Marion Byron
{{Short description|American comedian and actress (1911–1985)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2018}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Marion Byron
| image = Marion Byron Screenland929.jpg
| caption = Byron in 1929
| birth_name = Miriam Bilenkin
| birth_date = 1911
| birth_place = Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
| death_date = 1985
| death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S.
| resting_place =
| other_names = Peanuts
| occupation = {{hlist|Comedian|actress}}
| years_active = 1928–1938
| spouse =
| children = 2
}}
Marion Byron (born Miriam Bilenkin; 1911 – 1985)[https://books.google.com/books?id=eSIhzKnNUf4C&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins],, fifth edition, by Adrian Richard West Room (born 1933), McFarland & Company (2010) {{OCLC|663110495}} was an American silent film actress and comedian.
Early years
Born in Dayton, Ohio,{{cite news |title='Peanuts' From Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75316381/marion-byron/ |access-date=April 7, 2021 |work=Detroit Free Press |date=December 3, 1929 |page=25|via = Newspapers.com}} Byron was one of five daughters of Louis and Bertha Bilenkin.{{cite news |title=Louis Bilenkin, Former Resident, Dies in West |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75315993/the-dayton-herald/ |access-date=April 7, 2021 |work=The Dayton Herald |date=April 9, 1937 |location=Ohio, Dayton |page=12|via = Newspapers.com}}
Career
{{Moresources|section|date=October 2021}}
She made her first stage appearance at the age of 13 and followed it with a role in actor-producer Lupino Lane's Hollywood Music Box Revue opposite Fannie Brice. It was while appearing in this production that she was given the nickname "Peanuts" because of her short stature. While appearing in The Strawberry Blonde, she came to the attention of Buster Keaton who signed her as his leading lady in the film Steamboat Bill, Jr. in 1928 when she was just 16. (Keaton, standing 5' 5", was careful to cast ingenues who were petite, so they would photograph well opposite Keaton.)
From there she was hired by Hal Roach{{cite news |title=Beauties race for baby stardom |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72349401/los-angeles-evening-post-record/ |access-date=April 7, 2021 |work=Los Angeles Record |date=November 13, 1929 |page=1|via = Newspapers.com}} who teamed her with Anita Garvin in a bid to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy. The pairing was not a commercial success and they made only three short comedies: Feed 'Em and Weep (1928), A Pair of Tights (1928), and Going Ga-Ga (1929).
She left the Roach studio before it made talking comedies, then worked in musical features like the Vitaphone film Broadway Babies (1929) with Alice White, and the early Technicolor feature Golden Dawn (1930).
Her parts slowly got smaller until they were unbilled walk-ons in movies like Meet the Baron (1933), starring Jack Pearl and Hips Hips Hooray (1934) with Wheeler and Woolsey; she returned to the Hal Roach studio for a bit part in the Charley Chase short It Happened One Day (1934). Her final screen appearance was as a baby nurse to the Dionne Quintuplets in Five of a Kind (1938).
Family
Byron married screenwriter Lou Breslow in 1932 and they had two sons, Lawrence and Daniel. They remained together until her death in Santa Monica on July 5, 1985, following a long illness. Her ashes were later scattered in the sea.{{Citation needed |date=February 2023}}
Selected filmography
- Five of a Kind (1938)
- Gift of Gab (1934)
- It Happened One Day (1934, short subject)
- Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934)
- Swellhead (1933, released 1935)
- Only Yesterday (1933)
- Meet the Baron (1933)
- Husbands’ Reunion (1933, Mack Sennett short subject)
- College Humor (1933)
- Melody Cruise (1933)
- Breed of the Border (1933)
- The Crime of the Century (1933)
- The Curse of a Broken Heart (1933, short subject)
- Lucky Devils (1933)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- They Call It Sin (1932)
- Love Me Tonight (1933)
- The Hollywood Handicap (1932, short subject)
- Week Ends Only (1932)
- The Tenderfoot (1932)
- The Heart of New York (1932)
- Running Hollywood (1932, short subject)
- Working Girls (1931)
- Children of Dreams (1931)
- Girls Demand Excitement (1931)
- The Bad Man (1930)
- The Matrimonial Bed (1930)
- Golden Dawn (1930)
- Song of the West (1930)
- Playing Around (1930)
- Show of Shows (1929)
- The Forward Pass (1929)
- So Long Letty (1929)
- Social Sinners (1929)
- Broadway Babies (1929)
- Is Everybody Happy? (1929)
- The Unkissed Man (1929, short subject)
- His Captive Woman (1929)
- Going Ga–Ga (1929, short subject co-starring with Anita Garvin)
- A Pair of Tights (1928, short subject co-starring with Anita Garvin)
- Feed ’Em and Weep (1928, short subject co-starring with Anita Garvin)
- The Boy Friend (1928, short subject)
- Plastered in Paris (1928)
- Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928, ingenue lead opposite Buster Keaton)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Marion Byron}}
- {{IMDb name|0126410}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:American film actresses
Category:American silent film actresses
Category:Actresses from Dayton, Ohio
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Hal Roach Studios short film series
Category:20th-century American comedians
Category:American women comedians
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