February 2019 . New York Herald . 20 August 1920 . 7.
  13. Following the Films . Camera! The Digest of the Motion Picture Industry . 6 April 1919 . II . 1 . 11 . 23 February 2019.
  14. Book: Devlin . Polly . Vogue Book of Fashion Photography, 1919-1979 . 1979 . Simon & Schuster . 9780671243715 . 34.
  15. Book: Baron De Meyer . Adolf . DeMeyer . 1976 . Knopf . 9780394497440 . 23 February 2019.
  16. Book: Hischak, Thomas. Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows through 2007. McFarland. 2009. 9780786453092. United States. 535.
  17. News: Actress a Suicide by Poison in Hotel - Girl Leaves Note to Benjamin Strong, Banker, Once a Patient in Hospital With Her. December 10, 1926. New York Times. February 3, 2019.
  18. News: Own Life Taken by Dancing Girl of Long Beach . 23 February 2019 . The Los Angeles Times . 10 December 1926 . 12, Part 2.
  19. News: Dolan . Frank . Actress, Ill, Ends Life With Shoe Polish - Begs Forgiveness of Mother, Youth, as Ambition Fails . 23 February 2019 . Daily News . 10 December 1926 . New York, New York . 6.
  20. Book: Frasier, David. Suicide in the Entertainment Industry. McFarland. 2002. 9780786410385. United States. 297.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dorothy Smoller".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.