Cecil Kern

Tabitha Cecil Kern was born in the 1880s,{{efn|Sources regarding Kern's official birthdate vary: The 1910 U.S. Census taken in Manhattan notes Kern was 24 years old at the time, meaning she would have been born in either 1886 or 1887. However, the New York City municipal death records denote a birth year of 1883. Alternately, at the time of her death, news outlets such as Variety stated Kern was 40 years old, suggesting a birth year of 1888–1889.}} the daughter of John Jacob Kern,{{efn|Some newspaper sources erroneously state that she was the daughter of Albert E. Kern,{{cite news|work=The Morning Astorian|location=Astoria, Oregon|title=Hit By Leading Lady|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43257541/the_morning_astorian/|date=January 11, 1908|via=Newspapers.com|page=1}} who was in fact her elder brother,{{cite news|work=New York Daily News|date=June 5, 1928|page=131|via=Newspapers.com|location=New York City, New York|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43260687/daily_news/|title=Actress Found Dead with Sign 'Do Not Disturb'}} born {{circa}} 1875.}} a publisher of the Portland, Oregon Deutsche Zeitung, and Henrietta Kern (née Marburg). Both of her parents were German immigrants.{{cite census| url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M584-YJG | title = Cecil Kern| year = 1910| location = Manhattan, New York City, New York| roll = T624 1048| page = 12B| line = 73| enumdist = 1387| filmnum = 1,375,061| nafilm = | accessdate =}} {{closed access}} 1910 census New York City census records and some news articles{{cite news|work=The Oregon Daily Journal|location=Portland, Oregon|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43257179/the_oregon_daily_journal/|date=June 6, 1920|page=47|title=Oregon Folk Are Screen Stars; Portland Training Is Valuable|via=Newspapers.com}} indicate she was born in Portland, though the 1885 U.S. Census notes that she was born in Nebraska, where she was residing in Thayer with her family at age 2.{{cite census| url = https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X3FD-8Z9| title = Tabitha Kern (entry for John Kern)| year = 1885| location = Friedensau, Thayer, Nebraska | roll = | page = | line = 48 | enumdist = 755 | filmnum = 499,581 | nafilm = | accessdate =}} {{closed access}} {{url|https://archive.today/glQwD/fadcc87773067e99bd3c0ac74c7556e194e37f52.jpg|Archived copy}}

Kern spent the majority of her early life in Portland, where she received her primary education. She became interested in acting at a young age, and relocated to San Francisco to study dramatic art in her teenage years.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43210281/the_oregon_daily_journal/|work=The Oregon Daily Journal|location=Portland, Oregon|title=Portland Girl Wins Place On Stage After Years of Hard Work|page=23|date=January 5, 1908|via=Newspapers.com}} According to her sister, Meta: "She had a remarkable memory when a child of but three years old and never tired of mimicking and reciting. She must have inherited some of my father's qualities of application and ability to study." Kern's elder brother, Albert E. Kern, later became the president of the First National Bank in Portland, as well as in Madras, Oregon.{{cite news|work=Albany Democrat Herald|location=Albany, Oregon|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43206996/albany_democratherald/|title=Cecil Kern, Actress, Daughter of Madras Banker, Found Dead|date=June 5, 1928|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}

Kern's first major stage role was that of Cynthia, a stenographer, in a production of The Man of the Hour, which began its tour in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the fall of 1907. During a performance at the Moore Theatre in Seattle in January 1908, Kern was physically assaulted by co-star Ruby Bridges, who punched her in the face at the performance's conclusion. Bridges, who claimed Kern had been ridiculing her from offstage, pleaded guilty to assault and was fined $25 for the crime.

She made her Broadway debut 1909's The Revellers.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3A4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PT266|page=266|title=The Players: Biographical Sketches|journal=Burr McIntosh Monthly|volume=19|year=1909}} Next, she portrayed Hélène in the original Broadway production of Madame X (1910). The following year, she starred as Esther opposite Oscar Adye in the Broadway production of Ben-Hur, followed by The Governor's Boss in 1914. In 1917, she joined the New Denham Players, appearing in a Denver production of Marrying Money.{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|volume=29|title=New Denham Players Open Successfully in Denver, Co.|date=May 12, 1917|page=39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XaoiAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA39}} Kern subsequently appeared in several films, including Rainbow (1921) for Vitagraph Studios.{{cite book|title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1|page=631|author=Munden, Kenneth White|publisher=American Film Institute|location=Los Angeles, California|isbn=978-0-520-20969-5}} She also appeared in 1921's The House of Mystery.

In 1923, Kern directed the Seattle Theatre Guild's opening season performance of In Love with Love.{{cite journal|journal=The Drama Magazine|page=12|title=Community Theatres|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YOIvAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA12|volume=14–15|year=1923|publisher=Drama League of America}}

Kern was found dead of apparent natural causes in a residential hotel at 24 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on June 5, 1928. The press deemed her death "mysterious" as she had gone into seclusion during the weeks before, remaining isolated in the hotel room where she lived; a "do not disturb" sign was left hanging from her door for approximately three days before her body was discovered.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43206000/the_pittsburgh_press/|work=The Pittsburgh Press|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|title=Mystery Surrounds Death of Cecil Kern|author=The United Press|page=2|date=June 5, 1928}} Per a New York Daily News report, Kern, "tall, blonde and about 40, was found fully dressed and wrapped in a silk comfortable." According to maids at the hotel, Kern had informed them in the preceding days that she had been "distressed."

A subsequent report in Variety noted that her cause of death was pulmonary hemorrhage,{{cite journal|journal=Variety|title=Cecil Kern, 40, retired actress|page=46|url=https://archive.org/details/variety91-1928-06/page/n45/|date=June 6, 1928}} which was pronounced by Dr. Hitchley of New York Hospital. The New York City municipal death records list her date of death as June 1, 1928.New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949, [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W1C-B4K Tabitha Cecil Kern, 01 Jun 1928]; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,056,681. Her remains were cremated by Fresh Pond Crematory in Queens, and she was interred at Rose City Cemetery in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.

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• {{Ibdb name|47970}}
• {{IMDb name|0449439}}

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Category:1880s births

Category:1928 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from Nebraska

Category:Actresses from Portland, Oregon

Category:American film actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American theatre directors

Category:American people of German descent

Category:Respiratory disease deaths in New York (state)

Category:Deaths from pulmonary hemorrhage

Category:Unsolved deaths in New York (state)