Vera James
{{short description|New Zealand actress}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2014}}
File:Vera James, in the Universal film, "The Attic of Felix Bavu" (Mar 1923).png
Vera James Munro (born Vera Gwendoline James, 2 April 1892 – 19 October 1980) was a New Zealand actress who worked in theatre and film. In 1929 she appeared in the first all-talking, all-colour feature length movie ever made, Warner Bros On with the Show!, and was already well known for starring in A Girl of the Bush in 1921.
Biography
James was born Vera Gwendoline James on 2 April 1892, the daughter of William Francis James and Alice Jane James (née Hill) of Dunedin, New Zealand.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19290706.2.238 |title=A New Zealand girl |newspaper=Auckland Star |volume=LX |issue=158 |date=6 July 1929 |page=Supplement}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search/search?path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Dbirths |title=Birth search: registration number 1892/6191 |website=Births, deaths & marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs |access-date=19 November 2018}} She moved to Australia in 1919 and appeared in two films for Franklyn Barrett.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169183835 |title=Footlight flashes |newspaper=Truth |issue=1626 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 March 1921 |access-date=16 November 2018 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} The first was A Girl of the Bush,{{cite book |last1=Stratton |first1=David |title=The last new wave: the Australian film revival |date=1980 |publisher=Angus & Robertson |isbn=9780207141461 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1oVZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Vera+James%22+silent+film&dq=%22Vera+James%22+silent+film |access-date=17 November 2018}}
{{cite web |title=Memory! 3rd edition International Film Heritage Festival |url=http://2016e.memoryfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Memory-2015-catalogue.pdf |website=Memory Film Festival |access-date=18 November 2018 |location=Yangon, Myanmar |page=64}} which was screened in both Australia and New Zealand.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123248180 |title=New York Goes to Bed. |newspaper=Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1930) |location=Sydney, NSW |date=17 April 1921 |access-date=4 October 2014 |page=22 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Her performance in the lead role was widely praised for the versatility of her acting, her mimicry, feats of horsemanship, and her good looks.{{cite news |title=MISS VERA JAMES |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19210408.2.29?page=3&phrase=2&query=Vera+James |access-date=17 November 2018 |work=Evening Star |issue=17630 |date=8 April 1921 |page=4}} She had learned to ride horses and swim in order to land the role.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25503410/|title=Out of the Silents, A Flashback to 1921|last=Frizell|first=Helen|date=6 June 1975|work=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=18 November 2018|via=Newspapers.com}} The second film was Know Thy Child,{{cite book |last1=Edmondson |first1=Ray |last2=Pike |first2=Andrew |title=Australia's Lost Films: The Loss and Rescue of Australia's Silent Cinema |date=1982 |publisher=National Library of Australia |location=Canberra |isbn=9780642992512 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Y_GAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT51&dq=%22Vera+James%22+silent+film#q=%22Vera%20James%22 |access-date=17 November 2018}} in which James' character was first shown at the age of seventeen, then aged twenty-five, and finally aged about forty; "in each age she plays the part with restraint and dramatic skill".{{cite news |title=The Grand to-night: Know Thy Child |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HNS19240121.2.70.1 |access-date=17 November 2018 |work=Hawera and Normanby Star |issue=XLIII: XLIII |date=21 January 1924 |page=8}}
After these successes, James moved to Hollywood in 1922,{{cite journal |title=Vera James |journal=Camera! |date=April 1922 – April 1923 |page=20 |url=http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/camera05unse_0044 |access-date=17 November 2018 |publisher=Raymond Cannon |location=Los Angeles, California}} with her new husband, Arthur Henry Munro,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223957261 |title=Talkie Trials : Experience of N.Z. Actress |newspaper=The Sun |issue=5796 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 June 1929 |access-date=16 November 2018 |page=18 (FINAL EXTRA) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210406711 |title=Theatredom and Movie Gossip. |newspaper=The Call |issue=408 |location=Western Australia |date=10 March 1922 |access-date=16 November 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} who she had married on 29 June 1921 at the Presbyterian Church, Neutral Bay, Sydney.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19210709.2.29 |title=Marriages |work=Otago Daily Times |date=9 July 1921 |page=8 |access-date=19 November 2018}} In Hollywood, James appeared in a B-Western, McGuire of the Mounted (1923), playing a member of a drug smuggling gang who was married to the hero while he was doped.{{cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=Mary |title=McGuire of the Mounted |journal=Moving Picture World |date=14 July 1923 |page=157 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movpicwor63movi#page/n129/mode/2up/search/vera+james |access-date=17 November 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Irene |title="M'Guire of the Mounted" not that kind of a film |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/430198119/?terms=%22Vera%2BJames%22 |access-date=17 November 2018 |work=Daily News |date=6 July 1923 |location=New York |page=21}} She was cast in Bavu (1923), and appeared in pre-release publicity images,{{cite journal |title=Three New Universal Films Nearly Ready |journal=Moving Picture World |date=17 February 1923 |page=701 |url=https://archive.org/stream/movpicwor60movi#page/700/mode/2up/search/Vera+James |access-date=17 November 2018}}{{cite news |title="Bavu" Here Friday and Saturday is Great Russian Melodrama Which Has Thrills and Mystery Galore |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/346649438/?terms=%22Vera%2BJames%22 |access-date=17 November 2018 |work=The Brookville American |date=30 August 1923 |location=Brookville, Pennsylvania |page=8}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131631899 |title=Hollywood from the inside |newspaper=Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1930) |location=Sydney, NSW |date=23 June 1929 |access-date=4 October 2014 |page=23 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} but does not appear in the cast list of the final release. James also had supporting roles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), The Radio Detective (1925) (a serial),'Studio and Stage', Los Angeles Times 15 Sep 1925: A11. Three Wise Men (1925) with Janet Gaynor and Ben Corbett,'Mary Pickford Premiere Set for Thursday', Los Angeles Times 16 Oct 1925: A9. Fade-Away Foster (1926), and On with the Show! which was the first all-colour, all-talking full-length movie in history. She was one of the few New Zealand actors to find some fame in Hollywood at the time.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LCP19241106.2.6 |title=A tour through the United States and Canada |work=Lake County Press |issue=3065 |date=6 November 1924}}
In 1928 she appeared in a production of the operetta The Desert Song. The Los Angeles Times described her as "not only pleasing to gaze upon, but is possessed of a beautiful contralto voice".'Vera James Known as Contralto too', Los Angeles Times 5 July 1928: A11.
In 1929, she travelled back to Australia and New Zealand, intending to return to Hollywood the following year.{{cite news |title=Social and personal |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19291026.2.148.3 |access-date=17 November 2018 |work=Evening Star |issue=20316 |date=26 October 1929 |location=Dunedin, New Zealand |page=26}}Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 106. However, there is no evidence that she did. She was offered parts after returning to Australia, but always turned them down.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25503588/|title=Vera gives up a lead role|date=26 October 1980|work=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=18 November 2018|via=Newspapers.com}} She went on to manage a beauty salon in Sydney. She died on 19 October 1980 in Sydney.
Credits
- A Girl of the Bush (1921)
- Know Thy Child (1921)
- McGuire of the Mounted (1923)
- Bavu (1923) – role removed during post production
- Fade Away Foster (1926) (short)
- The Radio Detective (1926)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0417007}}
- [http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs/home-fred-and-george Photographic Album] at State Library of NSW
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Category:New Zealand film actresses
Category:New Zealand silent film actresses
Category:New Zealand television actresses
Category:Australian film actresses
Category:Australian television actresses
Category:New Zealand expatriate actresses in the United States