Una Fleming
{{short description|American dancer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Una Fleming
| image = UnaFleming1919.png
| alt = A young white woman with a dimpled chin
| caption = Una Fleming, from a 1919 publication
| other_names = Una F. Adams, Una F. Wood, Una F. Glassell
| birth_name = Marian Una Strain
| birth_date = 1899
| birth_place = California
| death_date = October 26, 1966 (age 67)
| death_place = Ridgewood, New Jersey
| occupation = Dancer, actress
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) = Freeman Wood
| relatives =
}}
Marian Una Strain Fleming Adams (1899 – October 26, 1966), known on stage as Una Fleming, was an American dancer and actress on Broadway.{{Cite book |last=Suriano |first=Gregory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oucoEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 |title=Gershwin in Pittsburgh |date=2021-05-10 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-7247-1 |language=en}}
Early life and education
Una Strain was raised in Los Angeles,{{Cite journal |date=December 1920 |title=Una Fleming |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKdOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA353 |journal=Theatre Magazine |volume=32 |pages=353}}{{Cite news |date=September 19, 1916 |title=Bids Farewell to L.A. Society, Takes up Stage Dancing |pages=1 |work=Los Angeles Herald |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19160919.2.142&srpos=16&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Una+Fleming%22------- |access-date=April 23, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} by her mother Carrie B. Malcolm Strain Fleming, and her stepfather, A. F. Fleming.{{Cite news |date=1936-09-05 |title=Obituary for Carrie B. Fleming |pages=3 |work=The Long Beach Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123386909/obituary-for-carrie-b-fleming/ |access-date=2023-04-23}} Her Irish-born father John Strain died in 1904. She attended the Egan School of Music and Drama in Los Angeles, and studied dance with Matildita Fernandez.{{Cite news |date=November 8, 1913 |title=Catholic Women to Present Two Plays |pages=4 |work=Los Angeles Herald |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19131108.2.56&srpos=6&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Una+Fleming%22------- |access-date=April 23, 2023 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}} She danced at public events from her early teens,{{Cite news |date=1913-07-29 |title=To Dance at L.A.A.C. Fellowship Dinner |pages=18 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123398330/to-dance-at-laac-fellowship-dinner/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}} and was crowned the Queen of May at May Day festivities in Los Angeles in 1914.{{Cite news |date=1914-04-26 |title=Fiesta of Flowers, with Public Maypole Dance, to be Monster Pageant Given by Children |pages=85 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123386012/fiesta-of-flowers-with-public-maypole/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1914-05-02 |title=Fairylike Ruler's Subjects Happy |pages=2 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123386394/fairylike-rulers-subjects-happy/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1915, she joined a vaudeville dancing act.{{Cite news |date=September 10, 1915 |title=9 Society Girls Turn Professional Dancers |work=Los Angeles Herald |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19150910.2.147&srpos=7&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Una+Fleming%22------- |access-date=April 23, 2023 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}} In 1916, she was premiere danseuse in the ballet of the California Grand Opera Company.{{Cite news |date=May 18, 1916 |title=Youth, Grace Feature Grand Opera Ballet |pages=1 |work=Los Angeles Herald |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19160518.2.130&srpos=3&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Una+Fleming%22------- |access-date=April 23, 2023}}
Career
Fleming appeared in the silent film The Talk of the Town (1918).{{Cite book |last=Stumpf |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSP4lHULPwsC&pg=PA115 |title=ZaSu Pitts: The Life and Career |date=2010-04-13 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-6023-6 |page=115 |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=December 3, 1918 |title=Local Girl Stars |pages=37 |work=Los Angeles Herald |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19181203.2.264&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Una+Fleming%22------- |access-date=April 23, 2023 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}} On Broadway, she was a dancer in The Velvet Lady (1919),{{Cite journal |last=Mantle |first=Burns |date=May 1919 |title=What's What on Broadway |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8DLmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA55 |journal=The Green Book Magazine |volume=21 |issue=5 |pages=54–59}} The Sweetheart Shop (1920) and Her Family Tree (1921).{{Cite web |title=Una Fleming in The sweetheart shop |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8df1f77e-7d24-9d1e-e040-e00a1806319a |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=NYPL Digital Collections |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Dietz |first=Dan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRmGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |title=The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals |date=2019-04-10 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-1282-3 |pages=25, 48 |language=en}} She also danced in vaudeville programs in New York.{{Cite news |date=1919-08-02 |title=Henderson's Music Hall |pages=14 |work=Brooklyn Life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123398215/hendersons-music-hall/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Theatre critic Burns Mantle described Fleming as dancing "with such unusual grace", and considered her part of a trend for "'plain American girl' dancers" who were cast in specialty roles once only assigned to foreign dancers. McClure's Magazine also placed her among other young women dancers in a photo feature in 1919, with the comment that "she seems to be fashioned mostly out of chiffon and grace".{{Cite journal |date=April 1919 |title=They Just Can't Make Their Toes Behave! |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4jNzD_E1NgC&pg=PA16 |journal=McClure's Magazine |volume=51 |pages=16}}
Fleming married in 1920. She was still dancing on stage in 1925, with the George M. Cohan show Little Nellie Kelly in Oakland,{{Cite news |date=1925-11-26 |title=Cohan Troupe Will Entertain War Disabled |pages=7 |work=Oakland Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123412405/cohan-troupe-will-entertain-war-disabled/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}} and in 1926, when she appeared with Gloria Foy and Lou Holtz in Patsy in San Francisco and Los Angeles.{{Cite news |date=1926-05-13 |title=Musical Comedy 'Patsy' Comes to Curran Monday |pages=17 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123397755/musical-comedy-patsy-comes-to-curran/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1926-03-29 |title='Patsy Night' at Roof |pages=12 |work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123412758/patsy-night-at-roof/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Personal life
Fleming was married four times, to three different husbands. Her first husband was businessman Carleton Adams in 1920;{{Cite news |last=Kingsley |first=Grace |date=1920-12-31 |title=Una Fleming Weds; Popular Dancer Marries Former Naval Officer |pages=26 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123398087/una-fleming-weds-popular-dancer/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}} they had a daughter, Barbara. They divorced in 1927, then remarried in 1928, then divorced again in 1935.{{Cite news |date=1935-08-07 |title=Una Fleming, Ex-Actress, Sues to Divorce C. E. Adams |pages=6 |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123386172/una-fleming-ex-actress-sues-to/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}} She married again, to actor Freeman Wood, by 1940. She married a third time, to Gardner T. Glassell, in 1949. Gardner Glassell died in 1958,{{Cite news |date=1958-12-28 |title=Glassell, Gardner T. |pages=40 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123424700/obituary-for-gardner-t-glassell/ |access-date=2023-04-24 |via=Newspapers.com}} and she died in 1966, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, at the age of 67.{{Cite news |date=1966-10-27 |title=Obituary for Una F. Glassell |pages=36 |work=The Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123387880/obituary-for-una-f-glassell/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |via=Newspapers.com}}
References
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External links
- {{IMDb name|0281807}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Una}}
Category:Entertainers from Los Angeles
Category:Actresses from California
Category:Dancers from California