Rubye De Remer
{{Short description|American film actress and showgirl (1908–1984)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rubye De Remer
| image = Ruby DeRemer, ca. 1919.png
| caption = Ruby De Remer, c. 1919
| birth_name = Rubye Katherine Burkhardt
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|1|9}}
| birth_place = Denver, Colorado U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|3|18|1892|1|9}}
| death_place = Beverley Hills, California, U.S.
| occupation = {{Plainlist|
- Showgirl
- Actress
}}
| years_active = 1916–1936
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- Alan T. De Remer, 6/5/1912-10/29/1919 (Divorce)
- Benjamin H. Throop, 4/7/1924-5/10/1935 (his death)
}}
}}
Rubye De Remer (January 9, 1898 – March 18, 1984) was an American actress and showgirl known for her appearance in the "Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic" and over twenty films.
Early life
De Remer was born Rubye K. Burkhardt in Denver, Colorado, on January 9, 1892. Her parents were Charles and Nettie Burkhardt. Her father was the owner of a Denver meatpacking company.
{{cite news
| author =
| title = Charles Burkhardt Pioneer is Dead in California
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/588416041/?terms=%22charles%20burkhardt%22%20rubye&match=1
| work = Fort Collins Coloradian
| location = Fort Collins, CO
| date = March 18, 1923
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
Career
A report dated March 17, 1916, states that the "socially prominent" De Remer had left her husband and family to join the theatrical troupe of Gus Edwards in Dayton, Ohio.
{{cite news
| author =
| title = Colorado State News
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/887814397/?terms=%22rubye%20burkhardt%22%20&match=1
| work = The Idaho Springs Siftings-News
| location = Idaho Springs, ID
| date = March 17, 1916
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
Two weeks later, De Remer and a fellow "member of the Denver social set" are reportedly in New York City playing a hurdy-gurdy on Fifth Avenue. They were said to have arrived ten days ago to go on the stage but had no luck.
{{cite news
| author = Bide Dudley
| title = About Plays and Players
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/78656846/?terms=rubye%20&match=1
| work = The Evening World
| location = New York, NY
| date = April 3, 1916
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
In May, De Remer was announced as a winner of a "prettiest girl contest" held by the World Film Interest at Grand Central Palace.
{{cite news
| title = Gossip of the Movies
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/421120835/?terms=%22rubye%22&match=1
| work = Winfield Daily Courier
| location = Winfield, KS
| date = May 13, 1916
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
In October of the same year, De Remer was cast in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic.
{{cite news
| title = Second Thoughts About First Nights
| url = https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1916-10-01_66_21435/page/n31/mode/2up?q=rubye
| work = The New York Times
| location = New York, NY
| date = October 1, 1916
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
In July 1917, De Remer was signed to a motion picture contract and announced as the star of the Laurence Trimble film The Auction Block, in the following month.
{{cite news
| title = Ruby De Remer
| url = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005651651&seq=715&q1=rubye
| work = Motion Picture Classic
| location = New York, NY
| date = July 1917
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
De Remer worked steadily and made over a dozen movies until she dropped out of the film business in 1923. She returned with a small role in the 1936 film The Gorgeous Hussy, after which she retired permanently.
Personal beauty
French artist Paul Helleu chose De Remer as his "ideal of American beauty" in 1920.{{cite journal |title=Rubye De Remer is Chosen as Premier American Beauty: French Artist's Decision Reached After Careful Search - Star Working in Arrow Picture |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=11 |issue=25 |page=[https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald11exhi_1/page/n67 44] |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |location=New York City |date=December 18, 1920 |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald11exhi_1}}
Press accounts quoted Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. referring to De Remer as "The most beautiful blonde since Venus."
{{cite news
| title = Cover Up, She Says
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/59425756/?terms=%22the%20most%20beautiful%20blonde%20since%20Venus%22&match=1
| work = Lawrence Daily Journal-World
| location = Washington, DC
| date = March 15, 1920
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
For her part, De Remer claimed that "beauty is often a handicap." She said that an attractive woman in the theater is often typecast in minor "pretty" roles and does not get the best parts. "I want people to say of my work, 'she is more willing to cover her features with make-up and play strong character parts than she is to be 'dolled-up' in silks and satins and walk on and off a scene like a mannequin in a fashion parade," she said. "People pay for seats in a theater to see acting, not to witness a display of gowns or pulchritude [beauty].”
{{cite news
| title = Beauty Often A Handicap
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/31540568/?terms=%22beauty%20often%20a%20handicap%22&match=1
| work = The Washington Post
| location = Washington, DC
| date = August 3, 1919
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
Personal life
De Remer married Alan T. De Remer in Denver on June 5, 1912.
{{cite web
| url = https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KNQ9-YMZ
| title = "Colorado Statewide Marriage Index, 1853-2006"
| website = Familysearch.com
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
The couple divorced on October 29, 1919.
{{cite web
| url = https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/1861-1941_CO_Divorces_0.pdf
| title = Colorado Divorces, 1861-1941
| page = 432
| website = Denver Public Library
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
She had a well-publicized romance with "American Millionaire" Benjamin Throop. In 1923, it was reported that "she had lost the companionship of the man to which she had practically given her life in recent years." The man's wife allegedly refused a divorce, and his father "hired aid to part his son" from De Remer.
{{cite news
| title = Fate Made Her Wondrous Beauty ; Now Makes Rubye's Life a Tragedy
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/866347937/?terms=%22rubye%20de%20remer%22&match=1
| work = The Orange County Plain Dealer
| location = Anaheim, CA
| date = October 19, 1923
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
De Remer and Throop married on April 7, 1924, in Paris.
{{cite news
| title = Ruby DeRemer, Film Star, and Millionaire are Wed
| url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/354955587/?terms=%22ruby%20deremer%22%20throop&match=1
| work = The Chicago Tribune
| location = Chicago, IL
| date = April 8, 1924
| access-date = March 21, 2024
}}
Death
De Remer died in Beverly Hills, California, on March 18, 1984.
{{cite web
| url = https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPXN-VSS
| title = Rubye Deremer Throop
| date = March 18, 1984
| website = California Death Index
| access-date = March 23, 2024
}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | ||
| Year
! Title ! Role | ||
|---|---|---|
| rowspan=4 | 1917 | Enlighten Thy Daughter | Ruth Stevens |
| Tillie Wakes Up | Mrs. Luella Pipkins | |
| Two Men and a Woman | ||
| The Auction Block | Lorelei Knight | |
| rowspan=5 | 1918 | We Should Worry | Miss Ashton |
| Ashes of Love | Ethel Woodridge | |
| Pals First | Jean Logan | |
| Life's Greatest Problem | Alice Webster | |
| For Freedom | Mary Fenton | |
| rowspan=3 | 1919 | The Great Romance | Althea Hanway |
| Fires of Faith | Agnes Traverse, His Fiancée | |
| Dust of Desire | Beth Vinton | |
| rowspan=3 | 1920 | His Temporary Wife | Annabelle Rose |
| A Fool and His Money | Aline | |
| The Way Women Love | Judith Reytnard | |
| rowspan=3 | 1921 | The Passionate Pilgrim | Miriam Calverly |
| Luxury | Blanche Young | |
| Pilgrims of the Night | Christine | |
| 1922 | Unconquered Woman | Helen Chapelle |
| rowspan=2 | 1923 | The Glimpses of the Moon | Mrs. Ellie Vanderlyn |
| Don't Marry for Money | Marion Whitney | |
| 1925 | A Fool and His Money | |
| 1936 | The Gorgeous Hussy | Mrs. Bellamy |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Rubye De Remer}}
- {{AFI person | 136099-Rubye-DeRemer | Rubye DeRemer }}
- {{IMDb name|0211103}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Remer, Rubye}}
Category:Actresses from Denver
Category:American film actresses
Category:American silent film actresses